Chapter 3:

Line Codes and Their Spectra

 Types of Line Codes
 Comparison of Line Codes
 PSD of Line Codes

Huseyin Bilgekul
Eeng360 Communication Systems I
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Eastern Mediterranean University Eeng 360 1
 Line Codes in PCM
 The output of an ADC can be transmitted over a baseband channel.
• The digital information must first be converted into a physical signal.
• The physical signal is called a line code. Line coders use the terminology mark
to mean binary one and space to mean binary zero.
Analog
Input
Signal
Sample

X
Quantize ADC
XQ

Encode

Xk
Line
Code
x(t) PCM signal
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 Line codes
1 1 0 1 0 0 1 BINARY DATA

(a) Punched Tape Mark Mark space Mark space space Mark
(hole) (hole) (hole) (hole)
Volts
A

0
(b) Unipolar NRZ
Tb Time

(c) Polar NRZ 0

-A

0
(d) Unipolar RZ

A
(e) Bipolar RZ 0
-A

A
(f) Manchester NRZ 0
-A

Binary Signaling Formats

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 Goals of Line Coding
 A line code is designed to meet several goals:
 Self-synchronization.
• The ability to recover timing from the signal itself.
• Long series of ones and zeros could cause a problem.

 Low probability of bit error.

• The receiver needs to be able to distinguish the waveform associated
with a mark from the waveform associated with a space, even if there
is a considerable amount of noise and distortion in the channel.

 Spectrum that is suitable for the channel.

• In some cases DC components should be avoided if the channel has a
DC blocking capacitance.
• The transmission bandwidth should be minimized.

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 Line Coder

Digital
Data ak
Line Coder
Physical x(t ) 
Waveform

k 
ak p(t  kTb )

 The input to the line encoder is a sequence of values a k that is a

function of a data bit or an ADC output bit.
 The output of the line encoder is a waveform:

x(t )  a
k 
k p (t  kTb )
 Where p(t) is the Pulse Shape and Tb is the Bit Period
 Tb =Ts/n for n bit quantizer (and no parity bits).
 Rb =1/Tb=nfs for n bit quantizer (and no parity bits).
 The operational details of this function are set by the particular
type of line code that is being used.

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 Types of Line Codes
 Each line code is described by a symbol mapping function ak and
a pulse shape p(t):

x(t )  a
k 
k p (t  kTb )

 Categories of line codes:

 Symbol mapping functions (ak).
• Unipolar
• Polar
• Bipolar (a.k.a. alternate mark inversion, pseudoternary)

 Pulse shapes p(t).

• NRZ (Nonreturn-to-zero)
• RZ (Return to Zero)
• Manchester (split phase)

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 Unipolar NRZ Line Code
 The unipolar nonreturn-to-zero line code is defined by the
unipolar mapping:
 A when X k  1
ak  
 0 when X k  0
 where Xk is the kth data bit.
 In addition, the pulse shape for unipolar NRZ is:
 t 
p(t )     NRZ pulse shape
 Tb 
 Where Tb is the bit period.
Hard to recover symbol timing
Note the DC component when long string of 0s or 1s.
This means wasted power!
1 0 1 1 0 1
A

0 Tb 2Tb 3Tb 4Tb 5Tb

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 Unipolar RZ Line Code
 The unipolar return-to-zero line code has the same symbol
mapping but a different pulse shape than unipolar NRZ:

 A when X k  1
ak  
 0 when X k  0

 t 
p (t )     RZ pulse shape
 Tb / 2 
Long strings of 1’s no longer a problem.
Pulse of half the duration of NRZ
However strings of 0’s still problem.
requires twice the bandwidth!
1 0 1 1 0 1
A

0 Tb 2Tb 3Tb 4Tb 5Tb

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 Polar Line Codes
 Polar line codes use the antipodal mapping:
 A when X k  1
ak  
  A when X k  0
 Polar NRZ uses NRZ pulse shape.
 Polar RZ uses RZ pulse shape.
No DC component,
so more energy efficient.
1 0 1 1 0 1
A

Polar NRZ
Now we can handle
long strings of 0’s, too.
A
Polar RZ

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 Manchester Line Codes
 Manchester line codes use the antipodal mapping
and the following split-phase pulse shape:
p(t )

 t  Tb / 4   t  Tb / 4 
p(t )        
 b T / 2   b T / 2 

1 0 1 1 0 1

• Easy synchronization and better spectral characteristics than polar

RZ.
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 Bipolar Line Codes
 With bipolar line codes a space is mapped to zero and a mark is
alternately mapped to -A and +A:

 0 when X k  0

ak    A when X k  1 and last mark   A
 A when X k  1 and last mark   A


• Also called pseudoternary signalling and alternate mark inversion

(AMI).
• Either RZ or NRZ pulse shape can be used.
1 0 1 1 0 1
A

Bipolar (RZ)

A

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 Comparison of Line Codes
 Self-synchronization:
 Manchester codes have built in timing information because
they always have a zero crossing in the center of the pulse.
 Polar RZ codes tend to be good because the signal level
always goes to zero for the second half of the pulse.
 NRZ signals are not good for self-synchronization.

 Error probability:
 Polar codes perform better (are more energy efficient) than
Unipolar or Bipolar codes.

 Channel characteristics:

We need to find the PSD of the line codes to answer this ...

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 Power Spectra for Binary Line Codes
 PSD can be calculated using the autocorrelation function:

 t 
 A digital signal is represented by s(t )   an f (t  nTs ) ; f (t )     for unipolar NRZ
n   Ts 

f(t) - Symbol Pulse shape; Ts - Duration of one symbol;

Binary signaling : Ts= Tb , Multilevel signaling: Ts= lTb
 PSD depends on:
(1) The pulse shape used
(2) Statistical properties of data expressed by the autocorrelation function
 The PSD of a digital signal is given by:
2
F( f ) 
Ps ( f ) 
Ts
 R ( k )e
k 
 j 2 kfTs
Where { f (t )}  F ( f )
I
R(k )   (an an  k )i Pi The autocorrelation function of data
i 1

an and an  k are levels of the data pulses at the n ' th and (n  k )'th symbol positions
Pi Probability of having the ith an an  k product

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 PSD for Polar NRZ Signaling
Possible levels for the a’s : +A and -A
I
R(k )   (an an  k )i Pi an and an  k are the level of the pulses at the nth and ( n  k )th symbols
i 1

2
1 1
R (0)   (an an )i Pi  A2  ( A) 2  A2
i 1 2 2
4
For k  0, R(k )   ( an an  k ) Pi  A21/ 4  (  A)( A)1/ 4  ( A)(  A)1/ 4  (  A) 21/ 4  0
i 1

 A2 , k  0
 R polar (k )  
0, k  0
2
sin  fTb Ff  
2 kfTs
f (t )   (t / Tb )  F ( f )  Tb
 fTb
Ps  f  
Ts

k 
R k  e

2
2  sin  fTb 
PPolar NRZ ( f )  A Tb  
  fTb 
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 PSD for line codes
Unipolar NRZ

2
A2Tb  sin  fTb   1 
PUni. NRZ ( f )    1   ( f ) 
4   fTb   Tb 

Polar NRZ

2
2  sin  fTb 
PPolar NRZ ( f )  A Tb  
  fTb 

Bit rate: R=1/Tb

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 PSD for line codes 2
A2Tb  sin  fTb / 2   1 
n 
Unipolar RZ PUni. RZ ( f )  
16   fTb / 2 
 1    ( f  T )
 Tb n  b 

Bipolar RZ 2
A Tb  sin  fTb 
2

 sin  fTb 
2
PBipolar RZ ( f )  
4   fTb 

Manchester
NRZ
2
 sin  fTb / 2 
PManch. NRZ ( f )  A2Tb   sin  fTb / 2 
2

  fTb / 2 

Bit rate: R=1/Tb

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