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Chapter 3:
Pulse Code Modulation
Pulse Code Modulation
Quantizing
Encoding
Analogue to Digital Conversion
Bandwidth of PCM Signals
Huseyin Bilgekul
Eeng360 Communication Systems I
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Eastern Mediterranean University
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PULSE CODE MODULATION (PCM)
PULSE CODE MODULATION (PCM)
DEFINITION: Pulse code modulation (PCM) is essentially
analog-to-digital conversion of a special type where the
information contained in the instantaneous samples of an analog
signal is represented by digital words in a serial bit stream.
The advantages of PCM are:
• Relatively inexpensive digital circuitry may be used extensively.
• PCM signals derived from all types of analog sources may be merged with
data signals and transmitted over a common high-speed digital
communication system.
• In long-distance digital telephone systems requiring repeaters, a clean PCM
waveform can be regenerated at the output of each repeater, where the input
consists of a noisy PCM waveform.
• The noise performance of a digital system can be superior to that of an
analog system.
• The probability of error for the system output can be reduced even further
by the use of appropriate coding techniques.
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Sampling, Quantizing, and Encoding
Sampling, Quantizing, and Encoding
The PCM signal is generated by carrying out three basic operations:
1. Sampling
2. Quantizing
3. Encoding
1. Sampling operation generates a flat-top PAM signal.
2. Quantizing operation approximates the analog values by using a
finite number of levels. This operation is considered in 3 steps
a) Uniform Quantizer
b) Quantization Error
c) Quantized PAM signal output
3. PCM signal is obtained from the quantized PAM signal by
encoding each quantized sample value into a digital word.
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Analog to Digital Conversion
Analog to Digital Conversion
The Analog-to-digital Converter (ADC)
performs three functions:
– Sampling
• Makes the signal discrete in time.
• If the analog input has a bandwidth
of W Hz, then the minimum sample
frequency such that the signal can be
reconstructed without distortion.
– Quantization
• Makes the signal discrete in
amplitude.
• Round off to one of q discrete levels.
– Encode
• Maps the quantized values to digital
words that are bits long.
If the (Nyquist) Sampling Theorem is
satisfied, then only quantization introduces
distortion to the system.
ADC
Sample
Quantize
Analog
Input
Signal
Encode
111
110
101
100
011
010
001
000
Digital Output
Signal
111 111 001 010 011 111 011
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Quantization
Quantization
The output of a sampler is still continuous in amplitude.
– Each sample can take on any value e.g. 3.752, 0.001, etc.
– The number of possible values is infinite.
To transmit as a digital signal we must restrict the number of
possible values.
Quantization is the process of “rounding off” a sample according to
some rule.
– E.g. suppose we must round to the nearest tenth, then:
3.752 --> 3.8 0.001 --> 0
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Uniform Quantization
Uniform Quantization
• Most ADC’s use uniform
quantizers.
• The quantization levels of a
uniform quantizer are
equally spaced apart.
• Uniform quantizers are
optimal when the input
distribution is uniform.
When all values within the
Dynamic Range of the
quantizer are equally likely.
Input sample X
Example: Uniform =3 bit quantizer
q=8 and XQ = {1,3,5,7}
2 4 6 8
1
5
3
Output sample
XQ
-2
-4
-6
-8
Dynamic Range:
(-8, 8)
7
-7
-3
-5
-1
Quantization Characteristic
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Quantization Example
Analogue signal
Sampling TIMING
Quantization levels.
Quantized to 5-levels
Quantization levels
Quantized 10-levels
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PCM encoding example
Chart 1. Quantization and digitalization of a signal.
Signal is quantized in 11 time points & 8 quantization segments.
Chart 2. Process of restoring a signal.
PCM encoded signal in binary form:
101 111 110 001 010 100 111 100 011 010 101
Total of 33 bits were used to encode a signal
Table: Quantization levels with belonging code words
Levels are encoded
using this table
M=8
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Encoding
Encoding
• The output of the quantizer is one of M possible signal levels.
– If we want to use a binary transmission system, then we need to map
each quantized sample into an n bit binary word.
• Encoding is the process of representing each quantized sample
by an bit code word.
– The mapping is one-to-one so there is no distortion introduced by
encoding.
– Some mappings are better than others.
• A Gray code gives the best end-to-end performance.
• The weakness of Gray codes is poor performance when the sign bit
(MSB) is received in error.
2
2 , log ( )
n
M n M
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Gray Codes
Gray Codes
• With gray codes adjacent samples differ only in one bit position.
• Example (3 bit quantization):
XQ Natural coding Gray Coding
+7 111 110
+5 110 111
+3 101 101
+1 100 100
-1 011 000
-3 010 001
-5 001 011
-7 000 010
• With this gray code, a single bit error will result in an amplitude
error of only 2.
– Unless the MSB is in error.
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Waveforms in a PCM system for M=8
Waveforms in a PCM system for M=8
M=8
(d) PCM Signal
(c) Error Signal
(b) Analog Signal, PAM Signal, Quantized PAM Signal
(a) Quantizer Input output characteristics
2
2 log ( )
is thenumber of Quantization levels
is thenumber of bitspersample
n
M n M
M
n
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Practical PCM Circuits
Practical PCM Circuits
• Three popular techniques are used to implement the
analog-to-digital converter (ADC) encoding
operation:
1. The counting or ramp, ( Maxim ICL7126 ADC)
2. Serial or successive approximation, (AD 570)
3. Parallel or flash encoders. ( CA3318)
• The objective of these circuits is to generate the
PCM word.
• Parallel digital output obtained (from one of the
above techniques) needs to be serialized before
sending over a 2-wire channel
• This is accomplished by parallel-to-serial
converters [Serial Input-Output (SIO) chip]
• UART,USRT and USART are examples for SIO’s
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Bandwidth of PCM Signals
Bandwidth of PCM Signals
• The spectrum of the PCM signal is not directly related to the spectrum of the input
signal.
• The bandwidth of (serial) binary PCM waveforms depends on the bit rate R and
the waveform pulse shape used to represent the data.
• The Bit Rate R is
R=nfs
Where n is the number of bits in the PCM word (M=2n
) and fs is the sampling rate.
• For no aliasing case (fs≥ 2B), the MINIMUM Bandwidth of PCM Bpcm(Min) is:
Bpcm(Min) = R/2 = nfs//2
The Minimum Bandwidth of nfs//2 is obtained only when sin(x)/x pulse is used to
generate the PCM waveform.
• For PCM waveform generated by rectangular pulses, the First-null Bandwidth is:
Bpcm = R = nfs