Chapter 5: Pulse Code Modulation

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Overview
· Introduction
· Pulse Code Modulation
· Electrical representation of Binary Digits
· Delta Modulation
· Phase Shift Keying
· Frequency Shift Keying

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Introduction
· We have seen that sampling a bandlimited signal at or
above the Nyquist sampling rate does not destroy any
information content and fully characterizes the bandlimited
signal.
· A system transmitting these sampled values of the
bandlimited signal is called a sampled data or pulse
modulation system.
· In modern communication systems, these sampled signals
are often quantized and coded before transmission. We
have pulse code modulation (PCM).
· The operation of quantization is shown below

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Introduction - Quantization of Signals

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Introduction - Quantization of Signals
· While m(t ) varies smoothly over its range, the quantized
signal mg (t ) holds at one or another of a number of fixed
levels m0,m1,m2,…
· Thus the signal mg (t ) does not change or it changes
abruptly by a "quantum“ jump S called step size
· The quantized signal, mg (t ) is an approximation to the
original signal, m(t). The quality of the approximation
may be improved by reducing the size of the steps,
thereby increasing the number of allowable levels.

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Introduction - Quantization Error
· The quantized signal and the original signal from
which it was derived differ from one another in a random
manner.
· This difference or error may be viewed as a noise due to
the quantization process and is called quantization error.
· Let us divide total peak-to-peak range of the message
signal m(t) into M equal voltage intervals, each of
magnitude S volts.
· At the center of each voltage interval we locate a
quantization level m1, m2, ... , mM as shown below
· At time t, if m(t) happens to be closest to the level
mk, the quantizer output will be mk.
· The error is e=m(t)-mk
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Introduction - Quantization Error

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Introduction - Quantization Error
· Let f(m)dm be the probability that m(t) lies in the voltage
range m - dm/2 to m + dm/2. Then the mean-square
quantization error is

· Assume that f(m) is constant within each quantization

range; Assuming that M is large so that S is very small
· Then set f(m) =f(1),a constant, in the first term . f(m) = f(2)
In the second term, etc

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Introduction - Quantization Error
· Making the substitution x = m-mk

· f(1)S is the probability that m(t) will be in the first

quantization range, f(2)S is the probability that m(t) will be
in the second quantization range etc.
· Hence the sum of terms in the parentheses of the above
equation has a total value of unity.
· Therefore, the mean-square quantization error is

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Overview
· Introduction
· Pulse Code Modulation
· Electrical representation of Binary Digits
· Delta Modulation
· Phase Shift Keying
· Frequency Shift Keying

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PCM
· The ff diagram shows a typical PCM transmission system

m(t) Sampler Quantizer Binary

encoder

· The binary encoder represents each sampled quantized

signal with a code word. Before transmission the code
word is converted to its binary representation. Hence the
system of transmission is called (binary) pulse code
modulation (PCM)
· if M numbers 0, 1, ... , M - 1 are to be represented, then
an N binary digit sequence kN-1,…, k0 is required,
· where M  2N
· The essential features of binary PCM are shown below
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PCM

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Overview
· Introduction
· Pulse Code Modulation
· Electrical representation of Binary Digits
· Delta Modulation
· Phase Shift Keying
· Frequency Shift Keying

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Electrical representation of Binary digits
· Is the method used to represent the digital information on
the media. A pattern to represent 1s and 0s, of the digital
signal on the transmission link
· Common types of line encoding methods used in
communication are
· Unipolar line coding
· Bipolar line coding
· Polar line coding
· Manchester line coding

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 Electrical representation of Binary digits
· Two voltage states with one of them being 0 volts

Unipolar NRZ line code

Unipolar RZ line code

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Electrical representation of Binary digits-Unipolar
· Works well inside machines where the signal path is short.
But unsuitable for long distances due to the stray
capacitance in the transmission media
· On long transmission paths, the constant level shift from 0
volts to ,say, 5 volts causes the stray capacitor to charge
up. Parallel running cables or wires are susceptible to stray
capacitor
· Also have synchronization problems between transmitter
and receiver clock oscillator.
· The problem will occur when there is a long series of 1s
and 0s.

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Electrical representation of Binary digits-polar
· Symmetrical around 0 volts
· One of the bits is represented by +V held for a time T while
the other is represented by –V held for the same time T
· Similar problems with unipolar encoding

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Electrical representation of Binary digits-Bipolar
· Has 3 voltage levels.
· 0 is represented by 0 volt level
· 1 is represented by alternating polarity pulses
· Here synchronization is greatly improved except if a long
string of 0s is transmitted.
· It is also called Alternate Mark Inversion (AMI)

0 1 1 0 1 0 1

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Electrical representation of Binary digits-Manchester
· There is a transition at the middle of each bit period.
· The mid-bit transition serves as a clocking mechanism and
also as data
· Has no dc components and there is always a transition
available for synchronization of receive and transmit clocks
· It is also called self clocking line encoding
· Absence of transition would indicate an error condition, the
encoding can detect errors during transmission

1 0 1 0 1

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ISI
· When the BW of a PCM communication channel is
restricted, there will be a distortion in the waveform
representing bits. Errors may be done at reception
· The situation is entirely analogous to crosstalk
· Here adjacent bits are symbols representing a single
quantized shape. Hence the term ISI

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Eye pattern
· The errors due to ISI may be avoided by extending the BW
· One way to obtain a good qualitative indication of the
performance of a PCM system is to examine the bit stream
on a cathode Ray Oscilloscope

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Overview
· Introduction
· Pulse Code Modulation
· Electrical representation of Binary Digits
· Delta Modulation
· Phase Shift Keying
· Frequency Shift Keying

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 Delta Modulation
· A technique by which an analog signal maybe encoded in
to binary digits (bits)
· Hence DM is a PCM system
· A delta modulation system is shown below

Pulse
Generator
Pi (t )
m(tˆ)
m(t ) channel
+
Differential Modulator Po(t ) Quantizer Filter
_ AMP

m(tˆ) Integrator

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Delta Modulation
· Pi (t ) is of fixed amplitude and polarity
· Assume Pi (t ) is an impulse train
(t )  m(t )  m(tˆ)
 1, m(t )  m(tˆ)
 (t )  
  1, m (t )  m (tˆ)
· The modulator output Po (t ) is the input pulse train Pi (t )
multiplied by +1 or -1 depending on the polarity only (not
the magnitude of Δ(t))
· m(tˆ) is an approximation to m(t)

m(tˆ)   P (t )dt
o

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Delta Modulation
· Δ(t) can be transmitted as it is or may be applied to an
input of a PCM system m(tˆ)
· Such a system is called delta PCM or simply DPCM
m(t )

Po(t )

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Delta Modulation
· Po(t ) is the signal transmitted over the communication
channel
· In practice each pulse will be widened to increase
transmitted power
· What is transmitted is not the signal m(t) but the difference
signal Δ(t)- Delta modulation
· The pulse train Po (t ) will be available at the receiver filter
· We may use an integrator to reconstruct m(tˆ)
· We follow the integrator by a filter to suppress the jumps
in m(tˆ) and smoothen the signal so that it will follow
m(t).

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Delta Modulation
· Δ(t) can be transmitted as it is or may be applied to an
input of a PCM system
· Such a system is called delta PCM or simply DPCM

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Overview
· Introduction
· Pulse Code Modulation
· Electrical representation of Binary Digits
· Delta Modulation
· Phase Shift Keying
· Frequency Shift Keying

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Phase Shift Keying
· When it becomes necessary to superimpose a BPCM
waveform on a carrier then AM, PM or FM may be used
· Straight forward AM is rarely used
· PM and FM are commonly used
· PM is referred to as Phase-shift keying and FM Frequency-
shift keying
· Consider a binary signal v(t)=+v or v(t)=-v, is to be
modulated in a PSK system

vpsk  A cos(ot   )
· In which A is fixed and ϕ=0, for v(t)=+v and ϕ=π for v(t)=-v

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Phase Shift Keying
· Then the above equation can be written as
v(t )  A cos ot , v(t )  v
vpsk (t )  A cos ot  
v  A cos ot , v(t )  v
· Let the received signal be
v(t )
vpsk (t )  A cos(ot   )
v
· We are not interested in recovering v(t) but only in knowing
whether v(t)=+v or –v in each bit interval

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Phase Shift Keying
· BPSK (Binary Phase Shift Keying) Q

· Bit value 0: sine wave

· Bit value 1: inverted sine wave 1 0
I

· Very simple PSK

· Low spectral efficiency 10 Q 11
· Robust, used e.g. in satellite systems
· QPSK (Quadrature Phase Shift Keying) I
· 2 bits coded as one symbol
· Symbol determines shift of sine wave 00 01

· Less bandwidth compared to BPSK for A

same rate
· More complex
t

11 10 00 01

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M-ary PSK
· We can further increase the number of bits per symbol by
increase the number of possible phase shifts
· This increases the data rate without increasing bandwidth
· Example: 8-PSK

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M-ary PSK …
· Example: 16-PSK: We could further increase to 4
bits/symbol using

· To demodulate 16-PSK, the receiver must determine the

phase within 11.250

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Noise Effect
· Like all transmissions, the received signal will be degraded
by noise

· BPSK receiver makes a decision to determine the phase of a

received signal to determine the corresponding binary signal

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Noise Effect …
· Consider the same noise for 8-PSK

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Overview
· Introduction
· Pulse Code Modulation
· Electrical representation of Binary Digits
· Delta Modulation
· Phase Shift Keying
· Frequency Shift Keying

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Frequency Shift Keying

vFSK  A cos(c   )t

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Digital Modulation – Types
· Influence one or more of the three parameters of a
sinusoidal signal according to the data sequence to be
transmitted
· Amplitude modulation (AM)
· Or: Amplitude shift keying
· Simple, susceptible to errors

· Frequency modulation (FM)

· Or: Frequency shift keying

· Phase modulation (PM)

· Or: Phase shift keying
· More complex, more robust
against distortions

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