Introduction to Communication Systems

Course Code: ECEG-4111

Program: BSc In Electrical & Computer Engineering
Course credit (hours/week): 5 ECTS (2 Hrs-Lec, 2 Hrs- lab & 3 - Hrs
Tutorial)
Year / Semester: 4 / 1
Course Instructor: Kassaye Hailu
E-Mail: kassaye2112@gmail.com
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OUTLINES
❖ Basic principles of communication systems

❖ definition of communication

❖ purpose of communication

❖ mode of communication

❖ Communications system & its diagram

❖ Frequency domain analysis of signals

❖ Base band transmission techniques

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 1.1 DEFINITION OF COMMUNICATION
❖ Communication is the transmission of information from one point to
another through succession of processes.
❖ It's the process in which information is transferred from one point in
space and time called the source to another point destination.
❖ This is done by sending the information as electromagnetic energy
through vacuum, air, wire, or strands of glass and plastic fiber.

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 1.1.1 PURPOSES OF COMMUNICATION
❖ The purpose of a communication system is to deliver a message signal
from an information source in recognizable form to a user in destination,
with the source and user being physically separated from each other.
❖ To do this, the transmitter modifies the message signal into a form suitable
for transmission over the channel.

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 1.1.2 MODE OF COMMUNICATION
Basically there are two modes of communication:
❖ Broadcasting: it involves the use of powerful signal transmitter and
numerous receivers that are relatively inexpensive to build.
Information bearing signals flow in only in one direction.
❖Point-to-Point communication: communication process takes place over a
link between a single transmitter and receiver.
❖ In this case, there is usually a bidirectional flow of information bearing signals,
which requires the use of a transmitter and receiver at each end of the link. E.g.
Telephone communication
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1.1.3 COMMUNICATION RESOURCES
The two primary communication resources in communication systems are:
❖ Transmitted power: the power needed to transmit message from source to destination
❖ Channel bandwidth: the width of the path for the information to be transmitted.
❖ A general system design objective is to use these two resources as efficiently as
possible.
❖ One resource can be considered as more important than the other.
❖ So we can have power limited and band limited communication channels. E.g.
telephone circuit is a typical band limited channel and space communication link
or satellite channel is typically power limited channel.

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1.1.4 TYPES COMMUNICATION
Based the type of signal or message to be communicated, communication

can be:
1. Analog communication: The electrical message signal which is
continuously varying with time.
For example Speech, video and variation in temperature with time.
2. Digital communication: The electrical message signal which has finite
number of discrete levels. Text and Data are example of digital
communication.
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1.1.4 TYPES COMMUNICATION
Analog Communication Digital Communication
uses analog signals in the form of sine utilizes digital signals in the form of square
waves weaves
prone to interference with information not be easily influenced by noise so that it is
transmission due to noise immune to errors.
complex hardware Simple hardware
Expensive hardware components/circuits Cheap hardware components/ circuits

mostly cannot be carried has the nature of being easily carried

anywhere, such as on a smartphone

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1.1.4 TYPES COMMUNICATION
Analog Communication Digital Communication
Smaller bandwidth Larger bandwidth
Synchronization problem is relatively easier Synchronization problem is relatively
difficult
No privacy Privacy preserved/data encryption/
Cannot merge data from different sources Can merge different data/voice, video and
data/ &transmit over a common digital
transmission system
No error correction capability Error correction by coding
Is not secure. Highly secure
Robust
access cost is low access cost is high

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1.1.5 SOURCES OF INFORMATION

In telecommunications dominantly there are four important sources of information:

1. Speech: is the primary human communication which involves three stages:
➢ production
➢ Propagation
➢ Perception
Bandwidth of 300 up to 3100 Hz is adequate for commercial telephone communication
2. Music: originates from instruments such as piano, flute, violin with frequency
spectrum up to 15kHz

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1.1.5 SOURCES OF INFORMATION
3. Pictures: relies on human visual system for its perception.
4. Computer data: email, exchange of software, sharing of resources

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1.2 DEFINITION OF COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS
❖ Communication system is a combination of circuits and devices put

together to accomplish a reliable transmission of information from one

point to another
❖A communications system is a collection of telecommunications
networks, transmission systems, relay stations, tributary stations,
and terminal equipment capable of interconnection and interoperation
to convey information from one point called the source to another point
called destination.
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1.2 ELEMENTS OF COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS
There are three basic elements in every communication system:
1. Transmitter:
❖ Modifies the message signal into a form suitable for transmission over the
channel.
❖This modification is achieved by means of a process known as modulation.
❖ Modulation is the process of varying some parameters of a carrier wave
(amplitude, frequency or phase) in accordance with the message signal.

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2. Channel: is the medium through which the message passes from the transmitter
to the receiver
✓ signal distortion occurs due to some imperfections.
✓ Noise and interfering signals also added to the transmitted signal.
✓ communication channels can be distinguished as guided propagation and free
propagation channels.
✓ Guided communication channels: telephone channels, coaxial cables, and optical
fibers.
✓ unguided or free propagation channels include wireless broadcast channels, mobile
radio channels, and satellite channels.

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3. Receiver:
❖ Reconstructs the received corrupted signal due to channel imperfections,
and noise and interference into a recognizable form of the original
message signal for the user.

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 COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

figure 1: functional block diagram of a communication system

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 COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS

Figure 2: alterative view of functional block diagram of a communication system

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 Communication Systems
❖ The input transducer is used to convert the message generated by
the source into a time varying electrical signal called the message
signal.

❖ The transducer at the receiver side , recreates the original

message for the user at destination.

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 COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
❖ Performance metrics of communication systems

➢ Reliability: SNR for analog; Bit error rate (BER) for digital

➢ Efficiency: Spectral efficiency vs Energy efficiency

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 COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

figure 3 : block diagram of digital communication system 11/8/2024

 TYPES OF MODULATION

figure 4 : types of modulation 11/8/2024

 1.3 SPECTRAL ANALYSIS
❖ Spectral analysis concerns with the description of waveforms in the

frequency domain and with the correspondence between the frequency-

domain description and time-domain description.

❖ Signals physically exist in the time domain and are usually expressed as

a function of the time parameter.

❖ It is the characterization of the signals in terms of its various frequency

components (or it’s spectrum) .

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 1.3 SPECTRAL ANALYSIS
❖ Spectral analysis has inestimable value in the study of communications
systems.
❖ Fourier analysis (Fourier series and Fourier Transform) helps us in
arriving at the spectral description of the pertinent signals

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 1.3.1 FOURIER SERIES
❖ A periodic function of time x(t) having a fundamental period 𝑇0 can be represented as
an infinite sum of sinusoidal waveforms.
❖This summation is called a Fourier series which may be written in several forms.
❖ One such form is the following:
2𝜋𝑛𝑡 2𝜋𝑛𝑡
x(t) = 𝑨𝟎 + σ∞
𝑛=1 𝐴𝑛 cos + σ∞
𝑛=1 𝐵𝑛 sin
𝑇0 𝑇0
The constant 𝑨𝟎 is the average value of X(t) given by
𝑇0
1
𝑨𝟎 = ‫׬‬ 2
−𝑇0 X(t)𝑑𝑡
𝑇0
2

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 1.3.1 FOURIER SERIES

𝑇0
2 2𝜋𝑛𝑡
𝑨𝒏 = ‫׬‬ 2
x(t) cos 𝑑𝑡
𝑇0 −𝑇0 𝑇0
2

𝑇0
2 2𝜋𝑛𝑡
𝑩𝒏 = ‫׬‬ 2
x(t) sin 𝑑𝑡
𝑇0 −𝑇0 𝑇0
2

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 1.3.1 FOURIER SERIES
❖The coefficients 𝐶𝑛 are called spectral amplitudes (the amplitudes of
the spectral component 𝐶𝑛 cos 2𝜋𝑛𝑓0 𝑡 − 𝜑𝑛 at frequency of n𝑓0 ).

Figure 5 (a) A one-sided plot spectral amplitude of a periodic waveform.

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(b) The corresponding two-sided plot
 1.3.1 FOURIER SERIES
❖ The exponential form of the Fourier series finds extensive application in
communication theory. This form is given by

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1.3.1 FOURIER SERIES

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1.3.2 FOURIER TRANSFORM
❖ Aperiodic signals unlike the discrete spectrum of the periodic case, have

a continuous spectrum in the frequency domain.

❖ The frequency components constituting a given signal x (t) lie in a

continuous range (or ranges), and quite often this range could be (−∞, ∞).

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1.3.2 FOURIER TRANSFORM

The quantity v(f) is called amplitude spectral density or more

generally the Fourier transform of v(t).

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 PROPERTIES OF FOURIER TRANSFORM
property X(t) X(𝝎)
linearity 𝑎1 𝑥1 (𝑡) + 𝑎2 𝑥2 (𝑡) 𝑎1 𝑥1 (𝜔) + 𝑎1 𝑥2 (𝜔)

Symmetry x(t) 2πX(–ω)

Time Scaling x(at) 1 𝜔
X
𝑎 𝑎
Time Shifting x (t - 𝑡0 ) X (𝜔)𝑒 −𝑗𝜔𝑡0
Frequency Shifting 𝑒 𝑗𝜔0 𝑡 x(t) X (𝜔 − 𝜔0 )
Time Differentiation 𝑑𝑛
x (t) 𝑗𝜔 𝑛 𝑥(𝜔)
𝑡𝑛
Frequency Differentiation −𝑗𝑡 𝑛 𝑥(𝑡) 𝑑𝑛
x(𝜔)
𝜔𝑛
Time Integration 𝑡 𝑥 𝜔
න 𝑥 𝑡 𝑑𝑡 + 𝜋𝐹(0)𝛿 𝜔
−∞ 𝑗𝜔
Modulation property x(t)𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜔0 𝑡 1 1
𝑋(𝜔 − 𝜔0 ) + 𝑋(𝜔 + 𝜔0 )
2 2 11/8/2024
property x(t) X(𝝎)
Frequency Differentiation −𝑗𝑡 𝑛 𝑥(𝑡) 𝑑𝑛
x(𝜔)
𝜔𝑛
Time Integration 𝑡 𝑥 𝜔
න 𝑥 𝑡 𝑑𝑡 + 𝜋𝐹(0)𝛿 𝜔
−∞ 𝑗𝜔
∗
Conjugate Functions 𝑥 (𝑡) X*(-𝜔)
Time Convolution 𝑥1 (𝑡) ∗ 𝑥2 (𝑡) 𝑋1 (𝜔). 𝑋2 (𝜔)
Frequency Convolution 𝑥1 (𝑡) . 𝑥2 (𝑡) 1
𝑋1 (𝜔) ∗ 𝑋2 (𝜔)
2𝜋
Parseval’s Theorem ∞
2
1 ∞
න 𝑥 𝑡 𝑑𝑡 න 𝑥 𝜔 2 𝑑𝜔
−∞ 2𝜋 −∞
Area under X (𝜔) 1 ∞
x (0) = ‫׬‬−∞ 𝑋(𝜔) 𝑑𝜔
2𝜋
Area under x (𝑡) ∞
X (0) =‫׬‬−∞ 𝑥(𝑡) 𝑑𝑡
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1.3.2 FOURIER TRANSFORM
Example A signal m(t) is multiplied by a sinusoidal waveform of frequency𝑓𝑐 .
The product signal is x(t) = m(t)cos 2𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡 . If the Fourier transform of m(t) is M(f),
that is,

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1.4 BASE BAND TRANSMISSION
❖ Baseband technology transmits a single data signal/stream/channel at a time.

❖Baseband technology uses digital signals in data transmission.

❖Baseband supports bidirectional communication.

❖Baseband technology can send and receive data simultaneously.

❖Although baseband transmits only a single data stream at a time, it is possible to transmit
signals of multiple nodes simultaneously

❖This is done by combining all the signals into a single data stream

❖ Baseband supports the Time Division Multiplexing (TDM)

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1.4 .1 BROADBAND TRANSMISSION
❖ baseband transmission differs from broadband transmission in that broadband

transmission uses analogue carrier wave.

❖ although the carrier in broadband transmission does not contain any data, it contains all

properties of the analog signal.

❖this technology mixes data/digital signal/binary values into the carrier wave and sends the

carrier wave across the channel/medium.

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1.4 BASE BAND TRANSMISSION

Figure 5: baseband transmission

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1.4.1 BROADBAND TRANSMISSION
❖ To transmit data of multiple nodes simultaneously, this technology supports the Frequency

Division Multiplexing.

❖ FDM (Frequency Division Multiplexing) divides the channel (medium or path) into

several sub-channels and assigns a sub-channel to each node.

❖ Each sub-channel can carry a separate carrier wave

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Figure 6: broadband transmission multiplexing
1.4.1 BROADBAND TRANSMISSION
❖Consider two nodes A and B connected through a cable that uses broadband

technology to transmit signals.

❖ When node A transmits signals, node B receives the transmitted signals

❖ when node B transmits signals, node A receives the transmitted signals.

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1.4.1 BROADBAND TRANSMISSION

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baseband transmissions vs broadband transmissions
Baseband transmission Broadband transmission
Transmit digital signals Transmit analog signals

To boost signal strength, use repeaters To boost signal strength, use

amplifiers

Can transmit only a single data stream Can transmit multiple signal waves at
at a time a time

Support bidirectional communication Support unidirectional communication

simultaneously only

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baseband transmissions vs broadband transmissions
Baseband transmission Broadband transmission

Support TDM based multiplexing Support FDM based multiplexing

Use coaxial, twisted-pair, and fiber- Use radio waves, coaxial cables, and
optic cables fiber optic cables

Mainly used in Ethernet LAN Mainly used in cable and telephone

networks networks

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End
of chapter
thank you!!!!!

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