Chapter 1

Overview of Communication System

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Overview
 Introduction
 Probability and random processes
 Noise

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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
 Broadband, 3G, …
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What is Communication?
 Communication involves the transfer of information from
one point to another.
 Three basic elements
 Transmitter: converts message into a form suitable for
transmission
 Channel: the physical medium, introduces distortion, noise,
interference
 Receiver: reconstruct a recognizable form of the message

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Communication Channel
 The channel is central to operation of a communication
System
 Linear (e.g., mobile radio) or nonlinear (e.g., satellite)
 Time invariant (e.g., fiber) or time varying (e.g., mobile radio)
 The information-carrying capacity of a communication system is
proportional to the channel bandwidth
 Pursuit for wider bandwidth
 Copper wire: 1 MHz
 Coaxial cable: 100 MHz
 Microwave: GHz
 Optical fiber: THz
• Uses light as the signal carrier
• Highest capacity among all practical signals

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Noise in Communications
 Unavoidable presence of noise in the channel
 Noise refers to unwanted waves that disturb communications
 Signal is contaminated by noise along the path.
 External noise: interference from nearby channels, human
made noise, natural noise...
 Internal noise: thermal noise, random emission... In
electronic devices
 Noise is one of the basic factors that set limits on
communications.
 A widely used metric is the signal-to-noise (power) ratio
(SNR)

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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 (SK: shift keying)
 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

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Objectives of System Design
 Two primary resources in communications
 Transmitted power (should be green)
 Channel bandwidth (very expensive in the commercial market)
 In certain scenarios, one resource may be more important than
the other
 Power limited (e.g. deep-space communication)
 Bandwidth limited (e.g. telephone circuit)
 Objectives of a communication system design
 The message is delivered both efficiently and reliably, subject to
certain design constraints: power, bandwidth, and cost.
 Efficiency is usually measured by the amount of messages sent in
unit power, unit time and unit bandwidth.
 Reliability is expressed in terms of SNR or probability of error.

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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.

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Milestones in Communications
 1837, Morse code used in telegraph
 1864, Maxwell formulated the electromagnetic (EM) theory
 1887, Hertz demonstrated physical evidence of EM waves
 1890’s-1900’s, Marconi & Popov, long-distance radio
telegraph
– Across Atlantic Ocean
– From Cornwall to Canada
 1875, Bell invented the telephone
 1906, radio broadcast
 1918, Armstrong invented superheterodyne radio receiver
(and FM in 1933)
 1921, land-mobile communication

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Milestones in Communications
 1928, Nyquist proposed the sampling theorem
 1947, microwave relay system
 1948, information theory
 1957, era of satellite communication began
 1966, Kuen Kao pioneered fiber-optical communications
(Nobel Prize Winner)
 1970’s, era of computer networks began
 1981, analog cellular system
 1988, digital cellular system debuted in Europe
 2000, 3G network

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Cellular Mobile Phone Network
 A large area is partitioned into cells
 Frequency reuse to maximize capacity

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Growth 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

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

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Satellite/Space Communication
 Satellite communication
 Cover very large areas
 Optimized for one-way transmission
 Radio (DAB) and SatTV broadcasting
 Two-way systems
 The only choice for remote-area and maritime
communications
 Propagation delay (0.25 s) is uncomfortable in voice
communications
 Space communication
 Missions to Moon, Mars, …
 Long distance, weak signals
 High-gain antennas
 Powerful error-control coding

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Future Wireless Networks
Ubiquitous Communication Among People and Devices

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Communication Networks
 Today’s 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

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

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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 …

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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 }

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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

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

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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:

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

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Mean and Variance
 Mean (or expected value):

 Variance :

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Normal (Gaussian) Distribution

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Uniform Distribution

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

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Joint Distribution
 Joint distribution function for two random variables X and Y

 Joint probability density function

 Properties:

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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 RV’s

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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.

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

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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.
 That’s why noise is usually Gaussian. We
often say “Gaussian noise” or
“Gaussian channel” in communications.

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Overview
 Introduction
 Probability and random processes
 Probability
 Random processes
 Definition
 Stationary random processes
 Power spectral density
 Noise

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What is a 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.

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An Ensemble of Signals

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Statistics of a Random Process
 For fixed t: the random process becomes a random
variable, with mean

 in general the mean is a function of t.

 Autocorrelation function

 In general, the autocorrelation function is a two-variable function.

 It measures the correlation between two samples.

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Overview
 Introduction
 Probability and random processes
 Probability
 Random processes
 Definition
 Stationary random processes
 Power spectral density
 Noise

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Stationary Random Processes
 A random process is (wide-sense) stationary if
 Its mean does not depend on t

 Its autocorrelation function only depends on time difference

 In communications, noise and message signals can often

be modeled as stationary random processes.

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Example

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Overview
 Introduction
 Probability and random processes
 Probability
 Random processes
 Definition
 Stationary random processes
 Power spectral density
 Noise

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Power Spectral Density
 Power spectral density (PSD) is a function that measures the
distribution of power of a random process with frequency.
 PSD is only defined for stationary processes.
 Wiener-Khinchine relation: The PSD is equal to the Fourier transform
of its autocorrelation function:

 Then the average power can be found as

 The frequency content of a process depends on how rapidly the

amplitude changes as a function of time.
 This can be measured by the autocorrelation function.

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Passing Through a Linear System

 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.

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Overview
 Introduction
 Probability and random processes
 Noise

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Noise
 Noise is the unwanted and beyond our control waves that
disturb the transmission of signals.
 External sources: e.g., atmospheric, galactic noise, interference;
 Internal sources: generated by communication devices
themselves.
 This type of noise represents a basic limitation on the
performance of electronic communication systems.
 Shot noise: the electrons are discrete and are not moving in
a continuous steady flow, so the current is randomly
fluctuating.
 Thermal noise: caused by the rapid and random motion of
electrons within a conductor due to thermal agitation.
 Both are often stationary and have a zero-mean Gaussian
distribution (following from the central limit theorem).

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White Noise
 The additive noise channel
 n(t) models all types of noise
 zero mean
 White noise
 Its power spectrum density (PSD) is constant over all
frequencies, i.e.,

 Factor 1/2 is included to indicate that half the power is

associated with positive frequencies and half with negative.
 The term white is analogous to white light which contains
equal amounts of all frequencies (within the visible band of
EM wave).
 It’s only defined for stationary noise.
 An infinite bandwidth is a purely theoretic assumption.
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White vs. Gaussian Noise
 White noise

 Gaussian noise: the distribution at any time instant is Gaussian

 Gaussian noise can be colored
 White noise ≠ Gaussian noise
 White noise can be non-Gaussian
 Nonetheless, in communications, it is typically additive white
Gaussian noise (AWGN).

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Ideal Low-Pass White Noise
 Suppose white noise is applied to an ideal low-pass
filter of bandwidth B such that

 By Wiener-Khinchine relation, autocorrelation

function

 Where

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Bandpass Noise
 Any communication system that uses carrier modulation
will typically have a bandpass filter of bandwidth B at the
front-end of the receiver.

 Any noise that enters the receiver will therefore be

bandpass in nature: its spectral magnitude is non-zero
only for some band concentrated around the carrier
frequency fc (sometimes called narrowband noise).

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Example
 If white noise with PSD of N0/2 is passed through an
ideal bandpass filter, then the PSD of the noise that
enters the receiver is given by:

 Autocorrelation function

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Representation of Bandpass Noise
 Consider bandpass noise within │f-fc│≤ B with any
PSD ( i.e., not necessarily white as in the previous
example)
 Consider a frequency slice Δf at frequencies fk and
−fk.
 For Δf small:

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Representation of Bandpass Noise
 The complete bandpass noise waveform n(t) can be
constructed by summing up such sinusoids over the
entire band, i.e.,

 The canonical form of bandpass noise

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Extraction and Generation
 nc(t) and ns(t) are fully representative of bandpass noise.
 Given bandpass noise, one may extract its in-phase
and quadrature components (using LPF of bandwith
B). This is extremely useful in analysis of noise in
communication receivers.
 Given the two components, one may generate
bandpass noise. This is useful in computer simulation.

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Properties
 If the noise n(t) has zero mean, then nc(t) and ns(t) have
zero mean.
 If the noise n(t) is Gaussian, then nc(t) and ns(t) are
Gaussian.
 If the noise n(t) is stationary, then nc(t) and ns(t) are
stationary.
 If the noise n(t) is Gaussian and its power spectral density
S( f ) is symmetric with respect to the central frequency fc,
then nc(t) and ns(t) are statistical independent.
 The components nc(t) and ns(t) have the same variance
(= power) as n(t).

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PSD
 Further, each baseband noise waveform will have the
same PSD:

 Corollary: The average power in each of the

baseband waveforms nc(t) and ns(t) is identical to
the average power in the bandpass noise waveform
n(t).

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Phasor Representation
 We may write bandpass noise in the alternative form:

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Summary
 White noise: PSD is constant over an infinite bandwidth.
 Gaussian noise: PDF is Gaussian.
 Bandpass noise
 In-phase and quadrature compoments nc(t) and ns(t) are
low-pass random processes.
 nc(t) and ns(t) have the same PSD.
 nc(t) and ns(t) have the same variance as the band-pass
noise n(t).
 Such properties will be essential to the performance
analysis of bandpass communication systems.
 The in-phase/quadrature representation and phasor
representation are not only basic to the characterization of
bandpass noise itself, but also to the analysis of bandpass
communication systems.

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