LECTURE-6, CASE-3 DIGITAL DATA, DIGITAL SIGNAL

BSc (Hon), Department of Space Science

The simplest form of digital encoding of digital data is to assign one voltage level to binary one and other voltage
level to binary zero. Common encoding schemes are Non-return-to-zero (NRZ), return-to-zero (RZ), Manchester,
Differential Manchester, and Bipolar AMI etc.

There are many reasons for using digital coding. Each of the codes offers one or more of the following advantages:

1- Spectrum shaping and relocation without modulation or filtering. This is important in telephone line
applications, for example, where the transfer characteristic has heavy attenuation below 300 Hz.
2- Bit Clock Recovery can be simplified.
3- DC component can be eliminated; this allows AC (capacitor or transformer)
4- Coupling Between Stages (as in telephone lines). Can control baseline wander (baseline wander shifts the
position of the signal waveform relative to the detector threshold and leads to severe erosion of noise
margin).
5- Error Detection capabilities.
6- Bandwidth Usage; the possibility of transmitting at a higher rate than other schemes over the same
bandwidth.

NON-RETURN TO ZERO (NRZ)

Non-return to zero encoding is commonly used in slow speed communications interfaces for both synchronous and
asynchronous transmission. Using NRZ, a logic 1 bit is sent as a high value and a logic 0 bit is sent as a low value.

A problem arises when using NRZ to encode a synchronous link, which may have long runs of consecutive bits with
the same value. The figure below illustrates the problem that would arise if NRZ encoding were used. In Ethernet
for example, there is no control over the number of 1's or 0's which may sent consecutively. There could potentially
be thousands of 1's or 0's in sequence. If the encoded data contains long 'runs' of logic 1's or 0's, this does not
result in any bit transitions. The lack of transitions prevents the receiver from reliably regenerating the clock
making it impossible to detect the boundaries of the received bits at the receiver. This is the reason why
Manchester coding is used in Ethernet LANs.

A long run of bits with the same value results in no transitions on the cable when NRZ encoding is used

ADVANTAGE
1- Less Bandwidth Required: The NRZ code requires only half the bandwidth required by the Manchester code.

DISADVANTAGES
Lack The Timing Synchronization: The transmitter and receiver lack the timing synchronization: No two clocks
can be exact even in milliseconds.
DC Blocking: The components block the direct current(DC) so as to stop heat generation. This results in some
loss of data.

1
RETURN-TO-ZERO (RZ)
Return-to-zero (RZ) describes a line code used in telecommunications signals in which the signal drops (returns) to
zero between each pulse. This takes place even if a number of consecutive zeros or ones occur in the signal. This
means that a separate clock does not need to be sent alongside the signal. The signal is self-clocking. A variant,
Return-to-zero, inverted, swaps the signal values for one and zero.

The binary signal is encoded using rectangular pulses with polar return-to-zero code

NON-RETURN-TO-ZERO INVERTED (NRZI)

Non return to zero, inverted (NRZI) is a method of mapping a binary signal to a physical signal for transmission
over some transmission media. The two level NRZI signal has a transition at a clock boundary, if the bit being
transmitted is a logical one, and does not have a transition if the bit being transmitted is a logical zero.

The binary signal is encoded using rectangular pulses with polar non-return-to-zero inverting code. This is the code
used on compact discs, USB, and on fiber Ethernet working at 100-Mbit/s (100Base-FX). eg. When the data stream
is "01001101", lets assume the initial state to be '1', then transmitted bit stream in NRZI will be "10001001".
Similarly if the initial state were '0', then transmitted bit stream will be "01110110".

MANCHESTER CODING
Manchester encoding is a synchronous clock encoding technique used by the physical layer to encode the clock and
data of a synchronous bit stream. In this technique, the actual binary data to be transmitted over the cable are not
sent as a sequence of logic 1's and 0's (known technically as Non Return to Zero (NRZ)). Instead, the bits are
translated into a slightly different format that has a number of advantages over using straight binary encoding (i.e.
NRZ).
Manchester encoding follows the rules shown below:

Original Data Value Sent

Logic 0 0 to 1 (upward transition at bit centre)
Logic 1 1 to 0 (downward transition at bit centre)

The following diagram shows a typical Manchester encoded signal with the corresponding binary representation of
the data (1,1,0,1,0,0) being sent.

2
In the Manchester encoding shown, a logic 0 is indicated by a 0 to 1 transition at the centre of the bit and a logic 1
is indicated by a 1 to 0 transition at the centre of the bit. Note that signal transitions do not always occur at the 'bit
boundaries' (the division between one bit and another), but that there is always a transition at the centre of each
bit

A Manchester encoded signal contains frequent level transitions which allow the receiver to extract the clock signal
using a Digital Phase Locked Loop (DPLL) and correctly decode the value and timing of each bit. To allow reliable
operation using a DPLL, the transmitted bit stream must contain a high density of bit transitions. Manchester
encoding ensures this, allowing the receiving DPLL to correctly extract the clock signal.

The penalty for introducing frequent transitions is that the Manchester coded signal consumes more bandwidth
than the original signal (in NRZ). For a 10 Mbps LAN, the signal spectrum lies between the 5 and 20 MHz.
Manchester encoding is used as the physical layer of an Ethernet LAN, where the additional bandwidth is not a
significant issue.

EXAMPLE OF MANCHESTER ENCODING

The pattern of bits " 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 " encodes to " 01 10 10 10 10 01 01 10".

BENEFITS OF MANCHESTER CODING

1- Least Bandwidth: Manchester coding require the least amount of bandwidth compared to the other Codes
(Unipolar, Polar, etc.).
2- Narrow Bandwidth: Manchester coding requires narrow bandwidth as it requires 2 frequencies: the base
carrier and the carrier frequency. All other types of line coding require a range from 0 hertz to the maximum
transfer rate frequency.
3- Clocking Mechanism: In the Manchester Code, there is a transition at the middle of each bit period. The
mid-bit transition serves as a clocking mechanism and also as data.
4- No DC Component: Manchester Encoding has no DC component and there is always a transition available for
synchronizing receive and transmit clocks.

DIFFERENTIAL MANCHESTER CODING

In differential Manchester coding there is transition in the middle of bit interval. For bit 0 transition occurs at the
beginning of the interval. And for bit 1 no transition occurs at the beginning of the interval.

3
BIPOLAR ALTERNATE MARK INVERSION (AMI)
Binary 1’s are represented by alternating positive or negative values. The binary 0 is represented by a zero level.
Bit 0 is represented by no signal and bit 1 is represented by positive or negative levels, alternating for successive
1’s.

BIPOLAR WITH 8 ZERO SUBSTITUTION (B8ZS)

This code is the same as bipolar AMI, except that any string of 8 zeros is replaced by a string with 2 code violations
(violation of the rule of alternating positive and negative levels).
– If the octet of zeros occurs and the last preceding voltage pulse was positive, code as 000+-0-+
– If the octet of zeros occurs and the last preceding pulse was negative, code as 000-+0+-
This causes 2 violations of AMI code, which is unlikely to occur as a result of noise. The receiver detects and
interprets this as 8 0’s.

HIGH DENSITY BIPOLAR 3 ZEROS (HDB3)

Any string of 4 zeros is replaced by a string with one code violation (violation of the rule of alternating positive and
negative levels). The last element of the filling sequence is a code violation, with the 2 middle elements 0’s. The
first element of the filling sequence is either a 0 or a 1 so that the polarity of the code violation is different from the
polarity of the last violation. Bipolar AMI, B8ZS and HDB3 coding are illustrated in the diagram below

4
COMPARISON OF MODULATION TECHNIQUES
There are three predominant methods of encoding a transmission signal. Amplitude modulation (AM), and
frequency modulation (FM) are both analog modulation schemes. The third method is digital modulation. The Table
1 outlines the basic characteristics of the three modulation schemes.

Table 1 - Comparison of AM, FM, and Digital Encoding Techniques

Parameter AM FM Digital
Signal-to-Noise Ratio Low-to-Moderate Moderate-High High
Performance vs.
Sensitive Tolerant Invariant
Attenuation
Transmitter Cost Moderate-High Moderate High
Receiver Cost Moderate Moderate-High High
Receiver Gain
Often Required Not Required Not Required
Adjustment
No Adjustments No Adjustments
Installation Adjustments Requires
Required Required
Multichannel Require High Linearity
Fewer Channels Good
Capabilities Optics
Performance Over
Moderate Excellent Excellent
Time
Environmental Factors Moderate Excellent Excellent