Chapter 2

Digital Communication
Fundamentals
2.1 Introduction

As we said at the end of Chapter 1, CDMA is applicable to digital (as opposed to

analog) communication. This chapter is therefore devoted to providing an overview
of basic digital communication. In its bare essence, digital communication consists
of transmitting binary digits (1’s and 0’s) over a channel to a receiver. This process
requires associating 1’s and 0’s with unique waveforms since the physical means
of transmitting information over a wireless channel is through the conversion of
information bearing waveforms into EM waves. There are also issues such as data
transmission rate, noise, and modulation. These issues are addressed in this chapter
beginning with the formation of the transmission waveform. The effect of noise is
dealt with next, followed by that of bandwidth. The chapter concludes by looking
at elementary digital modulation techniques.

2.2 Transmission and Reception in Noise

We will now introduce concepts that bear upon performance issues in digital com-
munication. Let us assume that a 0 is transmitted as a positive pulse of amplitude A
and duration Tb while a 1 is transmitted with a negative pulse of the same ampli-
tude and duration. The quantity Tb is also referred to as the bit interval or the bit
period. The data transmission rate Rb in bits per second (bps) is given by

1
Rb = . (2.1)
Tb

The waveform transmitted over the channel can therefore be represented as

s(t) = ai p(t − iTb ), (2.2)
i
8 Chapter 2

where ai = ±1, depending on whether the ith bit is 1 or 0, and p(t) is the rectan-
gular pulse. This waveform is shown in Fig. 2.1.
The received signal is typically regarded as the sum of the transmitted signal
and a noise waveform. Usually, the noise is assumed to be zero-mean additive
white Gaussian noise (AWGN). The rationale for this assumption is provided by
the fact that the Gaussian distribution is widely prevalent whenever there are ran-
dom phenomena. The addition of many random variables leads to nearly Gaussian
distributions in many instances. In particular, if the noise process can be regarded
as the sum of many independent and identically distributed random sources, then
the AWGN assumption holds very well. White noise implies that the power spec-
trum of the noise is constant, independent of frequency. Thus the received signal
r(t) is written

r(t) = s(t) + n(t), (2.3)

where n(t) is the AWGN. The receiver must determine if, in a bit interval, the
received waveform corresponds to the transmission of a 1 or a 0. In any given bit
interval, the received signal is

A + n(t) if 1 is transmitted
r(t) = (2.4)
−A + n(t) if 0 is transmitted.

To reduce the effect of the noise, we can average r(t) over the bit interval to get
 
1 1
R= r(t)dt = a + n(t)dt = a + N, (2.5)
Tb Tb
over Tb over Tb

where a = ±A, depending on the transmitted bit, and R and N are the averages
of the received signal and additive noise, respectively, over the bit interval. Since
n(t) is Gaussian, the random variable N is also Gaussian. Let σ2 denote its average
power. The receiver’s problem now becomes one of determining, for a given value
of R, whether the transmitted bit is a 1 or a 0. In the absence of noise, this is a

Figure 2.1 Waveform for bit transmission.

Digital Communication Fundamentals 9

trivial problem. All the receiver has to do is decide on the basis of the sign of R; if
R is positive, it knows a 1 was transmitted, otherwise a 0 was transmitted.
With noise present, we hope that averaging has reduced its contribution, then
continue with the same rule:

output bit = 0.5 + 0.5 sign(R), (2.6)

where we have defined the sign function as


1 x>0
sign(x) =
−1 x ≤ 0.

Because of the noise term N in Eq. (2.5), it is not always the case that R is positive
when a 1 is transmitted and negative when a 0 is transmitted. Thus, as a conse-
quence of the noise, there is a finite probability of erroneous bit decisions. If 1’s
and 0’s are equally likely to be transmitted, then the expression for the probability
of error or bit error rate (BER) is given by14
 
A
p(e) = Q , (2.7)
σ

where
 ∞  

1 u2
Q(x) = √ exp − du.
2π x 2

Suppose the power spectrum of the Gaussian noise is N0 /2 watts per Hz. Then
σ2 = N0 /2Tb (see appendix on random signals and noise). By defining the signal-
to-noise ratio (SNR) per bit as

A2 Tb
SNR = , (2.8)
N0 /2

the expression for the BER becomes

√ 
p(e) = Q SNR . (2.9)

The SNR is typically measured in decibels (dB) as

SNR(dB) = 10 log(SNR). (2.10)

A plot of the BER versus SNR is shown in Fig. 2.2.

10 Chapter 2

Figure 2.2 Bit error rate plot.

2.3 Effect of Finite Channel Bandwidth

It was assumed in Eq. (2.3) that the transmitted signal s(t) passes through the chan-
nel and appears as is at the receiving end except for the additive noise. In practice,
this does not happen. At the very least there is some loss of signal strength—this
phenomenon is called attenuation—and delay. Suppose there is an attenuation of
α and a delay of τ. Then the output of the channel is given by

s0 (t) = αs(t − τ), (2.11)

where |α| ≤ 1. This expression indicates that the channel behaves as a linear time
invariant (LTI) system. Since the frequency response of an LTI system is given by
the ratio of the Fourier transform of the output to that of the input, the frequency
response of the channel characterized by Eq. (2.11) is given by

H (j ω) = α exp(−j τω). (2.12)

Such a channel is said to provide distortionless transmission since, as can be

seen from Eq. (2.11), all the information contained in s(t) is preserved in s0 (t).
The conditions for distortionless transmission follow from Eq. (2.12) as:
Digital Communication Fundamentals 11

1. The magnitude of the channel frequency response must be a constant, inde-

pendent of frequency. This is known as the flat frequency response condi-
tion:

|H (j ω)| = |α|. (2.13)

2. The phase of the channel frequency response obeys the linear phase condi-
tion
 H (j ω) = −τω + mπ, (2.14)

where m = 0 or 1 depending on whether α is positive or negative. Since the

group delay GD (ω) is defined as the negative of the derivative of the phase
with respect to ω, this is also known as the constant group delay condition
because

GD (ω) = τ. (2.15)

A distortionless channel is an ideal channel rarely met in practice. The channel is

typically band-limited, which means that the conditions in Eqs. (2.13) to (2.15) are
valid at best over a limited frequency range, and the frequency response is zero
outside this range. Suppose the frequency range, in question is given by |ω| ≤ ω0 .
Then the channel is said to be a baseband channel with bandwidth ω0 . If, on the
other hand, the frequency range is given by ω1 ≤ |ω| ≤ ω2 , the channel is said to
be a bandpass channel with bandwidth ω2 − ω1 .
If the channel is band-limited, the pulse p(t) used in Eq. (2.2) should have a
Fourier transform that fits within the channel bandwidth. Otherwise, the transmit-
ted signal is distorted. The magnitude of the Fourier transform of p(t) is plotted
in Fig. 2.3. About 90% of the energy is in the main lobe that extends from 0 to
1/Tb Hz. Most of the energy, about 99%, is within 10/Tb Hz. Suppose the avail-
able (baseband) channel bandwidth is W Hz. Then, requiring up to 99% of the
pulse energy to be within the channel bandwidth would mean

Rb ≤ 0.1W. (2.16)

Thus, an immediate effect of finite bandwidth is that it limits the maximum rate at
which bits can be transmitted. Figure 2.4 shows the effect of finite channel band-
width on p(t) when Eq. (2.16) is violated. Here, the channel bandwidth is equal to
the bit rate. Notice the distortion in the shape of the pulse.
Equation (2.16) shows that a rectangular pulse is an inefficient waveform for
transmitting data over band-limited channels because it can transmit data at a rate
that is only 10% of the available bandwidth. A more efficient signaling waveform,
commonly used in practice, is the raised cosine waveform, which permits trans-
mission at rates between W and 2W bps. The raised cosine waveform derives its
name from the fact that a section of its Fourier transform consists of one-half cycle
of a cosine curve raised by a constant term, as shown in Fig. 2.5. The expression
12 Chapter 2

Figure 2.3 Fourier transform magnitude of rectangular pulse plotted as a function of fre-
quency normalized by bit rate.

Figure 2.4 Pulse distortion due to high data rate relative to bandwidth.
 Chapter 3

Code Division Multiple Access

3.1 Introduction

An alternative to frequency division and time division multiple access schemes is

provided by code division multiple access (CDMA), which permits multiple users
to simultaneously transmit over a channel while occupying the same frequency
band. This is effected by assigning a unique code or signature to each user. As we
will see, CDMA offers several advantages. Various schemes have been devised to
generate the codes; this chapter will introduce the fundamentals of direct-sequence
spread spectrum CDMA (DS-CDMA).

3.2 An Illustrative Example

Suppose we have two different users transmitting data simultaneously over the
same wireless channel. Let us say that user 1 is transmitting data intended for
destination 1 and user 2 is doing the same for destination 2. However, because of
the simultaneous transmission, the received waveform at each destination is the
sum of the two transmitted waveforms. Thus, each receiver has the problem of
extracting just the data intended for it.
We illustrate one way of solving the problem. Let us say user 1 wants to trans-
mit a data string d1 given by 10110, and user 2 wants to transmit d2 given by 11010.
Suppose user 1 transmits a pulse s1 (t) for a 1 and −s1 (t) for a 0, where s1 (t) is
the rectangular pulse of duration Tb as shown in Fig. 3.1(a). On the other hand,
suppose user 2 uses pulses s2 (t) and −s2 (t), respectively, for the same purpose,
where s2 (t) is shown in Fig. 3.1(b). Note that
 Tb 
Tb i=j
si (t)sj (t)dt = (3.1)
0 0 i = j.

This means that the two signaling waveforms have the same energy and are orthog-
onal to each other.a The transmitted waveforms T1 (t) and T2 (t) for the two users
a The integral on the left-hand side of Eq. (3.1) is the correlation between s (t) and s (t). Two
i j
signals with a correlation of zero are, by definition, orthogonal to each other.
20 Chapter 3

corresponding to the above data strings are shown in Fig. 3.2. The received signal
at each destination is given by

R(t) = T1 (t) + T2 (t) (3.2)

and is shown in Fig. 3.3.

(a) (b)
Figure 3.1 Signature waveforms for (a) user 1, and (b) user 2.

(a)

(b)
Figure 3.2 Transmitted waveforms for (a) user 1, and (b) user 2.
Code Division Multiple Access 21

Figure 3.3 Received waveform.

Consider the first bit interval. Suppose we integrate the product of the received
signal and s1 (t) over this interval and call the resulting value r1 (1); that is,
 Tb
r1 (1) = R(t)s1 (t)dt
0
 Tb  Tb
= T1 (t)s1 (t)dt + T2 (t)s1 (t)dt. (3.3)
0 0

For the data strings transmitted, the first integrand is s12 (t), and the second integrand
is s1 (t)s2 (t). Thus, from Eq. (3.1), the first integral is Tb and the second is 0.
Therefore,

r1 (1) = Tb . (3.4)

Similarly, for the second bit,

 2Tb
r1 (2) = R(t)s1 (t)dt
Tb
 2Tb  2Tb
= T1 (t)s1 (t)dt + T2 (t)s1 (t)dt, (3.5)
Tb Tb

the first integrand is now −s12 (t) and the second integrand is again s1 (t)s2 (t). This
yields

r1 (2) = −Tb . (3.6)

22 Chapter 3

By repeating this process for the other bit intervals, we get

r1 (3) = Tb , r1 (4)
= Tb , r1 (5)
= −Tb . (3.7)

By mapping Tb to 1 and −Tb to 0, we find that r1 (1) through r1 (5) yield the
string d1 . If, instead of integrating the received waveform after multiplying by s1 (t)
over each bit interval, we had chosen s2 (t) for that purpose, the resulting values
r2 (1) through r2 (5) would yield the string d2 . Thus, destination 1 can perform the
described procedure using s1 (t), and destination 2 can do the same using s2 (t). In
a sense, s1 (t) and s2 (t) are signatures of user 1 and user 2, respectively, that permit
separation of the individual data strings.
The scheme can be generalized to multiple users who transmit simultaneously
over the same wireless channel. Suppose there are K users sending data streams
d1 , d2 , . . . , dK , where the k th user’s signature is sk (t). The transmitted signal is
given by



T (t) = [2d1 (n) − 1]s1 (t − nTb ) + [2d2 (n) − 1]s2 (t − nTb ) + · · ·
n n


+ [2dK (n) − 1]sK (t − nTb ), (3.8)
n

where the 2d − 1 indicates that a data bit of 1 maps to a positive amplitude, and a
data bit of 0 maps to a negative amplitude. The block diagram of the transmitter is
shown in Fig. 3.4. At the receiver, the received signal is given by

R(t) = aT (t), (3.9)

where a is a positive constant representing the change in amplitude experienced by

the signal as it travels from transmitter to receiver.
If the signatures are pair-wise orthogonal, then the nth data bit of the k th user
can be recovered at a receiver as

dk (n) = 0.5 1 + sign[rk (n)] , (3.10)

where

rk (n) = R(t)sk (t − nTb )dt.
nth bit interval

The block diagram for the above procedure is shown in Fig. 3.5.
We have just introduced the concept of CDMA, where multiple users can trans-
mit data simultaneously over the same channel while occupying the same band-
width, with separation effected by unique codes or signatures associated with each
user.
Code Division Multiple Access 23

Figure 3.4 Transmitter block diagram.

Figure 3.5 Receiver block diagram for users 1, . . . , K.

Generally, the received signal is contaminated by noise, and the expression in

Eq. (3.10) provides only an estimate of the nth data bit of the k th user. The issue of
noise is treated in a later chapter.