Telecommunication is communication at a distance by technological means,

particularly through electrical signals or electromagnetic waves. The word is often

used in its plural form, telecommunications, because it involves many different
technologies.
Early means of communicating over a distance included visual signals, such as
beacons, smoke signals, semaphore telegraphs, signal flags, and optical heliographs.
Other examples of pre-modern long-distance communication included audio
messages such as coded drumbeats, lung-blown horns, and loud whistles. Modern
technologies for long-distance communication usually involve electrical and
electromagnetic technologies, such as telegraph, telephone, and teleprinter, networks,
radio, microwave transmission, fiber optics, and communications satellites.
revolution in wireless communication began in the first decade of the !"th
century with the pioneering developments in radio communications by #uglielmo
Marconi, who won the $obel %ri&e in %hysics in '("(. Other highly notable pioneering
inventors and developers in the field of electrical and electronic telecommunications
include )harles *heatstone and +amuel Morse,telegraph-, lexander #raham .ell
,telephone-, Edwin rmstrong, and /ee de 0orest ,radio-, as well as 1ohn /ogie .aird
and %hilo 0arnsworth ,television-.
2igital systems have many benefits than analog systems. 3n digital
communication, the information being transferred is represented in digital form, most
commonly as binary digits, or bits. This is in contrast to analog information, which
takes on a se4uence of values. *e define communication as information transfer
between different points in space or time, where the term information is loosely
employed to cover standard formats that we are all familiar with, such as voice, audio,
video, data files, web pages, and others. Examples of communication between two
points in space include a telephone conversation, accessing an 3nternet website from
our home or office computer, or tuning in to a T5 or radio station. Examples of
communication between two points in time include accessing a storage device, such
as a record, )2, 252, or hard drive. 6owever, we typically consume information in
analog form7 for example, reading a book or a computer screen, listening to a
conversation or to music. 3n the design of large and complex digital systems, it is often
necessary to have one device communicate digital information to and from other
devices. One advantage of digital information is that it tends to be far more resistant
to transmitted and interpreted errors than information symboli&ed in an analog
medium. This accounts for the clarity of digitally-encoded telephone connections,
compact audio disks, and for much of the enthusiasm in the engineering community
for digital communications technology. 6owever, digital communication has its own
uni4ue pitfalls, and there are multitudes of different and incompatible ways in which it
can be sent. *hy, then, is the world going digital8 *e consider this issue after first
discussing the components of a typical digital communication system.
+ource encoder 3nformation theory tells us that any information can be effi-
ciently represented in digital form up to arbitrary precision, with the number of bits
re4uired for the representation depending on the re4uired fidelity. The task of the source
encoder is to accomplish this in a practical setting, reducing the redundancy in the
original information in a manner that takes into account the end user9s re4uirements.
0or example, voice can be intelligibly encoded into a : kbit;s bitstream for severely
bandwidth constrained settings, or sent at <: kbit;s for conventional wireline telephony.
+imilarly, audio encoding rates have a wide range = M%> players for consumer
applications may employ typical bit rates of '!? kbit;s, while high-end digital audio
studio e4uipment may re4uire around ten times higher bit rates. *hile the preceding
examples refer to lossy source coding ,in which a controlled amount of information is
discarded-, lossless compression of data files can also lead to substantial reductions in
the amount of data to be transmitted.
)hannel encoder and modulator *hile the source encoder eliminates
unwanted redundancy in the information to be sent, the channel encoder introduces
redundancy in a controlled fashion in order to combat errors that may arise from
channel imperfections and noise. The output of the channel encoder is a codeword
from a channel code, which is designed specifically for the anticipated channel
characteristics and the re4uirements dictated by higher network layers. 0or example,
for applications that are delay insensitive, the channel code may be optimi&ed for error
detection, followed by a re4uest for retransmission. On the other hand, for real-time
applications for which retransmissions are not possible, the channel code may be
optimi&ed for error correction. Often, a combination of error correction and detection
may be employed. The modulator translates the discrete symbols output by the
channel code into an analog waveform that can be transmitted over the physical
channel. The physical channel for an ?"!.''b based wireless local area network link is,
for example, a band of !" M6& width at a fre4uency of approximately !.: #6&. 0or this
example, the modulator translates a bitstream of rate ', !, @.@, or '' Mbit;s ,the rate
varies, depending on the channel conditions- into a waveform that fits within the
specified !" M6& fre4uency band.
)hannel The physical characteristics of communication channels can vary widely,
and good channel models are critical to the design of efficient commu- nication systems.
*hile receiver thermal noise is an impairment common to most communication
systems, the channel distorts the transmitted waveform in a manner that may differ
significantly in different settings. 0or wireline communication, the channel is well
modeled as a linear time-invariant sys- tem, and the transfer function in the band used
by the modulator can often be assumed to be known at the transmitter, based on
feedback obtained from the receiver at the link set-up phase. 0or example, in high-
speed digital subscriber line ,2+/- systems over twisted pairs, such channel feedback
is exploited to send more information at fre4uencies at which the channel gain is larger.
On the other hand, for wireless mobile communication, the channel may vary because
of relative mobility between the transmitter and receiver, which affects both transmitter
design ,accurate channel feedback is typically not available- and receiver design ,the
channel must either be estimated, or methods that do not re4uire accurate channel
estimates must be used-. 0ur- ther, since wireless is a broadcast medium, multiple-
access interference due to simultaneous transmissions must be avoided either by
appropriate resource sharing mechanisms, or by designing signaling waveforms and
receivers to provide robust performance in the presence of interference.
2emodulator and channel decoder The demodulator processes the analog
received waveform, which is a distorted and noisy version of the transmitted waveform.
One of its key tasks is synchroni&ationA the demodulator must account for the fact that
the channel can produce phase, fre4uency, and time shifts, and that the clocks and
oscillators at the transmitter and receiver are not synchroni&ed a priori. nother task
may be channel e4uali&ation, or compensation of the intersymbol interference induced
by a dispersive channel. The ultimate goal of the demodulator is to produce tentative
decisions on the transmitted symbols to be fed to the channel decoder. These decisions
may be BhardC ,e.g., the demodulator guesses that a particular bit is " or '-, or BsoftC
,e.g., the demodulator estimates the likelihood of a particular bit being " or '-. The
channel decoder then exploits the redundancy in the channel to code to improve upon
the estimates from the demodulator, with its final goal being to produce an estimate of
the se4uence of information symbols that were the input to the channel encoder. *hile
the demodulator and decoder operate independently in traditional receiver designs,
recent advances in coding and communication theory show that iterative information
exchange between the demodulator and the decoder can dramatically improve
performance.
+ource decoder. The source decoder converts the estimated information bits
produced by the channel decoder into a format that can be used by the end user. This
may or may not be the same as the original format that was the input to the source
encoder. 0or example, the original source encoder could have translated speech into
text, and then encoded it into bits, and the source decoder may then display the text to
the end user, rather than trying to reproduce the original speech.
*e are now ready to consider why the world is going digital. The two key
advantages of the digital communication approach to the design of transmis- sion and
storage media are as followsA
+ource-independent design Once information is transformed into bits by the
source encoder, it can be stored or transmitted without interpretationA as long as the bits
are recovered, the information they represent can be recon- structed with the same
degree of precision as originally encoded. This means that the storage or
communication medium can be independent of the source characteristics, so that a
variety of information sources can share the same communication medium. This leads
to significant economies of scale in the design of individual communication links as well
as communication networks comprising many links, such as the 3nternet. 3ndeed, when
information has to traverse multiple communication links in a network, the source
encoding and decoding in 0igure '.' would typically be done at the end points alone,
with the network transporting the information bits put out by the source encoder without
interpretation.
)hannel-optimi&ed design 0or each communication link, the channel encoder or
decoder and modulator or demodulator can be optimi&ed for the specific channel
characteristics. +ince the bits being transported are regener- ated at each link, there is
no Bnoise accumulation.C
The preceding framework is based on a separation of source coding and channel
coding. $ot only does this separation principle yield practical advan- tages as
mentioned above, but we are also reassured by the source=channel separation theorem
of information theory that it is theoretically optimal for point-to-point links ,under mild
conditions-. *hile the separation approach is critical to obtaining the economies of
scale driving the growth of digital communication systems, we note in passing that Doint
source and channel coding can yield superior performance, both in theory and practice,
in certain settings ,e.g., multiple-access and broadcast channels, or applications with
delay or complexity constraints-.
2ata ,mainly but not exclusively informational- has been sent via non-electronic
,e.g. optical, acoustic, mechanical- means since the advent of communication. nalog
signal data has been sent electronically since the advent of the telephone. 6owever, the
first data electromagnetic transmission applications in modern time were
telegraphy and teletypewriters, which are both digital signals. The fundamental
theoretical work in data transmission and information theory by 6arry $y4uist, Ealph
6artley, )laude +hannon and others during the early !"th century, was done with these
applications in mind. 2ata transmission is utili&ed in computers in computer buses and
for communication with peripheral e4uipment via parallel ports and serial ports such
as E+-!>!, 0irewire and F+.. The principles of data transmission are also utili&ed in
storage media for Error detection and correction since '(@'. 2ata transmission is
utili&ed in computer networking e4uipment such as modems, local area networks ,/$-
adapters, repeaters, hubs, links, wireless-. 3n telephone networks, digital communication
is utili&ed for transferring many phone calls over the same copper cable or fiber cable by
means of %ulse code modulation ,%)M-, i.e. sampling and digiti&ation, in combination
with Time division multiplexing ,T2M-. Telephone exchanges have become digital and
software controlled, facilitating many value added services. 0or example the first GE
telephone exchange was presented in '(H<. +ince the late '(?"s, digital
communication to the end user has been possible using 3ntegrated +ervices 2igital
$etwork ,3+2$- services. +ince the end of the '(("s, broadband access techni4ues
such as 2+/, )able modems, fiber-to-the-building ,0TT.- and fiber-to-the-
home ,0TT6- have become widespread to small offices and homes. The current
tendency is to replace traditional telecommunication services by packet mode
communication such as 3% telephony and 3%T5. Transmitting analog signals digitally
allows for greater signal processing capability. The ability to process a communications
signal means that errors caused by random processes can be detected and corrected.
2igital signals can also be sampled instead of continuously monitored.
The multiplexing of multiple digital signals is much simpler to the multiplexing of analog
signals. .ecause of all these advantages, and because recent advances
in wideband communication channels and solid-state electronics have allowed scientists
to fully reali&e these advantages, digital communications has grown 4uickly. 2igital
communications is 4uickly edging out analog communication because of the vast
demand to transmit computer data and the ability of digital communications to do so.
The digital revolution has also resulted in many digital telecommunication applications
where the principles of data transmission are applied. Examples are second-generation
and later cellular telephony, video conferencing, digital T5, digital radio, telemetry, etc.
baseband signal ,Idigital-over-digitalI transmission-A se4uence of electrical
pulses or light pulses produced by means of a line coding scheme such as
Manchester coding. This is typically used in serial cables, wired local area networks
such as Ethernet, and in optical fiber communication. 3t results in a pulse amplitude
modulated ,%M- signal, also known as a pulse train.
passband signal ,Idigital-over-analogI transmission-A modulated sine wave
signal representing a digital bit-stream. $ote that this is in some textbooks considered
as analog transmission, but in most books as digital transmission. The signal is
produced by means of a digital modulation method such as %+J, KM or 0+J. The
modulation and demodulation is carried out by modem e4uipment. This is used in
wireless communication, and over telephone network local-loop and cable-T5
networks.
+erial and %arallel Transmission
3n telecommunications, serial transmission is the se4uential transmission of
signal elements of a group representing a character or other entity of data. 2igital
serial transmissions are bits sent over a single wire, fre4uency or optical path
se4uentially. .ecause it re4uires less signal processing and less chances for error
than parallel transmission, the transfer rate of each individual path may be faster. This
can be used over longer distances as a check digit or parity bit can be sent along it
easily.
3n telecommunications, parallel transmission is the simultaneous transmission
of the signal elements of a character or other entity of data. 3n digital communications,
parallel transmission is the simultaneous transmission of related signal elements over
two or more separate paths. Multiple electrical wires are used which can transmit
multiple bits simultaneously, which allows for higher data transfer rates than can be
achieved with serial transmission. This method is used internally within the computer,
for example the internal buses, and sometimes externally for such things as printers,
The maDor issue with this is IskewingI because the wires in parallel data transmission
have slightly different properties ,not intentionally- so some bits may arrive before
others, which may corrupt the message. parity bit can help to reduce this. 6owever,
electrical wire parallel data transmission is therefore less reliable for long distances
because corrupt transmissions are far more likely.
synchronous and +ynchronous 2ata Transmission
synchronous transmission uses start and stop bits to signify the beginning
bitLcitation neededM +)33 character would actually be transmitted using '" bits. 0or
example, I"'"" """'I would become I' "'"" """' "I. The extra one ,or &ero,
depending on parity bit- at the start and end of the transmission tells the receiver first
that a character is coming and secondly that the character has ended. This method of
transmission is used when data are sent intermittently as opposed to in a solid
stream. 3n the previous example the start and stop bits are in bold. The start and stop
bits must be of opposite polarity. This allows the receiver to recogni&e when the
second packet of information is being sent.
+ynchronous transmission uses no start and stop bits, but instead
synchroni&es transmission speeds at both the receiving and sending end of the
transmission using clock signal,s- built into each component. continual stream of
data is then sent between the two nodes. 2ue to there being no start and stop bits the
data transfer rate is 4uicker although more errors will occur, as the clocks will
eventually get out of sync, and the receiving device would have the wrong time that
had been agreed in the protocol for sending;receiving data, so some bytes could
become corrupted ,by losing bits-. *ays to get around this problem include re-
synchroni&ation of the clocks and use of check digits to ensure the byte is correctly
interpreted and received
*hen the conversion takes place between analog and digital it becomes the
base of all communication technologies. 1ust about all hardware uses digital so it is
very important to convert analog signals into digital to perform support for hardware
applications. ll hardware devices are aimed to be digital. Therefore, devices in the
future will not need conversion because they will already be digital. There are many
examples of analog to digital like a scan picture. The analog information provided by
the light present in the picture is converted to digital signal to complete the process.
The digital conversion use the means of binary coding for data transmission and
output. The digital signals work only by using only two numbers known as one and
&ero ,nalog to 2igital-. *hen users convert the signal to digital it allows plenty of
data to be stored on a single device. This help save bandwidths and space. There are
seven ways that signals are structured7 direct conversion, ramp compare, successive
approximation, delta encoded, pipeline, time stretch, and sigma delta. *hen the
hardware uses one of those signals the destination hardware will find the best data
encryption and utili&ation. The most common analog to digital conversion are the
digital T5s, cameras, and other video captures. The newer microcontrollers9
technologies are used to convert analog to digital by reducing the si&e of the chip to
get a better signal.
)ommunication )hannels
3n telecommunication, a data transmission circuit is the transmission media and
the intervening e4uipment used for the data transfer between data terminal
e4uipments ,2TEs-. data transmission circuit includes any re4uired signal
conversion e4uipment. data transmission circuit may transfer information in ,a- one
direction only, ,b- either direction but one way at a time, or ,c- both directions
simultaneously.
+implex communication refers to communication that occurs in one direction
only. Two definitions have arisen over timeA a common definition, which is used in
$+3 standard and elsewhere, and an 3TF-T definition. The 3TF definition of simplex
is termed Ihalf duplexI in other contexts.
3n a half-duplex system, in contrast, each party can communicate to the other,
but not simultaneously7 the communication is one direction at a time. n example of a
half-duplex device is a walkie-talkie two-way radio that has a Ipush-to-talkI button7
when the local user wants to speak to the remote person they push this button, which
turns on the transmitter but turns off the receiver, so they cannot hear the remote
person. To listen to the other person they release the button, which turns on the
receiver but turns off the transmitter.
3n a full duplex system, both parties can communicate to the other
simultaneously. n example of a full-duplex device is a telephone7 the parties at both
ends of a call can speak and be heard by the other party simultaneously. The
earphone reproduces the speech of the remote party as the microphone transmits the
speech of the local party, because there is a two-way communication channel
between them.
point-to-point connection refers to a communications connection between
two nodes or endpoints. n example is a telephone call, in which one telephone is
connected with one other, and what is said by one caller can only be heard by the
other. This is contrasted with a point-to-multipoint or broadcast communication
topology, in which many nodes can receive information transmitted by one node.
Other examples of point-to-point communications links are leased lines, microwave
relay links, and two way radio. Examples of point-to-multipoint communications
systems are radio and television broadcasting.
multidrop bus ,M2.- is a computer bus in which all components are
connected to the electrical circuit. process of arbitration determines which device
sends information at any point. The other devices listen for the data they are intended
to receive. Multidrop buses have the advantage of simplicity and extensibility.
6owever, modern +2EM chips exemplify the problem of electrical impedance
discontinuity. 0ully .uffered 23MM is an alternative approach to connecting multiple
2EM modules to a memory controller. +ince !""", multidrop standards such as %)3
and %arallel T are increasingly being replaced by point-to-point systems such as
%)3 Express and +T.
%roperties of 2igital vs nalog signals
2igital information has certain properties that distinguish it from analog
communication methods. These include
+ynchroni&ation = digital communication uses specific synchroni&ation se4uences for
determining synchroni&ation.
/anguage = digital communications re4uires a language which should be possessed
by both sender and receiver and should specify meaning of symbol se4uences.
Errors = disturbances in analog communication causes errors in actual intended
communication but disturbances in digital communication does not cause errors
enabling error free communication. Errors should be able to substitute, insert or
delete symbols to be expressed.
)opying = analog communication copies are 4uality wise not as good as their
originals while due to error free digital communication, copies can be made
indefinitely.
#ranularity = for a continuously variable analog value to be represented in digital form
there occur 4uanti&ation error which is difference in actual analog value and digital
representation and this property of digital communication is known as granularity.
2ifferences in Fsage in E4uipment
Many devices come with built in translation facilities from analog to digital.
Microphones and speaker are perfect examples of analog devices. nalog technology
is cheaper but there is a limitation of si&e of data that can be transmitted at a given
time.
2igital technology has revolutioni&ed the way most of the e4uipments work.
2ata is converted into binary code and then reassembled back into original form at
reception point. +ince these can be easily manipulated, it offers a wider range of
options. 2igital e4uipment is more expensive than analog e4uipment.
)omparison of nalog vs 2igital Kuality
2igital devices translate and reassemble data and in the process are more
prone to loss of 4uality as compared to analog devices. )omputer advancement has
enabled use of error detection and error correction techni4ues to remove
disturbances artificially from digital signals and improve 4uality.
2ifferences in pplications
2igital technology has been most efficient in cellular phone industry. nalog
phones have become redundant even though sound clarity and 4uality was good.
nalog technology comprises of natural signals like human speech. *ith digital
technology this human speech can be saved and stored in a computer. Thus digital
technology opens up the hori&on for endless possible uses.
Modulation
Modulation refers to the representation of digital information in terms of analog
waveforms that can be transmitted over physical channels. simple example is
depicted in 0igure !.', where a se4uence of bits is translated into a waveform. The
original information may be in the form of bits taking the values " and '. These bits
are translated into symbols using a bit-to-symbol map, which in this case could be as
simple as mapping the bit " to the symbol N', and the bit ' to the symbol O'. These
symbols are then mapped to an analog waveform by multiplying with translates of a
transmit waveform ,a rectangular pulse in the example shown-A this is an example of
linear modulation. 0or the bit-to-symbol map Dust described, the bitstream encoded
into the analog waveform is "''"""'"'"". *hile a rectangular time limited transmit in
practice, the analog waveforms employed for modulation are often constrained in the
fre4uency domain. +uch constraints arise either from the physical characteristics of
the communication medium, or from external factors such as government regulation
of spectrum usage. Thus, we typically classify channels, and the signals transmitted
over them, in terms of the fre4uency bands they occupy.