ABSTRACT

In this chapter introduces the foundations of electrical communication systems,

emphasizing basic analog communications ideas.

An overview of digital communications

concepts is provided in the last section. The subject of electrical communications is one that
touches everyones life: telephones, TV and radio have been a part of our lives for many decades;
today, new means of communications are becoming as pervasive as the traditional ones.
Computer networks, satellite weather systems, personal communication systems (pagers, cellular
phones, etc.) are becoming essential parts of our everyday lives. The aim of this chapter is to
present the basic mathematics of spectrum analysis, which are the foundations of all
communication systems, and the basic operation of amplitude- and frequency-modulation
systems.
The explanation of these concepts is supplemented by the use of computer-aided tools. In
addition, the chapter also includes an overview of different types of commonly used
communication systems. Upon completing the chapter, you should: a. Be familiar with the most
common types of communication systems in block diagram form. b. Be capable of performing
spectral analysis of simple signals using analytical and computer-aided tools. c. Understand the
principles of AM modulation and demodulation, and perform basic calculations and numerical
computations on AM signals. d. Understand the principles of FM modulation and demodulation,
and perform basic calculations and numerical computations on FM signals.

1.INTRODUCTION:
The modern era of communications began with the telegraph and the Morse code ,and
rapidly moved towards radio and television. Table 19.1 summarizes some of the major dates in
the history of communication systems. Table 19.1 A Brief History of Communications Date
Event 1838 Samuel F. B. Morse demonstrates telegraph 1876 Alexander Graham Bell patents the
telephone 1897 Marconi patents a complete wireless telegraph system 1906 Lee DeForest
invents the triode amplifier 1915 Bell System completes a transcontinental telephone line 1918
B.H. Armstrong perfects the superheterodyne receiver 1937 Alec Reeves conceives pulse code
modulation 1938 Television broadcasting begins WW II Radar and microwave systems are
developed 1948 The transistor is invented.
Claude Shannon publishes Mathematical Theory of Communications 1956 First
transoceanic telephone cable 1960 First communications satellite, Telstar I, is launched 1962-66
High speed digital communications 1965 Mariner IV transmits pictures from Mars to Earth 1970
Color TV 1970 Commercial relay satellite telecommunications 1975 Intercontinental computer
communication networks

2. MODULATION:
Information, modulation and carriers the purpose of communication systems is to
communicate information; the four most common sources of information are: speech (or sound),
video and data. Regardless of the source, the information that is transmitted and received in a
communication system consists of a signal, encoding the information in some appropriate
fashion. Figure 19.1 depicts the general layout of a communication system: an input transducer
(e.g., a microphone) converts the input message into a message signal (e.g., a time varying
voltage) that is transmitted over a channel, and converted by a receiver into an output signal. An
output transducer (e.g., a loudspeaker) converts the received signal into an output message (e.g.:
sound).

The transmitter performs a very important function on communication signals by

encoding the signals in some fashion making use of a carrier signal.

3. CLASSIFICATION OF COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS:

Communication systems can be classified into two basic families, based on the nature of
the message signal: analog communication systems and digital communication systems. In this
chapter we shall primarily focus on analog communications, although it should be remarked that
digital communications are taking an increasingly prominent role even in the most common
applications1. Another classification may be made based on the type of transmission: light wave
vs. radio frequency, or RF transmission, as is explained in the next section. A third classification
is that of carrier vs. direct baseband transmission system. This latter classification is based on
whether the signal of interest is directly transmitted (e.g., as in the case of the telegraph), or
whether the signal modulates a carrier wave, as in the case of AM and FM radio transmission.
1 An example of this phenomenon is the changeover from analog to digital systems in
cellular telephony. Both systems coexist at the present time, but it is reasonable to forecast that
in a few years all personal communication systems will be digital.

4. COMMUNICATION CHANNELS:
The modulated transmitted signal can reach the receiver in a number of ways. In some
cases, communication systems are hard wired. Examples of this configuration are local area
computer networks, local telephone systems and local cable TV networks. Depending on the
frequency range, the transmitted signal can be carried by twisted wire pair, coaxial cable,
waveguides, or optical fiber. However, in most communications systems, after the signal had
been carried over a wire or cable, it is eventually broadcast over air by an antenna, to be received
by a similar antenna elsewhere. depicts some typical communication system components.
Communication system components; clockwise from top left: coaxial cables; RF
connectors; detail of coaxial cable; RF cabling components; monopole antenna; optical fiber
bundle.The range of transmission can be significant consider that signals can be received from
the far reaches of the solar system via radio astronomy.

The most common means of

transmission of communication signals is via the broadcast of radio frequency waves over the air.
To understand the different types of wave propagation, we need to briefly explain the geometry
of the earths atmosphere.

5. SPECTRAL ANALYSIS:
.

You know from that signals can be represented both in time- domain and in frequency-

domain form. The phasor notation introduced in Chapter 4 is the starting point of the frequency
domain representation, or spectral representation of signals: a phasor describes a sinusoidal
signals amplitude and phase as a function of frequency. The spectrum of a signal consists of the
frequency domain representation of the voltage signal. For example, the signal x(t) = A1
cos(w1t +f1) only contains a single sinusoidal frequency, w1, and its spectrum therefore consists
of a pair spectral lines at the frequency w1. and (b)-(c) depict the representation of a sinusoidal
signal in the time domain and in the frequency domain.
Note that to completely represent the frequency domain signal one needs to consider
both magnitude and phase, as was discussed in. Note also that the spectrum of the signal exists
at both positive and negative frequencies2; this is a mathematical consequence of the definition
of the Fourier transform, as will be shown soon.
Although negative frequencies have no physical significance, the mathematical form of
the Fourier Series and Transform requires that we consider the spectrum of the signal at both
positive and negative frequencies.A plot of the spectrum. The figure illustrates the characteristics
of the sinc function, with zero crossings at integer multiples of /T rad/s, and peak amplitude of
2T.

6. BANDWIDTH:
The bandwidth of a signal is the range of frequencies comprising the spectrum of the
signal. Bandwidth is a very important concept in communication systems, as the allocation of
radio frequency spectrum for different communication systems permits the transmission of signal
within a certain specified bandwidth. For example, standard FM radio allows a bandwidth of
200 kHz for each radio station. The most common definition of bandwidth is that of 3-dB
bandwidth, also called half-power bandwidth. The 3-dB bandwidth of a signal is defined as the
frequency range between points where the signal level is 3 dB below its maximum pass-band
value.

This informal definition is illustrated in Figure 19.19, where an arbitrary voltage signal is
shown to have a spectrum V(f), with center frequency f0 and 3-dB bandwidth 2B. You will recall
from the definitions given in Chapter 6 that the 3-dB point in a frequency plot is the frequency
where the amplitude has dropped to a value equal to 1/ 2 , or 0.707, times the maximum value.
Since signal power is proportional to the square of the voltage, the 3-dB bandwidth is also called
the half-power bandwidth. Thus, half of the signal power is contained in the frequency band f0
B to f0 + B ; we call 2B the bandwidth of the signal. Please observe that this informal definition
assumes that the signal spectrum as a band-pass shape.

7. AMPLITUDE MODULATION AND DEMODULATION:

The concept of amplitude modulation (AM) was introduced in Chapter 4 (Focus on
measurements: capacitive displacement transducer), where it was shown that the signal produced
by a capacitive microphone (displacement transducer) inserted in a Wheatstone bridge circuit,
modulated the amplitude of a sinusoidal excitation signal. In that example, the pressure changes
sensed by the microphone constituted the modulation, while the sinusoidal excitation provided a
carrier.

In Chapter 8 (Focus on measurements: peak detector for capacitive displacement

transducer), it was shown that a diode circuit was capable of demodulating the AM signal, and of
recovering the desired information (pressure changes corresponding to acoustic waves, that is,
sound).
In this section, the same basic principles introduced in the above mentioned examples
will be discussed more formally, as they apply to AM communication systems. The most
common manifestation of amplitude modulation in communication systems is commercial AM
radio, or standard AM. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), a body that regulates
the usage and allocation of the radio frequency spectrum in the U.S.A., has assigned the
frequency band between 540 and 1600 kHz to commercial AM radio transmission. Each station
can occupy a bandwidth of 10 kHz centered around its carrier. As we shall see, this corresponds
to an effective signal bandwidth of 5 kHz sufficient for good reproduction of speech, and
acceptable reproduction of music.

8. APPLICATIONS:

AM signals are generated by modulating the amplitude of a carrier signal. Let the carrier
signal be a sinusoid at frequency wc : c(t)= Ac cos wct ( ) Carrier signal (19.17) and for
illustration purposes - let the modulation also be a single tone (sinusoid), at a frequency

wm <<wc : m(t)= Am cos wmt

Modulating signal With these definitions, we can define the basic AM signal as follows:
s(t) = Ac + m(t) [ ]cos wct ( ) (19.19) or s(t) = Ac 1 + Am Ac cos wmt ( )

cos wct ( ) AM signal .

The modulation index, m, is defined to be the ratio of the modulation to carrier signal
amplitudes: m= Am Ac Modulation index (19.21) and for proper amplitude modulation
should be less than 1. If Equation 19.20 is expanded, we see that an AM signal is
composed of two terms: a sinusoidal carrier wave, plus a wave that is the product of two

sinusoidal terms.
Using trigonometric identities, we can write the following expression: s(t) = Ac cos wct
( )+mAc cos wct ( )cos wmt ( ) = Ac cos wct ( )+m Ac 2 cos wc wm ( ) t +m Ac 2 cos
wc +wm ( ) t.

9. ADVANTAGES:
o If you like, you may experiment with the value of the modulation index and see its effect
on the AM wave.
o It is recommended that the modulation index, m, be nearly equal to 1, but not greater. If
the modulation index is greater than 1 for any t, the carrier wave becomes overmodulated, resulting in carrier phase reversals whenever the function 1+mm(t)( )crosses
zero.
o Focus on Computer-Aided Tools A Matlab file used to generate the figures shown in this
example may be found on the book website,.
o You may use this file to experiment with changes in the modulation index.
o The single-tone modulation example is very valuable to understand the basic properties
of an AM signal. In the next two examples we progress to the double-tone modulation,
and then to a general, non-periodic modulating signal to explore the waveforms and
spectrum of more realistic AM signals.

10. DISADVANTAGES:
o The modulation index for the signal is defined as m= Am Ac = max( m(t)) min( m(t))
2Vc
o The spectrum of the AM wave in this case consists of delta functions at fc, fc fm1, fc
fm2, -fc fm1, and -fc fm2, where fm1, fm2, are the frequencies contained in the
modulating signal.
o The frequency spectrum of the AM wave is just a shifted version of the original
modulating signal with the shift in frequency equal to the carrier frequency.
o The portion of the spectrum of an AM wave lying above the carrier frequency fc is the
upper side- band, whereas the symmetric portion below fc is called the lower side-band.
o Focus on Computer-Aided Tools A Matlab file used to generate the figures shown in this
example may be found on the book website.
o You may use this file to experiment with changes in the modulation index or in the signal
frequencies.

11. CONCLUSION:
Demodulation is the process of recovering the modulating signal from a received
modulated signal. With reference to Figure 19.1, one can think of the transmitter in an AM
signal as the device that imposes the modulation on a carrier, while the receiver extracts the

modulating signal from a received AM signal. To understand the basic principle of modulation
and demodulation, we observe that amplitude modulation consists in effect of multiplying the
carrier signal times the modulating signal.
This process is often called mixing, and a mixer is the device that implements this
function, that is, multiplication. Consider the AM signal You see that the result of this mixing
operation consists of two terms: a constant plus the modulation signal what we desire to
recover and an amplitude modulated term at a frequency equal to twice the carrier frequency.
Note that the modulation signal is back to baseband, that is low frequencies (for example, 0-5
kHz for speech and music), and that it is therefore easy to recover the modulating signal by lowpass filtering the output of the mixer -modulated FM waveform and its corresponding magnitude
spectrum.
FM transmission permits significant improvements over AM, but at the cost of an
increased requirement for bandwidth. In the next sub- sections you will be introduced to the
basic signal models for FM; two different cases are discussed: narrowband FM and wideband
FM. The plots of Figure 19.24 correspond to a wideband FM signal. Note the significant spread
of signal frequencies relative to the carrier frequency!

12. REFERENCES:
[1] Yuen, A., Telecom packaging improves reliability of high-power lasers, LaserFocusWorld,
Semiconductor Resources. (www.coherent.com)

[2] Bhatia, R., (2003) Materials Issues and Engineering Design Considerations for Device
Packaging of High Power Edge Emitting Semiconductor Laser Arrays and Monolithic Stacked
Laser Diode Bars, Department of Chemical & Materials Engineering, San Jose State University,
California.
[3] Wikipedia (2011) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
[4] Sepulveda, J. L., Valenzuela, L., et al, (2000), Copper/tungsten mounts keep diode lasers
cool, Optoelectronics Packaging, Telecom Products Division, Opto Power Corp.
[5] Rohlin, A., (2011) What is tungsten copper use for, www.ehow.com
[6] CW and QCW definitions, (2011) http://www.rp-photonics.com
[7] Boucke, K., Jandeleit, J., et al, (2000), Packaging and Characterization Equipment for HighPower Diode Laser Bars and VCSELs, University of Technology Aachen, Germany.