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Digital Transmission in Computer Network
Data or information can be stored in two ways, analog and digital. For a computer to use
the data, it must be in discrete digital [Link] to data, signals can also be in analog
and digital form. To transmit data digitally, it needs to be first converted to digital form.
Digital-to-Digital Conversion
This section explains how to convert digital data into digital signals. It can be done in two
ways, line coding and block coding. For all communications, line coding is necessary
whereas block coding is optional.
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Line Coding
The process for converting digital data into digital signal is said to be Line Coding. Digital
data is found in binary [Link] is represented (stored) internally as series of 1s and 0s.
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Digital signal is denoted by discreet signal, which represents digital [Link] are three
types of line coding schemes available:
Uni-polar Encoding
Unipolar encoding schemes use single voltage level to represent data. In this case, to
represent binary 1, high voltage is transmitted and to represent 0, no voltage is
transmitted. It is also called Unipolar-Non-return-to-zero, because there is no rest
condition i.e. it either represents 1 or 0.
Polar Encoding
Polar encoding scheme uses multiple voltage levels to represent binary values. Polar
encodings is available in four types:
Polar Non-Return to Zero (Polar NRZ)
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It uses two different voltage levels to represent binary values. Generally, positive
voltage represents 1 and negative value represents 0. It is also NRZ because there
is no rest condition.
NRZ scheme has two variants: NRZ-L and NRZ-I.
NRZ-L changes voltage level at when a different bit is encountered whereas NRZ-I
changes voltage when a 1 is encountered.
Return to Zero (RZ)
Problem with NRZ is that the receiver cannot conclude when a bit ended and when
the next bit is started, in case when sender and receivers clock are not
synchronized.
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RZ uses three voltage levels, positive voltage to represent 1, negative voltage to
represent 0 and zero voltage for none. Signals change during bits not between bits.
Manchester
This encoding scheme is a combination of RZ and NRZ-L. Bit time is divided into
two halves. It transits in the middle of the bit and changes phase when a different
bit is encountered.
Differential Manchester
This encoding scheme is a combination of RZ and NRZ-I. It also transit at the
middle of the bit but changes phase only when 1 is encountered.
Bipolar Encoding
Bipolar encoding uses three voltage levels, positive, negative and zero. Zero voltage
represents binary 0 and bit 1 is represented by altering positive and negative voltages.
Block Coding
To ensure accuracy of the received data frame redundant bits are used. For example, in
even-parity, one parity bit is added to make the count of 1s in the frame even. This way
the original number of bits is increased. It is called Block Coding.
Block coding is represented by slash notation, mB/[Link], m-bit block is substituted
with n-bit block where n > m. Block coding involves three steps:
Division,
Substitution
Combination.
After block coding is done, it is line coded for transmission.
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Analog-to-Digital Conversion
Microphones create analog voice and camera creates analog videos, which are treated is
analog data. To transmit this analog data over digital signals, we need analog to digital
conversion.
Analog data is a continuous stream of data in the wave form whereas digital data is
discrete. To convert analog wave into digital data, we use Pulse Code Modulation (PCM).
PCM is one of the most commonly used method to convert analog data into digital form.
It involves three steps:
Sampling
Quantization
Encoding.
Sampling
The analog signal is sampled every T interval. Most important factor in sampling is the rate
at which analog signal is sampled. According to Nyquist Theorem, the sampling rate must
be at least two times of the highest frequency of the signal.
Quantization
Sampling yields discrete form of continuous analog signal. Every discrete pattern shows
the amplitude of the analog signal at that instance. The quantization is done between the
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maximum amplitude value and the minimum amplitude value. Quantization is
approximation of the instantaneous analog value.
Encoding
In encoding, each approximated value is then converted into binary format.
Transmission Modes
The transmission mode decides how data is transmitted between two [Link]
binary data in the form of 1s and 0s can be sent in two different modes: Parallel and Serial.
Parallel Transmission
The binary bits are organized in-to groups of fixed length. Both sender and receiver are
connected in parallel with the equal number of data lines. Both computers distinguish
between high order and low order data lines. The sender sends all the bits at once on all
[Link] the data lines are equal to the number of bits in a group or data frame, a
complete group of bits (data frame) is sent in one go. Advantage of Parallel transmission is
high speed and disadvantage is the cost of wires, as it is equal to the number of bits sent
in parallel.
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Serial Transmission
In serial transmission, bits are sent one after another in a queue manner. Serial
transmission requires only one communication channel.
Serial transmission can be either asynchronous or synchronous.
Asynchronous Serial Transmission
It is named so because thereis no importance of timing. Data-bits have specific pattern
and they help receiver recognize the start and end data [Link] example, a 0 is prefixed
on every data byte and one or more 1s are added at the end.
Two continuous data-frames (bytes) may have a gap between them.
Synchronous Serial Transmission
Timing in synchronous transmission has importance as there is no mechanism followed to
recognize start and end data [Link] is no pattern or prefix/suffix method. Data bits are
sent in burst mode without maintaining gap between bytes (8-bits). Single burst of data
bits may contain a number of bytes. Therefore, timing becomes very important.
It is up to the receiver to recognize and separate bits into [Link] advantage of
synchronous transmission is high speed, and it has no overhead of extra header and
footer bits as in asynchronous transmission.
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