Introduction to Data Communications (S1, 2015)

Data Transmission

Learning Objectives

Classify transmission media based on medium, configuration and direction
Describe the relationship between signals and data
Formulate equations that characterise simple communication signals
Summarise the concepts of bandwidth, frequency, and data rate
Draw and interpret time and frequency domain plots of signals
Compare bandwidth, data rate and accuracy
List the main forms of transmission impairments
Describe the impact of transmission impairments on data
Predict performance of communication channels using Nyquist and Shannon equations

Lecture Material

Lecture Notes: View, Print, Source
Examples and questions for writing communication signal equations and plots: View, Source
Calculations of data rate, Nyquist capacity and Shannon capacity: View, Source
Example showing impact of noise on different signals, as well as an explanation of how the example signals are generated using sox and Audacity

Readings

Stallings: chapter 3
Forouzan: chapter 3
Kurose: none

Videos

Last year: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6 (Decibels), Part 7 (dBm)

Notes

In lecture I plotted several signals using GNU Octave, free open-source mathematics software. If you want to try, you can install Octave on your own computer, start it, and copy-and-paste the commands I used from this file. Some of the plots produced are below.
Notes from last year as a a printable PDF.
Notes from the lecture are below. Hover over the image to see a description; right-click and view the image to zoom in. Alternatively, download a zip archive with all the images or a printable PDF of the notes.

Example of digital data as digital signal 1 Example of digital data as analog signal 1 Signal 2 composed of Sine 1a and 1b Signal 1a in Time and Frequency Domain Signal 2 in Time and Frequency Domain Signal 3 in Time and Frequency Domain Signal 4 in Time Domain Example of Practical Signal Bandwidth Tradeoff between Bandwidth and Data Rate Tradeoff between Levels and Errors Nyquist Capacity Example Shannon Capacity Example

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