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Analog and Digital Communications

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  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Wireless Networks

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Synonyms

Analog and digital communications

Definitions

The analog signal can be one of infinite number of values, while the digital signal can only be one of finite number of values. The analog signal transmission from one part to other parts is called analog communications, while the digital signal transmission from one part to other parts is called digital communications.

Historical Background

In practice, most signals that exist in the nature are analog signals, such as voice, image, video, temperature, pressure, and so on. There are infinite numbers of possible values for analog signal, which is continuous with time in most cases. According to the Nyquist theorem, the low-pass and band-pass analog signals can be converted into digital signals through sampling, quantization, and coding processes, which is known as analog-to-digital converting (ADC). During the ADC process, the error called quantization error is caused in the quantization process. After ADC process, the analog signal...

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References

  • Hui SY, Yeung KH (2003) Challenges in the migration to 4G mobile systems. IEEE Commun Mag 41(12):54–59

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  • Kumar A, Liu Y, Sengupta J, Divya JS (2010) Evolution of mobile wireless communication networks 1G to 4G. Int J Electr Commun Technol 1(1):68–72

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tongji University, Shanghai, China

    Xin-Lin Huang

Authors
  1. Xin-Lin Huang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xin-Lin Huang .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo , Waterloo, ON, Canada

    Xuemin (Sherman) Shen

  2. Faculty of Business and Information Technology, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Oshawa, ON, Canada

    Xiaodong Lin

  3. Dpt.of Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Omaha, NE, USA

    Kuan Zhang

Section Editor information

  1. No affiliation provided

    Hsiao-hwa Chen

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Huang, XL. (2018). Analog and Digital Communications. In: Shen, X., Lin, X., Zhang, K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Wireless Networks. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32903-1_82-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32903-1_82-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-32903-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-32903-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Computer SciencesReference Module Computer Science and Engineering

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