MLT-3 encoding (Multi-Level Transmit) is a
line code
In telecommunication, a line code is a pattern of voltage, current, or photons used to represent digital data transmitted down a communication channel or written to a storage medium. This repertoire of signals is usually called a constrained ...
(a signaling method used in a
telecommunication
Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that ...
system for transmission purposes) that uses three
voltage
Voltage, also known as electric pressure, electric tension, or (electric) potential difference, is the difference in electric potential between two points. In a static electric field, it corresponds to the work needed per unit of charge to ...
levels. An MLT-3 interface emits less
electromagnetic interference
Electromagnetic interference (EMI), also called radio-frequency interference (RFI) when in the radio frequency spectrum, is a disturbance generated by an external source that affects an electrical circuit by electromagnetic induction, electrost ...
and requires less
bandwidth
Bandwidth commonly refers to:
* Bandwidth (signal processing) or ''analog bandwidth'', ''frequency bandwidth'', or ''radio bandwidth'', a measure of the width of a frequency range
* Bandwidth (computing), the rate of data transfer, bit rate or thr ...
than most other
binary or
ternary interfaces that operate at the same
bit rate
In telecommunications and computing, bit rate (bitrate or as a variable ''R'') is the number of bits that are conveyed or processed per unit of time.
The bit rate is expressed in the unit bit per second (symbol: bit/s), often in conjunction ...
(see
PCM
Pulse-code modulation (PCM) is a method used to digitally represent sampled analog signals. It is the standard form of digital audio in computers, compact discs, digital telephony and other digital audio applications. In a PCM stream, the am ...
for discussion on bandwidth /
quantization tradeoffs), such as
Manchester code
In telecommunication and data storage, Manchester code (also known as phase encoding, or PE) is a line code in which the encoding of each data bit is either low then high, or high then low, for equal time. It is a self-clocking signal with no D ...
or
Alternate Mark Inversion
In telecommunication, bipolar encoding is a type of return-to-zero (RZ) line code, where two nonzero values are used, so that the three values are +, −, and zero. Such a signal is called a duobinary signal. Standard bipolar encodings are designed ...
.
MLT-3 cycles sequentially through the voltage levels −1, 0, +1, 0. It moves to the next state to transmit a 1 bit, and stays in the same state to transmit a 0 bit. Similar to simple
NRZ encoding, MLT-3 has a coding efficiency of 1 bit/baud, however it requires four transitions (
baud
In telecommunication and electronics, baud (; symbol: Bd) is a common unit of measurement of symbol rate, which is one of the components that determine the speed of communication over a data channel.
It is the unit for symbol rate or modulat ...
) to complete a full cycle (from low-to-middle, middle-to-high, high-to-middle, middle-to-low). Thus, the maximum fundamental frequency is reduced to one fourth of the baud rate. This makes signal transmission more amenable to copper wires.
The lack of transition on a 0 bit means that for practical use, the number of consecutive 0 bits in the transmitted data must be bounded; i.e. it must be pre-coded using a
run-length limited
Run-length limited or RLL coding is a line coding technique that is used to send arbitrary data over a communications channel with bandwidth limits. RLL codes are defined by four main parameters: ''m'', ''n'', ''d'', ''k''. The first two, ''m'' ...
code. This results in an effective bitrate slightly lower than one bit per baud or four bits per cycle.
MLT-3 was first introduced by Crescendo Communications
Network World, June 29, 1992, page 19 as a coding scheme for FDDI
Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) is a standard for data transmission in a local area network.
It uses optical fiber as its standard underlying physical medium, although it was also later specified to use copper cable, in which case it m ...
copper interconnect (TP-PMD,[
- initial implementation; also see patent
] aka CDDI). Later, the same technology was used in the 100BASE-TX
In computer networking, Fast Ethernet physical layers carry traffic at the nominal rate of 100 Mbit/s. The prior Ethernet speed was 10 Mbit/s. Of the Fast Ethernet physical layers, 100BASE-TX is by far the most common.
Fast Ether ...
physical medium dependent sublayer, given the considerable similarities between FDDI
Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) is a standard for data transmission in a local area network.
It uses optical fiber as its standard underlying physical medium, although it was also later specified to use copper cable, in which case it m ...
and 100BASE- F physical media attachment layer (section 25.3 of IEEE802.3-2002 specifies that ANSI X3.263:1995 TP-PMD should be consulted, with minor exceptions).
Signaling specified by 100BASE-T4
In computer networking, Fast Ethernet physical layers carry traffic at the nominal rate of 100 Mbit/s. The prior Ethernet speed was 10 Mbit/s. Of the Fast Ethernet physical layers, 100BASE-TX is by far the most common.
Fast Ethern ...
Ethernet, while it has three levels, is not compatible with MLT-3. It uses selective base-2 to base-3 conversion with direct mapping of base-3 digits to line levels ( 8B6T code).
See also
* 4B5B
In telecommunication, 4B5B is a form of data communications line code. 4B5B maps groups of 4 bits of data onto groups of 5 bits for transmission. These 5-bit words are pre-determined in a dictionary and they are chosen to ensure that there will b ...
External links
*
References
Line codes
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