Digital Signal Formats

Syed A. Rizvi

Why Digital Signaling?

Analog to Digital Conversion

Pulse Amplitude Modulation

Pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) is a simple technique to convert an analog signal to a pulse-type signal where the amplitude of the pulse denotes the analog information PAM can easily be generated using an analog switch, as shown in figure below

PAM (Continued)

Baseband Analog Waveform

Switching Waveform

Resulting PAM Signal

Pulse Code Modulation

In this technique, a digital word (series of bits) is generated representing an instantaneous sample of an analog waveform (signal)

PCM (Continued)

Output Voltage Analog, PAM, and Quantized PAM Signals Input Voltage Error Signal Quantizer Output-Input Characteristics PCM Signal 7

PCM (Continued)
Performance of a PCM System with Uniform Quantization (Noiseless Channel)

Number of Quantizer Levels Used 2 4 8 16 32 64 128 256 65,536

Length of the PCM Word Used 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 16

Bandwidth of PCM Signal 2B* 4B 6B 8B 10B 12B 14B 16B 32B

S/N (dB) 6.0 12.0 18.1 24.1 30.1 36.1 42.1 48.2 96.3

*B is the bandwidth of Analog Signal

PCM (Continued)
Advantages:
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Relatively inexpensive digital circuitry PCM data can be merged with pure digital data and can be transmitted over common high-speed digital communication system Regenerative repeaters can be used to reconstruct a clean PCM signal from noisy/distorted PCM signal at appropriate intermediate points along the transmission path Superior S/N performance than that of an analog system

Disadvantage:
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Higher bandwidth required than is required by an analog system

Delta Modulation (DM)

Very simple technique Inexpensive to implement Poor S/N performance when compared to PCM

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DM (Continued)
Operation:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Generate a flat-topped PAM signal from the analog input signal Compare the PAM signal with the accumulated output of the Integrator (AO/P) If PAM > AO/P, Comparators output is 1; otherwise its 0 Comparators output is fed to the Integrator to generate accumulated output Output of the Comparator form the DM signal

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DM (Continued)

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DM (Continued)
S/N performance of a DM system as a Function of step size
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A small step size causes slop-overload distortion A larger step size causes granular noise

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Amplitude Modulation (AM)

In amplitude modulation, the amplitude of a high frequency carrier is changed with the amplitude variations in the signal to be transmitted (baseband signal)
Amax Ac 100 Ac

% Positive Modulation =

Baseband Signal
% Negative Modulation =
Ac Amin 100 Ac

% Modulation

Amax Amin 100 2 Ac

Resulting AM Signal 14

AM (Continued)
AM Broadcast Station Technical Standards
Item Assigned frequency Channel Bandwidth Carrier Frequency Stability % Modulation Maximum power licensed FCC Technical Standard 540-1700 KHz (in 10 KHz increments) 10 KHz +/- 20 Hz of the assigned frequency Maintain 85-95%; max: 100% negative, 125% positive 50 kW

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Frequency Modulation (FM)

In frequency (phase) modulation, the instantaneous frequency (phase) of the carrier is changed with the change in the baseband signal.

Baseband Signal

Instantaneous Frequency of the Corresponding FM Signal

Corresponding FM Signal

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FM (Continued)
FCC FM Broadcasting Standard
Item Assigned frequency Channel Bandwidth Carrier Frequency Stability Noncommercial Stations Commercial Stations FCC Technical Standard 88.1MHz to 107.9MHz (in 200 KHz increments) 200 KHz +/- 2 kHz of the assigned frequency 88.1 MHz to 91.9 MHz 92.1 MHz to 107.9 MHz

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FM (Continued)
FCC Two-way FM Mobile Radio Standard
Item Assigned Frequency FCC Technical Standard 30-50 MHz (low VHF band) 144-148 MHz (2-m Amateur band) 148-174 MHz (high VHF band) 420-450 MHz (3/4 m Amateur band) 475-470 MHz (UHF band) 470-512 MHz (UHF, T band) 806-928 MHz (900-MHz band)

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Time Division Multiplexing (TDM)

Time division multiplexing is a technique for transmitting information from several different sources serially over a communication channel by time interleaving of samples from these sources.

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TDM (Continued)
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In an n-channel TDM system, the bandwidth of the TDM system is n times the highest bandwidth of the source. TDM receiver stores the multiplexed data and directs it to appropriate output channel using frame synchronization. Cross talk is referred to the phenomenon when PCM samples from one channel appear in another channel. This is caused by poor filtering of PCM samples.

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Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM)

Frequency division multiplexing is a technique for transmitting information from different sources simultaneously over a wideband channel.

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FDM (Continued)
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Each signal is modulated on a separate carrier. A composite baseband signal is formed by summing the modulated subcarriers. The composite signal is then modulated on the main carrier.

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Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK)

In this technique, a carrier sinusoid is switched (keyed) on and off with a binary signal.

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Phase Shift Keying (PSK)

In this technique, the phase of a sinusoid carrier is shifted 0o or 180o with a binary signal.

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Frequency Shift Keying (FSK)

In this technique, the frequency of a sinusoidal carrier is shifted from one frequency to another. In this way, one frequency of the carrier represents binary 1 and the other represents a binary 0.

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