Principles of

Communication
Course Outline
1. Introduction to Communications Systems
2. Noise
3. Amplitude Modulation
4. Single-Sideband Techniques
5. Frequency Modulation
6. Radio Receivers
7. Radiation and Propagation of Waves
8. Pulse Modulation
9. Digital Modulation
10. Broadband Communication System

Principles of Communication LAB
1. Passive, Active Filters, Tuned Circuits
2. AM Transmitter
3. Frequency Modulation
4. Pulse Amplitude Modulation
5. Diode Detection
6. Time Division Multiplexing
7. Frequency Division Multiplexing
8. Suggested Project : superheterodyne
receiver
Introduction: Communication System
Communication systems are designed to
transmit information from one place to
another.

Communication systems Design concerns:
1. Selection of the informationbearing
waveform;
2. Bandwidth and power of the waveform;
3. Effect of system noise on the received
information;
4. Cost of the system.

RA 9292 Definition:
Communications
refers to process of sending and/or
receiving information, data, signals and/or
messages between two or more points by
radio, cable, optical waveguide or other
devices and wired or wireless medium.

Evolution of Communication System:


Smoke Signal Tribal Drum Morse Code


Evolution of Communication System:

1837 Samuel Morse invented the telegraph
system, the first to be commercially successful
communication system which uses electricity in
sending messages.
1866 the use of telegraph cables that runs
under water.
1898 twelve transatlantic cables in operation.
1876 Alexander Graham Bell invented the
telephone, the first voice communication by
electrical means.
Importance of a radio in communication as a
medium;
1865 James Clerk Maxwell constructed the
theoretical framework in radio communication.
1887 Heinrich Rudolph Hertz verified the
theories of Maxwell.
1901 Guglielmo Marconi accomplished the
first transatlantic communication via radio.
1906 transmitters began to use specially
designed high frequency alternators to transmit
voice.
1920 began the regular radio broadcasting.

The use of electronic system;

1904 Sir John Ambrose Fleming invented
the diode tube.
1906 Lee De Forest invented the triode for
amplification.
1947 Brattain, Bardeen, and Shockley
invented the transistor.
1948 transistor began to use for
amplification.
Two Broad Categories of
Communication System
1. Analog Communication System

2. Digital Communication System
Analog Communication System
An analog communication system transfers
information from an analog source to the sink.

Digital Communication System
A digital communication system transfers
information from a digital source to the sink.

Analog Information Source
An analog information source produces
messages that are defined on a continuous
form.
(e.g. microphone)


Digital Information Source
A digital information source produces a
finite set of possible messages. (e.g. typewriter)

Digital and Analog Communication Systems
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.

t
x(t)
t
x(t)
Analog Digital
Digital Communication
Advantages
Relatively inexpensive digital circuits may be used;
Privacy is preserved by using data encryption;
Data from voice, video, and data sources may be merged
and transmitted over a common digital transmission system;
In long-distance systems, noise dose not accumulate from
repeater to repeater. Data regeneration is possible
Errors in detected data may be small, even when there is a
large amount of noise on the received signal;
Errors may often be corrected by the use of coding.

Disadvantages
Generally, more bandwidth is required than that for analog
systems;
Synchronization is required.

Deterministic and Random Waveform
A Deterministic waveform can be
modeled as a completely specified
function of time.



A Random Waveform (or stochastic
waveform) cannot be modeled as a
completely specified function of time and
must be modeled probabilistically.

Basic Properties of the em signal;






where:
=
=
1

and k is dielectric constant of a certain medium

The frequency is the number of cycles (i.e. from A to
B) in a one-second period. It may be the number of
voltage polarity alternations or em field oscillations that
takes place in a span of time.

second
1 1
cycle
Hz =
Wavelength is the distance
required to complete one cycle at a
particular frequency. (i.e the
distance from point A to B represents
one wavelength)
A B
f
v
=











here, when phase is at 90
0

sin + 90










A B
Amplitude
Time
A
m
p
l
i
t
u
d
e
0
o
90
o
180
o
270
o
360
o
Phase is the location of the travelling wave at a fixed point
in time.
Amplitude is the maximum
displacement of a continuous wave.
Sample problems:

1. Calculate the wavelength in (a) free space,
(b) transmission line, with dielectric medium
constant of 1.5, corresponding to a frequency
of 27 MHz.
2. Express the positive cosine function
representation of the following signals ;
(a) = 50sin +
(b) = 10 1
2


Bandwidth
The span of frequencies within the spectrum
occupied by a signal for conveying information
(e.g. music uses 0 to 20 KHz --> BW = 20KHz)
Water
(information)
B
a
n
d
w
i
d
t
h
Sending information in a short amount of time
requires more bandwidth
Standard voice channel bandwidth;
f1 = 300Hz , f2 = 3400Hz
BW = 3400 Hz 300 Hz
BW= 3.4 kHz


TV broadcasting channel bandwidth;
e.g. ABS-CBN operates at 54 MHz to 60 MHz
BW = 60 MHz 54 MHz
BW = 6 MHz


Decibels
- used in almost every part of electronic
communication system to express the ratio of
two power levels or voltage levels.
Definition:
- one tenth of a Bel
= log (

)
=

10
= log (

)
Example Problem;
1. Find the ratio between P
2
and P
1
, in dB, if
(a) P
1
= 2W and P
2
= 3W; (b) P
1
= 3W and P
2
= 2W

dB Gain vs dB Loss

If P
o
is the output power of a device and P
i

is the input power then the Gain in dB is;

= 10 log

If P
o
is less than P
i
then the negative gain
results to a Loss in the system.
Example:
1. An attenuator has a loss of 26 dB. If the
power of 2 W is applied to the attenuator,
find the output power.
Other dB notation
dBm based on the reference 1mW of power
at the input.

= 10 log

1

dBW use 1W as reference input power
dBk use 1kW as reference

Note :
dB+dBk = dBK
dB+dBm = dBm
dB+dBW = dBW

Example Problems:
1. Convert a power level of 5W to (a)dBm and
(b)dBk
2. If a signal with a power level of -12dBm were
applied to the system as shown, What is the
output level of the system?

in A
p
A
p
out
20dB 15dB
3. Convert 10 dBW to dBm and dBk.
dB in Current and Voltage Gains:

From power formula;
=
2
=

It follows that, voltage gain in dB is;

= 10log

= 20log (

)
Similarly the current gain in dB is given by;

= 10 log

= 20log

Ex. A signal in cable tv system has an
amplitude of 3mV in 75 ohms. Calculate its
level in dBmV and dBm.
Parts of a Communication System
All communication systems contain
three main sub systems:
Transmitter
Channel
Receiver

Other parts of communication system:
Information Input Source
Output Destination/Sink
Noise







Transmitter
Receiver
Block Diagram of A Communication System
TRANSMITTER:
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).
In a hybrid system, the signal processor may be an
analog-to-digital converter (ADC) to produce
digital signals that represent samples of the analog
input signal.


Block Diagram of A Communication System
TRANSMITTER:

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 f
c
=850kHz. The mapping of the
base band input information waveform m(t) into the
band pass signal s(t) is called modulation. It will be
shown that any band pass signal has the form
=

= 2

If R(t)=1 and (t) = 0, s(t) would be a pure sinusoid of
frequency f=f
c
with zero bandwidth.

Block Diagram of A Communication System
Channel:
Channels represents the path in which signals
travel from transmitter to receiver. Very general
classification of channels are:

Wire: Twisted-pair telephone line, coaxial
cable, waveguide, and fiber-optic
cables.
Wireless: Air vacuum, and seawater.

In general, the channel medium
attenuates the signal so that the delivered
information deteriorated from that of the
source. The channel noise may arise
from natural electrical disturbances or from
artificial sources.


Block Diagram of A Communication System
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 receivers base
band processor.

The base band processor cleans up this signal and
delivers an estimate of the source information to the
communication system output.

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).

In analog systems, the performance measure is
usually taken to be the Signal-to-noise Ratio (SNR) at
the receiver output.
How to measure the effectiveness of a
communication system?
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
Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) for analog m(t)
Bit Error Rate (BER) for digital m(t)

How much power is required to transmit s(t)?
Lower power = longer battery life, less interference

How much bandwidth B is required to transmit s(t)?
Less B means more users can share the channel
Exception: Spread Spectrum -- users use same B.

How much information is transmitted?
In analog systems information is related to B of m(t).
In digital systems information is expressed in bits/sec.

Frequency Bands
Regulations specify, modulation type, bandwidth,
power, type of information and etc. that a user
can transmit over designed frequency bands.

Frequency assignments and technical standards
are set internationally by International
Telecommunication Union (ITU). Locally, these are
set by NTC.

Each nation of ITU retains sovereignty over
spectral usage and standards adopted in its
territory.

Each nation is expected to abide by the overall
frequency plan adopted by ITU.


Assignment:
1. Write the complete list of the VHF and UHF
television channel and its corresponding
operating frequencies.
2. Name the two basic type of spectrum
analyzer, and briefly describe how each
works.
3. What is the difference between the white and
pink noise?
4. Why is the noise power bandwidth greater
than the half power bandwidth of a system?
Noise
Noise is any unwanted signal (random) that corrupts
and distort the desired signal
Effects of Noise:
Noise can cause the user to misunderstand the original signal
Noise can cause the receiving system to malfunction
Noise can result in a less efficient system
V
t
Noise Added
General Types of Noise
1. External Noise noise created and defined
within the property of the channel or medium.
a. Atmospheric Noise also called static
because lightning is the principal source of this
noise.
b. Industrial noise a man-made noise thru the
intervention of man and/or mans machine
and equipment.
c. Space Noise or extra-terrestrial noise comes
from the sun, stars, and other space bodies
which radiates energy.
2. Internal Noise originates within the
communication equipment.
a. Thermal Noise produced by random
motion of electrons in a conductor due
to heat.

=
Where:
P
n
- noise power, in Watts
T temperature in Kelvin
k Boltzmanns constant, 1.38x10
-23
J/K

Noise calculation
Noise Voltage;

= 4
Due to several sources;

= 4
1
+
2
++

= (
1
+
2
++

)


b. Shot Noise due to random arrival of
electrons or random variations in current
flow in an active device.

= 2

Where:
I
n
rms noise current, in Ampere
I
o
dc bias current , in Ampere
q charge of an electron, 1.6x10
-19
Coulomb

Exercises:

1. A diode noise generator is required to
produce 10 uV of noise in a receiver with an
input impedance of 75 ohms, and a noise
power bandwidth of 200kHz. What is the
current through the diode?
2. The circuit shows two resistors in series at
two different temperatures. Find the total
noise voltage and noise power produced
at the load, over a bandwidth of 100 kHz.

Signal-to-Noise Ratio
dB dB dB
N S
N
S
SNR =
|
.
|

\
|
= log 10
Where: S = signal power (in watts)
N = noise power (in watts)
The SNR is important in determining how well the
system will operate or how successfully the system
can recover a weak signal
f (MHz)
dB
-10 dBm
-50 dBm
Noise floor
Variations of SNR
Ratio of signal plus noise power to noise
power alone.
+

S/N for FM receivers that included distortion
(SINAD).
+ +
+


Sample Problem:

1. A receiver produces a noise power of
100 mW with no signal. The output level
increases to 10 W when a signal is
applied. Calculate the (S+N)/N in dB.

2. Determine the signal power of a receiver
with SNR = 28 dB. This receives an
equivalent noise power of 500 mW.
Noise Figure
Definition:
-a figure of merit which indicates how much a
component or series of stages degrades the signal to
noise ratio of a system.
=

Where:
S/N
in
- input signal to noise ratio
S/N
out
output signal to noise ratio

S/N in dB;
NF(dB) = S/N
in
(dB) - S/N
out
(dB)
Example:

1. The signal power at the input of the
degenerating circuit in a receiving section is
1500 uW and the noise power received is 5
uW. At the output these values are 100 mW
and 3700 uW, respectively. What is the NF
of the sytem, in dB?
Equivalent Noise Temperature:

=

290
+1
Where:
NF - noise figure
T
eq
equivalent noise temperature

Ex. An amplifier has an equivalent noise
temp. of (a)45K, (b)89
o
F. Calculate the dB
noise figure.

Information Capacity
Information capacity is the rate at which data can be
transferred by a communications system
Shannons Theory
|
.
|

\
|
+ =
N
S
B C 1 log
2
where C = Channel or info capacity (in bits per sec)
B = channel bandwidth (in Hertz)
S = signal power (in watts)
N = noise power (in watts)
Information Measurement
Definition: Information Measure (I
j
)
The information sent from a digital source (I
j
) when the jth
massage is transmitted is given by:



where P
j
is the probability of transmitting the j
th
message.

Messages that are less likely to occur (smaller value for Pj)
provide more information (large value of Ij).
The information measure depends on only the likelihood
of sending the message and does not depend on
possible interpretation of the content.
For units of bits, the base 2 logarithm is used;
if natural logarithm is used, the units are nats;
if the base 10 logarithm is used, the units are hartley.

Information Measurement
Definition: Average Information (H)
The average information measure of a digital source is,



where m is the number of possible different source messages.
The average information is also called Entropy.

Definition: Source Rate (R)
The source rate is defined as,



where H is the average information
T is the time required to send a message.


Information Measurement
Ex. Find the information content of message that consists of
a digital word 12 digits long in which each digit may take on
one of four possible levels. The probability of sending any of
the four levels is assumed to be equal, and the level in any
digit does not depend on the values taken on by pervious
digits.
Answer:
Possible combinations of 12 digits ( # of possible messages) = 4
12

Because each level is equally likely,
all different words are equally likely.


Channel Capacity & Ideal Comm. Systems
For digital communication systems, the Optimum System may defined
as the system that minimize the probability of bit error at the system
output subject to constraints on the energy and channel bandwidth.

Q: Is it possible to invent a system with no error at the output even when
we have noise introduced into the channel?
Yes under certain assumptions !
According Shannon the probability of error would approach zero, if R<C


Where
R - Rate of information (bits/s) ; C - Channel capacity (bits/s)
B - Channel bandwidth in Hz ; S/N - the signal-to-noise power ratio

Note: Capacity is the maximum amount of information that a particular
channel can transmit. It is a theoretical upper limit. The limit can be
approached by using Error Correction


Channel Capacity & Ideal Comm. Systems

In analog systems, the OPTIMUM SYSTEM might be defined as the
one that achieves the Largest signal-to-noise ratio at the receiver
output, subject to design constraints such as channel bandwidth
and transmitted power.

Question:
Is it possible to design a system with infinite signal-to-noise ratio at
the output when noise is introduced by the channel?
Answer: No!

DIMENSIONALITY THEOREM for Digital Signalling:
Nyquist showed that if a pulse represents one bit of data,
noninterfering pulses can be sent over a channel no faster than
2B pulses/s, where B is the channel bandwidth.

Modes of Transmission:
Half-duplex
e.g. Two-way radio
e.g. broadcast radio/TV
Full-duplex
e.g. Public-Switched
Telephone Network (PSTN)
sending of information
in one direction only
Simplex
sending of information
in either direction,
but in only one direction at a time
sending of information
in both directions, simultaneously

Modulation is the process by which the
communications signal that contains the information
(e.g. voice, data) is combined with another signal (I.e.
carrier)
The result is a signal at frequencies more
compatible with the application and in a desired part
of the spectrum.
FM Basics (Analog Modulation)
Info Signal = sin 2t f
m
t
t
1
t
A
Carrier = A sin 2t f
c
t
Note: f
m
<< f
c
t
A
FM signal = A sin (2t f
c
t + m sin2t f
m
t )
freq> f
C
freq= f
C
freq< f
C
Note: m = modulation index
= maximum carrier frequency
shift divided by the frequency of
the modulating signal, f
m
t
V
c
Carrier = V
c
sin 2t f
c
t
Note: f
m
<< f
c
Info Signal = V
m
sin 2t f
m
t
t
V
m
Note: V
m
< V
c
t
V
c
V
c
- V
m
V
c
+ V
m
envelope
carrier freq, f
c
AM Signal
= (V
c
+ V
m
sin 2t f
m
t) sin 2t f
c
t
AM Basics (Analog Modulation)
Digital
Modulation
FSK Frequency Shift Keying
Binary States: Logic 0 (high), Logic 1(low)
ASK Amplitude Shift Keying
Binary States: Logic 0 (absence of the carrier)
PSK Phase Shift Keying
Binary States: Logic 0 (0, -90), Logic 1(180, +90)
Multiplexing and Transmission
Media
In this section:
Multiplexing:
combining several sessions on to one medium
Properties of transmission media:
Characteristics of various transmission media
that impact their suitability for applicaitons.
64
Multiplexing
Multiplexing: combining several signals onto
one line.
Demultiplexing: taking a multiplexed signal and
recovering its original components

Frequency division multiplexing (FDM): using
different frequency ranges for different signals
Wave division multiplexing (WDM): same as
FDM, but with optical signals.
Time division multiplexing (TDM): each signal is
allocated to a periodic time slot.
65
Frequency Division
Multiplexing
Suppose that we have three phone signals that we want to
combine onto one line with higher bandwidth.
Allocate 4 KHz of bandwidth to each signal, which includes
a guard band of unused frequency range to ensure
signals dont overlap.
Each signal originally uses the range 0.3 3.3 KHz.
Transform each signal to a different frequency range:
Signal 1: 20 24 KHz channel
Use 20.5 KHz to 23.5 KHz, with 0.5 KHz of guard band on
each end.
Signal 2: 24 28 KHz
Signal 3: 28 32 KHz
At receiver, filters are used to isolate each channel, and
then the frequency is transformed back to its original range.


66
FDM
67
FDM applications
High capacity phone lines
AM radio: 530 KHz to 1700 KHz, 10 KHz
bandwidth per station
FM radio: 88 MHz to 108 MHz, 200 KHz
bandwidth per station
TV broadcasts: 6 MHz bandwidth per TV
channel
First generation cell phones: each user gets
two 30 KHz channels (sending, receiving).
68
Wave Division Multiplexing
Essentially the same as FDM, except the
signals are optical and prisms are used to
combine/split signals instead of electrical
components.
Used to combine signals of different
frequencies (i.e. colours) onto one fibre-
optic cable.
69
Time Division Multiplexing
(TDM)
TDM is a digital method, as opposed to FDM which is analog.
Each signal is split into fixed-size units of time, and units from
each signal are sent alternately.
If signal represents bits, use a fixed size block of bits as the
unit.
Suppose that we have 3 signals to combine, and the time unit is
1 ms. Cycle through the signals as follows:
Send signal 1 for 1 ms.
Send signal 2 for 1 ms.
Send signal 3 for 1 ms.
Each signal has its own time slot; if it has nothing to send, the
slot is left empty to preserve synchronization.

70
TDM
71
TDM applications
Digital Service lines: DS-n
Implemented as telephone lines: T-n
Service Phone line Data rate # of voice
channels
(DS-0) standard
phone line
64 Kb/s 1
DS-1 T-1 1.544 Mb/s 24
DS-2 T-2 6.312 Mb/s 96
DS-3 T-3 44.736 Mb/s 672
DS-4 T-4 274.176 Mb/s 4032
72