Gonzales, Carol Anne D. DOP: Sept.

19, 2007
Communications Theory I DOS: Sept. 26, 2007

DIGITAL DATA
 ANALYSIS:

The term digital signal is used to refer to more than one concept. It can refer to
discrete-time signals that are digitized, or to the waveform signals in a digital system.
Digital signals are digital representations of discrete-time signals, which are often derived
from analog signals.

An analog signal is a datum that changes over time—say, the temperature at a

given location; the depth of a certain point in a pond; or the amplitude of the voltage at
some node in a circuit—that can be represented as a mathematical function, with time as
the free variable (abscissa) and the signal itself as the dependent variable (ordinate). A
discrete-time signal is a sampled version of an analog signal: the value of the datum is
noted at fixed intervals (for example, every microsecond) rather than continuously.

In most applications, digital signals are represented as binary numbers, so their

precision of quantization is measured in bits. Suppose, for example, that we wish to
measure a signal to two significant decimal digits. Since seven bits, or binary digits, can
record 128 discrete values (viz., from 0 to 127), those seven bits are more than sufficient
to express a range of one hundred values.

In computer architecture and other digital systems, a waveform that switches

between two voltage levels representing the two states of a Boolean value (0 and 1) is
referred to as a digital signal, even though it is an analog voltage waveform, since it is
interpreted in terms of only two levels.The clock signal is a special digital signal that is
used to synchronize digital circuits. The image shown can be considered the waveform of
a clock signal. Logic changes are triggered either by the rising edge or the falling edge.
Gonzales, Carol Anne D. DOP: Sept. 19, 2007
Communications Theory I DOS: Sept. 26, 2007

SHIFT KEYING
 ANALYSIS:

Amplitude-shift keying (ASK) is a form of modulation that represents digital data

as variations in the amplitude of a carrier wave. The amplitude of an analog carrier signal
varies in accordance with the bit stream (modulating signal), keeping frequency and
phase constant. The level of amplitude can be used to represent binary logic 0s and 1s.
We can think of a carrier signal as an ON or OFF switch. In the modulated signal, logic 0
is represented by the absence of a carrier, thus giving OFF/ON keying operation and
hence the name given.

Like AM, ASK is also linear and sensitive to atmospheric noise, distortions,
propagation conditions on different routes in PSTN, etc. Both ASK modulation and
demodulation processes are relatively inexpensive. The ASK technique is also commonly
used to transmit digital data over optical fiber. For LED transmitters, binary 1 is
represented by a short pulse of light and binary 0 by the absence of light. Laser
transmitters normally have a fixed "bias" current that causes the device to emit a low light
level. This low level represents binary 0, while a higher-amplitude lightwave represents
binary 1.

The simplest and most common form of ASK operates as a switch, using the
presence of a carrier wave to indicate a binary one and its absence to indicate a binary
zero. This type of modulation is called on-off keying, and is used at radio frequencies to
transmit Morse code (referred to as continuous wave operation). More sophisticated
encoding schemes have been developed which represent data in groups using additional
amplitude levels. For instance, a four-level encoding scheme can represent two bits with
each shift in amplitude; an eight-level scheme can represent three bits; and so on. These
forms of amplitude-shift keying require a high signal-to-noise ratio for their recovery, as
by their nature much of the signal is transmitted at reduced power