Analog and Digital Comparison

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Analog and Digital Technologies
To understand the technologies of analog and digital conversions we must first understand what analog and digital transmissions are. Analog transmissions are a continuous variable in amplitude and frequency. The frequency band that they operate over defines analog circuits. People generally produce a bandwidth of 9,900Hz with frequencies in the range of 100Hz to 10,000Hz. Speech that falls between 250Hz and 3,400Hz is considered intelligible speech and therefore the network circuits use bandwidth-limiting filters designed to filter out all frequencies above 4,000Hz. For these reasons, analog circuits are low-speed data communications, with a maximum data rate of 33.6Kps when analog loops are at both ends of the circuit.
Digital transmissions are very different from analog transmission. A digital transmission is a series of pulses that are ones or zeroes and these ones and zeroes make up combinations to create characters in characters sets. The way the signal is carried depends on whether the network is electrical or optical. In an electrical network, the ones and zeroes are either high voltage or low voltage. With an optical network, it is either the presents of light or no light.
Communications today are transmitted over a mix of digital and analog networks. Conversion is necessary for data to be transmitted across the various networks. Codecs are the devices that convert the transmissions from analog to digital. Modems are other devices that infuse digital signal onto transmission conveniences. Modems control the variables of electromagnetic wave to determine the ones and zeroes. Conversions are weak points in the network and errors and distortions can occur at these points.
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