Chapter

Overview of Analog and

Digital Technologies

N. Ganesan, Ph.D. , All rights reserved.

Chapter Objectives

Explain the basic concepts of analog

and digital technology
Show the importance of frequency
spectrum to communication along with
an explanation of the concept of
bandwidth
Give an overview of the interface
technology between analog and digital
technology
Describe the process of digitizing data,
audio, image and video
Discuss quality retention in digital
transmission

Module

Overview of Analog
Technology

N. Ganesan, Ph.D. , All rights reserved.

Areas of Application
Old telephone networks
Most television broadcasting at
present
Radio broadcasting

Analog Signals: The Basics

Signal
Amplitude

Frequency =
Cycles/Second

A typical
sine wave
Time
Cycle

Amplitude and Cycle

Amplitude
Distance above reference line

Cycle
One complete wave

Frequency
Frequency
Cycles per second
Hertz is the unit used for expressing
frequency

Frequency spectrum
Defines the bandwidth for different
analog communication technologies

Information
Representation Using
Analog Signals
Information can be represented
using analog signals
Analog signals cannot be
manipulated easily
Analog signals must be digitized
for computer processing
They must also be presented in binary
form for computer processing

Analog to Digital
Conversion
1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0

A to D Converters, Digital
Signal Processors (DSP)
etc.

Data Transmission Using

Analog Technology

Computer

Modem
Digital
0s and 1s

Analog
0s and 1s

Digital-to-Analog Modulation
and vice versa

Voice Transmission
Example
Voice

Carrier Wave
AM Radio Transmission
Analog-to-Analog Modulation

End of Module

Module
Frequency Spectrum
and Bandwidth

N. Ganesan, Ph.D. , All rights reserved.

Frequency Spectrum
Defined
Available range of frequencies for
communication
Starts from low frequency
communication such as voice and
progresses to high frequency
communication such as satellite
communication
The spectrum spans the entire
bandwidth of communicable frequencies

Frequency Spectrum
Low Frequency

Voice

High Frequency
Radio
Frequency

Satellite
Transmission

MHz

MHz

KHz
Coaxial
Cable

Microwave

Frequency Spectrum
Low-end
Voice band

Middle
Microwave

High-end
Satellite communication

Signal Propagation
Low frequency
Omni-directional

High frequency (In general)

Unidirectional

Bandwidth Definition
Bandwidth, in general, represents
a range of frequencies
Bandwidth is 400 MHz

300 MHz

700 MHz

Usage of the Term

Bandwidth
To specify the communication
capacity
A medium such as a coaxial cable is
associated with a bandwidth

To indicate the bandwidth of a

technology
Voice grade circuits have a bandwidth
of 4 KHz (0-4000 Hz)

Digitization Consideration
Sample at twice the rate of
bandwidth for acceptable quality
digitization of voice
Sampling rate for voice transmission
is there 8000 Hz

If each sample is represented by 8bits, the bandwidth required for

transmission is 64000 bps
Approximately 64K bps

Communication Capacity
Bandwidth is indicative of the
communication capacity
Communication speed is
proportional to bandwidth
Shannon's law

Units used to represent bandwidth

are Hz, bps etc.

Coaxial Cable Example

Bandwidth of 300 MHz
Comparison with twisted pair
Higher bandwidth
Supports faster communication
speeds

Limiting Factors on
Communication Speed

Bandwidth

Communicati
on Speed

Technology

Impact of bandwidth and

Technology on Communication
Speed
Bandwidth limitation
Use better technology such as data
compression used in modems to
increase speed of communication

Bandwidth and technology

limitation
Move to higher bandwidth media such
as fiber cables

Speed Dependency on
Bandwidth and Technology
Higher Bandwidth
Medium 1

Technology

Medium 2

Medium 1 example can be shielded twisted

pair and medium 2 example can be fiber.

Implication
Whenever a new technology with
higher communication speed is
introduced, it is first introduced on
a medium of higher bandwidth
Example: Optical fiber

It is then moved to a widely used

medium with further advancement
of the technology
Example: Copper wire

End of Module

Module

An Overview of Digital
Technology

N. Ganesan, Ph.D. , All rights reserved.

Areas of Application
Computers
New telephone networks
Phased introduction of digital
television technology

Digital Technology
Basics
Digital signals that could be assigned
digital values

Digital computer technology

Digital signals
Binary representation
Encoded into ones and zeros

Digital Advantage
Processing using computer
technology
Programmable services
Better quality due to being able to
reconstruct exact digital patterns
at the receiving end
Faster communication speeds are
possible

Signal Strength

Digital Signal
1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0

Pulse

Pulse Duration

Time

Digital Terms

Pulse
Pulse duration
Pulse amplitude
Signal strength

Clock Speed and Pulse

Duration
MHz
Pulse
Duration

Clock Speed and

Execution Speed
Pulse duration is inversely
proportional to the clock
frequency
Faster the clock speed, the smaller
the pulse duration
Smaller the pulse duration, the
faster the execution in general

Clock Speed and

Communication Speed
Faster the clock speed, smaller the
pulse duration
Smaller the pulse duration, smaller
the time taken to transmit one bit
of information
Therefore, faster the clock speed
measured in MHz, faster the
communication speed measured in
Mbps in general

Clock Speed and Computer

Operation
Computer operations are timed by a
clock, namely by the clock speed
measured in HZ
Faster the speed, the smaller the pulse
duration
Computer operations are timed by the
pulse duration
Therefore, faster the clock speed, faster
the computer operation
A 3 GHz computer is faster than a 2 GHz
computer

End of Module

Module

Digital-to-Analog and
Analog-to-Digital Conversion

N. Ganesan, Ph.D. , All rights reserved.

The Need for Conversion

Analog-to-Digital Conversation
Connection of a computer to an
analog communication line

Digital-to-Digital Interface
Connection of a computer to a digital
ISDN line
Connection of different networks
using a router

Digital-to-Analog Interface
POTS
Comp.
Sys. 1

Digital
Serial
RS-232C

Modem

Analog
ITU V.90

Modem

Comp.
Sys. 2

Digital
Serial
RS-232C

Digital-to-Digital Interface

Comp.
Sys. 1

Digital
IEEE 802.3

DSL
Router

DSL
Router

Digital
Internet

Comp.
Sys. 2

Digital
IEEE 802.3

Digital to Digital Interface

Network 2

Router

Network 1

Digital to Digital Interface

In general, in digital to digital
interface, protocol conversion
takes place
Example: Connecting an Ethernet
network to a campus backbone
network using a router

End of Module

Module

Overview of Digitization of
Information

N. Ganesan, Ph.D. , All rights reserved.

Digitization of Information
Information need to be digitized for
computer processing and the
transmission of information

Components of
Information

Alphanumeric data
Image
Audio
Video

Digital Information
Processing
Data
Audio
Image
Video

Digitized
and
Encoded

Digital
Transmission

The Advantages of
Digitization
Information can be processed by
the computer
Easy transmission of information
over the Internet and other
computer networks
Minimize loss of quality during
transmission

End of Module

Module

Digitization Of Alphanumeric
Data

N. Ganesan, Ph.D. , All rights reserved.

The Basis
Alphanumeric data is digitized
using well established coding
systems

Codes Used in the

Digitization Of Data
Coding Standards
ASCII
EBCDIC
Unicode

ASCII Code example

A=1000001

The Unicode
Replaced the ASCII coding system
in microcomputers
All variations of the Latin language
English
European languages

Chinese and Japanese

18 Major languages
Eg: Tamil

Unicode Possibilities
It is a 16-bit code as opposed to
the ASCII code that is basically an
8-bit code
It is therefore possible to have
65,536 variations in UNICODE

Communication With ASCII

And EBCDIC
Latin languages can be
transmitted in coded form
Other languages
Bit-mapped image transmission
Requires considerably more
bandwidth
An exception is the use of true-type
fonts to display the characters of a
language not supported by ASCII

Communication With
Unicode
Binary encoded transmission
Latin languages
18 major languages
Chinese, Japanese etc.

Transmission itself requires less

bandwidth
Universal usability of software in all
the supported languages

Unicode Advantage in
WWW Transmissions

Tamil pages are transmitted in their binary encoded form.

Tamil
Web
Site
Site created using all
the tools such as the
MS-IIS.

Client
Internet Explorer
Browser retrieving
Tamil pages on a
client supporting

Transmission of Tamil
Pages as Images on WWW
Binary image
transmission of
Tamil pages.
Tamil
Web
Site
Web pages scanned and
stored as images.

Client

Internet Explorer
Browser retrieving Tamil
pages similar to images.

Using Downloaded Fonts

to Host and Transmit Tamil
Pages
Bandwidth
requirements are low.
Tamil
Web
Site

Binary encoded form.

Site created
with tools
such as MS-IIS.

Download and install

the Tamil fonts.

Client
Internet Explorer
retrieving Tamil
pages.

Foreign Language Web

Page Options
Store the page as an image
Use a font for the language, if
available
Use Unicode to develop the web
page

UNICODE Usage
Currently all the computers
support UNICODE
Also, the operating systems and
the applications also support
UNICODE
Both hardware and software
support is necessary for the
successful implementation of
UNICODE

End of Module

Module

Digitization Of Audio

N. Ganesan, Ph.D. , All rights reserved.

Digitization Of Audio:
Overview
Take samples of audio at predetermined time intervals known
as the sampling rate
Represent the sampled audio with
digital signals
Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM)

Encode signals into binary code

Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) that
incorporates PAM as well
Required for computer processing

Digitization of Audio: Pulse

Amplitude Modulation
(PAM)
Audio

Sampling Interval

Digital Signals
must further be
encoded into
binary signals for
computer
processing and

Digitization and Encoding of

Audio: Pulse Code
Modulation (PCM)
PCM is a two step process
First the audio is sampled and
represented by digital signals
The digital signals are then
encoded in binary form

Binary Encoding of Signals

in Pulse Code Modulation
(PCM)

PCM

1000
0110

0111

0110

6
1001
0101

The integer numbers have effectively

been coded into zeros and ones. The
ones and zeros now contain the audio
information encoded in a form that could
be processed by a computer.

Salient Points on the

Digitization Of Audio
Sampling rate and the number of
bits used for representing the
samples will determine the quality
of the audio
Quality is retained in transmission
because only codes are
transmitted
Audio can be recreated to the
original quality by extracting the

Sampling Factors
Sampling interval determined by
sampling frequency
Measured in Hz

Sampling depth
Measured in bits

Sampling channels
Mono or stereo, for example

Sampling Example
CD quality audio
44 KHz
16 Bits
Stereo

End of Module

Module
Audio Quality, Bandwidth and
Streaming

N. Ganesan, Ph.D. , All rights reserved.

Factors Affecting Quality

9
7

8
9

Sampling Interval

Number of
bits used for
binary
encoding.
Example: 4
bits allow 16
amplitude
variations to
be
represented.

Effect of Sampling
Frequency
Higher sampling frequency
Smaller sampling intervals
Frequent sampling
Better quality because the audio
pattern is captured better
Higher bandwidth required for
transmission
Higher disk space required for storage

Computation of Bandwidth
Requirement for
Transmission
Problem:
Compute the audio streaming rate for
a voice grade circuit given that the
number of bits used in the sampling is
8

Background information
A voice grade circuit has a bandwidth
of approximately 4000 Hz

General rule
For acceptable quality, the audio
must be sampled at twice the

Reason for Sampling at Twice

the Frequency
Two peaks in each cycle
Half of a cycle is above the datum line
The other half of the cycle is below
the datum line

Therefore, sample the audio at

twice the frequency rate

CD Sampling?
Sampling in this case is done for
higher quality
44 KHz
16-bits
Stereo

Problem Representation

79
57

68
79

57

46

8 bits are used enabling

256 amplitudes to
represent the human
voice which is considere
to be adequate.

1/8000 Seconds (8000 HZ twice the frequency of the

grade circuit)
or 2X4000 samples per second

Bandwidth Computation for

Voice
Number of samples
8000 per second

Number of bits per sample

8

Bandwidth requirement
8X8000 bps = 64,000 bps
Approximately 64K bps

64K bps is the speed of a single

ISDN (B) channel designed to carry

Bandwidth of Voice
Circuits
Generally speaking, the bandwidth
requirement for uncompressed
voice circuit is 64 Kbps
An example is the ISDN B
channel that was originally
intended to carry voice
Its bandwidth is 64 K bps

Examples in Audio Quality

and Bandwidth
Requirement
CD quality
44,100 Hz, 16 bit, Stereo
1376K bps

Radio quality
22,050 Hz, 8 bit, mono
176K bps

Telephone quality
11,025 Hz, 8bit, mono
88K bps

Recording Quality and

Bandwidth Requirement
Demonstration

Recording Used in this

Example
Settings for recording
11K Hz, 8 bit and mono

Audio bandwidth requirement is

88K bps
Streaming is required to send the
audio alone over the Internet
Approximate bandwidth required
for both video and audio is 133K
bps

Audio Transmission In
WWW

Audio streaming requires compression.

Web
Site

28-56K bps
Client

Real-time audio
broadcast support
using streaming
server module.

Receive audio using

Internet Explorer
and a plug-in to receive
the audio stream.

Delivery of Instruction
Over the WWW
Audio/Video streaming.

Web
Site

28-56K bps
Client

Store streamed audio/

Receive audio/video using
video using Windows Media. Internet Explorer and Media
Player.

Streaming Classroom
Lectures on CD
Bandwidth requirement as
computed earlier is

Internet Ramp Bandwidth

Computation
A T1 line operating at approximately 1.354M bps
can support approximately 10 connections in theory.

WWW

In practice, 7 connections which is 70 percent of 10

connections can be supported with due consideration
given to
bandwidth bottlenecks.

Types of Multimedia
Transmission
Unicasting
Multicasting
Broadcasting

Sampling Considerations
In Communications
Digital audio transmission

Sender

Receiver

Adjust quality (sampling interval and bit

representation) to suit bandwidth availability.

Audio Files
Audio can be stored in different
formats
Uncompressed or raw file format
(wav)
Compressed format
Streaming format
Streamed audio is also compressed
It is also designed for real-time delivery
of audio

Audio File Format

wav file format

Basic file format in audio storage or raw file

rm file format

Real audios streamed file format

Streamed file

wma file format

Microsofts audio streamed file format

Streamed file

mp3 file format

Compressed file

aac file format

End of Module

Module

Quality Retention in Digital

Transmission

N. Ganesan, Ph.D. , All rights reserved.

Quality Retention
Quality is retained in digital
transmission because only the
codes are transmitted
Quality is subject to some
deterioration in analog
transmission because the wave
pattern is transmitted

Analog Audio Transmission

Audio Prior
to Transmission

Audio with
Interference

Transmission
Audio After Filtering

Passage of Analog Audio

Over Analog Lines
Analog
Audio

Analog
Audio

Telephone

Telephone

Analog
Signals

Analog
Signals

Recreation of Audio from

Analog Signals
A difficult task
Complex algorithms are used to
filter noise etc. for better audio
transmission

Signal Passage in Digital

Audio Transmission
Encode
Audio
Recreate

Decode

Audio

Transmit

A Sample Digital Audio

Transmission Path
Analog
Audio

Analog
Audio

Sound
Card

Sound
Card

Digital
Audio

DSL
Modem
Digital
Network

Digital
Audio

DSL
Modem

Sound Generation
Sound is recreated at destination
Using FM synthesis
Using wave table generation

Noise is not an issue in digital

communication although it is an
issue in digital transmission
The reason, once again, is due to the
fact that only codes are transmitted in
digital transmission

Better Sound Generation

Wave table generation provides
better sound reproduction that FM
synthesis

Digital Advantage in Audio

Transmission

Only codes are transmitted

Original encoding is recreated
Original audio is reproduced
Again, sampling rate and number
of bits used in each sample will
determine the quality of audio
transmitted

Digitized Signal
Transmission Over Analog
Lines
Encode Sampled Signals

Audio
Recreate

Decode

Audio

Transmit

Sample Digital Audio

Transmission Path Over Analog
Lines
Analog
Audio

Analog
Audio

Sound
Card

Sound
Card

Digital
Audio

Modem
Analog
PSN

Digital
Audio

Modem

Audio Transmission In
WWW
Audio stream over analog/digital line.

Web
Site
Client
Real-time audio
Receive audio using
broadcast support
Internet Explorer
using Windows Media
streaming server module.and Windows Media Player.

Analog to Digital
Converter
A to D and D to A converter
The chip that is responsible for this
conversion is known as the DSP (Digital
Signal Processor) chip
It is used in sound cards, modems etc.
wherever there is a need for A to D and
D to A conversion
The mass use of this chip in various
devices has led to a drastic drop in the
price of the chip and the devices

Digital Signal Processor

(DSP)

DSP
Digital

Analog

End of Module

Module

Digitization Of Image

N. Ganesan, Ph.D. , All rights reserved.

Image Digitization
Image can be of the form black
and white, gray scales, color
Factors that influence the
digitization of image are as follows
Resolution measured in pixels
Color depth expressed in number of
color variations

Digitization Of Image:
Overview

Vertical Resolution

Horizontal Resolution

Pixel

Digitization of the Letter L

Number of bits
determine the
amount of
information
that could
be stored.

Digitization Of Image: The

Process
Divide the image into a grid of
pixels that may be considered as
the sampling points of the image
Digitize information on each pixel
Store and transmit

Resolution
Horizontal resolution
Number of horizontal pixels

Vertical resolution
Number of vertical pixels

Image resolution
Horizontal by vertical resolution
Ex: 640 by 480

Digitization of Black and

White Image
White
A pixel lit represents a 1

Black
A pixel not lit represents a 0

Storage required per pixel

1 bit

Storage required for 640 by 480

resolution image
640 times 480 bits = 307,200 bits =
38.4K Bytes

Digitization of Image Using

Gray Scales
A pixel may take a value between
0 and 15 for 16 gray scales
A gray scale of 3 can be coded as
0011 and the others similarly using
this 4 digit code
The bandwidth requirement for the
transmission of a 640X480 image
in this case is as follows:
640X480X4 = 153.5K Bytes

Digitization of Color Image

Image coding
Each pixel may take a value between 0 and
255 if 256 colors are to be represented

Storage requirement
Digitizing of images requires substantial
number of bytes and hence large storage
space for processing

Bandwidth requirement
Higher bandwidths are required to transmit
color images

Bandwidth Computation
for Image with 256 Colors
Resolution is 640X480
8 bits are required to represent
256 colors
bandwidth requirement for the
transmission of one image is as
follows:
640X480X8 = 307.2K Bytes

The Effect of Color Depth

and Resolution
Compare VGA, SVGA and XGA
XGA provides the highest resolution

Practical implication
More colors less resolution if bandwidth or
storage is the limiting concern
Example
256 colors at lower resolution
16 colors at higher resolution

Rule
Higher the resolution the lower the number
of colors available in general given the
resource constraints such as bandwidth

Factors Affecting Bandwidth

Requirement in Image
Transmission
The higher the resolution, the higher the
bandwidth requirement for transmission
The higher the color representation,
also known as color depth, higher the
bandwidth requirement
For true color, 24 (32) bits are required
to represent each pixel
The file sizes in raw image capture can
thus become very large

End of Module

Module
Compression of Digitized
Images

N. Ganesan, Ph.D. , All rights reserved.

Compression of Digitized
Images
Compression is required to reduce
the size of the image file
Large blocks of unchanged data in
an image (background) offers an
opportunity to compress the image
Image files are almost always
compressed

A Few Compression
Formats

GIF
JPEG
MIC (Microsoft Image Composer)
PCD (KODAK) - Used by Corel
Uncompressed file exist in the form
of bit mapped file with the
extension of .BMP

Image File Format

Extensions
File formats often represent the
compression procedure being used such
as jpg representing the jpeg
compression technique
Examples:

Bmp uncompressed file format

Gif
jpg
pcd
tiff
pcx

Loss-less Compression and

Others
Some compression formats offer
loss-free compression of the image
Others sacrifice minimal loss for
the sake of reduced storage and
bandwidth requirements
Fortunately, the loss is not easily
detected by the naked eye

Image Transmission
Considerations
Adjust image to suit available bandwidth.
Sender

Receiver

Adjustable features are as follows.

- Resolution
- Color depth
Adjusting the size also reduces the bandwidth
requirement because of a corresponding reduction
in the number of pixels required to represent
the image.

A Peek At Data
Compression
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - - - - - -0 1 1 1
1 1 11 ... 0
THE ABOVE CAN BE COMPRESSED
INTO = #9000$0#
9000 bits are compressed into 8
#600$1# that require approximately
600
characters
NUMBER COUNT
64 bits for transmission
INTERPRET WITHIN THE # SIGN
1
9000 ZEROS ARE CODED INTO
CHARACTER BEING
#900$0#
TRANSMITTED

Compression Result
In the previous example, 9000 bits
are compressed into 8 characters
If 10 bits are used on the average
for transmitting each character,
the 9000 bits of information is now
compressed into 80 bits for
transmission

Modem Implication in
Image Transmission
Modems also compress the data stream
to achieve higher transmission speeds
Because of the fact that the images are
already compressed, the full speed
benefit may not be realized when
images are transmitted over a modem
connection
An already compressed image file does
not, for instance, offer itself well to
further compression in the modem

End of Module

Module

Digitization Of Video

N. Ganesan, Ph.D. , All rights reserved.

Digitization of Video
Digitization of video is an
extension of the process of
digitizing an image
It amounts to the transmission of
certain number of still images
known as frames per second
Obviously, digitized video requires
higher bandwidth for transmission
and more space for storage

Frame Rate
30 frames of images per second, in
general, defines continuos motion
In communications, 25 frames per
second is considered to be continuous
motion
15 frames per second is currently used
in video conferencing over digital lines
for acceptable reception of video
It is also possible to engage in video
conferencing at a frame rate of 5
frames per second

Computation of Bandwidth
for Raw Transmission of
Video
Image resolution is 640X480
Number of colors is 256 (8 bit)
Acceptable reception requires 15
frames per second
Therefore, the bandwidth for the
raw transmission is as follows:
640X480X8X15 = 36.86M bps = 4.6M
Bps

Compression Standards
Used in the Digitization of
Video

MPEG 1, MPEG 2, MPEG 3 and MPEG 4

Windows Media Video
Real Media
Indio
QuickTime
ActiveMovie
AVI

Streaming Formats for

Video
Various streaming formats are
supported by different vendors
RealVideo

Microsofts streaming format

wma (Windows Media Audio)
wmv (Windows Media Video)
Active Streaming Format (ASF)

Apples QuickTime format

Etc.

Overview of Video
Transmission in Video
Conferencing
Minimum speed
3 to 5 frames per second

Acceptable speed
15 frames per second

Transmission techniques
Data is compressed
Only changes to the frame are
transmitted

Bandwidth Optimization in
Video Conferencing
Minimize Windows for maximum
efficiency
Transmit less number of pixels in
minimized form

Decrease the resolution

Has the same effect as above

Decrease the number of colors

displayed

Communication Links for

Video Conferencing
Possible on analog lines using
56,000 bps transmission speed but
not desirable
Digital lines are preferred and the
guidelines are as follows:
Possible at 128k bps using ISDN lines
Acceptable at 384k bps
1M bps and above offer good quality
video transmission

ISDN Line Suitability

ISDN B channels can be assigned
on a dynamic basis depending on
the bandwidth requirement at any
point in time during video
conferencing

Video Conferencing
Products

Intel ProShare
CU-See Me
Picturetel
C-phone
etc.

End of Module