Chapter-6

Radio Transmitters and Receivers

 Transmitter Fundamentals
• A radio transmitter takes the information to be
communicated and converts it into an electronic
signal compatible with the communication medium.
• This process involves carrier generation,
modulation, and power amplification.
• The signal is fed by wire, coaxial cable, or waveguide
to an antenna that launches it into free space.
• Typical transmitter circuits include oscillators,
amplifiers, frequency multipliers, and impedance
matching networks.
• The transmitter is the electronic unit that accepts
the information signal to be transmitted and
converts it into an RF signal capable of being
transmitted over long distances.
 Transmitter Configurations
• The simplest transmitter is a single-transistor
oscillator connected to an antenna.
• This form of transmitter can generate
continuous wave (CW) transmissions.
• The oscillator generates a carrier and can be
switched off and on by a telegraph key to
produce the dots and dashes of the
International Morse code.
• CW is rarely used today as the oscillator power
is too low and the Morse code is nearly
extinct.
A powerful and simple CW transmitter
 Transmitter Types
• High-Level Amplitude Modulated (AM) Transmitter
• Oscillator generates the carrier frequency.
• Carrier signal fed to buffer amplifier.
• Signal then fed to driver amplifier and to final amplifier.
• Low-level Amplitude Modulated (AM) Transmitter
• Low-Level Frequency Modulated (FM) Transmitter
• Crystal oscillator generates the carrier signal.
• Signal fed to buffer amplifier.
• Applied to phase modulator.
• Signal fed to frequency multiplier(s).
• Signal fed to driver amplifier and final amplifier.
• Single-Sideband (SSB) Transmitter
• Oscillator generates the carrier.
• Carrier is fed to buffer amplifier.
• Signal is applied to balanced modulator.
• DSB signal fed to sideband filter to select upper or lower sideband.
• SSB signal sent to mixer circuit.
• Final carrier frequency fed to linear driver and power amplifiers.
AM Transmitter Types
 Carrier Generators
• The starting point for all transmitters is carrier
generation.

• Once generated, the carrier can be modulated,

processed in various ways, amplified, and
transmitted.

• The source of most carriers is a crystal oscillator.

• PLL frequency synthesizers are also used in

applications requiring multiple channels of
operation.
 Carrier Generators

crystal oscillator

Basic PLL frequency synthesizer.

Buffer Amplifiers and frequency multipliers

• Buffer amplifier is to match the impedance

between the carrier generator and frequency
multiplier.
– Protects the frequency multiplier not to draw high
current so that it the carrier remain stable.

• The frequency multiplier is a tuned circuit which

selects a required harmonics and amplify it
– A doubler selects the 2nd harmonics and amplify it
– A quadripler selects the 4th harmonics and amplify it
 Power Amplifiers
• The three basic types of power
amplifiers used in transmitters are:
–Linear (Class A and Class B)
–Class C
–Switching
 Linear Amplifiers
• Linear amplifiers provide an output signal that is
an identical, enlarged replica of the input.
• Their output is directly proportional to their input
and they faithfully reproduce an input, but at a
higher level.
• Most audio amplifiers are linear.
• Linear RF amplifiers are used to increase the
power level of variable-amplitude RF signals
such as low-level AM.
• Linear amplifiers are class A, AB or B.
Class A amplifiers are biased so that they conduct continuously. The output is an
amplified linear reproduction of the input.

Class B amplifiers are biased at cutoff so that no collector current flows with zero
input. Only one-half of the sine wave is amplified.
 Class C Amplifiers
• Class C amplifiers conduct for less than one-half of
the sine wave input cycle, making them very
efficient.
• The resulting highly distorted current pulse is used
to ring a tuned circuit to create a continuous sine-
wave output.
• Class C amplifiers cannot be used to amplify
varying-amplitude signals.
• This type amplifier makes a good frequency
multiplier as harmonics are generated in the
process.
 Switching Amplifiers
• Switching amplifiers act like on/off or digital
switches.
– They effectively generate a square-wave output.
– Harmonics generated are filtered out by using
high-Q tuned circuits.
– The on/off switching action is highly efficient.
– Switching amplifiers are designated class D, E, F,
and S.
– Commonly used for carrier amplifications
 Impedance-Matching Networks
• Matching networks that connect one stage to another are
very important parts of any transmitter.

• The circuits used to connect one stage to another are known

as impedance-matching networks.

• Typical networks are LC circuits, transformers, or some

combination.

• The main function of a matching network is to provide for an

optimum transfer of power through impedance matching
techniques.

• Matching networks also provide filtering and selectivity.

 Impedance-Matching Networks

Networks :
There are three basic types of LC impedance-
matching networks. They are:
• L network
• T network
• π network
L network
Networks
π network

T network
 Impedance-Matching Networks
Transformers and Baluns
– One of the best impedance-matching components
is the transformer.
• Iron-core transformers are widely used at lower
frequencies to match impedances.
• Any load impedance can be made to look like the
desired load impedance by selecting the correct value
of transformer turns ratio.
• A transformer used to connect a balanced source to an
unbalanced load or vice versa, is called a balun
(balanced-unbalanced).
 Typical Transmitter Circuits

Schematic of sections of the E-Comm transceiver.

 Basic Principles of Signal Reproduction
(Receiver Fundamentals)
• In radio communication systems, the transmitted
signal is very weak when it reaches the receiver,
particularly when it has traveled over a long
distance.
• The signal has also picked up noise of various kinds.
• Receivers must provide the sensitivity and selectivity
that permit full recovery of the original signal.
• The radio receiver best suited to this task is known as
the superheterodyne receiver.
Basic Principles of Signal Reproduction
• A communication receiver must be able to
identify and select a desired signal from the
thousands of others present in the frequency
spectrum (selectivity) and to provide sufficient
amplification to recover the modulating signal
(sensitivity).
• A receiver with good selectivity will isolate the
desired signal and greatly attenuate other
signals.
• A receiver with good sensitivity involves high
circuit gain.
 Selectivity
Selectivity: Q and Bandwidth
– Selectivity in a receiver is obtained by using tuned circuits
and/or filters.
– LC tuned circuits provide initial selectivity.
– Filters provide additional selectivity.
– By controlling the Q of a resonant circuit, you can set the
desired selectivity.
– The optimum bandwidth is one that is wide enough to
pass the signal and its.

Q = ƒr /BW
fr = resonant frequency
 Sensitivity
• A communication receiver’s sensitivity, or ability to pick up weak
signals, is a function of overall gain, the factor by which an input
signal is multiplied to produce the output signal.
• The higher the gain of a receiver, the better its sensitivity.
• The more gain that a receiver has, the smaller the input signal
necessary to produce a desired level of output.
• High gain in receivers is obtained by using multiple amplification
stages.
• Another factor that affects the sensitivity of a receiver is the
signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio (SNR).
• One method of expressing the sensitivity of a receiver is to
establish the minimum discernible signal (MDS).
• The MDS is the input signal level that is approximately equal to
the average internally generated noise value.
• This noise value is called the noise floor of the receiver.
• MDS is the amount of signal that would produce the same audio
power output as the noise floor signal.
 Basic Receiver Configuration
• The simplest radio receiver is a crystal set
consisting of a tuned circuit, a diode (crystal)
detector, and earphones.
• The tuned circuit provides the selectivity.
• The diode and a capacitor serve as an AM
demodulator.
• The earphones reproduce the recovered
audio signal.
 Tuned Radio Frequency (TRF) Receiver
• In the tuned radio frequency (TRF) receiver sensitivity
is improved by adding a number of stages of RF
amplification between the antenna and detector,
followed by stages of audio amplification.
• The RF amplifier stages increase the gain before it is
applied to the detector.
• The recovered signal is amplified further by audio
amplifiers, which provide sufficient gain to operate a
loudspeaker.
 Tuned Radio Frequency (TRF) Receiver
• Many RF amplifiers use multiple tuned circuits.
• Whenever resonant LC circuits tuned to the same
frequency are cascaded, overall selectivity is improved.
• The main problem with TRF receivers is tracking the tuned
circuits.
• In a receiver, the tuned circuits must be made variable so
that they can be set to the frequency of the desired signal.
• Another problem with TRF receivers is that selectivity
varies with frequency.
 Superheterodyne Receivers
• Superheterodyne receivers convert all incoming
signals to a lower frequency, known as the
intermediate frequency (IF), at which a single set of
amplifiers is used to provide a fixed level of
sensitivity and selectivity.
• Gain and selectivity are obtained in the IF amplifiers.
• The key circuit is the mixer, which acts like a simple
amplitude modulator to produce sum and difference
frequencies.
• The incoming signal is mixed with a local oscillator
signal.
 Superheterodyne Receivers

Block diagram of a superheterodyne receiver.

 RF Amplifier
• The antenna picks up the weak radio signal
and feeds it to the RF amplifier, also called a
low-noise amplifier (LNA).
• RF amplifiers provide some initial gain and
selectivity and are sometimes called
preselectors.
• Tuned circuits help select the frequency range
in which the signal resides.
• RF amplifiers minimize oscillator radiation.
• Bipolar and FETs can be used as RF amplifiers.
 Mixers and Local Oscillators
• The output of the RF amplifier is applied to the
input of the mixer.
• The mixer also receives an input from a local
oscillator or frequency synthesizer.
• The mixer output is the input signal, the local
oscillator signal, and the sum and difference
frequencies of these signals.
• A tuned circuit at the output of the mixer selects
the difference frequency, or intermediate
frequency (IF).
• The local oscillator is made tunable so that its
frequency can be adjusted over a relatively wide
range.
 IF Amplifiers
• The output of the mixer is an IF signal containing
the same modulation that appeared on the input
RF signal.
• The signal is amplified by one or more IF amplifier
stages, and most of the gain is obtained in these
stages.
• Selective tuned circuits provide fixed selectivity.
• Since the intermediate frequency is usually lower
than the input frequency, IF amplifiers are easier
to design and good selectivity is easier to obtain.
 Demodulators
• The highly amplified IF signal is finally applied
to the demodulator, which recovers the
original modulating information.
• The demodulator may be a diode detector (for
AM), a quadrature detector (for FM), or a
product detector (for SSB).
• The output of the demodulator is then usually
fed to an audio amplifier.
 Automatic Gain Control
• The output of a demodulator is usually the original
modulating signal, the amplitude of which is
directly proportional to the amplitude of the
received signal.
• The recovered signal, which is usually ac, is
rectified and filtered into a dc voltage by a circuit
known as the automatic gain control (AGC) circuit.
• This dc voltage is fed back to the IF amplifiers, and
sometimes the RF amplifier, to control receiver
gain.
• AGC circuits help maintain a constant output level
over a wide range of RF input signal levels.
 Automatic Gain Control con…
• The amplitude of the RF signal at the antenna of
a receiver can range from a fraction of a
microvolt to thousands of microvolts; this wide
signal range is known as the dynamic range.
• Typically, receivers are designed with very high
gain so that weak signals can be reliably received.
• However, applying a very high-amplitude signal to
a receiver causes the circuits to be overdriven,
producing distortion and reducing intelligibility.
• With AGC, the overall gain of the receiver is
automatically adjusted depending on the input
signal level.
 Frequency Conversion
• Frequency conversion is the process of
translating a modulated signal to a higher or
lower frequency while retaining all the originally
transmitted information.
• In radio receivers, high-frequency signals are
converted to a lower, intermediate frequency.
This is called down conversion.
• In satellite communications, the original signal is
generated at a lower frequency and then
converted to a higher frequency. This is called up
conversion.
 Frequency Conversion
• Mixers accept two inputs: The signal to be translated to another
frequency and the sine wave from a local oscillator.
• The function performed by the mixer is called heterodyning.
• Like an amplitude modulator, a mixer essentially performs a
mathematical multiplication of its two input signals.
 Mixer and Converter Circuits: Diode Mixer
• The primary characteristic of mixer circuits is
nonlinearity.
• Any device or circuit whose output does not vary
linearly with the input can be used as a mixer.
• One of the most widely used types of mixer is the
simple diode modulator.

There are different types of mixers:

• Singly balanced mixer
• Doubly balanced mixer
• FET Mixers
• Gilbert cell (IC mixers)
• Image rejection mixers
Local Oscillator and Frequency Synthesizers
• The local oscillator signal for the mixer comes
from either a conventional LC tuned oscillator or
a frequency synthesizer (not crystal!!!)
• The simpler continuously tuned receivers use an
LC oscillator.
• Channelized receivers use frequency synthesizers.
 Intermediate Frequency and Images
• The primary objective in the design of an IF stage
is to obtain good selectivity.
• Narrow-band selectivity is best obtained at lower
frequencies.
• At low frequencies, circuits are more stable with
high gain.
• At low frequencies, image interference is
possible. An image is an RF signal two times the
IF above or below the incoming frequency.
• The frequency of the LO is higher than the
incoming signal by IF (455KHz for AM radio).
• At higher frequencies, there is a need for
shielding.
Intermediate Frequency and Images

Relationship of the signal and image frequencies.

Intermediate Frequency and Images

If image freq fi=fs-2fIF

Mixer out put = fo-fi,

fo=fs+fIF

Mixer output = fIF

Signal, local oscillator, and image frequencies in a superheterodyne.

 Solving the Image Problem
• To reduce image interference, high-Q tuned
circuits should be used ahead of the mixer or RF
amplifier.
• The IF is made as high as possible for effective
elimination of the image problem, yet low
enough to prevent design problems.
• In most receivers the IF varies in proportion to
the frequencies that must be covered.

A low IF compared to the signal

frequency with low-Q tuned circuits
causes images to pass and interfere
 Dual-Conversion Receivers
• Another way to obtain selectivity while eliminating the
image problem is to use a dual-conversion
superheterodyne receiver.
• A typical receiver uses two mixers and local oscillators, so it
has two IFs.
• The first mixer converts the incoming signal to a high
intermediate frequency to eliminate the images.
• The second mixer converts that IF down to a much lower
frequency, where good selectivity is easier to obtain.
 Direct Conversion Receivers
• A special version of the superheterodyne is known as
the direct conversion (DC) or zero IF (ZIF) receiver.
• DC receivers convert the incoming signal directly to
baseband without converting to an IF.
• They perform demodulation as part of the translation.
• The low-noise amplifier (LNA) boosts the signal before
the mixer.
• The local oscillator (LO) frequency is set to the
frequency of the incoming signal.
• Baseband output is passed via a low-pass filter (LPF).
 Software-Defined Radio
– A software-defined radio (SDR) is a receiver in
which most of the functions are performed by a
digital signal processor (DSP).
– The benefits of SDRs are improved performance
and flexibility.
– The receiver characteristics (type of modulation,
selectivity, etc.) can be easily changed by running
a different program.
 Typical Receiver Circuits
• Typical receiver circuits include:
– RF amplifiers
– IF amplifiers
– AGC
– AFC
– Special circuits
 RF Input Amplifier
• The RF amplifier, also called a low-noise amplifier
(LNA), processes the very weak input signals,
increasing their amplitude prior to mixing.
• Low-noise components are used to ensure a
sufficiently high S/N ratio.
• Selectivity should be such that it effectively
eliminates images.
• The RF amplifier is typically a class A circuit that can
be configured with bipolar or field-effect
transistors.
 IF Amplifier
• Most of the gain and selectivity in a superheterodyne
receiver are obtained in the IF amplifier.
• If amplifiers are tuned class A circuits capable of
providing gain in the 10- to 30-dB range.
• Usually two or more IF amplifiers are used to provide
adequate receiver gain.
• Ferrite-core transformers are used for coupling
between stages.
• Selectivity is provided by tuned circuits.
 Automatic Gain Control Circuits
• Receiver gain is typically far greater than required for
adequate reception. Excessive gain usually causes the
received signal to be distorted and the transmitted
information to be less intelligible.
• Manual gain control can be achieved by using a
potentiometer in RF and IF stages.
• Receivers include volume controls in audio circuits.
• AGC circuits are more effective in handling large signals
and give the receiver a very wide dynamic range.
 Single-IC FM Receiver
• The Motorola MC3363 FM
receiver IC chip contains all
receiver circuits except for the
audio power amplifier (a
separate chip).
• It is designed to operate at
frequencies up to about 200
MHz
• It is widely used in cordless
telephones, paging receivers,
and other portable applications.
• This dual-conversion receiver
contains two mixers, two local
oscillators, a limiter, a
quadrature detector, and
squelch circuits.
• The first local oscillator has a
built-in varactor that allows it to
be controlled by an external
frequency synthesizer.
 Receivers and Transceivers
Transceiver
– Most two-way radio communication equipment is
packaged so that both transmitter and receiver
are in a unit known as a transceiver.
– Transceivers range from large, high-power desktop
units to small, pocket-sized, handheld units.
– Transceivers have a common housing and power
supply.
– Transceivers can share circuits, thereby achieve
cost savings, and in some cases are smaller in size.
Receivers and Transceivers

An SSB transceiver showing circuit sharing.