TLT-5206 Communication Theory Project 1 Report

Prepared by: Muhammad Qutab ud din St #: 232802

Q: Plot the signals x(t) and y(t) in time domain (e.g., for a period of 2 milliseconds) and compare them. In your opinion, is the signal y(t) badly distorted compared to x(t)? If yes, what kind of distortion there is? If not, why so? Explain. Ans:

Figure 1- Amplitude and Time Domain Spectra of x(t) and y(t) when A1=A2=0.1

We see that in this case our signal is not much distorted since the amplitude of the input signal is very small. Q: Calculate and plot the amplitude spectra (using FFT) of the signals x(t) and y(t) and comment on the distortion effects (or the lack of) from this point of view. Ans: From the frequency domain point of view, we can see that the frequency content of the output signal is not very different from that of the input signal. We get two peaks at frequencies 10 kHz and 14 kHz in the input signal. Same is the case in the output signal because the harmonic/intermodulation content is very less in amplitude to make a significant impact on the overall output. Q: Repeat the above items 1-4 using the amplitude values A1 = A2 = 0.4 and A1 = A2 = 0.8

Comment again how bad (or not) the distortion is with these amplitude levels. Explain what you observe. Ans:

Figure 2- Amplitude and Time Domain Spectra of x(t) and y(t) when A1=A2=0.4

The phenomenon of non-linear distortion in the time domain is introduced because of the non-linear element because input signal is significantly higher than the previous case, thus we can see the shape of our output signal has distorted. If we analyze this in frequency domain we can see that in the output signal there is frequency content at frequencies other than the ones in the original signal thus exhibiting non-linear distortion.

Figure 3- Amplitude and Time Domain Spectra of x(t) and y(t) when A1=A2=0.8

The phenomenon of non-linear distortion is the most significant in this case as it is visible from the time domain representation. Here the maximum amplitude of the input is greatest compared to previous cases and signal shape is very much distorted. We can also see that in the frequency domain. Q: Calculate in symbolic form (frequencies f1 and f2, amplitudes A1 and A2) the output signal y(t) of the above nonlinear element and present it in as informative form as possible. Trigonometric formulas like cos2(x) = (1 + cos(2x))/2 etc. are most likely useful in this context. What is the exact frequency content of the output signal y(t)? Apply the results to the earlier numerical example (f1 = 10 kHz and f2 = 14 kHz) and compare to frequencies you observed earlier with FFT. What is needed (in this example) to recover the original signal x(t) from y(t)? Does this technique work in general? If not, explain why and how it depends on the structure of the input signal. Ans: ( ) ( ) Let ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ( ) )

( ) ( ) [

[( [

) ]

[( ]

) ]

Using trigonometric identities

And

And after some simplification we get ( ) ( ( ) ( ) ( ( ) Thus through expansion of the output we get new frequencies as listed below ) ( ) ) ) ( ( ) ) ( ( ) ( )

Since

and

Also a very small DC shift accompanies whose magnitude is equal to at zero frequency.

) which is visible

Figure 4- Harmonic and Intermodulation Distortion

We can see in our results (very significantly in A1 = A2 = 0.8) that all of the above mentioned frequency components are present in the output signal. To recover the original signal from the distorted signal in this example we can use a band pass filter which would filter out all the frequencies other than the ones between 10 kHz and 14 kHz. While this technique may work in this case but it is not necessary that this will work in each case. If harmonic or intermodulation frequencies happen to be present between the two frequencies then this method would be rendered useless. In practical situations techniques such as channel estimation and adaptive equalization filters are used to minimize the effect of non-linear distortion.