Chapter 1: Overview of Communication Systems

Communication Systems (ECEg4172)

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

AGU, Department of ECE 1

 Outline
Introduction
Probability and random processes
Noise

AGU, Department of ECE 2

 Historical Background
Telegraph
1844, Samuel Morse,
What hath God wrought transmitted by Morses electric telegraph
Washington D.C ~ Baltimore, Maryland
Morse code : variable-length code (a dot, a dash, a letter space, a word space)

Radio
1864, James Clerk Maxwell
Formulated the electromagnetic theory of light
Predicted the existence of radio waves
1887, Heinrich Hertz
The existence of radio waves was confirmed experimentally
1894, Oliver Lodge
Demo : wireless communication over a relatively short distance (150 yards)

AGU, Department of ECE 3

 1901, Guglielmo Marconi
Demo : wireless communication over a long distance (1700 miles)
1906, Reginald Fessenden
Conducting the first radio broascast
1918, Edwin H. Armstrong
Invented the superheterodyne radio receiver
1933, Edwin H. Armstrong
Demonstrated another modulation scheme ( Frequency nodulation)

Telephone
1875, Alexander Graham Bell
Invented the telephone
1897, A. B. Strowger
Devised the autiomatic step-by-step switch

AGU, Department of ECE 4

 Electronics
1904, John Abbrose Eleming
Invented the vacuum-tube diode
1906, Lee de Forest
Invented the vacuum-tube triode
1948, Walter H. Brattain, William Shockley (Bell Lab.)
Invented the transistor
1958, Robert Noyce
The first silicon integrated circuit (IC) produce

Television
1928, Philo T. Farnsworth
First all-electronic television system
1929, Vladimir K. Zworykin
all-electronic television system
1939, BBC
Broadcasting television service on a commercial basis

AGU, Department of ECE 5

 Digital Communications
1928, Harry Nyquist
The theory of signal transmission in telegraphy
1937, Alex Reeves
Invent pulse-code modulation
1958, (Bell Lab.)
First call through a stored-program system
1960, (Morris, Illinois)
The first commercial telephone service with digital switching begin.
1962, (Bell Lab.)
The first T-1 carrier system transmission was installed
1943, D. O. North
Matched filter for the optimum detection of a unknown signal in a additive white noise
1948, Claude Shannon
The theoretical foundation of digital communications were laid

AGU, Department of ECE 6

 Computer Networks
1943~1946, (Moore School of Electrical Engineering of the Univ. of Pennsylvania)
ENIAC : first electronic digital computer
1950s
Computers and terminals started communicating with each other
1965, Robert Lucky
Idea of adaptive equalization
1982, G. Ungerboeck
Efficient modulation techniques
1950~1970
Various studies were made on computer networks
1971
Advanced Research Project Agency Network(APRANET) first put into service
1985,
APRANET was renamed the Internet
1990, Tim Berners-Lee
Proposed a hypermedia software interface to internet (World Wide Web)

AGU, Department of ECE 7

 Satellite Communications
1945, C. Clark
Studied the use of satellite for communications
1955, John R. Pierce
Proposed the use of satellite for communications
1957, (Soviet Union)
Launched Sputnik I
1958, (United States)
Launched Explorer I
1962, (Bell Lab.)
Launched Telstar I

AGU, Department of ECE 8

 What is Communication?

Communication involves the transfer of information from one point to another.

Communication elements(the basic are Transmitter,Channel and receiver)
Input transducer: The device that converts a physical signal from source to an electrical,
mechanical or electromagnetic signal more suitable for communicating
Transmitter: The device that sends the transduced signal
Transmission channel: The physical medium on which the signal is carried
Receiver: The device that recovers the transmitted signal from the channel
Output transducer: The device that converts the received signal back into a useful quantity

AGU, Department of ECE 9

 Communication should be done
- as efficiently as possible
- with as much fidelity/reliability as possible
- as securely as possible

AGU, Department of ECE 10

 Communication systems

Telephone network
Internet
Radio and TV broadcast
Mobile communications
Wi-Fi
Satellite and space communications
Smart power grid,
Analogue communications
AM, FM
Digital communications
Transfer of information in digits
Dominant technology today

AGU, Department of ECE 11

 Transmitter and Receiver

The transmitter modifies the message signal into a form suitable for transmission
over the channel
This modification often involves modulation
Moving the signal to a high-frequency carrier (up-conversion) and varying some
parameter of the carrier wave
Analog: AM, FM, PM
Digital: ASK, FSK, PSK
The receiver recreates the original message by demodulation
Recovery is not exact due to noise/distortion
The resulting degradation is influenced by the type of modulation
Design of analog communication is conceptually simple
Digital communication is more efficient and reliable; design is more sophisticated

AGU, Department of ECE 12

 Information Theory

In digital communications, is it possible to operate at zero error rate even though

the channel is noisy?
Shannon capacity:
The maximum rate of reliable transmission is calculated.
The famous Shannon capacity formula for a channel with bandwidth W (Hz)
C = W log(1+SNR) bps (bits per second)
Zero error rate is possible as long as actual signaling rate is less than C.
Many concepts were fundamental and paved the way for future developments in
communication theory.
Provides a basis for tradeoff between SNR and bandwidth, and for comparing different
communication schemes.

AGU, Department of ECE 13

 Electromagnetic Spectrum

AGU, Department of ECE 14

 Modes of communications

Two basic modes of communications

Broadcasting
Single powerful transmitter and many receivers
TV, Radio, etc.
Point-to-point communication
Link between a single transmitter and a receiver
Telephone

AGU, Department of ECE 15

 Radio
Broadcasting
AM and FM radio
The voices are transmitted from broadcasting stations that operate in our
neighborhood
Television
Transmits visual images and voice

Point-to-point communication
Satellite communication
Built around a satellite in geostationary orbit, relies on line-of-sight radio
propagation for the operation of an uplink and a downlink

AGU, Department of ECE 16

AGU, Department of ECE 17
 Cellular Mobile Phone Network

A large area is partitioned into cells

Frequency reuse to maximize capacity

AGU, Department of ECE 18

 Evolution of Mobile Communications

1G: analog communications

AMPS
2G: digital communications
GSM
IS-95
3G: CDMA networks
WCDMA
CDMA2000
TD-SCDMA
4G: data rate up to1 Gbps (giga bits per second)
Pre-4G technologies:
WiMAX, 3G LTE

AGU, Department of ECE 19

 Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi connects local computers (usually within 100m range)

AGU, Department of ECE 20

 Communication Resources

Two primary resources

Transmitted power
Average power of transmitted signal
Channel bandwidth
Band of frequencies allocated for transmission
System design objective
Use two resources as efficiently as possible.
Power limited vs. Band limited

AGU, Department of ECE 21

 Modulation

Modulation:
Modifies the message signal into a form suitable for transmission over the channel.
Demodulation:
Recreates the original message signal from a degraded version of the transmitted
signal after propagation through the channel.
Due to the presence of noise, the original message signal cannot be recreated exactly.
The degradation is influenced by the type of modulation scheme.

AGU, Department of ECE 22

 Continuous wave (CW) modulation
Carrier is a sinusoidal wave.
Amplitude modulation (AM), frequency modulation (FM), phase modulation (PM)
Pulse modulation
Carrier is a periodic sequence of rectangular pulses.
Pulse-amplitude modulation (PAM) or amplitude-shift keying (ASK), pulse-duration
modulation (PDM), pulse-position modulation (PPM)

AGU, Department of ECE 23

 Multiplexing
Another benefit of modulation: Multiplexing
Combines several message signals for their simultaneous transmission over the same
channel.
Frequency-division multiplexing (FDM)
Assigns message signal distinct carrier frequency.
Time-division multiplexing (TDM).
Different time slots
Code-division multiplexing (CDM)
Each message is identified by a distinctive code.
Message signals are permitted to overlap in both time and frequency.

AGU, Department of ECE 24

 Analog Modulation
Amplitude Modulation (AM)
Amplitude modulation is the process of varying the amplitude of a carrier wave in
proportion to the amplitude of a baseband signal. The frequency of the carrier
remains constant
Frequency Modulation (FM)
Frequency modulation is the process of varying the frequency of a carrier wave in
proportion to the amplitude of a baseband signal. The amplitude of the carrier
remains constant
Phase Modulation (PM)
Another form of analog modulation technique

AGU, Department of ECE 25

 Amplitude Modulation
AM

AGU, Department of ECE 26

 Frequency Modulation

AGU, Department of ECE 27

 Digital Modulation

Digital communication systems also employ modulation

techniques, some of which include:
Amplitude Shift Keying
Frequency Shift Keying
Phase Shift Keying

AGU, Department of ECE 28

 ASK

AGU, Department of ECE 29

 Communication networks

Todays communication networks are complicated systems

A large number of users sharing the medium
Hosts: devices that communicate with each other
Routers: route data through the network

AGU, Department of ECE 30

 Concept of Layering
Partitioned into layers, each doing a relatively simple task
Protocol stack

Communication systems most deals with the physical layer, but some
techniques (e.g. coding) can also be applied to the network layer

AGU, Department of ECE 31

 Probability and random processes

Probability
Introduction
cdf and pdf
Mean and variance
Joint distribution
Central limit theorem
Random processes
Noise

AGU, Department of ECE 32

 Why Probability/Random Process?

Probability is the core mathematical tool for communication theory.

The stochastic model is widely used in the study of communication systems.
Consider a radio communication system where the received signal is a random process in
nature:
Message is random. No randomness, no information.
Interference is random.
Noise is a random process.
And many more (delay, phase, fading, ...)
Other real-world applications of probability and random processes include
Stock market modeling, gambling

AGU, Department of ECE 33

 Probabilistic Concepts

What is a random variable (RV)?

It is a variable that takes its values from the outputs of a random experiment.
What is a random experiment?
It is an experiment the outcome of which cannot be predicted precisely.
All possible identifiable outcomes of a random experiment constitute its
sample space S.
An event is a collection of possible outcomes of the random experiment.
Example
For tossing a coin, S = { H, T }
For rolling a die, S = { 1, 2, , 6 }

AGU, Department of ECE 34

 Probability Properties

PX(xi): the probability of the random variable X taking on the value xi

The probability of an event to happen is a non-negative number, with the
following properties:
The probability of the event that includes all possible outcomes of the experiment is 1.
The probability of two events that do not have any common outcome is the sum of the
probabilities of the two events separately.
Example
Roll a die: PX(x = k) = 1/6 for k = 1, 2, , 6

AGU, Department of ECE 35

 CDF and PDF

The (cumulative) distribution function (cdf) of a random variable X is defined as the

probability of X taking a value less than the argument x:

Properties:

The probability density function (pdf) is defined as the derivative of the distribution
function:

AGU, Department of ECE 36

 Mean and Variance

Mean (or expected value):

Variance :

AGU, Department of ECE 37

 Normal (Gaussian) Distribution

AGU, Department of ECE 38

 Uniform Distribution

AGU, Department of ECE 39

 Joint Distribution

Joint distribution function for two random variables X and Y

Joint probability density function

Properties:

AGU, Department of ECE 40

 Independent vs. Uncorrelated

Independent implies Uncorrelated

Uncorrelated does not imply Independence
For normal RVs (jointly Gaussian), Uncorrelated implies Independent (this
the only exceptional case!)
An example of uncorrelated but dependent RVs

AGU, Department of ECE 41

 Joint Distribution of n RVs

Joint cdf

Joint pdf

Independent

i.i.d. (independent, identically distributed)

The random variables are independent and have the same distribution.
Example: outcomes from repeatedly flipping a coin.

AGU, Department of ECE 42

 Central Limit Theorem

For i.i.d. random variables,

z = x1 + x2 + + xn
tends to Gaussian as n goes
to infinity.
Extremely useful in communications.
Thats why noise is usually Gaussian. We
often say Gaussian noise or
Gaussian channel in communications.

AGU, Department of ECE 43

 Random Process
A random process is a time-varying function that assigns the outcome of a
random experiment to each time instant: X(t).
For a fixed (sample path): a random process is a time varying function, e.g.,
a signal.
For fixed t: a random process is a random variable.
If one scans all possible outcomes of the underlying random experiment, we
shall get an ensemble of signals.
Noise can often be modeled as a Gaussian random process

AGU, Department of ECE 44

 Random Process

AGU, Department of ECE 45

 Random Processes

AGU, Department of ECE 46

 Random Processes vs. Random Variables
What is the difference between random variable and processes?
For a random variable, the outcome of a random experiment is mapped
onto a variable, e.g., a number.
For a random processes, the outcome of a random experiment is mapped
onto a waveform that is a function of time.

AGU, Department of ECE 47

AGU, Department of ECE 48
 Mean, correlation, and covariance functions
For a random process, we define the following two operators

The ensemble mean or ensemble average of a random process X(t) at time

t is

The time average mean or time average of a random process X(t) is

AGU, Department of ECE 49

 Correlation

Autocovariance for strictly stationary process

AGU, Department of ECE 50

 Properties of Autocorrelation
The autocorrelaton function for a stationary process X(t) is

Mean square of the process,

The autocorrelation function is even,

The autocorrelation function has maximum value at =0,

AGU, Department of ECE 51

AGU, Department of ECE 52
AGU, Department of ECE 53
 Wide Sense Stationary
A wide sense stationary random process X(t) has the property
The mean is independent of time t
The autocorrelation depends only on the time difference

AGU, Department of ECE 54

 Energy and Power Signals
An energy signal x(t) has 0 < E < for average energy

A power signal x(t) has 0 < P < for average power

An energy signal has zero average power.

A power signal has infinite average energy.
Power signals are generally not integrable so dont necessarily have a
Fourier transform.
We use power spectral density to characterize power signals that dont
have a Fourier transform.

AGU, Department of ECE 55

 Power spectral density (PSD)
PSD measures the distribution of signal power
over frequency domain.
Autocorrelation and power spectral density of a stationary process form a
fourier-transform pair.
Einstein-Wiener-Khintchine relations

AGU, Department of ECE 56

 Properties of PSD
1.

2.

3.

4.

AGU, Department of ECE 57

 Example:

What is the PSD of X(t)?

AGU, Department of ECE 58

 Example:
What is the PSD of .

AGU, Department of ECE 59

 PSD relation of Input and output of LTI sytems

Let Y(t) obtained by passing random process X(t) through a linear system of
transfer function H(f). Then the PSD of Y(t)

If X(t) is a Gaussian process, then Y(t) is also a Gaussian process.

Gaussian processes are very important in communications.

AGU, Department of ECE 60