Pulse-code modulation.

This thesis describes work done on the Electrical Engineering Department of the University of Tasmania from April 1959 until March 1960 under the supervision of Professor G.H. Newstead. At that time the Department was concerned with providing equipment for telemetry of very low frequency seismic data from remote stations in Tasmania. In support of a proposal that PCM transmission be used due to its claimed high noise-immunity, a theoretical investigation of the characteristics of PCM was carried out, and simple transistorized equipment was developed for this application: a coder and decoder for the data, and regeneration and synchronization equipment for the transmission link. Other equipment concerned with the instrumentation of geological work was designed and built for the Department during this period. It included a portable unit for measuring borehole temperatures, standard time-signal equipment for the laboratory and high-current regulated paver supplies for transistorised equipment. When this work was undertaken the use of transistors was very restricted and little experience had been gained in the Department in their application. Consequently, this thesis reports some of the early transistor circuit development in the University of Tasmania.