BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANO

P.M.B. 3011, Kano. Nigeria

Telecommunication Engineering II ?
ELE 5206

M. B. Lawal, Ph.D
Department of Electrical Engineering
Bayero University Kano (BUK)
lmbello.ele@buk.edu.ng

5th February, 2018

 BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANO
P.M.B. 3011, Kano. Nigeria
Outline
2

 Radio Receivers and types

the tuned radio frequency receiver , the super hetrodyne receiver

 AM Receivers
RF section and characteristics , frequency changing and tracking, Intermediate frequencies
and IF amplifiers , Detection and automatic gain control (AGC).

 Communication Receivers
extensions of the super-heterodyne principle and use of additional
circuits

 FM Receivers
Common circuits and comparison with AM receivers, Amplitude limiting, Basic FM
demodulators, Radio detector, FM demodulator comparison, Stereo FM multiplex
reception, Single and independent-sideband receivers, demodulation of SSB, practical receivers
25th June, 2018
 BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANO
P.M.B. 3011, Kano. Nigeria
Outline
3

 Broadband Communication
Coaxial cables, Fibre-optic links, Microwave links, Tropospheric scatter, Submarine cables
Introduction to satellite communications, Element of long distance telephony

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 BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANO
P.M.B. 3011, Kano. Nigeria
Learning Outcomes
4

 To be aware of the concept of Radio receiver

 To understand the function (s) of receivers – AM, FM

and Communication receivers

 To learn about broadband communication and the

basic of satellite communication

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P.M.B. 3011, Kano. Nigeria
Course structure
5

Assessment – (Test, Quiz and Assignment)

30%

Exam – 70%

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 BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANO
P.M.B. 3011, Kano. Nigeria
Books
6

 Radio Systems for Technicians

D C Green, 2nd Edition, Longman

 Electronic Communications
D Roddy & J Coolen, 4th Edition, Pearson

 Telecommunication System Engineering

Roger L. Freeman, John Wiley & Sons

If you find any let me know

25th June, 2018

 BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANO
P.M.B. 3011, Kano. Nigeria

Why are we here?

Are we all happy?
…?

25th June, 2018

 BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANO
Introduction… P.M.B. 3011, Kano. Nigeria

 Radio Waves are type of EM

radiation
 Have frequencies as high as 300 GHz
to as low as 30 Hz

 The radio wave part of the electromagnetic spectrum is further

broken down into two chunks: radio frequency (RF) and
microwaves
- RF is defined as that with a frequency starting at about 3 KHz
(the beginning of the VLF band ) and extending to
300 MHz (the beginning of the UHF band)
- microwaves covering roughly 300 MHz to 300 GHz (the beginning of the
FIR portion of the electro magnetic spectrum )
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 BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANO
Introduction… P.M.B. 3011, Kano. Nigeria

25th June, 2018

 BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANO
Introduction… P.M.B. 3011, Kano. Nigeria

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 Intuitively a DC (unidirectional voltage source) is not RF nor is it

part of electromagnetic spectrum
- e.g. output of a flashlight battery
- the output of the source maintain the same polarity

 What about AC ?
 The output voltage of AC alternates periodically in polarity
- SLF of AC from a household electrical outlet and RF signals
- note that RF is a form of AC but the outlet’s AC is not RF
- even though it’s possible to have RF signal whose frequency is within that
range
- for example sound waves are not RF and they are not part of electromagnetic
spectrum but RF signal can have the same frequency as sound wave and most
people can hear a 5-KHz audio tone. No one can hear a 5-KHz RF signal

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 BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANO
Introduction… P.M.B. 3011, Kano. Nigeria

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 Unlike the visible-light portion of the electromagnetic , RF can't be

seen
- its presence and various characteristics like frequency, wavelength and
amplitude can be detected and measured with specialized test equipment
- e.g. signal-level meters and spectrum analyzers

 RF energy propagates through free space at the speed of light

 A RF signal can convey information if one or more characteristics

of that are varied (amplitude, frequency or phase)
 Therefore RF if supplied to an antenna will give rise to an
electromagnetic field that propagates through space
- wireless communication technology

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 BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANO
Importance of RF P.M.B. 3011, Kano. Nigeria

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 Cheap and widely used

- Over 40 millions systems manufactured each year utilizing low-power
wireless (RF) technology for data links, telemetry, control and security

 Wide range of applications

- Cordless and cellular telephones, radio and television broadcast stations,
hand-held computer and PDA data links, wireless bar-code readers,
wireless keyboards for PCs, wireless security systems, consumer electronic
remote control, etc.

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 RF Communication BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANO
Systems I P.M.B. 3011, Kano. Nigeria

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 RF techniques find their greatest application in communications

 It is important to understand how information can be send from a

source to a sink
- i.e how radio frequencies are used to carry information from one point to
another (concept of modulation)

25th June, 2018

 RF Communication BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANO
Systems II P.M.B. 3011, Kano. Nigeria

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 Simplex RF system
- a radio technology that allows only one way communication from a
transmitter to a receiver

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 RF Communication BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANO
Systems II P.M.B. 3011, Kano. Nigeria

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 Half-duplex RF systems
- operation mode of radio communication system in which each end can
transmit and receive, but not simultaneously

Note that the communication is

bidirectional over the same
frequency, but unidirectional for the
duration of the message.

The devices are transceivers, this

applies to most TDD and TDMA
systems

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 RF Communication BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANO
Systems III P.M.B. 3011, Kano. Nigeria

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 Full-duplex RF systems
- radio systems in which each end can transmit and receive simultaneously

Typically two frequencies are used to set up the communication channel. Each
frequency is used solely for either transmitting or receiving
- applies to Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) systems

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Electromagnetic Spectrum BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANO
P.M.B. 3011, Kano. Nigeria

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25th June, 2018

 BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANO
Introduction... P.M.B. 3011, Kano. Nigeria

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 RF find their greatest application in communications

 It is important to understand how signal can be conveyed from

transmitter (modulation) to receiver (demodulation)

Electrical Electrical
Input Output
Transmitter Channel Receiver

 The modulation aspect has been treated in ELE 4301, we shall

therefore in this course look at the concept of signal reception

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Concept of Receivers P.M.B. 3011, Kano. Nigeria

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 After a radio transmitter transmitted a modulated carrier voltage, it will

be picked up by the antenna of the receiver

 The received signal is so weak; it’s therefore firstly amplified in an RF

amplifier stage

 Further the signal must be selected out of unwanted signals (noise) at

adjacent frequencies

 Finally the RF carrier must be demodulated to get back the original

signal and sometimes amplified in one or more stages of audio amplifiers

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Functions of Receivers P.M.B. 3011, Kano. Nigeria

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The following are the main functions of Radio

Receivers
 Intercept the electromagnetic waves in the receiving antenna to produce
the desired R.F modulated carrier
 Select the desired signal and reject the unwanted signals
 Amplify the RF signal

 Detect the RF carrier and to get back the original modulation frequency
voltage
 Amplify the modulation frequency voltage

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 BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANO
Definition P.M.B. 3011, Kano. Nigeria

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Therefore, a radio receiver is an electronic equipment

which picks up the desired signal, reject the unwanted
signal, amplifies the desired signal, demodulates the
carrier to get back the original modulation frequency
signal

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 BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANO
Classification of Receivers P.M.B. 3011, Kano. Nigeria

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Radio receivers are classified according to the type of

traffic they are designed to handle as follows:
 AM (Amplitude Modulation) receivers – meant for listening to
broadcast of speech or music radiated from AM transmitter; operating
on long wave , medium wave or short wave bands
 FM (Frequency Modulation) receivers – used for receiving broadcast
programmes from FM transmitters operating in VHF or UHF bands

 TV (Television) receivers: used for receiving television broadcast in

VHF or UHF bands

3rdJuly, 2018
 BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANO
Classification of Receivers P.M.B. 3011, Kano. Nigeria

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 Communication receivers – These are receivers that are meant to

receive codes e.g in telegraph and short telephone signals

 Radar receivers – These are special receivers that are meant to receive
Radar (Radio detection and ranging) signals

etc …

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 BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANO
Types of Receivers P.M.B. 3011, Kano. Nigeria

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Based on their technique of operation radio receivers

may be put into two categories as follows:
 Straight receivers – here the receivers operate in a straight forward
manner without any frequency conversion

 Super-heterodyne receivers – where the incoming RF signal is first

converted to standard Intermediate Frequency (IF) before detection

3rdJuly, 2018
The Tuned Radio Frequency BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANO
P.M.B. 3011, Kano. Nigeria
Receiver (TRF)…
25

The TRF is a simple/straight

receiver in which the incoming
signal is first amplified in one or
more tuned RF amplifier stage
followed by a diode detector

The amplifier stages provide selectivity against signals

nearby in frequency and amplify the input signals for the
detector
3rdJuly, 2018
 The Tuned Radio Frequency BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANO
P.M.B. 3011, Kano. Nigeria
Receiver (TRF)…
26

The detector simply rectifies the

RF waveform, then recovers the
smooth “envelope” with low-pass
filtering

The low-pass filter should reject RF while passing the audio

frequencies unattenuated
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The Tuned Radio Frequency BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANO
P.M.B. 3011, Kano. Nigeria
Receiver (TRF)…
27

Any problem/drawback with the receiver?

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The Tuned Radio Frequency BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANO
P.M.B. 3011, Kano. Nigeria
Receiver (TRF)…
28

 TRF drawbacks:
- instability
- variation in BW
- poor selectivity

 The main drawback of the TRF receiver is achieving

high selectivity with the set of tuned RF amplifiers

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 BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANO
P.M.B. 3011, Kano. Nigeria
Heterodyning ?
29

 To heterodyne means to mix two frequencies together to

produce a beat frequency i.e the difference frequency between
the two;

 Similar to modulation where information and carrier signals

are mixed to produce the sum and difference of the two
frequencies
 The beat frequency here is associated with the difference
between the two frequency (lower side-band)

 Lower side-band is chosen so that the created frequency is lower

than the original

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 BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANO
P.M.B. 3011, Kano. Nigeria
Heterodyning ? Cont.…
30

 Heterodyne reception stands for the radio reception after

converting the received RF into similar signal at a different
carrier frequency

 The heterodyning overcomes the limitations of the TRF

receivers

 Hence a nice solution to the problems of the TRF is the Super-

hetro dyne (“superhet”) receiver

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Advantages of BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANO
P.M.B. 3011, Kano. Nigeria

Super-hetrodyne
31

 Depending on the area of application there are three

main advantages of super-heterodyning

- It reduces the signal from very high frequency sources where

ordinary components would not work

- Creation of the Intermediate Frequency (IF) allows many

components to operate at a fixed frequency

- It can be used to improve signal isolation by arithmetic

selectivity.

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Super-hetrodyne Radio BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANO
P.M.B. 3011, Kano. Nigeria

Receiver…
32

 Practically all radio receivers are Super-hetrodyne

 They perform better than the TRF, at the expense of design

complexity though!

 They have the ability to operate on any frequency with constant

selectivity and good sensitivity

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Super-hetrodyne Radio BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANO
P.M.B. 3011, Kano. Nigeria

Receiver...
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wanted Signal f s Audio

+ other frequencies
fo ± f s f if Frequency

R.F Mixer I.F Detector A.F

Stage Amplifier Amplifier

Loudspeaker

fs

Local
Oscillator

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Super-hetrodyne Radio BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANO
P.M.B. 3011, Kano. Nigeria

Receiver…
34

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Super-hetrodyne Radio BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANO
P.M.B. 3011, Kano. Nigeria

Receiver…
35

 The wanted signal received by the superhet receiver is

converted into a constant frequency (IF) which provides most of
the gain and selectivity of the receiver

 The conversion is as a result of mixing the input signal with the

O/P of an LO in the mixer

 Changing the LO frequency tunes the receiver, since different

input frequency get mixed to produce the IF

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 BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANO
P.M.B. 3011, Kano. Nigeria

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See you Next week 

09-Jul-18