Question

Write the advantages of digital communication.

Answer 1

Hint: Mention the various advantages digital communication methods have over analog communication methods. How the newer digital communication methods are cheaper, more effective, more efficient, more versatile and easier to use.

Complete answer:
Digital communication refers to transfer of data using digital channels such as copper wires, optical fibers, wireless channels etc. Earlier analog signals were used for data transfer over long ranges, but they suffered a lot from losses due to distortion, noise and interference. The advantages of digital communication are as follows-
Effect of noise, distortion and interference is lower in digital signals as they are less affected by those effects.
They are easier to design and operate and much cheaper.
The hardware and the circuitry used for digital communication are both very flexible and reliable.
The possibility of signals crossing over each other and cross-talk is very low for digital communication.
The signal received and transmitted are relatively the same as their alteration requires very high disturbance which is very difficult.
Processing of signals such as compression and encryption can be done in digital communication to maintain the secrecy of information.
Error detecting and correcting codes can be used to reduce the possibility of error occurrence.
Digital signals can be saved and retrieved much easily as compared to analog signals.
Most of the signals have similar encoding so the same device can be used foe a variety of applications.
The capacity of the channel is utilized to its maximum during digital communication.
Even analog signals can be converted to digital form and be transmitted using digital communication methods.

Note:
Take care to not mix up analog and digital communication methods. Students must remember that with all these advantages there are certain disadvantages too like high power consumption and complex device making. But advantages outweigh the disadvantages by a huge margin and therefore we see digital communication taking over all around.