3.2 How to deliver BITs

  1. Basic idea
    • What can go through transmission medium, such as copper line, optical fiber, and space?    Electric or electromagnetic signals
    • How to transform bits to signals?    Encoding/decoding
    • In which layer?    Physical layer
  2. Data and signals
    • Study all in Data and Signals.
    • [Review]
      • Interpret three characteristics of a sine wave.
      • Explain the basic idea of encoding/decoding.
      • Define the time domain plot and the frequency domain plot.
      • Interpret a composite signal.
      • Interpret the concept of bandwidth.
      • Relate the bandwidth of a signal and the bandwidth of a transmission medium when data is transmitted.
      • List the types of noise.
      • Use decibel to calculate the attenuation of a signal.
      • Use Nyquist bit rate formula and Shannon capacity formula to determine the appropriate bit rate and signal level when a channel is given.
      • Interpret the concept of bandwidth-delay product.
  3. Digital transmission - encoding/decoding
    • Study all in Digital Transmission.
    • [Review]
      • Determine the baud rate from a given bit rate and the number of signal elements for sending one bit, assuming line coding.
      • Identify the three problems caused by a long string of 0s and 1s.
      • Explain the basic idea to solve the above three problems.
      • Identify advantages and disadvantages of Manchester and differential Manchester line coding schemes, comparing to NRZ coding scheme.
      • Describe the motivation of block coding.
      • Describe the basic idea of PCM that converts an analog signal to digital data.
      • Use of the Nyquist Theorem to decide the minimum sampling rate.
      • Distinguish parallel and serial transmission modes.
  4. Analog transmission - encoding/decoding
    • Study all in Analog Transmission.
    • [Review]
      • Given a bandwidth and the number of signal elements to carry a bit, determine the bit rate, for various types of ASK, FSK, PSK and QAM.
      • Given a bit rate and a bandwidth, design a QAM (or other conversion type) scheme to meet the given requirements.
      • List the advantages and disadvantages of AM and FM respectively.
  5. Bandwidth utilization - how to share transmission media
    • Study all in Bandwidth Utilization.
    • [Review]
      • Use of Frequency-Division Multiplexing to transfer multiple channels.
      • Use of Synchronous Time-Division Multiplexing to transfer multiple channels, with or without synchronization bit.
      • Use of Synchronous Time-Division Multiplexing to transfer multiple channels, when the inputs have different transmission rates.
  6. Transmission media
    • Study all in Transmission Media.
    • [Review]
      • List the three types of guided media.
      • State the reason why higher frequency radio band can transfer more data.