ECT305 Analog and Digital Communication

Module 3 – Pulse Code Modulation, A and Mu-

law Companders

Lakshmi V.S.
Assistant Professor
Electronics & Communication Department
Sree Chitra Thirunal College of Engineering, Trivandrum
 Pulse Code Modulation
• PCM is a discrete-time, discrete-amplitude waveform-coding process, by means of which an analog
signal is directly represented by a sequence of coded pulses.

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 Pulse Code Modulation - Transmitter
• The basic operations performed in the transmitter of a PCM system are sampling, quantization
and encoding.
• The low-pass filter prior to sampling is included to prevent aliasing of the message signal.
• The quantization and encoding operations are usually performed in the same circuit, which is
called an analog to digital converter (ADC).

PCM Transmitter

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 Pulse Code Modulation - Transmitter
Sampling
• The incoming message signal is sampled with a train of narrow rectangular pulses, so as to
closely represent instantaneous sampling.
• To ensure perfect reconstruction of the message signal at the receiver, the sampling rate must
be greater than twice the highest frequency component W of the message signal in accordance
with the sampling theorem.
• In practice, a low-pass anti-aliasing filter is used at the front end of the sampler, to exclude
frequencies greater than W before sampling.

PCM Transmitter

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 Pulse Code Modulation - Transmitter
Quantization - Need for Non-uniform Quantization
• In telephonic communication, it is preferable to use a variable separation between the
representation levels for efficient utilization of the communication channel.
• For example, in the quantization of voice signal, the range of voltages covered by voice signals,
from the peaks of loud talk to the weak passages of weak talk, is on the order of 1000 to 1.
• For example, a 26-dB SNR for small signals and a 30-dB dynamic range (ratio of max. to min.
amplitude) produces a 56-dB SNR for a maximum amplitude signal. (∵SNR α P)
• In this manner a uniform PCM system provides unneeded quality for large signals.
• Moreover, the large signals are the least likely to occur.
• For these reasons, the code space in a uniform PCM system is very inefficiently utilized.
• A more efficient coding procedure is achieved if the quantization intervals (∆) are not uniform,
but allowed to increase with the sample value. (non-uniform quantizer)
• When quantization intervals (∆) are directly proportional to the sample value, the SNR is
constant for all signal levels.
𝑃 12𝑃
𝑆𝑁𝑅 𝑂 = 2 = 2
𝜎𝑄 ∆ 5
 Pulse Code Modulation - Transmitter
Non-Uniform Quantizer
• The use of a nonuniform quantizer is equivalent to passing the message signal through a
compressor and then applying the compressed signal to a uniform quantizer.
• At the receiver, an expander is used to undo the effect of compressor.
• The cascade combination of a compressor and an expander is called a compander.

Nonuniform quantization of the message signal in the transmitter

Uniform quantization of the original message signal in the receiver

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 Pulse Code Modulation - Transmitter
Companding
• When digitizing, companding amounts to assigning small quantization intervals (∆) to small
samples and large quantization intervals to large samples.

• Non-Uniform Quantizer – Compression Laws

✓ µ-law (North America & Japan)
✓ A-law (Europe)

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 Pulse Code Modulation - Transmitter
ln(1 + 𝜇 𝑚 )
 -law: 𝑣 =
ln(1 + 𝜇)
• where ln, i.e., loge, denotes the natural logarithm, m and v are the input and output voltages of the
compressor, and 𝜇 is a positive constant.
• It is assumed that m and, therefore, v are scaled so that they both lie inside the interval [–1, 1].
• The case of uniform quantization corresponds to 𝜇 = 0.
• For a given value of 𝜇, the reciprocal slope of the compression curve defines the quantum steps is
given by the derivative of the absolute value |m| with respect to the corresponding absolute value |v|,
𝑑𝑚 ln(1 + 𝜇)
= (1 + 𝜇 𝑚 )
𝑑𝑣 𝜇
• It is approximately linear at low input levels corresponding to 𝜇 𝑚 <<1 and approximately
logarithmic at high input levels corresponding to 𝜇 𝑚 >>1 .
• The typical values used in practice: =255

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 Pulse Code Modulation - Transmitter
𝐴𝑚 1
, 0≤ 𝑚 ≤
A-law: 𝑣 = 1 + ln 𝐴 𝐴
1 + ln(𝐴 𝑚 ) 1
, ≤ 𝑚 ≤1
1 + ln 𝐴 𝐴
• where ln, i.e., loge, denotes the natural logarithm, m and v are the input and output voltages of the
compressor, and 𝐴 is a positive constant.
• The case of uniform quantization corresponds to 𝐴 = 1.
• For a given value of 𝐴, the reciprocal slope of the compression curve defines the quantum steps is
given by the derivative of the absolute value |m| with respect to the corresponding absolute value |v|,
1 + ln 𝐴 1
𝑑𝑚 , 0≤ 𝑚 ≤
= 𝐴 𝐴
𝑑𝑣 1
1 + ln 𝐴 𝑚 , ≤ 𝑚 ≤1
𝐴
• The typical values used in practice: A = 87.6

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Compression Laws

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 Pulse Code Modulation - Transmitter
Encoding
• Encoding makes the transmitted signal more robust to noise, interference, and other channel
impairments.
• Encoding process is used to translate the discrete set of sample values to a more appropriate
form of signal.
• Any plan for representing each of this discrete set of values as a particular arrangement of
discrete events constitutes a code.
• The maximum advantage over the effects of noise encountered in a communication system is
obtained by using a binary code because a binary symbol withstands a relatively high level of
noise and, furthermore, it is easy to regenerate.
• The last signal-processing operation in the transmitter is that of line coding, the purpose of
which is to represent each binary codeword by a sequence of pulses.

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Pulse Code Modulation - Transmitter
Line Codes
(a)Unipolar nonreturn-to-zero (NRZ) signaling (on-off signaling)
symbol 1 - a pulse of amplitude A for the duration of the symbol, symbol 0 -
switching off the pulse.
(b)Polar nonreturn-to-zero (NRZ) signaling
symbols 1 and 0 - pulses of amplitudes +A and –A for full symbol duration.
(c)Unipolar return-to-zero (RZ) signaling
symbol 1 - rectangular pulse of amplitude A and half-symbol width
symbol 0 - switching off the pulse.
(d)Bipolar return-to-zero (BRZ) signaling
symbol 1 – alternative positive and negative pulses of equal amplitude (i.e., +A
and –A), with each pulse having a half-symbol width;
symbol 0 - switching off the pulse.
(e)Split-phase (Manchester code)
symbol 1 – positive pulse of amplitude A followed by a negative pulse of
amplitude –A, with both pulses being half-symbol wide.
symbol 0 – the polarities of these two pulses are reversed. 12
 Pulse Code Modulation - Transmitter
Differential Encoding
• This method is used to encode information in terms of signal transitions
• Differential encoding starts with an arbitrary first bit, serving as the reference bit. In fig, symbol 1
is used as the reference bit.
• If the new bit at the transmitter input is 1, leave the differentially encoded symbol unchanged with
respect to the current bit.
• If the input bit is 0, change the differentially encoded symbol with respect to the current bit.
𝑏𝑛

𝑑𝑛 𝑑𝑛 = 𝑑𝑛−1 ⊕ 𝑏𝑛

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 Pulse Code Modulation – Transmission Path
Need for Regenerative Repeater
• The most important feature of a PCM systems is its ability to control the effects of distortion
and noise produced by transmitting a PCM signal through the channel, connecting the receiver
to the transmitter.
• This capability is accomplished by reconstructing the PCM signal through a chain of
regenerative repeaters, located at sufficiently close spacing along the transmission path

PCM Transmission Path

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 Pulse Code Modulation – Transmission Path
• Three basic functions are performed in a regenerative repeater: equalization, timing, and decision
making.
• The equalizer shapes the received pulses so as to compensate for the effects of amplitude and phase
distortions produced by the non-ideal transmission characteristics of the channel.
• The timing circuitry provides a periodic pulse train, derived from the received pulses, for sampling the
equalized pulses at the instants of time where the SNR ratio is a maximum.
• Each sample so extracted is compared with a predetermined threshold in the decision-making device.

Block Diagram of Regenerative Repeater

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 Pulse Code Modulation – Transmission Path
• Each sample so extracted is compared with a predetermined threshold in the decision-making device.
• In each bit interval, a decision is then made on whether the received symbol is 1 or 0 by observing
whether the threshold is exceeded or not.
• If the threshold is exceeded, a clean new pulse representing symbol 1 is transmitted to the next
repeater; otherwise, another clean new pulse representing symbol 0 is transmitted.

Block Diagram of Regenerative Repeater

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 Pulse Code Modulation – Receiver
• The first operation in the receiver of a PCM system is to regenerate (i.e., reshape and clean up)
the received pulses.
• These clean pulses are then regrouped into codewords and decoded (i.e., mapped back) into a
quantized pulse-amplitude modulated signal.
• The decoding process involves generating a pulse the amplitude of which is the linear sum of all
the pulses in the codeword.
• Each pulse is weighted by its place value (20, 21, 22, …, 2R – 1) in the code, where R is the number
of bits per sample.
• Decoding can be done using a digital to analog converter (DAC).

PCM Receiver 17
 Pulse Code Modulation – Receiver
• The final operation in the receiver is to recover the message signal by passing the decoder
output through a low-pass reconstruction filter whose cutoff frequency is equal to the message
bandwidth W.
• Assuming that the transmission link (connecting the receiver to the transmitter) is error free, the
reconstructed message signal includes no noise with the exception of the initial distortion
introduced by the quantization process.

PCM Receiver
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 Advantages & Disadvantages of PCM
Advantages
1. robustness to channel noise and interference.
2. efficient regeneration of the coded signal along the transmission path.
3. efficient exchange of increased channel bandwidth for improved signal-to quantization noise
ratio, obeying an exponential law.
4. a uniform format for the transmission of different kinds of baseband signals, hence their
integration with other forms of digital data in a common network.
5. comparative ease with which message sources may be dropped or reinserted in a multiplex
system.
6. secure communication through the use of special modulation schemes or encryption.
Disadvantages
• These advantages, however, are attained at the cost of increased system complexity and
increased transmission bandwidth.

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THANK YOU…