Line Coding

Line Coding Basics: Transmission of serial data over any distance, be it a twist
ed pair, fiber optic link, coaxial cable, etc., requires maintenance of the data
as it is transmitted through repeaters, echo chancellors and other electronical
ly equipment. The data integrity must be maintained through data reconstruction,
with proper timing, and retransmitted. Line codes were created to facilitate th
is maintenance. In selecting a particular line-coding scheme some considerations
must be made, as not all line codes adequately provide the all-important synchr
onization between transmitter and receiver. Other considerations for line code s
election are noise and interference levels, error detection and error checking,
implementation requirements, and the available bandwidth.
Question: How do we evaluate which one is better? Answer: We have to come up wit
h a standard to compare the techniques. Comparison & Evaluation Standards: 1. Si
gnal Spectrum. + Lack of high frequency components → Small BW → Multiplexing + Lack
of D.C. component → A.C. coupling via transformer → electrical isolation → low interfe
rence + Good spectrum shape → Concentrated power to the center of the transmitted
signal spectrum → Less signal distortion → Less ISI.
2. Clocking
Synchronization mechanism inherent to the encoding strategy. 3. Error detection
Some error detection capability built into the physical signaling encoding schem
e. 4. Signal interference & Noise immunity Superior performance in the presence
of noise → Differential Encoding. 5. Cost and complexity.
Now I lest some of the line codes with there proprieties and application:
• Nonreturn to zero (NRZ)
0 = low level, 1 = high level. And unipolar NRZ: 0V and “high” volts (e.g. TTL 0V/5V
). Bipolar NRZ: positive and negative. It has manly two types: • • Nonreturn to Zero
level (NRZ-L) Commonly used code to generate or interpret digital data by digit
al devices. Nonreturn to Zero, invert on (the rising edges of) One (NRZ-I) More
reliable to detect transition in the presence of noise. (i.e. non-differential a
lways compares to the threshold.) NRZ techniques are used for digital magnetic r
ecording. This line code is shown in Fig1. Problem with NRZ-L & NRZ-I 1-Possesse
s D.C. components. 2-Lack of synchronization capabilities.
Figure 1 the NRZ line code.
• Multilevel Binary.
Bipolar-AMI (Alternate Mark Inversion) & Pseudoternary: No less of synchronizati
on (Bipolar –AMI: 111… Pseudoternary: 000..,) No net d.c. component. Less BW compare
d to NRZ. Error detection for isolated errors → From inherent pulse-alternation pr
operty. Problem with Bipolar-AMI & Pseudoternary: 1) Binary data in multilevels –
Less efficient in information encoding. Needs
3dB more power compared to NRZ → Fixed S/N : Higher BER.
2) Possible Loss of synchronization → SCRAMBLING. (Bipolar-AMI :
consecutive 0s → constant voltage zero level. Pseudoternary : consecutive 1s → const
ant voltage zero level.) Bipolar-AMI used in Primary ISDN interface (with 1.544M
bps). And Pseudoternary used in Baric ISDN interface (with 192 kbps).
Figure 2 the Multilevel Binary line code.
• Biphase.
Have two types: • Manchester code – Transition in the middle of the bit period.
Transition in middle of bit period Mid-bit transition serves as clock and data 1
= low-to-high transition 0 = high-to-low transition • Differential Manchester Cod
e.
Mid-bit transition is clock Data is encoded at the beginning of the bit period 0
= transition at beginning of bit period 1 = no transition at beginning Modulati
on Rate ~ near twice of NRZ → Requires much lager BW! (For both). Advantages: 1) S
ynchronization → Self-clocking codes. = Biphase codes. 2) No D.C. component → Always
a balanced 0 & 1 levels usage. 3) Error detection → Noise would have to invert bo
th signal levels sequentially to create an undetected error pattern.
Manchester Code used for IEEE 802.3 standard for baseband coaxial cable and twis
ted pair CSMA/CD bus LANs. And the Differential Manchester Code used for IEEE 80
2.5 Tocken Ring LAN, using shielded twisted pairs.
Figure 3 the Biphase line code.
• Bipolar with 8-Zeros Substitution (B8ZS)
Modification to Bipolar-AMI to eliminate string of 0 bits: –Replace any octet of a
ll 0 (00000000) with: 000+-0-+ 000-+0+if previous non-zero signal was + if previ
ous non-zero signal was -
–This causes 2 code violations, so receiver knows it is a substitution byte, not a
transmission error. Advanteges: •Good clock recovery •Most of the transmitted energ
y is in middle of the spectrum; no D.C. component •B8ZS is used with pulse code mo
dulation (PCM) on T1 lines (1.544 Mbps); B3ZS and PCM are used on T3 lines.
It is Commonly used in North America.
• High Density Bipolar-3 Zeros (HDB3)
Modification to Bipolar-AMI to eliminate zero strings: –Replace any 4 zero bits (0
000) with: odd even
000+ -00000- +00+
if previous non-zero signal was + if previous non-zero signal was -
–Alternate (odd/even occurrence) between the two –Each replacement causes one code v
iolation •Good clock recovery; most of energy is in middle of the spectrum; no D.C
. component; not as robust as B8ZS HDB3 is used on E-series public carrier lines
(E1 is 2.048Mbps), Commonly used in Europe and Japan
Figure 4 B8ZS and HDB3 line codes.
Appendix A: table of must common line codes and it’s Algorithms.
Appendix B: the power spectral density for some line codes.