CHAPTER: 1 Introduction

1.1 Introduction to communication systems

What is communication? Communication is the process of transferring information from one

place to another.

What is a communication system? Communication systems are designed to transmit

information. The electronic equipments which are used for communication purpose are called
communication equipment. Different communication equipment when assembled together forms
a communication system.

Typical examples of communication system are line telephony and line telegraphy, radio
telephony, radio and TV broadcasting, computer communication and navigation etc...The earliest
communication system namely line telegraphy originated in eighteen fourties(1840s).In addition
to this, line telephony came a few decades later where as radio communication could became
possible in the beginning of twentieth century on invention of triode valve. It became more
widely used through the invention of transistor, integrated circuits and other semiconductor
devices in the subsequent years. Also, in the recent years, communication has become more
widespread with the use of satellites and fiber optics.

Communication systems Design concerns:

• Selection of the information–bearing waveform;

• Bandwidth and power of the waveform;

• Effect of system noise on the received information;

• Cost of the system

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Basic Elements and Block Diagram of a Communication System

 All communication systems contain three main sub systems: Transmitter, Channel and
Receiver

Transmitter Receiver

Figure 1.1–2 Elements of a communication system.

Transmitter: The transmitter processes the input signal to produce a transmitted signal Suited to
the characteristics of the transmission channel. For different channels we have different
transmitters.
In general, the transmitter modulates or changes some parameter say frequency or amplitude of
high frequency carrier signal by original electrical information input which is also known as
baseband signal.
The signal-processing block is used for more efficient transmission.

Examples: In an analog system, the signal processor may be an analog low-pass filter to restrict
the bandwidth of m (t).

The transmitter carrier circuit converts the processed base band signal into a frequency band that
is appropriate for the transmission medium of the channel.

Example: An amplitude –modulated (AM) broadcasting station with an assigned frequency of

850 kHz has a carrier frequency fc=850 kHz. The mapping of the base band input information
waveform m (t) into the band pass signal s (t) is called modulation.

Channel: Channels represent the path in which signals travel from transmitter to receiver. Very
general classification of channels is:

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Wire (line): In its simplest form, the medium may simply be a pair of wires that carry the signal
from one end to another. The wire may be a Twisted-pair telephone line, coaxial cable, and fiber-
optic cables. The coaxial cables are preferred over a pair of wires that carry the signal from one
end to other. They provide greater bandwidth, lower losses and much lower crosstalk .The fiber
optic cable is a logical extension of coaxial cable, which allows high operating frequency and
provides greater bandwidth, immune to crosstalk and electromagnetic interference. The fiber
optic cable carries the message on a light wave. An optic cable is a piece of very thin, highly
pure glasses, with an outside cladding of glass that is similar but, because of a slightly different
chemical composition, has a different refractive index.

Wireless (radio): Radio is the broad general term applied to any form of wireless
communication between two points. It requires no physical wires between transmitter and
receiver to carry the signal, and the signal is sent through free space or air in the form of
electromagnetic wave. Radio communication makes possible communication over very long
distances, even from earth to moon.

Noise: Noise is random, undesirable electric energy that enters the communication system via
the medium and interferes with the transmitted message. Some noise is also produced in the
receiver. Noise can be either natural or man-made. Natural noise includes noise produced in
nature, e.g. from lighting during rainy season, or noise due to radiations produced by the sun and
the star. Man made noise is the noise produced by the electric ignition system of cars, electric
motor etc. Noise is one of the serious problems of communication .It cannot be completely
eliminated .However; there are ways to deal with noise and reduce the possibility of degradation
of signal due to noise.

Receiver: The receiver takes the corrupted signal at the channel output and converts it to be a
base band signal that can be handled by the receiver’s base band processor. The base band
processor cleans up this signal and delivers an estimate of the source information m (t) to the
communication system output.

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Communication systems with input and output transducers

Figure 1.2 Communication systems with input and output transducers.

Input and output transducers:-The input transducer converts the information to be transmitted
to its electrical equivalent message signal. The input information can be speech, image, and
video. Microphone is an input transducer which converts audio input like speech to an electrical
signal. The output transducer converts electrical input to a form of message required by user, e.g.
speech, image, video, etc. The loud speaker is an example of output transducer where electrical
input is converted to an audio output.

Communication can be one-way or simplex (SX), transmission it has one transmitter and many
receiver, for example TV and radio. Two-way communication or full-duplex (FDX), of course,
requires a transmitter and receiver at each end. A full-duplex (FDX) system has a channel that
allows simultaneous transmission in both directions for example mobile. A half-duplex (HDX)
system allows transmission in either direction but not at the same time.

1.2. Analog and Digital communication system

Analog and digital signals are used to transmit information, usually through electric signals. In
both these technologies, the information, such as any audio or video, is transformed into electric
signals. The difference between analog and digital technologies is that in analog technology,
information is translated into electric pulses of varying amplitude.

In digital technology, translation of information is into binary format (zero or one) where each
bit is representative of two distinct amplitudes.

Analog Information Source: An analog information source produces messages which are
defined on a continuum. (E.g.: Microphone)

• Digital Information Source: A digital information source produces a finite set of possible
messages. (E.g. :Typewriter)

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 x(t) x(t)

Analog t Digital
t
 A digital communication system transfer’s information from a digital source to the
intended receiver (also called the sink).

 An analog communication system transfers information from an analog source to the

sink.

 A digital waveform is defined as a function of time that can have a discrete set of
amplitude values.

 An Analog waveform is a function that has a continuous range of values.

What makes a Communication System GOOD?

We can measure the “GOODNESS” of a communication system in many ways:

 How close is the estimate to the original signal m(t)

• Better estimate = higher quality transmission

Bit Error Rate (BER) for digital m(t)

 In digital systems, the measure of signal deterioration is usually taken to be the

probability of bit error P (e) – also called Bit Error Rate (BER) of the delivered
data m (t).

Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) for analog m(t)

 In analog systems, the performance measure is usually taken to be the Signal-to-

noise Ratio (SNR) at the receiver output. A quantity that gives relative strength of
the signal to noise is called signal to noise ratio (SNR).

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 SNR in decibel (dB) = 10 log10 (signal energy/noise energy)

 How much power is required to transmit s (t)?

• Lower power = longer battery life, less interference

 How much bandwidth Band width is required to transmit s (t)?

• Less Band width means more users can share the channel.

 How much information is transmitted?

In analog systems information is related to Bandwidth of m (t).

In digital systems information is expressed in bits/sec

Bandwidth is the portion, frequency range occupied by a signal. More specifically it is the
difference between the upper and lower frequency limits of the signal. Figure 1.8 shows the
bandwidth of the voice signal which ranges from 300 Hz to 3000 Hz. The upper frequency is F 2
and lower frequency is F1.There for the bandwidth is given as: Bandwidth (BW) = F 2 - F1 =3000
- 300 = 2700 Hz

The bandwidth required for transmission of various signals is different for each signal. It
basically depends upon on the bandwidth occupied by the modulating signal

Bandwidth (BW)

F1 = 300 Hz F2 = 3000Hz

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1.3 Electromagnetic bands with typical applications

Frequency Wavelength Name Transmission Media Some Applications

Band
3 – 30 KHz 100–10 Km Very Low Frequency (VLF) Air, water, copper cable Navigation, SONAR
30–300 KHz 10 Km- 1 Km Low Frequency (LF) Air, water, copper cable Radiobeacons,
Groundwave
communication
300KHz – 3 1 Km – 100 m Medium Frequency (MF) Air, copper cable AMradio, navigation,
MHz Groundwave
communication
3 MHz – 30 100 m– 10 m High Frequency (HF) Air, copper and coaxial HF communication,
MHz cables Citizen’s Band (CB)
radio, ionosphere
communication
30MHz- 300 10 m – 1 m Very High Frequency (VHF) Air, free space, coaxial Television,
MHz cable CommercialFM
broadcasting, point to
pointterrestrial
communication
300 MHz – 1m – 10 cm Ultra High Frequency (UHF) Air, free space, Television, mobile
3 GHz waveguide telephones, satellite
communications,
3GHz – 30 10cm–1cm Super / Extra High Air, free space, Satellite
GHz Frequency (SHF / EHF) waveguide communications,
wireless LAN,
Metropolitan Area
network (WMAN),
Ultra Wideband
communication over
a short distance
30 Tera Hz – 10 μm – 0.1μm Optical Optical fiber Fiberoptic
3000 Tera (approx) communications
Hz

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A few popular frequency bands

Name / Description Frequency Range Application

AM Broadcast Radio 540 KHz – 1600 KHz Commercial audio broadcasting
using amplitude modulation
FM Broadcast Radio 88 MHz – 108 MHz Commercial audio broadcasting
using frequency modulation
Cellular Telephony 806 MHz – 940 MHz Mobile telephone communication
systems
Cellular Telephony and Personal 1.8 GHz – 2.0 GHz Mobile telephone communication
Communication Systems (PCS) systems
ISM (Industrial Scientific and 2.4 GHz – 2.4835 GHz Unlicensed band for use at low
Medical) Band transmission power
WLAN (Wireless Local Area 2.4 GHz band and 5.5 GHz Two unlicensed bands are used for
Network) establishing high speed data network
among willing
computers
UWB (Ultra Wide Band) 3.7 GHz – 10.5 GHz Emerging new standard for short
distance wireless communication at a
very high bit rate (typically, 100
Mbps)

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Some milestones in the history of electrical communications

Year / Period Achievements

1838 Samuel F. B. Morse demonstrated the technique of telegraph
1876 Alexander Graham Bell invents telephone
1897 Guglielmo Marconi patents wireless telegraph system. A few years earlier, Sir J.
C. Bose demonstrated the working principle of electromagnetic radiation using a
‘solid state coherer’
1918 B. H. Armstrong develops super heterodyne radio receiver
1931 Teletype service introduced
1933 Analog frequency modulation invented by Edwin Armstrong
1937 Alec Reeves suggests pulse code modulation (PCM)
1948-49 Claude E. Shannon publishes seminal papers on ‘A Mathematical Theory of
Communications’
1956 First transoceanic telephone cable launched successfully
1960 Development of Laser
1962 Telstar I, first satellite for active communication, launched successfully
1970-80 Fast developments in microprocessors and other digital integrated circuits made
high bit rate digital processing and transmission possible; commercial
geostationary satellites started carrying digital speech, wide area computer
communication networks started appearing, optical fibers were deployed for
carrying information through light., deep space probing yielded high quality
pictures of planets.
1980-90 Local area networks (LAN) making speedy inter-computer data transmission
became widely available; Cellular telephone systems came into use. Many new
applications of wireless technology opened up remarkable scopes in business
automation.
1990-2000 Several new concepts and standards in data network, such as, wireless LAN
(WLAN), AdHoc networks, and personal area networks (PAN), sensor networks
are under consideration for a myriad of potential applications.

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1.4. Modulation and Needs of modulation

What is modulation? A large number of information sources are analog sources such as speech,
images, and videos. Today, they are transmitted as analog signal transmission, especially in
audio and video broadcast. The transmission of an analog signal is either by modulation of the
amplitude, the phase, or the frequency of a sinusoidal carrier. Modulation is the process of
putting information onto a high frequency carrier for transmission (frequency translation)or The
process by which some characteristics(amplitude, frequency or phase) of a carrier signal (i.e.
modulated signal) is varied in accordance with message signal (i.e. modulating
signal).Modulation occurs at the transmitting end of the system.

Carrier signal

Modulating signal Modulator Modulated signal

Figure 1-3: Block diagram of modulation process

At the transmitter, modulation process occurs when the transmission takes place at the high
Frequency carrier, which has been modified to carry the lower frequency information. At the
Receiver, demodulation takes place. Demodulation is the reverse process of modulation. Once
this information is received, the lower frequency Information must be removed from the high-
frequency carrier.

Message signal m (t) message signal m (t)

Modulator Channel Demodulator

Figure 1-4: Block diagram of modulation and demodulation processes

AM Modulation/Demodulation

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Needs for modulation

There are several strong reasons why the modulation is important in analog communication
System:
1. To reduce antenna height
If the communication channel consists of free space, antennas are required to radiate and receive
the signal. Dimension of the antennas is limited by the corresponding wavelength.

Example: Voice signal bandwidth f=3 kHz

λ =C/F=3*108 /3*103 = 105 m

λ/4 =25000m

If we modulate a carrier at fc = 100 MHz with the voice signal

λ =C/F=3*108/100.106 =3 m

λ/4 =0.75 m

2. To avoid mixing of signals

(S1)F1
20Hz 20KHz S 1
(S2) F2
BW (S3)F3
20Hz 20KHz S2 BW BW

Frequency (f)

20Hz 20KHz S3

All sound signals are concentrated within a range from 20 Hz to 20 KHz. The transmission of
base band signals from various sources causes the mixing of signal and then it is difficult to
separate at the receiver end.

In the figure above s1, s2, s3 are stations which occupies the same frequency, it is necessary to
translate them to different portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Each must be given its own
bandwidth commonly known as channel bandwidth. This can be achieved by taking different
carrier frequency for different station as shown in the figure s1, s2, s3 are given F1, F2& F3
respectively.

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3. Poor radiation: At low frequency radiation is poor and signal gets highly attenuated.
Therefore baseband signals cannot be transmitted directly over long distance. Modulation
effectively increases frequency of the signal to be radiated and thus increases the distance over
which signals can be transmitted faithfully.

4. To multiplex different signal to share common channel:

Multiplexing means transmission of two or more signals simultaneously over the same channel.
The common examples of multiplexing are the number of television channels operating
simultaneously and transmitting over single cable.

5. Adjustment of Bandwidth:

Bandwidth of modulated signals may be made smaller or larger than the original signal. Signal to
noise ratio in the receiver which is a function of the signal bandwidth can thus be improved by
proper control of the bandwidth at the modulating stage.

1.5. Types of modulation

Types of modulation

Analog modulation digital modulation

Continuous wave pulse analog modulation pulse digital modulation pass band

Base band AM

Angle modulation PAM PWM PPM PCM DM ADM DPCM ASK FSK PSK

FM PM

AM- Amplitude modulation FM-Frequency modulation

PAM-Pulse amplitude modulation PWM-Pulse width modulation

PPM-Pulse position modulation PCM-Pulse code modulation

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DM-delta modulation ADM-Adaptive delta modulation

DPCM-Differential pulse code modulation

ASK-Amplitude shift keying FSK-Frequency shift keying

PSK-Phase shift keying

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