EEE 107

Lecture 9
Analog Communication Systems

2s1415 Revision 14 May 2015

 Superheterodyne Receiver
Receivers (e.g. AM/FM radios) are capable of
receiving more than one station
Also known as a superhet receiver
Superheterodyne principle
Carrier frequency tuning
Filtering
Amplification
Heterodyning Frequency conversion
Superheterodyne Two frequency stages

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 Superheterodyne Receiver

Center at

Center at 0 Hz

Weak amplification, Strong amplification,

lax filtering, selective filtering,
variable operating Center at = fixed operating
frequency is tuneable frequency;
IF strip

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Carlson. Introduction to Communication Systems. 4th ed. p. 260.
 Superheterodyne Receiver
RF Stage
Remove signal at image
frequency,
Image will appear at
if not filtered out

IF Stage
Remove adjacent channels
Provide most of the gain before demod

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Carlson. Introduction to Communication Systems. 4th ed. p. 260.
 Commercial AM and FM Radios
AM FM
Carrier frequency 540-1600 kHz 88.1-107.9 MHz
Carrier spacing 10 kHz 200 kHz
Intermediate frequency 455 kHz 10.7 MHz
IF bandwidth 6-10 kHz 200-250 kHz
Audio bandwidth 3-5 kHz 15 kHz

For AM
= + 995 < < 2055 kHz 2: 1 tuning ratio
= 85 < < 1145 kHz 13: 1 tuning ratio

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 Superheterodyne Receiver
Tuning is at the front end
IF stage and demodulator circuitry are fixed
Can choose low LO tuning ratio
Superheterodyne for SSB
Sideband reversal = +
Disadvantages
Potential spurious response from image frequency
Distortion in LO signal will generate spurious response
Spurious response from non-linearities

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 Superheterodyne Receiver
Automatic Gain Control (AGC)
Adjust IF or RF gain according to strength of demodulated
signal
Automatic Volume Control (AVC)
For AM signals
Demodulator to IF feedback
Automatic Frequency Control
Corrects small frequency drifts by tuning LO

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 Superheterodyne: Example
A superhet receiver has = 500 kHz and
3.5 < < 4.0 MHz.
The receiver is set to receive a signal at =
3.0 MHz.
The LO was found to have a significant third
harmonic component.
What are the possible carrier frequencies of the
signals demodulated by the receiver?

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 Superheterodyne: Example
What are the possible carrier frequencies of the
signals demodulated by the receiver?
= 3.0 MHz = = 3.0 0.5 MHz
= + = 3.5 MHz
= + 2 = 4.0 MHz

3, = 3 3.5 MHz = 10.5 MHz

3, = 10.5 MHz = + = + 0.5 MHz
= 10.0 MHz
= + 2 = 10.0 + 2 0.5 = 11.0 MHz

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Analog Communication Systems

Direct Conversion and Special Purpose

Receivers

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 Direct Conversion Receiver
Also known as homodyne receiver
RF amplifier, product detector, LPF, message amplifier
Adjacent channel rejection by LPF
No image problem as superhet
For SSB, may not reject opposite sideband signals

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Carlson. Introduction to Communication Systems. 4th ed. p. 263.
 Direct Conversion Receiver
Direct conversion receiver with opposite sideband
rejection

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Carlson. Introduction to Communication Systems. 4th ed. p. 263.
 Special Purpose Receivers
Heterodyne receiver
Superhet without the RF stage
May raise potential image frequency problems
Usually at microwave frequencies where channel
separation is large
Tuned-RF receiver
E.g. Direct conversion
E.g. Tunable RF amplifier, envelope detector

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 Double Conversion Receiver
Superhet extension
Two IF stages
IF-2 is always fixed, IF-1 may or may not be tunable
1 can be larger, better image rejection
2 can be smaller, better adjacent channel rejection

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Carlson. Introduction to Communication Systems. 4th ed. p. 264.
Analog Communication Systems

Receiver Specifications

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 Receiver Specifications
Sensitivity
Minimum input voltage (or power) that the receiver can
accommodate
Dynamic range
Difference between largest undistorted input and
minimum signal that can be discerned
Usually expressed in dB
Selectivity
Ability to discriminate against adjacent channel signals

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 Receiver Specifications
Noise figure

= = 10 log()

Indicates how much the receiver degrades the input signal
signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)
Image rejection
2

= 10 log

Indicates how well the image is rejected

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Analog Communication Systems

FM and TV

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 FM Stereo Multiplexing
FM can transmit stereophonic audio
L+R at baseband, L-R at 38 kHz
19 kHz pilot indicates stereo, for synchronization
Subsidiary Communication Authorization (SCA)
Auxilliary information for private subscribers

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Carlson. Introduction to Communication Systems. 4th ed. p. 264.
 Monochrome TV
Video signal
Contains intensity pattern or luminance
Large bandwidth, significant low-frequency content
VSB+C modulation, for envelope detection
Audio signal
FM modulation, separate carrier

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Carlson. Introduction to Communication Systems. 4th ed. p. 292.
 Monochrome TV

TV Image Luminance Signal

25 to 30 frames per second With sync and blanking pulses
With interlaced patterns

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 Color TV
Needs to transmit RGB video
Luminance signal
= 0.30 + 0.59 + 0.11
Compatible with monochrome TV
Chrominance signals
= 0.60 0.28 0.32
= 0.21 0.52 + 0.31
= +
Modulates own color subcarrier

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 Color TV
Video signal

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Carlson. Introduction to Communication Systems. 4th ed. p. 296.
 TV Channels
Channel Lower Edge (MHz) Upper Edge (MHz)
VHF 2 54 60
3 60 66
4 66 72
5 76 82
6 82 88
7 174 180

13 210 216
UHF 14 470 476

83 884 890

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 Digital TV
Analog TV is set to be replaced
In the Philippines, by December 31, 2015!
Current channels will transfer to channels 14-51
Still 6 MHz bandwidth
ISDB-T standard
As in Japan
ATSC (different standard) in US
DVB-T (different standard) in UK

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