CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION TO
COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
 Definitions
 Communications:
 Transfer of Information from one place to another.
 Should be efficient, reliable, and secured.

 Communication system:
 components/subsystems act together to accomplish information
transfer/exchange
 Definitions (Cont’d)
 Electronic communication system
 transmission, reception and processing
of information between two or more
locations using electronic circuits.
 Information source
 analog/digital form
 Think!
 Have you ever pictured yourself
living in a world without any
communication system?
Need For Communication
 Importance of communication:
exchange of information between
two parties separated in distances in
a more faster and reliable way.
 Information, message
and signals
 Information
 The commodity produced by the source for
transfer to some user at the destination.
 Message
 The physical manifestation of information as
produced by the information source.
 Signals
 A physical embodiment of information –
voltage signal or current signal
 Brief History in
Communication
Year Events
1844 Telegraph
1876 Telephone
1904 AM Radio
1923 Television
1936 FM Radio
1962 Satellite
1966 Optical links using laser and
fiber optics
1972 Cellular Telephone
1989 Internet
 Development and
progress
 Communications between human beings
 Form of hand gestures and facial expressions
 Verbal grunts and groans

 Long distance communications

 Smoke signals
 Telegraph

 Telephone
 Cont’d…
 Wireless radio signals
 Triode vacuum tube
 Commercial radio broadcasting
 Analog vs. Digital
 Analog
 Continuous Variation
 Assume the total range of frequencies/time

 All information is transmitted

 Digital
 Takes samples:
 non continuous stream of on/off pulses
 Translates to 1’s and 0’s
 Analog vs. Digital
 Digital CS  Analog Cs
Advantages: Disadvantages:
-Inexpensive -expensive
-Privacy preserved(data -No privacy preserved
encrypted) -Cannot merge different data
-Can merge different data -No error correction capability
-error correction
Advantages:
Disadvantages: -smaller bandwidth
-Larger bandwidth -synchronization problem is
-synchronization problem relatively easier.
is relatively difficult
 Basic Requirements of
Communication System
 Rate of information transfer:
 how fast the information can be transferred
 Purity of signal received:
 whether the signal received is the same as
the signal being transmit
 Simplicity of the system
 the simpler the system, the better
 Reliability
 Elements of
Communication
System(CS)
 Elements of CS(cont’d)
 Information
 The communication system exists to
convey a message.
 Message comes from information source

 Information forms - audio, video, text or

data
 cont’d…
 Transmitter:
 Processes input signal to produce a transmitted
signal that suited the characteristic of
transmission channel.
 E.g. modulation, coding, mixing, translate

 Other functions performed - Amplification,

filtering, antenna
 Message converted to into electrical signals by
transducers
 E.g. speech waves are converted to voltage
variation by a microphone
 Elements of CS(cont’d)
 Channel (transmission media):
 a medium that bridges the distance
from source to destination.
Eg:Atmosphere (free space), coaxial
cable, fiber optics, waveguide
 signals undergoes degradation from
noise , interference and distortion
 Elements of CS(cont’d)
 Receiver:
 to recover the message signal contained in the
received signal from the output of the channel, and
convert it to a form suitable for the output transducer.
 E.g. mixing, demodulation, decoding

 Other functions performed: Amplification, filtering.

 Transducer converts the electrical signal at its input

into a form desired by the system used
 Modulation
 What is modulation?
 a process of changing one or more properties of the
analog carrier in proportion to the information signal.
 One of the characteristics of the carrier signal is
changed according to the variations of the
modulating signal.
 AM – amplitude, E
 FM – frequency , ω
 PM - phase , θ
 Modulation (cont’d)
 Why modulation is needed?
 To generate a modulated signal suited and
compatible to the characteristics of the
transmission channel.
 For ease radiation and reduction of antenna
size
 Reduction of noise and interference

 Channel assignment

 Increase transmission speed

 Noise, interference and
distortion
 Noise
 unwanted signals that coincide with the desired
signals.
 Two type of noise:internal and external noise.
 Internal noise
 Caused by internal devices/components in the
circuits.
 External noise
 noise that is generated outside the circuit.
 E.g. atmospheric noise,solar noise, cosmic noise,
man made noise.
 Noise, interference and
distortion (Cont’d)
 Interference
 Contamination by extraneous signals from
human sources.
 E.g. from other transmitters, power lines and
machineries.
 Occurs most often in radio systems whose
receiving antennas usually intercept several
signals at the same time
 One type of noise.
 Noise, interference and
distortion (Cont’d)
 Distortion
 Signals or waves perturbation caused by
imperfect response of the system to the
desired signal itself.
 May be corrected or reduced with the
help of equalizers.
 Limitations in
communication system
 Technological problems
 Includes equipment availability,
economic factors, federal regulations
and interaction with existing systems.
 Problem solved in theory but perfect
solutions may not be practical.
 Limitations in
communication system
(cont’d)
 Physicals limitations
 Bandwidth limitation
 Measure of speed
 The system ability to follow signal variations
depends on the transmission bandwidth.
 Available bandwidth determines the
maximum signal speed.
 Limitations in
communication system
(cont’d)
Noise limitation

 Unavoidable.

 The kinetic theory.

 Noise relative to an information signal is
measured in terms of signal to noise ratio
(SNR).
 Communication system
design
 Compromise within:
 Transmission time and power
 SNR performance

 Cost of equipments

 Channel capacity

 Bandwidth
FREQUENCY AND WAVELENGTH
 Cycle - One complete occurrence of a
repeating wave (periodic signal) such as
one positive and one negative alternation
of a sine wave.
 Frequency - the number of cycles of a
signal that occur in one second.
 Period - the time distance between two
similar points on a periodic wave.
 Wavelength - the distance traveled by an
electromagnetic (radio) wave during one
period.
PERIOD AND FREQUENCY
COMPARED
T = One period

time

One cycle Frequency = f = 1/T

Frequency and wavelength compared
+
T

0 time

f = 1/T

distance
CALCULATING WAVELENGTH
AND FREQUENCY

λ = 300/f

f = 300/λ
λ = wavelength in meters

f = frequency in MHz
 30 Hz 107 m

ELF
300 Hz 106 m

VF
3 kHz 105 m

(f = 300/λ )
VLF
30 kHz 104 m

LF
300 kHz 103 m
MF
3 MHz 102 m
HF

Frequency
30 MHz 10 m
Wavelength

300 MHz 1m
(λ

3 GHz 10-1 m
FROM 30 HZ TO 300 GHZ

30 GHz 10-2 m
VHF UHF SHF EHF
= 300/f)

300 GHz 10-3 m

THE ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM

Millimeter
waves
10-4 m
 LOW AND MEDIUM
FREQUENCIES

 Extremely Low Frequencies - 30 to 300 Hz

 Voice Frequencies - 300 to 3000 Hz
 Very Low Frequencies - 3 kHz to 30 kHz
 Low Frequencies - 30 kHz to 300 kHz
 Medium Frequencies - 300 kHz to 3 MHz
HIGH FREQUENCIES
 High Frequencies
- 3 MHz to 30 MHz
 Very High Frequencies
- 30 MHz to 300 MHz
 Ultra High Frequencies
- 300 MHz to 3 GHz
(1 GHz and above =
microwaves)
 Super High Frequencies
- 3 GHz to 30 GHz
 Extremely High Frequencies
- 30 GHz to 300 GHz
300 GHz 10-3 m
Millimeter
waves
10-4 m

10-5 m
Infrared
0.8 x 10-6 m
Visible
0.4 x 10-6 m

Ultraviolet

X-rays
Wavelength

Gamma rays
THE ELECTROMAGNETIC
SPECTRUM ABOVE 300 GHZ

Cosmic rays
 OPTICAL FREQUENCIES

 Infrared - 0.7 to 10 micron

 Visible light - 0.4 to 0.8 micron
 Ultraviolet - Shorter than 0.4 micron

Note: A micron is one millionth of a meter.

Light waves are measured and expressed
in wavelength rather than frequency.
TYPES OF COMMUNICATIONS

Channel Simplex:
TX RX One-way

Duplex:
Two-way
TX RX
Half duplex:
Channel(s) Alternate TX/RX
Full duplex:
RX TX Simultaneous
TX/RX
COMMUNICATIONS SIGNAL
VARIATIONS
 Baseband - The original information
signal such as audio, video, or computer
data. Can be analog or digital.
 Broadband - The baseband signal
modulates or modifies a carrier signal,
which is usually a sine wave at a
frequency much higher than the
baseband signal.
 Various forms of
communication system
 Broadcast: radio and television
 Mobile communications
 Fixed communication system- land
line
 Data communication-internet
 Frequency Spectrum
&Bandwidth
 The frequency spectrum of a waveform consists of
all frequencies contained in the waveform and their
amplitudes plotted in the frequency domain.
 The bandwidth of a frequency spectrum is the
range of of frequencies contained in the spectrum.It
is calculated by subtracting the lowest frequency
from the highest.
 Frequency Spectrum
&Bandwidth
(cont’d)
 Bandwidth of the information signal
equals to the difference between the
highest and lowest frequency
contained in the signal.
 Similarly, bandwidth of
communication channel is the
difference between the highest and
lowest frequency that the channel
allow to pass through it
Power gain
Signal level gain
 signal gain
 In Engineering Problems, we have known the term
signal gain / mechanical advantage;
Examples are chain pulley block, cantilever, gear,
amplifier, transformer.
 Voltage amplifier: Av= Vo/Vi.
 Transistors current gain: β = ic/ib,
 Chain pulley block: weight lifted/weight applied.
 Transformer: secondary voltage/primary voltage
 gear box: output torque/input torque.
 Power gain
 It is the ratio of output power over input power.

Ap = Po/Pi.
 If the energy is consumed in doing a work, Power
gain is always ≤ 1.
 Example is transformer, chain pulley block, gear
boxes etc have power gain less than one.
 In amplifiers, the apparent power gain may be more
than one. The signal power is amplified. DC electric
power is transformed into signal power.
 In signal gain:
 The advantage or, signal gain may be >1
though the power gain is < 1.
 At first instance, it appears that there is
no apparent relation between signal gain
and power gain.
 It is because the friction of the load in
which the power is fed, is not accounted.
 Power and voltage gain in
communication
 In communication, due to known characteristic
impedance of the channel, the power and voltage
gains become explicit.
 It is designated in terms of decibels, dB.

 Power gain in dB = 10 log (Po/Pi) dB.

Voltage gain in dB = 20 log (Vo/Vi) dB.

Here if power gain < 1, voltage gain <1.
 Power gain in dB =10 log (Po/Pi) dB.
Voltage gain in dB = 20 log (Vo/Vi) dB.
are absolute gains
 power ratio P /P = 10,000 = 40 dB
o i

 Voltage ratio Vo/Vi = 100 = 40 dB.

Term is power
 See that Po/Pi = (Vo/Vi) 2

 (Po/Pi) dB = 2(Vo/Vi)dB
 Alternatively:
Power gain = 10 (gainindB/10)

Voltage gain = 10 (gainindB/20)

Examples:

A 64 dB gain means 106.4 = 2.5212x106

watts.
An attenuation by 0.01= 10 log(0.01)
= -20 dB
 Examples:
 Let there be two amplifiers in
cascade. Their gains are 13 dB Sum
and
10 dB respectively.
 The overall gain is 13+10 = 23 dB.
 In terms of ratio:
 23 dB = 10(23/10)= 200
 13 dB = 10(13/10)= 20 same
 10 dB = 10(10/10)= 10
 Again 20 x 10 = 200.
multiplication
 Relative dB
 It is convenient to express signals with some
reference such as
1mW power or,
1 µ V voltage level.
 This permits input- and output- signals to be
expressed in terms of relative dB.
 When referenced to 1mW, it is written dBm
 When referenced to 1 µ V, it is written as dBµ V
 Relative dB is not a gain
but is termed as gain wrt a
reference.
 5 watts signal,
 In relative dB; 10 log(5W/1mW) = 36.99
dBm
 500 µ V signal:
 In relative dB; 20 log(500 µ V /1 µ V )
= 53.98 dBµ V