Contemporary Electronics [6042B]

An Open Elective Course

Module 2
Microphone
• A microphone is a transducer that converts sound waves into
electrical signals.
• Its primary function is to capture acoustic energy (sound) and convert
it into an electrical signal that can be amplified, recorded, or
processed.
• The working principle and construction of a microphone can vary
based on the type of microphone, but the basic concepts are
generally applicable
Working Principle of Microphone

1.Acoustic Energy:
• Represents the incoming sound waves that the microphone is designed to
capture.
2.Diaphragm:
• The diaphragm is a flexible membrane that vibrates in response to
changes in air pressure caused by sound waves.
3.Transducer:
• The mechanical vibrations of the diaphragm are converted into an electrical
signal here.
• In the case of a condenser microphone, this involves the capacitance changes
between the diaphragm and backplate.
4.Electrical Signal:
• The electrical signal generated by the transducer represents the converted
information from the acoustic energy.
• This signal is a fluctuating voltage that corresponds to the variations in air
pressure.
5.Output Connector:
• The output connector allows the electrical signal to be transmitted to external
devices such as audio interfaces, amplifiers, or recording equipment.
Different types of microphones
1.Carbon Microphone

• Used in telephone

• The carbon microphone, also known as carbon button microphone,

button microphone, or carbon transmitter.
• It consists of two metal plates separated by granules of carbon.
• One plate is very thin and faces outward, acting as a diaphragm.
• When sound waves strike this plate, the pressure on the granules
changes, which in turn changes the electrical resistance between the
plates.

• The change in contact resistance causes a current from a battery

connected in series with the carbon button ,resulting in a current
waveform similar to acoustic waveform striking the diaphragm.
2.Crystal Microphone
• The crystal microphone uses the PIEZOELECTRIC EFFECT of Rochelle
salt, quartz, or other crystalline materials.
• This means that when mechanical stress is placed upon the material,
electromagnetic force (EMF) is generated.
• Since Rochelle salt has the largest voltage output for a given
mechanical stress, it is the most commonly used crystal in
microphones.
• In figure A the crystal is mounted so that the sound waves strike it
directly.
• In figure B a diaphragm that is mechanically linked to the crystal so
that the sound waves are indirectly coupled to the crystal
• The crystal microphone is omni-
directional and is cheaper.
• The disadvantage of crystal
microphone is that it is easily
damaged by moisture or heat.
• This type of microphone is used in
cassette recorders.
3.Moving Coil/ Dynamic microphone
• Works on the principle that if a conductor cuts a magnetic field ,e.m.f
is induced in it.
• Sound waves striking a diaphragm cause a relative movement
between a magnetic field and a conductor ,thereby inducing a voltage
in the conductor.
• Also known as pressure microphone.
• The dynamic microphone consists of a magnet, and a diaphragm to
which a coil is attached.
• The assembly is held in place by an outer casing and the coil can move
freely over the magnet.
• As sound waves hit the diaphragm, this causes the coil to move
backwards and forwards within the magnetic field and as a result an
electric current is induced in line with the incoming sound vibrations.
This EMF is proportional to the velocity of motion (v) of the conductor
in the air-gap.
4.Capacitor /Condenser microphone
• Operates on the principle of change in the capacitance when
subjected to incident sound waves.
• Consists of a thin light metal alloy diaphragm(nickel) and a heavy
metallic back plate, these two acts as the plates of parallel plate
capacitor.
• The diaphragm is positioned in front of the back plate.
• A DC polarizing potential is applied across the capacitor plate.
• The alternating pressure of incident sound wave on the diaphragm
causes it to vibrate.
• As a result the space between the plates changes and alternating
change in the capacitance occurs.
 C=
• It causes an alternating voltage to be developed across the
microphone.
• standard microphones that are used as laboratory reference
microphones.
Loud speaker
• Loud speaker is a transducer which converts electrical signal into
sound signal.
• In order to accomplish this ,the loud speaker must be designed in
such a way that it will cause the varying electric currents to set in
vibrating a diaphragm.
• The vibration of diaphragm in turn sets the surrounding air molecules
into motion and this produces the sound .
Parts of loud speaker
1.Cone/diaphragm
The main component that vibrates to produce sound waves.
2.Voice coil
• A coil of wire that is attached to the back of the cone.
• When an audio signal is passed through the voice coil,it generates a
magnetic field that interacts with a permanent magnet ,causing the
cone to move back and forth producing sound.
3.Magnet
• Provides static magnetic field.
• Interaction between the voice coil and magnet creates force that
moves the cone and produce sound.
4.Spider
A springy cloth disc that allows the cone to move freely while
maintaining proper alignment.
5.Surround
A flexible ring that keeps the cone from moving side to side while
allowing it to push forward and backwards and prevent air leaks.
6.Frame (or basket)
Holds the entire speaker assembly together and attaches it to the
cabinet
AM receiver
• AM receiver is a superheterodyne receiver.
• Super heterodyne is basically a process of designing and constructing
wireless communications such as radio receivers by mixing two
frequencies together in order to produce a difference frequency
component called as intermediate frequency (IF), so as to reduce
signal frequency prior to processing
• A super heterodyne receiver usually consists of an antenna, RF
amplifier, mixer, local oscillator, IF amplifier, detector, AF amplifier and
a speaker
• The incoming signal through the antenna is filtered to reject the
image frequency and then amplified by the RF amplifier.
• RF amplifier can be tuned to select and amplify a particular carrier
frequency within the AM broadcast range. Only the selected
frequency and it two sidebands are allowed to pass through the
amplifier.
• The carrier of the received signal is called radio frequency carrier and
its frequency is radio frequency fRF and the local oscillator signal
operates at fOSC.
• The amplified RF frequency is then mixed with the local oscillator
frequency.
• The combining of these two signals is done at the mixer which
produces sum and difference frequency signals of the incoming
carrier signal and local oscillator signal
• The sum frequency is rejected by the filter and the remaining
difference frequency signal which is a down converted frequency signal
is called as intermediate frequency (IF) carrier(455KHz)
• Idea of the super heterodyne receiver is to reduce the high frequency
radio components of the incoming carrier to a fairly low, fixed value
such as to be processed at the different stages of the receiver.
• The IF signal is amplified with the help of IF amplifier which raises its
level for the information extraction process
• This amplified IF signal is applied to the detector to detect the
information signal component from 455 kHz IF, to reproduce the
original information data, which is generally in the form of audio
signal.
• The detector stage eliminates one of the sidebands which is still
present and separates the RF from the audio components of the other
sideband.
• The RF component is filtered out and audio is supplied to the audio
stages for amplification.
• The generated audio signal is then applied to the AF amplifier to
increase the audio frequency level of the signal and to provide
enough gain to drive the speaker or headphones.
• A speaker is connected to the AF amplifier to play the audio
information signal
FM receiver
• The RF amplifier amplifies the received signal intercepted by the
antenna.
• The amplified signal is then applied to the mixer stage. The second
input of the mixer comes from the local oscillator.
• The two input frequencies of the mixer generate an IF signal of 10.7
MHz. This signal is then amplified by the IF amplifier.
• The output of the IF amplifier is applied to the limiter circuit.
• The limiter removes the noise in the received signal and gives a
constant amplitude signal.
• This circuit is required when a phase discriminator is used to
demodulate an FM signal
• The output of the limiter is now applied to the FM discriminator,
which recovers the modulation signal.
• However, this signal is still no the original modulating signal.
• Before applying it to the audio amplifier stages, it is de-emphasized.
De-emphasizing attenuates the higher frequencies to bring them back
to their original amplitudes as these are boosted or emphasized
before transmission.
• The output of the de-emphasized stage is the audio signal, which is
then applied to the audio stages and finally to the speaker
Stereo
• Stereo refers to a method of sound reproduction that creates an
illusion of multi-directional audible perspective.
• In a stereo system, audio is captured using two separate channels,
usually with two microphones or through a dual-channel recording
process.
• These two channels are then played back through two speakers to
create a three-dimensional sound experience for the listener.
2.1 home theatre
A 2.1 setup typically includes two speakers for stereo sound and a
subwoofer to handle low-frequency sounds.
• The "2" refers to the number of main speakers (left and right
channels), creating a stereo sound experience.
• The "1" indicates the presence of a subwoofer, which is responsible
for handling the lower frequencies, providing a more robust and
immersive bass
5.1 home theatre
A 5.1 home theater system is a surround sound system that consists of
six channels of audio: five main speakers and one subwoofer.
The "5" in 5.1 represents the five main speakers, and the "1" represents
the subwoofer.
This configuration is commonly used for home theater setups and
provides a more immersive audio experience compared to stereo
systems.
1.Front Left and Front Right Speakers (2): These speakers are typically
placed on either side of the TV or screen. They handle the primary
audio, including dialogue and sound effects.
2.Center Speaker (1): Placed in the center, usually above or below the
TV, this speaker is dedicated to reproducing dialogue and central
sound elements, enhancing clarity.
3.Surround Left and Surround Right Speakers (2): These speakers are
positioned to the sides or slightly behind the listening area. They
provide ambient sounds and effects that contribute to the overall
immersive experience.
4.Subwoofer (1): The subwoofer is responsible for handling low-
frequency sounds, such as deep bass and rumble. It adds a powerful
element to the audio, especially during explosions, music with heavy
bass, or other deep sounds.
Display systems
1.LCD(Liquid Crystal Display)
• A Liquid crystal display is a passive device, which means it doesn’t
produce any light to display characters, images, video and animations.
But it simply alters the light travelling through it.
• There are two polarization filters oriented at 90 degree angle to each
other.
• These filters are used to polarize the unpolarized light.
• The first filter polarizes the light with one polarization plane (Vertical).
• When the vertically polarized light passes through the second filter
(Horizontal polarized filter) no light output will produce.
• The vertically polarized light should rotate 90 degrees in order to pass
through the horizontal polarized light.
• This can be achieved by embedding liquid crystal layer between two
polarization filters.
• If the Liquid crystal molecules are twisted 90 degrees more precisely,
then more light will pass through it.
• Two glass transparent electrodes are aligned front and back of the
liquid crystal in order to change the orientation of the crystal
molecules by applying voltage between them.
• If there is no voltage applied between the electrodes, the orientation
of molecules will remain twist at 90 degrees and the light passes
through the outer polarization filter thus pixel appears as complete
white.
• If the voltage is applied large enough the molecules in the liquid
crystal layer changes its orientation (untwist) so that light orientation
also changes and then blocked by the outer polarization filter thus the
pixel appears black.
• In this way, black and white images or characters are produced.
• In order to produce color images a color filter is placed in front of the
outer polarization plate.
LED display
• A LED display is a flat panel display that uses an array of Light Emitting
Diodes as pixels for a video display.
• In an LED display, thousands or even millions of
individual LEDs are arranged in a matrix of rows and
columns.
• An LED is a semiconductor device made from materials
such as gallium, arsenic, and phosphorus.
• It consists of a semiconductor chip, usually
encapsulated in a transparent epoxy resin.
• The chip has a positive (p-type) and a negative (n-type)
region, forming a diode.
Working principle
• When a voltage is applied across the p-n junction (the positive and
negative regions of the diode), electrons and holes combine in the
semiconductor material.
• This process releases energy in the form of photons, producing light.
• This is known as electroluminescence.
• LED displays are controlled by driving circuitry that sends electrical
signals to specific LEDs to control their brightness.
• The driving circuitry is often part of a larger system, such as a
microcontroller or a dedicated display driver.
• To display specific patterns, text, or images, control signals are sent to
the LED matrix, specifying which LEDs should be turned on or off and
at what intensity.
• LED displays often use red, green, and blue LEDs (RGB) to create a
wide range of colors.
• By adjusting the intensity of each color, a full spectrum of colors can
be achieved.
Audio/video ports
1.VGA (Video Graphics Array)Cable
• VGA is an analog video connector commonly used for
connecting computer monitors to PCs.
• It uses a 15-pin connector and is gradually being
replaced by digital interfaces like HDMI and DisplayPort.
2. HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface):
• HDMI is a digital AV connector used for transmitting
high-definition audio and video signals.
• It supports both video and audio in a single cable.
• HDMI connectors are commonly found on modern
TVs, monitors, Blu-ray players, gaming consoles,
and other multimedia devices.
• S video
• S-Video, short for Separate Video or Super Video, is an
analog video signal that separates the brightness
(luminance) and color (chrominance) information into
two distinct signals. This separation results in a better
quality video signal compared to composite video,
where both luminance and chrominance are combined
into a single signal.