Digital communications

Inter-Symbol Interference (ISI)

 ISI in the detection process due to the
filtering effects of the system
 Overall equivalent system transfer function

H ( f )  Ht ( f )H c ( f )H r ( f )
 creates echoes and hence time dispersion
 causes ISI at sampling time

z k  sk  nk    i si
ik

Lecture 6 2
 Inter-symbol interference
 Baseband system model
x1 x2
xk  Tx filter Channel r (t ) Rx. filter
zk
x̂k 
ht (t ) hc (t ) hr (t ) Detector
t  kT
T Ht ( f ) Hc ( f ) Hr ( f )
x3 T n(t )

 Equivalent model
x1 x2
xk  Equivalent system z (t ) zk
x̂k 
h(t ) Detector
t  kT
T H( f )
x3 T nˆ (t )
filtered noise
H ( f )  Ht ( f )H c ( f )H r ( f )

Lecture 6 3
 Nyquist bandwidth constraint
 Nyquist bandwidth constraint:
 The theoretical minimum required system bandwidth to
detect Rs [symbols/s] without ISI is Rs/2 [Hz].
 Equivalently, a system with bandwidth W=1/2T=Rs/2
[Hz] can support a maximum transmission rate of
2W=1/T=Rs [symbols/s] without ISI.
1 Rs Rs
 W   2 [symbol/s/Hz]
2T 2 W

 Bandwidth efficiency, R/W [bits/s/Hz] :

 An important measure in DCs representing data
throughput per hertz of bandwidth.
 Showing how efficiently the bandwidth resources are
used by signaling techniques.
Lecture 6 4
 Ideal Nyquist pulse (filter)
Ideal Nyquist filter Ideal Nyquist pulse
H( f ) h(t )  sinc(t / T )
T 1

0 f  2T  T 0 T 2T t
1 1
2T 2T
1
W
2T
Lecture 6 5
 Nyquist pulses (filters)
 Nyquist pulses (filters):
 Pulses (filters) which results in no ISI at the
sampling time.
 Nyquist filter:
 Its transfer function in frequency domain is
obtained by convolving a rectangular function with
any real even-symmetric frequency function
 Nyquist pulse:
 Its shape can be represented by a sinc(t/T)
function multiply by another time function.
 Example of Nyquist filters: Raised-Cosine filter

Lecture 6 6
 Pulse shaping to reduce ISI
 Goals and trade-off in pulse-shaping
 Reduce ISI
 Efficient bandwidth utilization
 Robustness to timing error (small side
lobes)

Lecture 6 7
 The raised cosine filter
 Raised-Cosine Filter
 A Nyquist pulse (No ISI at the sampling time)

1 for | f | 2W0  W

2   | f | W  2W0 
H ( f )  cos   for 2W0  W | f | W
 4 W  W0 
0 for | f | W
cos[2 (W  W0 )t ]
h(t )  2W0 (sinc(2W0t ))
1  [4(W  W0 )t ]2
W  W0
Excess bandwidth: W  W Roll-off factor r 
W0
0  r 1
0

Lecture 6 8
 The Raised cosine filter – cont’d

| H ( f ) || H RC ( f ) | h(t )  hRC (t )

1 r 0 1

r  0.5
0.5 0.5 r 1
r 1 r  0.5
r0

1  3 1 0 1 3 1  3T  2T  T 0 T 2T 3T
T 4T 2T 2T 4T T

Rs
Baseband W sSB (1  r ) Passband W DSB (1  r ) Rs
2

Lecture 6 9
 Pulse shaping and equalization to
remove ISI
No ISI at the sampling time

H RC ( f )  H t ( f ) H c ( f ) H r ( f ) H e ( f )

 Square-Root Raised Cosine (SRRC) filter and Equalizer

H RC ( f )  H t ( f ) H r ( f )
Taking care of ISI
H r ( f )  H t ( f )  H RC ( f )  H SRRC ( f ) caused by tr. filter

1
He ( f )  Taking care of ISI
Hc ( f ) caused by channel

Lecture 6 10
 Example of pulse shaping
Square-root Raised-Cosine (SRRC) pulse shaping
Amp. [V]

Baseband tr. Waveform

Third pulse

t/T
First pulse
Second pulse

Data symbol

Lecture 6 11
 Example of pulse shaping …
 Raised Cosine pulse at the output of matched filter
Amp. [V]

Baseband received waveform at

the matched filter output
(zero ISI)

t/T

Lecture 6 12
 Eye pattern
 Eye pattern:Display on an oscilloscope which
sweeps the system response to a baseband signal at
the rate 1/T (T symbol duration)
Distortion
due to ISI
Noise margin
amplitude scale

Sensitivity to
timing error

Timing jitter
time scale
Lecture 6 13
 Example of eye pattern:
Binary-PAM, SRRQ pulse
 Perfect channel (no noise and no ISI)

Lecture 6 14
 Example of eye pattern:
Binary-PAM, SRRQ pulse …
 AWGN (Eb/N0=20 dB) and no ISI

Lecture 6 15
 Example of eye pattern:
Binary-PAM, SRRQ pulse …
 AWGN (Eb/N0=10 dB) and no ISI

Lecture 6 16
 Equalization – cont’d

Step 1 – waveform to sample transformation Step 2 – decision making

Demodulate & Sample Detect

z (T ) Threshold m̂i
r (t ) Frequency Receiving Equalizing
comparison
down-conversion filter filter

For bandpass signals Compensation for

channel induced ISI

Received waveform Baseband pulse

Baseband pulse Sample
(possibly distored)
(test statistic)

Lecture 6 17
 Equalization
 ISI due to filtering effect of the
communications channel (e.g. wireless
channels)
 Channels behave like band-limited filters
j c ( f )
Hc ( f )  Hc ( f ) e

Non-constant amplitude Non-linear phase

Amplitude distortion Phase distortion

Lecture 6 18
 Equalization: Channel examples
 Example of a frequency selective, slowly changing (slow fading)
channel for a user at 35 km/h

Lecture 6 19
 Equalization: Channel examples …
 Example of a frequency selective, fast changing (fast fading)
channel for a user at 35 km/h

Lecture 6 20
 Example of eye pattern with ISI:
Binary-PAM, SRRQ pulse
 Non-ideal channel and no noise
hc (t )   (t )  0.7 (t  T )

Lecture 6 21
 Example of eye pattern with ISI:
Binary-PAM, SRRQ pulse …
 AWGN (Eb/N0=20 dB) and ISI
hc (t )   (t )  0.7 (t  T )

Lecture 6 22
 Example of eye pattern with ISI:
Binary-PAM, SRRQ pulse …
 AWGN (Eb/N0=10 dB) and ISI
hc (t )   (t )  0.7 (t  T )

Lecture 6 23
 Equalizing filters …
 Baseband system model
a1
 a  (t  kT ) Tx filter
k
k Channel r (t ) Equalizer Rx. filter z (t ) z k âk 
ht (t ) hc (t ) he (t ) hr (t ) Detector
t  kT
Ta a Ht ( f ) Hc ( f ) He ( f ) Hr ( f )
2 3
n(t )

 Equivalent model H ( f )  Ht ( f )H c ( f )H r ( f )
a1
 a  (t  kT )
k
Equivalent system z (t ) x(t ) Equalizer z (t )
zk âk 
k h(t ) he (t ) Detector
t  kT
Ta a H( f ) He ( f )
2 3 nˆ (t )
filtered noise
nˆ (t )  n(t )  hr (t )

Lecture 6 24
 Equalization – cont’d
 Equalization using
 MLSE (Maximum likelihood sequence
estimation)
 Filtering
 Transversal filtering
 Zero-forcing equalizer
 Minimum mean square error (MSE) equalizer
 Decision feedback
 Using the past decisions to remove the ISI contributed
by them
 Adaptive equalizer

Lecture 6 25
 Equalization by transversal filtering
 Transversal filter:
 A weighted tap delayed line that reduces the effect
of ISI byN
proper adjustment of the filter taps.
z (t )   cn x(t  n ) n   N ,..., N k  2 N ,...,2 N
n N

x(t )
   
c N c N 1 c N 1 cN

z (t )

Coeff.
adjustment
Lecture 6 26
 Transversal equalizing filter …
 Zero-forcing equalizer:
 The filter taps are adjusted such that the equalizer output
is forced to be zero at N sample points on each side:
Adjust 1 k 0

z (k ) 
cn nN N 0 k  1,..., N

 Mean Square Error (MSE) equalizer:

 The filter taps are adjusted such that the MSE of ISI and
noise power at the equalizer output is minimized.
Adjust
c n nN  N

min E ( z (kT )  ak ) 2 
Lecture 6 27
 Example of equalizer
 2-PAM with SRRQ Matched filter outputs at the sampling time
 Non-ideal channel
hc (t )   (t )  0.3 (t  T )
 One-tap DFE
ISI-no noise,
No equalizer

ISI-no noise,
DFE equalizer

ISI- noise
No equalizer

ISI- noise
DFE equalizer
Lecture 6 28