Unit-III

Television and Video Engineering Television Transmission system, Propagation And Antennas

VSA
VSA
SALEM 10

GROUP
SCHOOL

OF
OF

INSTITUTIONS
ENGINEERING

DEPT OF ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING

LECTURE NOTES

TELEVISION
.

AND

VIDEO

ENGINEERING

(VI I SEM / IV YEAR - ECE)

Compiled by Mr.V.NAGARAJ, VSA School of Engineering

LECTURER

ECE

STAFF INCHARGE
Department Of ECE

HOD/ECE
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PRINCIPAL
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Unit-III

Television and Video Engineering Television Transmission system, Propagation And Antennas

UNIT III TELEVISION TRANSMISSION SYSTEM, PROPAGATION AND ANTENNAS

REQUIREMENTS OF TV Broadcast Transmission, Design principle of TV Transmitters, IF Modulation, power output stages- Block diagram of TV transmitters, visual exciter,- Aural Exciter- Diplexer- Transmitting antennas-Radio wave Characteristicspropagation phenomenaspace wave propagation- Line of sight range- space wave reception over smooth terrain- distance reception- Shadow zones- co channel interference- Ghost imagesinterference problems. Receiving antenna requirements, characteristics and types- parasitic elements- Yagi aerialsFeeders- matching- booster amplifiers.

CONTENT:
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Yagi aerials:
Yagi-Uda antenna:

The antenna widely used with television receivers for locations within 40 to 60 km from the transmitter is the folded dipole with one reflector and one director. This is commonly known as Yagi-Uda or simply Yagi antenna. The elements of its array as shown in Fig.(a) are arranged collinearly and close together. This antenna provides a gain close to 7 db and is relatively unidirectional as seen from its radiation pattern drawn in Fig. 9.18(b). These characteristics are most suited for reception from television transmitters of moderate capacity. To avoid pickup from any other side, the back lobe of the radiation pattern can be reduced by bringing the radiators closer to each other. The resultant improvement in the front to back ratio of the signal pick-up makes the antenna highly directional and thus can be oriented for efficient pick-up from a particular station. However, bringing the radiators closer has the adverse effect of lowering the input impedance of the array. The separation is shown in Fig. (a) is an optimum value. Antenna length: As mentioned earlier, it is not necessary to erect a separate antenna for each channel because the resonant circuit formed by the antenna is of low Q (quality factor) and as such has a broad band response. For the lower VHF channels (Band Ichannels 2 to 4) the length of the antenna may be computed for a middle value. while this antenna will not give optimum results at other

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frequencies, the reception will still be quite satisfactory in most cases if the stations are not located far away. Though the antenna length used should be as computed by the usual expression:

but in practice it is kept about 6 per cent less than the calculated value. This is necessary because the self- capacitance of the antenna alters the current distribution at its ends. The small distance between the two quarter wave rods of the driver, where the lead-in line is connected can be taken as too small and hence neglected. Note that this gap does not affect the current distribution significantly. Antenna mounting: The receiving antenna is mounted horizontally for maximum pick-up from the transmitting antenna. As stated earlier, horizontal polarization results in more signal strength, less reflection and reduced ghost images. The antenna elements are normally made out of 1/4 (0.625 cm) to 1/2 (1.25 cm) diaaluminium pipes of suitable strength. The thickness of the pipe should be so chosen that the antenna structure does not get bent or twisted during strong winds or occasional sitting and flying off of birds. A hollow conductor is preferred because on account of skin effect, most of the current flows over the outer surface of the conductor. The antenna is mounted on a suitable structure at a height around 10 metres above the ground level. This not only insulates it from the ground but results in induction of large signal strength which is free from any interference. The centre of the closed section of the half-wave folded dipole is a point of minimum voltage, allowing direct mounting at this point to the grounded metal mast without shorting the signal voltage. A necessary precaution while mounting the antenna is that it should be at least two metres away from other antennas and large metal objects. In crowded city areas close to the transmitter, the resultant signal strength from the antenna can sometimes be very low on account of out of phase reflections from surrounding buildings.

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In such situations, changing the antenna placement only about a metre horizontally or vertically can make a big difference in the strength of the received signal, because of standing waves set up in such areas that have large conductors nearby. Similarly rotating the antenna can help minimize reception of reflected signals, thereby eliminating the appearance of ghost images. In areas where several stations are located nearby, antenna rotators are used to turn its direction. These are operated by a motor drive to set the broad side of the antenna for optimum reception from the desired station. However, in installations where a rotating mechanism is not provided, it is a good practice to connect the antenna to the receiver before it is fixed in place permanently and proceed as detailed below: (i) Try changing the height of the antenna to obtain maximum signal strength. (ii) Rotate the antenna to check against ghost images and reception of signals from far off stations. (iii) When more than one station is to be received, the final placement must be a compromise for optimum reception from all the stations in the area. In extreme cases, it may be desirable to erect more than one antenna.

Sound signal transmission:

Audio signals from different microphones are received at the sound panel in the production control room. After due amplification all the outputs are fed into a switcher, where they are mixed and desired output is selected. The final output goes into the distributor in the master control room, where the picture and signals are received. This distributor is switched to select corresponding picture and sound signals from the desired studio.At the transmitter the audio signals are frequency modulated and transferred to assigned sound carrier frequency by the use of multipliers. It is amplified through power amplifier to raise the power output to desired level.

Picture signal and sound signal modulation in TV transmissions:

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PICTURE SIGNAL: A dc restorer circuit (DC clamp) is included before the modulator. Because of modulation at a relatively low power level, an amplifier is used after the modulated RF amplifier to raise the power level. Accordingly this amplifier must be a class-B push pull linear RF amplifier. Both the modulator and the power amplifier sections of the transmitter employ specially designed VHF triodes for VHF channel and klystrons in transmitters that operate in UHF channels. The modulated output is fed to a filter designed to filter out part of the lower side band frequencies. This results in saving of band space. The filter output feeds into a combining network where output from the FM sound transmitter is added to it. This network is designed in such a way that while combining, either signal does not interfere with the working of the other transmitter. SOUND SIGNAL: Audio signals from different microphones are received at the sound panel in the production control room. After due amplification all the outputs are fed into a switcher, where they are mixed and desired output is selected. The final output goes into the distributor in the master control room, where the picture and signals are received. This distributor is switched to select corresponding picture and sound signals from the desired studio. At the transmitter the audio signals are frequency modulated and transferred to assigned sound carrier frequency by the use of multipliers. It is amplified through power amplifier to raise the power output to desired level.

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Operation of TV transmitter with neat block diagram:

A television transmitter consists of the visual transmitter for the picture and Aural transmitter for sound. Outputs of both the transmitters are connected to a common transmission line feeder to the transmitting antenna through a combining unit called Diplexer. Block diagram of Monochrome TV transmitter: A TV transmitter transmits both audio and video signals using a channel bandwidth of 7 MHz. Two transmitters are employed. One for the picture transmission which is amplitude modulated and uses a vestigial side band. Other is used for audio signal which is frequency modulated. PICTURE SIGNAL MODULATION: A dc restorer circuit (DC clamp) is included before the modulator. Because of modulation at a relatively low power level, an amplifier is used after the modulated RF amplifier to raise the power level. Accordingly this amplifier must be a class-B push pull linear RF amplifier. Both the modulator and the power amplifier sections of the transmitter employ specially designed VHF triodes for VHF channel and klystrons in transmitters that operate in UHF channels. The modulated output is fed to a filter designed to filter out part of the lower side band frequencies. This results in saving of band space. The filter output feeds into a combining network where output from the FM sound transmitter is added to it. This network is designed in such a way that while combining, either signal does not interfere with the working of the other transmitter. SOUND SIGNAL MODULATION: Audio signals from different microphones are received at the sound panel in the production control room. After due amplification all the outputs are fed into a switcher, where they are mixed and desired output is selected.

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The final output goes into the distributor in the master control room, where the picture and signals are received. This distributor is switched to select corresponding picture and sound signals from the desired studio. At the transmitter the audio signals are frequency modulated and transferred to assigned sound carrier frequency by the use of multipliers. It is amplified through power amplifier to raise the power output to desired level. A coaxial cable connects the combined output to the antenna system mounted on a high tower situated close to the transmitter. A turnstile antenna array is used to radiate equal power in all directions. The antenna is mounted horizontally for better signal to noise ratio.

Visual Exciter: This visual exciter consists following, 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Video processing unit Visual modulator VSB filter Phase compensator or delay equalizer Frequency converter.

Aural exciter:
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The audio signal is given pre-emphasis by a high-pass network of time constant of 50s, and is amplified in the audio processing unit. It is then fed to crystal controlled oscillator modulator for frequency modulation. The audio signal voltage is applied to a varactor diode in parallel with the tuned circuit of an LC oscillator that generates a center frequency equal to the sound IF carrier. The center frequency of the LC oscillator is stabilized by an automatic frequency control (AFC) circuit that compares this frequency with a crystal drived stable frequency. Diplexer: Standard practice in television transmission is to combine the outputs of both the visual and aural transmitters by means of a diplexer unit for feeding a common broadband transmitting antenna system. Constant impedance notch (CIN) is the commonly used diplexer.

Need for notch filter and delay line in the path of the Y signal:

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Shadow zones:

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Visualexciter:

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Antenna feeding systems:

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Impedance matching and quarter wave transformer act as a impedance matching device:

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Fundamentals of digital TV transmission and reception:

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Interference suffered by TV signal

In addition to thermal and man-made noise, the carrier signal must compete with various other forms of interfering signals originating from other television stations, radio transmitters, industrial radiating devices and TV receivers. When the interfering signal has a frequency that lies within the channel to which a TV receiver is tuned, the extent of interference depends only on the relative field strengths of the desired signal and the interfering signal. If the interfering signal frequency spectrum lies outside the desired channel, selectivity of the receiver aids in rejecting the interference. a)Co-Channel interference:

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Two stations operating at the same carrier frequency, if located close by, will interfere with each other. This phenomenon which is common in fringe areas is called co-channel interference. As the two signal strengths in any area almost equidistant from the two co-channel stations

become equal, a phenomenon known as venetian -blind interference occurs. This takes the form of horizontal black and white bars, superimposed on the picture produced by the tuned channel. These bars tend to move up or down on the screen. As the strength of the interfering signal increases, the bars become more prominent, until at a signal-to-interference ratio of 45 db or so, the interference becomes intolerable. The horizontal bars are a visible indication of the beat frequency between the two interfering carriers. Figure 9.3 shows the bar pattern that appears on the screen. The frequency of the beat note, which is equal to frequency separation between the two carriers, is usually of the order of a few hertz. This is so because most transmitters operate almost at the correct assigned frequencies. Motion of the bars, upwards or downwards occurs whenever the beat frequency is not an exact multiple of the field frequency. Co-channel interference was a serious problem in early days of TV transmission, when the channel allocation was confined to VHF band only. This necessitated the repetition of channels at distances not too far from each other. Now, when a large number of channels in the UHF band are available such a problem does not exist. The sharing of channel numbers is carefully planned so that within the service area of any station, signals from the distant stations under normal conditions of reception are so weak as to be imperceptible. However, during a period of
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abnormal reception conditions (often during spring) when the signals from distant VHF stations are received much more strongly, co-channel interference can occur in fringe areas. The use of highly directional antennas is very helpful in eliminating co-channel interference. b) Adjacent channel interference: Stations located close by and occupying adjacent channels, present a different interference problem. Adjacent channel interference (see Fig. 8.5) may occur as a result of beats between any two of these frequencies or between a carrier and any sidebands. A coarse dot structure is produced on the screen if picture carrier of the desired channel beats with sound carrier of the lower adjacent channel. The beat pattern is more pronounced if the lower adjacent sound carrier is relatively strong and is not sufftciently attenuated in the receiver. The next most prominent source of interference is the one produced by picture sideband components of the upper adjacent channel. The beat frequency between adjacent picture carrier is 7 MHz. Since this is far beyond the video frequency range, the resultant beat pattern is not discernible. However, the picture sidebands of the upper adjacent channel may beat with the desired channel carrier and produce an interfering image. To prevent adjacent channel interference, several sharply tuned band eliminator filters (trap circuits) are provided in the IF section of the receiver. This was explained in Chapter 8 while discussing desired IF response characteristics of the receiver. In addition to this, the guard band between two adjacent channels also minimizes the intensity of any adjacent channel interference. A space of about 150 km between adjacent channel stations is enough to eliminate such interference and is normally allowed. c) Ghost interference: Ghost interference arises as a result of discrete reflections of the signal from the surface of buildings, bridges, hills, towers etc. Figure shows paths of direct and reflected electromagnetic waves from the transmitter to the receiver. Since reflected path is longer than the direct path, the reflected signal takes a longer time to arrive at the receiver.

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The direct signal is usually stronger and assumes control of the synchronizing circuitry and so the picture, due to the reflected signal that arrives late, appears displaced to the right. Such displaced pictures are known as trailing ghost pictures. On rare occasions, direct signal may be the weaker of the two and the receiver synchronization is now controlled by the reflected signal. Then the ghost picture, now caused by direct signal, appears displaced to the left and is known as leading ghost picture. Figure shows formation of trailing and leading ghost pictures on the receiver screen. The general term for the propagation condition which causes ghost pictures is multipath transmission. Ghost pictures are particularly annoying when the relative strengths of the two signals, vary such, that first one and then the other assume control of the receiver synchronism. In such cases the ghost image switches over from a leading condition to a trailing one or vice versa at a very fast rate. The effect of such reflected signals (ghost images) can be minimized by using directional antennas and by locating them at suitable places on top of the buildings.

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TERMS&DEFINITION: Advantages of IF modulation: The main function of this section is to amplify modulated IF signal over its entire bandwidth with an input of about 0.5mV signal from the mixer to deliver about 4V into the video detector. IF section is used to equalize amplitudes of sideband components , because of vestigial side band transmission. IF section is used to reject the signals from adjacent channels. Interference problems in TV reception a) Man-made impulsive interference b) RF interference c) Co-channel interference d) Atmospheric noise interference Differentiate Co-Channel interference and adjacent channel interference Co-Channel Interference Two channels operating at the same frequency are called as Co-Channel stations If the co channel stations are located close to each other, then they interfere with each other. This is known as co channel interference Adjacent Channel Interference Stations located nearby and occupying adjacent channels are known as adjacent channel stations The inference caused due to the beat between these two frequencies or between a carrier and any other side band is called adjacent channel interference

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Preferring horizontal polarization for television receiving antenna? We prefer horizontal polarization for television receiver antenna because it results in more signal strength, less reflection and reduced ghost images. Indoor receiver antennas: In strong signal areas it is sometimes feasible to use indoor antenna provided the receiver is sufficiently sensitive. Yagi antenna: A yagi antenna with a large number of directors is commonly used with success in fringe areas for stations in the vhf band. Diplexer: The outputs of both the video and the audio transmitter are combined by the diplexer circuit and given to a common broadcast transmitting antenna. Co-channel interference: If two stations are operating at the same carrier frequency and located nearby then they will interface with each other. This is called co-cannel interference and it is common in fringe areas. Adjacent channels: It is the interference due to stations located nearby and allocated as adjacent channels. Guard band: Guard band can be defined as a small frequency band introduced between two consecutive channels in order to reduce interference .

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Ghost interference: Ghost interference arises as a result of discrete reflections of the signal from the surface of hills, bridges, buildings, towers etc. Requirements of high level modulation: In high level modulation, the video signal has to be modulated by the picture carrier in the final power amplifier which has a high power level. Grid bias modulation is employed. Ground waves: Vertically polarized electromagnetic waves are radiated at zero or small angles with ground. They are guided by the conducting surface of the ground along which they are propagated. Such waves are known as ground or surface waves. As the ground waves travel along the surface of the earth, their attenuation is proportional to frequency. The attenuation is reasonably low below 1500KHz.Therefore, all medium wave broadcast and long wave telegraph and telephone communication is carried out by ground wave propagation. Sky waves: In ground wave propagation ,frequencies above 1600 KHz does not serve any useful purpose as the signal gets very much attenuated within a short distance of its transmission .Therefore ,most radio communication in short wave bands upto 30MHz is carried out by sky waves. When these waves are transmitted high up in the sky , they travel in the straight line until the ionosphere is reached. This region begins about 120Km above the surface of the earth. The region consists of large concentrations of charge gaseous ions, free electrons and neutral molecules. The ions and free electrons cause to band all passing electromagnetic waves.
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Space wave propagation. Propagation of radio waves above about 40MHz is not possible through either sky wave or surface wave propagation .Therefore ,the only alternative for transmission in the VHF and UHF bands, despite large attenuation is by radio waves which travel in a straight line from transmitter to receiver. This called space wave propagation. AM preferred over FM broadcasting the picture signal: If FM is adopted for picture transmission ,the changing beat frequency between the multiple paths delayed with respect to each other would develop a bar interference in the image with a shimmering effect as the bars continuously changes as the beat frequency changes therefore ,no study picture is produced. Apart from that ,circuit complexity and BW requirements are much less in AM than FM. Hence AM is preferred to FM for broadcasting the picture signal. Dipole array: Dipole antenna is used for band I&III transmitters. It consists of dipole Panels mounted on the four sides at the top of the antenna tower. Each panel has an array of full wave dipoles mounted in front of reflectors. To get an unidirectional pattern, the four panels mounted on the four sides of the tower are so fed that the current in each lags the two alternate panels and by reversal of polarity of the current. Image rejection ratio: Image rejection ratio is defined as the output due to desired station divided by output due to image signal.

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Yagiuda Antenna: This is a widely used antenna for television receivers .Generally ,for locations within 40 to 60Km from the transmitter is the folded dipole with one reflector and one director. This is commonly called Yagi antenna or Yagi-Uda antenna. Essential parts of TV transmitter: The essential parts of TV transmitter includes a video processing unit . A Visual modulator which is a diode bridge modulator, phase compensator or delay Equalizer and frequency converter. LOS range: The shortest distance between the transmitting and receiving antenna is known as LOS. Venetian blind interference: If two stations are operating at the same carrier frequency and located Nearby then they will interface with each other. This interference may take the form of regular horizontal bars moving up and down the picture is known as venetian blind interference. Types of interference problems: 1. Man-made impulsive interference 2. RF interference 3. Co-channel interference 4. Atmospheric noise interference

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Elliptical polarization: The electric vector may rotate at the angular frequency of the wave about the line of propagation, the tip of the vector tracing an ellipse, in which case it is referred to as Elliptical polarization. Ghost images: The transmitting signal gets reflected by large objects and arriving a little later with respect to the direct ray, due to path difference, produces an additional image displayed horizontally by a distance proportional to the time delay between the two paths. Antenna gain: The increase in the signal received by an antenna with respect to a reference antenna, usually the /2 dipole antenna, is termed as antenna gain. Types of antenna feeders: Twin wire feeders Coaxial cable feeder parasitic element: The rod elements placed on either side of a dipole antenna and parallel with it can make the dipole unidirectional in response. These rod elements that have no electrical connection as such are called parasitic elements.

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