Digital Transmission Course

Lesson 1 • Core Transmission Parameters

Defines bandwidth, bit rate, baud rate, and latency. Connects these metrics to real-world system performance evaluation.

Lesson 2 • Transmission Media Overview

Surveys guided and unguided media used in digital links. Provides context for media selection decisions covered in later chapters.

Lesson 3 • Standards and Regulatory Frameworks

Introduces international standards bodies and compliance concepts governing digital transmission. Prepares students to apply standards throughout the course.

Lesson 4 • Analogue vs. Digital Signals

Contrasts continuous analogue waveforms with discrete digital signals. Establishes why digitization improves noise immunity and system scalability.

Lesson 1 • Differential and Predictive Encoding

Introduces DPCM and delta modulation as bandwidth-efficient alternatives to PCM. Demonstrates trade-offs between complexity and compression.

Lesson 2 • Pulse Code Modulation

Details the PCM process from sampling through binary encoding. Serves as the baseline encoding scheme for subsequent modulation chapters.

Lesson 3 • Sampling Theory and the Nyquist Criterion

Explains uniform sampling and the minimum rate required to reconstruct a signal. Directly underpins all analogue-to-digital conversion techniques.

Lesson 4 • Source Coding and Compression Basics

Presents entropy coding and lossless compression to reduce redundancy before transmission. Connects source coding efficiency to channel capacity use.

Lesson 1 • Line Coding Fundamentals

Defines line coding and its role in shaping the power spectrum of a digital signal. Sets criteria for evaluating any line code scheme.

Lesson 2 • Block and Multilevel Codes

Examines 4B/5B, 8B/10B, and MLT-3 codes used in high-speed LANs. Demonstrates how block codes improve synchronisation and reduce spectral peaks.

Lesson 3 • Bipolar and Return-to-Zero Codes

Covers AMI, pseudoternary, and RZ formats that eliminate DC components. Connects these codes to legacy telephony and T-carrier systems.

Lesson 4 • Unipolar and Polar Codes

Analyses NRZ-L, NRZ-I, and unipolar formats with their spectral properties. Highlights DC wander issues and synchronisation limitations.

Lesson 1 • Frequency Shift Keying

Analyses binary and M-ary FSK, including orthogonality conditions and minimum shift keying. Links FSK robustness to fading channel applications.

Lesson 2 • Phase Shift Keying

Develops BPSK, QPSK, and higher-order PSK with differential encoding variants. Demonstrates phase ambiguity resolution using differential PSK.

Lesson 3 • Quadrature Amplitude Modulation

Extends PSK to combined amplitude-phase constellations for high spectral efficiency. Evaluates QAM orders against SNR requirements and error rates.

Lesson 4 • Passband Transmission Concepts

Introduces carrier modulation and the shift from baseband to passband. Establishes constellation diagrams as the primary analysis tool.

Lesson 1 • Convolutional Codes and Viterbi Decoding

Explains convolutional encoding with trellis diagrams and Viterbi maximum-likelihood decoding. Demonstrates superior BER performance over block codes at low SNR.

Lesson 2 • Block Error Correction Codes

Introduces Hamming, Reed-Solomon, and BCH codes for forward error correction. Quantifies coding gain and its impact on required transmit power.

Lesson 3 • Turbo Codes and LDPC Codes

Presents near-Shannon-limit codes used in 4G, 5G, and satellite systems. Highlights iterative decoding as the key enabler of their performance.

Lesson 4 • Shannon's Channel Capacity Theorem

Derives the Shannon-Hartley formula and its implications for system design. Establishes the theoretical ceiling that all practical systems approach.

Lesson 1 • Code Division Multiplexing

Uses orthogonal spreading codes to allow simultaneous same-frequency transmission. Establishes the spread-spectrum foundation for CDMA cellular systems.

Lesson 2 • Multiple Access Protocols

Compares TDMA, FDMA, CDMA, and OFDMA access schemes for shared media. Addresses contention resolution and scheduling in wireless and wired networks.

Lesson 3 • Time Division Multiplexing

Interleaves time slots from multiple sources into a single high-rate stream. Introduces T1/E1 framing structures as canonical TDM examples.

Lesson 4 • Frequency Division Multiplexing

Assigns non-overlapping frequency bands to simultaneous channels. Connects FDM to legacy telephony hierarchies and modern cable systems.

Lesson 1 • Phase-Locked Loop Design

Analyses PLL components and loop dynamics for clock recovery applications. Connects PLL bandwidth to jitter tolerance and acquisition speed.

Lesson 2 • Clock Recovery Circuits

Presents decision-directed and data-aided clock recovery algorithms. Demonstrates implementation in both analogue and digital receiver architectures.

Lesson 3 • Network Synchronisation and Timing Distribution

Explains stratum hierarchy, Synchronous Ethernet, and precision time protocols. Addresses holdover and frequency traceability in carrier-grade networks.

Lesson 4 • Frame and Packet Synchronisation

Covers unique word detection and correlation-based frame alignment methods. Links frame sync to overhead efficiency in TDM and packet systems.

Lesson 1 • High-Speed Fibre Optic Transmission

Covers coherent optical modulation, WDM, and dispersion compensation for long-haul links. Connects optical layer design to the digital signal processing chain.

Lesson 2 • System Link Budget and Performance Analysis

Integrates transmit power, path loss, noise, and coding gain into a complete link budget. Enables end-to-end system design and margin verification.

Lesson 3 • MIMO Transmission Principles

Exploits multiple antennas for spatial multiplexing and diversity gain. Quantifies capacity scaling with antenna count using the MIMO channel matrix.

Lesson 4 • Channel Equalisation Techniques

Applies linear and decision-feedback equalisers to remove ISI in dispersive channels. Builds directly on pulse shaping and modulation concepts from earlier chapters.