Digital Transmission

1. Digital-to-Digital Conversion
2. Transmission Mode

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 Digital-to-Digital Conversion
• Involves three techniques:
– Line coding (always needed), block coding, and
scrambling
• Line coding: the process of converting digital data to
digital signals

4-2
 Design Consideration for Line Coding
Scheme
• Baseline wandering
– Long string of 0s and 1s can cause a drift in the
baseline
• DC components
– DC or low frequencies cannot pass a transformer or
telephone line (below 200 Hz)
• Self-synchronization
• Built-in error detection
• Immunity to noise and interference
• Complexity

4-3
 Lack of Synchronization
The clocks at the sender and the receiver must have the same bit interval.

If the receiver clock is faster or slower it will misinterpret the incoming bit stream.

4-4
Line Coding Schemes

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 Unipolar Scheme
• In a unipolar scheme, all the signal levels are on
one side of the time axis, either above or below.
• NRZ (Non-Return-to-Zero)
• Traditionally, a unipolar scheme was designed as a non-
return-to-zero (NRZ) scheme in which the positive
voltage defines bit 1 and the zero voltage defines bit 0. It
is called NRZ because the signal does not return to zero at
the middle of the bit.

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 Polar Scheme
• Two polarity: two levels of voltage

4-7
 Polar Schemes
• In polar schemes, the voltages are on both sides of the time axis.
For example, the voltage level for 0 can be positive and the
voltage level for 1 can be negative.
• Non-Return-to-Zero (NRZ)
• In polar NRZ encoding, we use two levels of voltage amplitude.
We can have two versions of polar NRZ: NRZ-L and NRZ-I.
• (NRZ-Level), the level of the voltage determines the value of the
bit. In the second variation, NRZ-I (NRZ-Invert), the change or
lack of change in the level of the voltage determines the value of
the bit. If there is no change, the bit is 0; if there is a change, the
bit is 1.

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4-9
 Polar Schemes Cont..
• Let us compare these two schemes based on the criteria
we previously defined.
• Although baseline wandering is a problem for both
variations, it is twice as severe in NRZ-L. If there is a
long sequence of 0s or 1s in NRZ-L. The receiver might
have difficulty discerning the bit value.
• In NRZ-I this problem occurs only for a long sequence
of 0s. If somehow we can eliminate the long sequence of
0s, we can avoid baseline wandering.

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• The synchronization problem (sender and receiver
clocks are not synchronized) also exists in both
schemes.
• Again, this problem is more serious in NRZ-L
than in NRZ-I. While a long sequence of 0s can
cause a problem in both schemes, a long sequence
of 1s affects only NRZ-L.

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 Return-to-Zero (RZ)
• The main problem with NRZ encoding occurs when the sender
and receiver clocks are not synchronized. The receiver does not
know when one bit has ended and the next bit is starting. One
solution is the return-to-zero (RZ) scheme, which uses three
values: positive, negative, and zero.
• In RZ, the signal changes not between bits but during the bit.
• The main disadvantage of RZ encoding is that it requires two signal
changes to encode a bit and therefore occupies greater bandwidth.
• Another problem is the complexity: RZ uses three levels of voltage,
which is more complex to create and discern.

4-12
 Biphase: Manchester and Differential
Manchester
• The idea of RZ (transition at the middle of the bit) and the idea of
NRZ-L are combined into the Manchester scheme.
• In Manchester encoding, the duration of the bit is divided into two
halves. The voltage remains at one level during the first half and
moves to the other level in the second half. The transition at the
middle of the bit provides synchronization.

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Differential Manchester, on the other hand, combines the
ideas of RZ and NRZ-I.
•There is always a transition at the middle of the bit, but
the bit values are determined at the beginning of the bit.
•If the next bit is 0, there is a transition; if the next bit is 1,
there is none.

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• The Manchester scheme overcomes several problems associated
with NRZ-L, and differential Manchester overcomes several
problems associated with NRZ-I.
• First, there is no baseline wandering.
• There is no DC component because each bit has a positive
and negative voltage contribution.
• The only drawback is the signal rate.
• The signal rate for Manchester and differential Manchester
is double that for NRZ
• The reason is that there is always one transition at the
middle of the bit and maybe one transition at the end of
each bit.

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 Bipolar Schemes
• In bipolar encoding (sometimes called multilevel binary),
there are three voltage levels: positive, negative, and zero.
• The voltage level for one data element is at zero, while the
voltage level for the other element alternates between
positive and negative.
• A common bipolar encoding scheme is called bipolar
alternate mark inversion (AMI). In the term alternate
mark inversion, the word mark comes from telegraphy and
means 1. So AMI means alternate 1 inversion. A neutral
zero voltage represents binary 0. Binary 1s are represented
by alternating positive and negative voltages.
4-16
• A variation of AMI encoding is called pseudoternary in
which the 1 bit is encoded as a zero voltage and the 0 bit is
encoded as alternating positive and negative voltages.

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Multilevel Schemes

4-18
Transmission Modes

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 Parallel Transmission
• Use n wires to send n bits at one time synchronously
• Advantage: speed
• Disadvantage: cost ⇒ Limited to short distances

4-20
 Serial Transmission
• On communication channel
• Advantage: reduced cost
• Parallel/serial converter is required
• Three ways: asynchronous, synchronous or isochronous

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 Asynchronous Transmission
• Use start bit (0) and stop bits (1s)
• A gap between two bytes: idle state or stop bits
• It means asynchronous at byte level
• Must still be synchronized at bit level
• Good for low-speed communications (terminal)

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 Synchronous Transmission
• Bit stream is combined into “frames”
• Special sequence of 1/0 between frames: No gap
• Timing is important in midstream
• Byte synchronization in the data link layer
• Advantage: speed ⇒ high-speed transmission

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