ECE

436 Computer
Communication Networks II

Physical Layer
 Layers and Protocols
OSI 7 Layer Internet
Reference Model Reference Model
(7) Application
(6) Presentation
7 Application
(5) Session
4 Transport
(4) Transport
3 Internet (IP)
(3) Network
2/1 Link
(2) Data Link
(1) Physical
 Overview of the Physical Layer
Learning Layers: Starting with the Physical Layer

Application
Transport
Network
Link
Physical
 Overview of the Physical Layer
Scope of the Physical Layer
Concerns how signals are used to transfer message
bits over a link
Wires etc. carry analog signals
We want to send digital bits

Signal

101101
101101
 Overview of the Physical Layer
Topics

Properties of media: Wires, fiber optics, wireless

Simple signal propagation: Bandwidth,

attenuation, noise

Modulation schemes: Representing bits, noise

Fundamental limits: Nyquist, Shannon

 Overview of the Physical Layer
Simple Link Model
We will end with an abstraction of a physical channel
Key parameters
Rate (or bandwidth, capacity, speed) in
bits/second
Delay in seconds, related to length

Message

Delay D, Rate R

Other important properties:

Whether the channel is broadcast, and its error rate
 Overview of the Physical Layer
Message Latency
Latency is the delay to send a message over a link

Transmission delay: time to put M-bit message on

the wire
M/R

Propagation delay: time for bits to propagate

across the wire
Length/(2C/3) = D

Combining the two terms we have: L = M/R + D

 Overview of the Physical Layer
Message Latency
Latency is the delay to send a message over a link

Transmission delay: time to put M-bit message on

the wire
T-delay = M(bits)/R(bits/sec) = M/R seconds

Propagation delay: time for bits to propagate

across the wire
P-delay = Length/speed of signals = Length/(2C/3) = D seconds

Combining the two terms we have: L = M/R + D

 Overview of the Physical Layer
Metric Units
The main prefixes we use:

Prefix Exp. prefix exp.

K(ilo) 103 m(illi) 10-3
M(ega) 106 (micro) 10-6
G(iga) 109 n(ano) 10-9

Use powers of 10 for rates, 2 for storage

1Kbps = 1,000 bps = 103 , 1KB = 1024 = 210
B is for bytes, b is for bits
 Overview of the Physical Layer
Latency Examples
Dialup with a telephone modem:
D = 5ms, R = 56 kbps, M = 1250 bytes

L = M/R + D = (1250 8) / (56 103) + 5ms = 184ms

Broadband cross-country link:
D = 50ms, R = 10 Mbps, M = 1250 bytes

L = M/R + D = (1250 8) / (10 106) + 51ms = 51ms

A long link or a slow rate means high latency

Often, one delay component dominates
 Overview of the Physical Layer
Bandwidth-Delay Product
Messages take space on the wire!

The amount of data in flight is the bandwidth-delay

(BD) product:
Bandwidth Delay Product (bits) = Rate (bps)Delay (s)
BD = RD
- Measure in bits, or in messages
- Small for LANs, big for long fat pipes
 Overview of the Physical Layer
Bandwidth-Delay Example
Fiber at home, cross-country
R=40Mbps, D=50ms

BD = RD
1100101100011
= 40Mbps 50ms
= 40106 5010-3
= 250 KB

That is quite a lot of data in the network.

 Physical Layer: Topics

Properties of media: Wires, fiber optics, wireless

Simple signal propagation: Bandwidth,

attenuation, noise

Modulation schemes: Representing bits, noise

Fundamental limits: Nyquist, Shannon

 Media
Types of Media
Media propagate signals that carry bits of
information

We will look at some common types

Wires
Fiber (fiber optic cables)
Wireless
 Media
Wires Twisted Pair
Very common; used in LANs, telephone lines
Twists reduce radiated signal (interference)

Category 5 UTP cable

with four twisted pairs

Unshielded twisted pair (UTP) - common Ethernet

cable
 Media
Wires Coaxial Cable (Co-ax)
Also common. Better shielding and more bandwidth for
longer distances and higher rates than twisted pair.

Other kinds of wires too; e.g., electrical powers

 Media
Fiber Cables
Common for high rates and long distances
Long distance ISP links, Fiber-to-the-Home
Light carried in very long, thin strand of glass

Optical Fiber

Light source Light trapped by

(LED, laser) Photodetector
total internal reflection
 Media
Fiber Cables
Fiber has enormous bandwidth (THz) and tiny signal loss
hence high rates over long distances
 Media
Wireless
Sender radiated signal over a region
In many directions, unlike a wire, to potentially
many receivers
Nearby signals (same frequency) interfere at a
receiver; need to coordinate use

We need to be careful and coordinate the wireless

spectrum we use.
How do we do that?
 Media
To manage interference, spectrum is carefully divided,
and its use regulated and licensed, e.g., sold at auction.
300 MHz 3 GHz

WiFi (ISM bands)

3 GHz Source: NTIA Office of Spectrum Management, 2003 30 GHz
Part of the US frequency allocations
 Media
Wireless
Microwave, e.g., 3G, and unlicensed (ISM) frequencies,
e.g., WiFi, Bluetooth, ZigBee, are widely used in
computer networking.

802.11 802.11a/g/n
b/g/n
 Physical Layer: Topics

Properties of media: Wires, fiber optics, wireless

Simple signal propagation: Bandwidth,

attenuation, noise

Modulation schemes: Representing bits, noise

Fundamental limits: Nyquist, Shannon

 Signals
Topic

Analog signals encode digital bits. We want to know

what happens as signals propagate over media.

101101 101101

We need to convert bits to signals

To achieve this, we should understand how signals
propagate over media
This is our focus in this part.
 Signals
Frequency Representation: Fourier Analysis
A time-varying signal can be equivalently represented
as a series of frequency components (harmonics):

Signal over time weights of harmonic frequencies

 Signals
Effect of Less Bandwidth
Fewer frequencies (=less bandwidth) degrades signal

8 harmonics

Lost!

Bandwidth

4 harmonics
Lost!

2 harmonics

Lost!
 Signals
Signals over a Wire
What happens to a signal as it passes over a wire?
1. The signal is delayed (propagates at 2C/3)
2. The signal is attenuated (goes for m to km)
3. Frequencies above cutoff are highly attenuated
4. Noise is added to the signal (later, causes errors)

EE: Bandwidth = width of frequency band, measured in Hz.

CS: Bandwidth = information carrying capacity, in bits/sec
 Signals
Signals over a Wire
1. Delayed
Example:
2. Attenuated

Sent signal

3. Bandwith

4. Noise
 Signals
Signals over Fiber
Light propagates with very low loss in three very wide
frequency bands
Use a carrier to send information
 Signals
Signals over Wireless
Signals transmitted on a carrier frequency, like fiber
 Signals
Signals over Wireless
Travel at speed of light, spread out and attenuate faster
than 1/dist2

Signal Tx Tx
Strength

A B Distance
 Signals
Signals over Wireless
Multiple signals on the same frequency interfere at a
receiver

Signal Tx Tx Tx
Strength

A C B Distance
D
Strong signal from C
Weak signals from A and B
 Signals
Signals over Wireless
Interference leads to notion of spatial reuse (of same
frequency)

Signal Tx Tx Tx
Strength

A C B Distance

Frequency Frequency
reuse reuse
 Signals
Signals over Wireless

Various other effects too.

Wireless propagation is complex, depends on
environment; trees, buildings, etc.

Some key effects are highly frequency dependent,

different frequencies propagate in different ways
E.g., multipath at microwave frequencies
In microwave band, WiFi, 3G operate multipath is
important
 Signals
Wireless Multipath
Signals bounce off objects and take multiple paths
Some frequencies attenuated at receiver, varies with
location
Messes up signal; handled with sophisticated methods
 Physical Layer: Topics

Properties of media: Wires, fiber optics, wireless

Simple signal propagation: Bandwidth,

attenuation, noise

Modulation schemes: Representing bits, noise

Fundamental limits: Nyquist, Shannon

 Modulation
Topic

Talked about signals representing bits. How, exactly?

With modulation

101101 101101
 Signals
A simple modulation

Let a high voltage (+V) represent a 1, and low voltage

(-V) represent a 0
This is called NRZ (Non-Return to Zero)

Bits 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1
+V
NRZ
-V
 Signals
Many other schemes

Can use more signal levels, e.g., 4 levels is 2 bits per

symbol
Bits 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0
Symbols 0 2 3 3 1 0 0

Practical schemes are driven by engineering

considerations
E.g., clock recovery
 Signals
Passband modulation
What we have seen so far is baseband modulation for
wires
Signal is sent directly on a wire
These signals do not propagate well on fiber/wireless
Need to send at higher frequencies
Signals propagate well only at higher frequencies

Passband modulation carries a signal by modulating a

carrier
 Signals
Passband modulation
Carrier is simply a signal oscillating at a desired
frequency:

We can modulate it by changing:

- Amplitude, frequency, or phase
 Signals
Passband modulation

NRZ signal of bits

Amplitude shift keying

Frequency shift keying

Phase shift keying

 Physical Layer: Topics

Properties of media: Wires, fiber optics, wireless

Simple signal propagation: Bandwidth,

attenuation, noise

Modulation schemes: Representing bits, noise

Fundamental limits: Nyquist, Shannon

 Fundamental Limits
Topic

How rapidly can we send information over a link?

Nyquist limit (~1924)
Shannon capacity (1948)

Practical systems are devised to approach these limits

 Fundamental Limits
Key channel properties

The bandwidth (B), signal strength (S), and noise

strength (N)
B limits the rate of transmissions
S and N limit how many signal levels we can
distinguish

Message

Signal S
Noise N
Bandwidth B
 Fundamental Limits
Nyquist Limit

The maximum symbol rate is 2B, where B=bandwidth

1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0

Thus, if there are V signal levels, ignoring noise, the

maximum bit rate is:
R = 2Blog2V bits/sec
 Fundamental Limits
Claude Shannon (1916-2001)

Father of information theory

A Mathematical Theory
of Communication, 1948.

Fundamental contributions to
digital computers, security, and
communications Electromechanical
mouse that
solves mazes
 Fundamental Limits
Shannon Capacity

How many levels we can distinguish depends on S/N

Or SNR, the Signal-to-Noise Ratio
Note noise is random, hence some errors

SNR given on a log-scale in deciBels:

SNRdB = 10log10(S/N)

S/N = 1000 SNRdB = 30dB

 Fundamental Limits
Shannon Capacity
Shannon capacity is the maximum information rate that one
can carry over the channel:

C = Blog2(1+S/N) bits/sec

(S+N)/N
Shannon capacity says that it is possible to transfer information reliably over a
channel up to the capacity, but no higher
This was and currently is quite revolutionary in the sense that at that time
nobody was thinking that it is even possible to transmit reliable error free-
information.
The common idea was that error can only be reduced if the signal power is
increased.
Shannon capacity showed us that we can transmit error free information if the
rate is limited with the capacity.
 Fundamental Limits
Wired/Wireless Perspective

Wires and Fiber

Engineer link to have requisite SNR and B
Can fix data rate
Engineer SNR for data rate

Wireless
Given B, but SNR varies greatly, e.g., up to 60dB
Cant design for the worst case, must adapt data
rate.
Adapt data rate to SNR
 Fundamental Limits
Putting it all together - DSL
DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) is widely used for
broadband; many variant offer tens of Mbps
Reuses twisted pair telephone line to the home; it has up to
~2MHz of bandwidth but telephone uses only the lowest ~4kHz
Use the rest for data
 Fundamental Limits
DSL
DSL uses passband modulation (OFDM)
Separate bands for upstream and downstream
(larger)
Modulation varies both amplitude and phase (called
QAM)
High SNR, up to 15bits/symbol, low SNR only 1
bit/symbol
Up to 1Mbps Up to 12Mbps

ADSL2:
Voice Freq. Upstream Downstream
0-4 kHz 26-138 kHz 143 kHz to 1.1 MHz
 Physical Layer: Topics
Summary

Properties of media: Wires, fiber optics, wireless

Simple signal propagation: Bandwidth,

attenuation, noise

Modulation schemes: Representing bits, noise

Fundamental limits: Nyquist, Shannon

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