ET2303 - TELECOMMUNICATION SYSTEMS

Channel Capacity, Bit Rate, Baud Rate

and Data Transmission

Shanthiga R,
Division of Electrical, Electronic and Telecommunication
Engineering Technology
Learning Outcomes

• Define channel bandwidth.

• Explain about various transmission impairments.
• Use bit, bit rate and baud rate in applications.
• Explain Shannon’s limit for information capacity.
• Explain the difference between serial and parallel data
transmission.
• Analysis the relationship among communication channel
bandwidth, noise and bit rate
Bandwidth
The range of frequencies that a signal spans from minimum to
maximum is called the spectrum.

Bandwidth is the frequency range over which system operates or

is that portion of the electromagnetic spectrum occupied by the
signal.
Audio bands in telephony
Name Range (Hz)
Narrowband 300–3,400
Wideband 50–7,000
Voice signal

Superwideband 50–14,000
Fullband 20–20,000
Bandwidth
The range of frequencies that a signal spans from minimum to
maximum is called the spectrum.

Bandwidth is the frequency range over which system operates or

is that portion of the electromagnetic spectrum occupied by the
signal.

Voice signal
Communication Channel Bandwidth
The Bandwidth of a channel (medium) is the range of frequencies
that a medium can pass without significant loss or distortion.
Why is bandwidth expressed in 3dB ??
The -3dB point is also known as the "half power" point.. its the
frequency at which the power is at 3db below the maximum value
 Communication Channel Bandwidth
In a communication system, the message signal can be voice, music,
and picture or data. Each of these signals has different ranges of
frequencies. The type of communication system needed for a given
signal depends on the band of frequencies.

Speech/human voice signals

For transmitting sounds or speech over telephone network, the
frequency range of 300 Hz to 3400 Hz is sufficient. Therefore speech
signal has a bandwidth of 3100 Hz.

• For communication over telephone, device and channel that are

fit for carrying 3100Hz bandwidth signals should be used.

• The bandwidth of a signal depends on the amount of information

contained in it and the quality of it.
Communication Channel Bandwidth
Communication channels are designed to carry specific ranges of
frequencies.
ex:
Telephone network is designed to transmit voice or speech signal
frequencies from 300 Hz to 3400 Hz reasonably well (without
significant loss). So the bandwidth of the channel is 3100 Hz.
• Different types of channels have different bandwidth.

• Channels can be classified as low-pass, band-pass, high-pass or

band-stop
Transmission Impairment
With any communication system, the signal that is received may
differ from the signal that is transmitted due to various
transmission impairments.

What are the most significant impairments ?

Transmission Impairment
The most significant impairments are;
• Attenuation – strength of a signal fall off with distance
over any transmission media
• Noise – unwanted signals that are inserted somewhere
between sender & receiver
• Distortion – signal changes its form or shape (due
velocity of propagation)
For analog signals --- degrade the signal quality
For digital signals --- bit errors
Transmission Impairment - Attenuation
• Attenuation means a loss of energy.
• When a signal travels through a medium, it loses some of its
energy in overcoming the resistance of the medium.

Usually expressed in dB

Ap = 10 log10(P1/P2)

Repeater
• Repeaters remove the unwanted noise in an incoming signal.
Amplifiers which unfortunately also amplify noise as well as
information.
• In a wireless communications system, a repeater consists of a radio
receiver, an amplifier, a transmitter, an isolator, and two antennas.
• In satellite wireless, a repeater (more frequently called a
transponder) receives uplink signals and retransmits them, often on
different frequencies, to destination locations.
• When it is necessary to transmit signals over long distances via cable
one or more repeaters can be inserted along the length of the cable.
Less the attenuation per unit distance, the more efficient the cable.
 In a fiber optic network, a repeater consists of a photocell, an
amplifier, and a light-emitting diode (LED) or infrared-emitting diode
(IRED) for each light or IR signal that requires amplification. Fiber optic
repeaters operate at power levels much lower than wireless repeaters,
and are also much simpler and cheaper.
Transmission Impairment- Noise
Noise is another cause of impairment. Several types of noise, such
as Thermal noise, Intermodulation noise, Crosstalk, and Impulse
noise may corrupt the signal.

Thermal noise is due to thermal agitation of electrons. It is present

in all electronics devices and transmission media. It can’t be
eliminated.
When the temperature increases the movement of free electrons
will increase and the current flows through the conductor and
create noise signal.
Transmission Impairment- Noise
Effect of Noise on a signal

Thermal noise power is proportional to the product of Bandwidth

and Temperature. Noise Power, N
N=KTB
Where,
N = noise power (W)
B = bandwidth (Hz)
K= Boltzmann’s proportionality constant (1.38 X10 -23 J/K)
T= absolute temperature (K) [T= 0C + 2730]
Transmission Impairment- Noise
Intermodulation noise occurs when signals at different frequencies
share the same transmission medium. This noise is produced when
there is some nonlinearity in the transmitter, receiver or
intervening transmission system.
Such nonlinearity is caused by component malfunction or use of
excessive signal strength.

Crosstalk is due to unwanted coupling between two different

media or signal path.

Ex:
Hearing another person’s
conversation while talking
on the telephone
Transmission Impairment- Noise
Impulse noise is generated from variety of causes, including
external electromagnetic disturbances, such as lightning and faults
and flaws in the communication systems.
It is a irregular pulses or noise spikes of short duration and
relatively high amplitude. This affects more severely the digital
signal than analog signal.
Ex:
A sharp spike of energy
of 0.01 s duration
would not destroy any
voice data but would
wash out about ……
bits of digital data
being transmitted at 56
kbps.
SNR (Signal-to-Noise Ratio)

𝑺𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 (𝑾)

𝑺𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒂𝒍 − 𝒕𝒐 − 𝑵𝒐𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝑹𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐 = 𝑺𝑵𝑹 =
𝑵𝒐𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 (𝑾)

The signal-to-noise power ratio is often expressed in dB

𝑺𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝑾
𝑺𝑵𝑹 𝒊𝒏 𝒅𝑩 = 𝟏𝟎𝒍𝒐𝒈
𝑵𝒐𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝑾
SNR (Signal-to-Noise Ratio)

The signal-to-noise Voltage ratio

𝑺𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝑽𝒐𝒍𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝑽
𝑺𝑵𝑹 𝒊𝒏 𝒅𝑩 = 𝟐𝟎𝒍𝒐𝒈
𝑵𝒐𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝑽𝒐𝒍𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝑽
 Binary Signal
A binary signal, also known as a logic signal, is a digital
signal with two distinguishable levels.
0V– OFF – ‘0’ 5V – ON – ‘1’

Data is usually represented by binary signals

Level 2
digital signal with two
levels Level 1
TB
TB – is the amount of time it takes for the transmitter to emit the bit
 Digital signal

– discrete, discontinuous voltage pulses

– binary data encoded into signal elements
– each pulse is a signal element

Space

Mark

Duration or length of a bit :

Time taken for the transmitter to emit the bit
Some Terms
Bit
The bit is a basic unit of information in computing and other
digital communications .

Bit Rate (Xbps)

• is a measure of data speed
• is equal to the number of bits transmitted (processed)
within a second
• Bit rate = 1/ TB bps
• Data rate
Bata Rate: No of bits (data elements) sent in a second. Unit is bps.
Signal Rate (baud Rate)
Number of signal elements / symbols transmitted in a second
(no.of signal changes that occur in 1 sec)
OR
The rate at which the signal level is changed. Unit is baud.

Baud Rate = 10 baud

Bit Rate = 5 bps
 Signal Rate (baud Rate)

11 Signal rate = S = Data Rate

2 bits per level 10 r
01 the number of data elements
00
r = carried by each signal element = 2

1sec Data rate = 8bps

4 levels per second Signal rate = 4 baud
1 Signal element

Standard baud rates

………., 2400, 4800, 9600, 14400, 19200, 38400, 57600, ………..
Example
1.
A digital signal carries 4 bits in each signal element. If 1000 signal
elements are sent in a second, find the baud rate & bit rate?
Baud rate = 1000 signal/sec
Bit rate = 4000 b/s

2. Find r ?
r = the number of data elements
carried by each signal element

r = 1/2

Aim in digital communication is increase the data rate while

decreasing the signal rate.
If a signal has L levels, each level needs log2L bits
Digital signal with four levels

Amplitude
1 6 bps
Data rate = ____
16
Level 4
Level 3
Level 2 1s Time
Level 1

16 bits sent in 1 s . So data rate is 16 bps

Q. A digital signal has 9 levels. How many bits are needed
per level?

If a signal has L levels, each level needs log2L bits

Number of bits per level = log2L =log29 = 3.17 bits

However this answer is not realistic. Needs to be an

integer as well as power of 2.

Each signal level is represented by 4 bits.

 Question?
1. If the bit duration is 2ms find the date rate?
2. What is the date rate for the following data transmission?
5V

0V
16ns

3. Consider a computer image having a size of 1024x768

pixels with 3 bytes per pixel. How long will it take to
transmit this image over ?
a) 56 kbps modem
b) 10 Mbps link
c) 100 Mbps Ethernet
 Solution

1 bytes = 8 bits
1. Date rate = 1/bit duration = 1/2ms = 500 bps

2. There are 8 bits in 16ns.

Data rate = 8/16ns = 500 Mbps
 Solution

1 bytes = 8 bits

3. 1 pixel = 3 bytes

a) The size of the image in pixel = 1024*768

The size of the image in bits = 1024*768*3*8 bits

(1024*728*3*8 )bits of information will take

1024*768*3*8/ 56*1000 sec to transmit over the 56kbps
modem
Channel Capacity
Channel Capacity The maximum rate at which data can be
transmitted over a given communication path or channel, under
given conditions.

In practice, bit rate depends on

• Bandwidth of the channel
• Signal power
• Noise
• Signal encoding (Number of levels used)

Theoretical model allow for easy analysis and knowing upper

limits are,
• Nyquist Channel Capacity: assumes noise-free environment
• Shannon Channel Capacity: considers noise
Noiseless channel: Nyquist Bit Rate
Assumes channel that is noise free.
Theoretical maximum bit rate,
Channel capacity = 2 x bandwidth x log2L
C = 2 B log2L

Tradeoffs:
• Increase the bandwidth, increase the data rate

• Increase the signal levels, increase the data rate

• Increase the signal levels, harder for receiver to interpret
the bits.
Noisy channel:
Transmission Shannon’s Theorem
Modes
Maximum channel capacity,
Channel capacity = bandwidth x log2(1 + SNR)
C = B log2 (1 + SNR)
Tradeoffs:
• Increase the bandwidth or signal power , increase the data
rate
• Increase the noise, reduces the data rate

• Increase the bandwidth, allow more noise

• Increase signal power, causes more intermodulation noise

Note: Between the Nyquist bit rate and the Shannon limit, the
result providing the smallest channel capacity is the one that
establishes the limit.
Questions……………………..???
1. Consider a noiseless channel with a bandwidth of 3000Hz
transmitting a signal with two signal levels. Find the
maximum channel capacity?

2. The spectrum of a channel is between 3MHz and 4 MHz

and SNR is 30 dB. How many signal levels are required?

3. A channel has bandwidth 4KHz. Determine the channel

capacity for each of the following SNR. (a) 20dB (b) 30dB

4. A channel has bandwidth 4KHz and SNR is 30dB.

Determine maximum information rate for 4 level
encoding & 128 level encoding.
Data Rate Limits
Transmission Modes
Data rate depends on three factors:
1. The bandwidth available
2. The level of the signals we use
3. The quality of the channel (the level of noise)

Increase bandwidth => Increase data rate & accuracy,

decrease errors
Increase levels => Increase data rate
Increase bandwidth => Increase cost, noise ???
Increase levels => Increase errors
Increase noise=> Increase errors
Transmission Mode
Transmission Modes
Propagation Delay
Transmission Modes
Data Transmission
Transmission Modes

Data transmission

Parallel Serial

Asynchronous Synchronous
Data Transmission
Transmission Modes
- Parallel data transmission
• Bits in a group are sent simultaneously
• n wires are used to send n bits at a time

• Fast, expensive

• limited to short distances

• Data is synchronized by a clock

Ex……….?

 however this becomes problematic over longer distances

where synchronization errors may start to occur
Data Transmission
Transmission Modes - Serial data transmission
• One bit at a time
• Only one communication channel
• Very slow but efficient over long distances and cost-effective
• Requires conversion devices
• Data transmission occurs in one of two ways,
- Asynchronous
- Synchronous

Ex……….?
Data Transmission
Transmission Modes - Serial data transmission

Advantage of Serial transmission

Use of single communication line reduces the transmission line
cost by the factor of n as compared to parallel transmission.

Disadvantages of Serial transmission

• Use of conversion devices at source and destination end may
lead to increase in overall transmission cost.

• This method is slower as compared to parallel transmission

as bits are transmitted serially one after the other.
Data Transmission
Transmission Modes – Bit Synchronization

• Bit Synchronization is a function that is required to determine

when the beginning and end of the data transmission occurs.

• Bit synchronization helps the receiving device to know when

data begin and end during a transmission.

• Therefore bit synchronization provides timing control.

Data Transmission
Transmission Modes- Asynchronous data transmission
• Timing of signal is unimportant
• Information received and translated by agreed upon patterns
• Synchronization achieved through the start and stop bits
• Each byte may then be followed by a gap of varying duration.
• Slower, ideal for low speed communication
What factors determine how successful the receiver will be
in interpreting the incoming signal?

The fundamental problem of communication is that

of reproducing at one point either exactly or
approximately a message selected at another point.

—The Mathematical Theory of Communication,

Claude Shannon
Data Transmission
Transmission Modes- Synchronous data transmission
• Requires constant timing relationship
• Bit stream combined into longer frames, possibly containing
multiple bytes
• There is no gap between the various bytes in the data stream
• Receiver should separate the bit stream into bytes so as to
reconstruct the original information
• Receiver & sender operates at the same clock frequency
Data Transmission
Transmission Modes- Synchronous data transmission
Advantage
This method is faster as compared to asynchronous as there are
no extra bits (start bit & stop bit) and also there is no gap
between the individual data bytes.

Disadvantages
• It is costly as compared to asynchronous method. It requires
local buffer storage at the two ends of line to assemble blocks
and it also requires accurately synchronized clocks at both
ends. This lead to increase in the cost.

• The sender and receiver have to operate at the same clock

frequency. This requires proper synchronization which makes
the system complicated.
Data Transmission
Transmission Modes- Comparison
Parallel Data Transmission Serial Data Transmission
1.
2.
3.

Asynchronous Data Synchronous Data

Transmission Transmission
1.
2.
3.