Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

Chapter Objectives:
➢ How communication systems work.
➢ Frequency allocation and propagation characteristics.
➢ Information measure.
➢ Coding performance.
 What is a communication system?.
➢ Communication systems are designed to transmit
information.

SOURCE DESTINATION
CHANNEL
(TRANSMITTER) (RECEIVER)

➢ Communication systems Design concerns:

• Selection of the information–bearing waveform;
• Bandwidth and power of the waveform;
• Effect of system noise on the received information;
• Cost of the system.

These factors will be discussed later in this course

Digital and Analog Sources and Systems

Basic Definitions:
• Analog Information Source:
An analog information source produces messages which are
defined on a continuum. (E.g. :Microphone)

• Digital Information Source:

A digital information source produces a finite set of possible
messages. (E.g. :Typewriter)

x(t) x(t)

t t
Analog Digital
Digital and Analog Sources and Systems

➢ A digital communication system transfers

information from a digital source to the intended
receiver (also called the sink).
➢ An analog communication system transfers
information from an analog source to the sink.
➢ A digital waveform is defined as a function of
time that can have a discrete set of amplitude
values.
➢ An Analog waveform is a function that has a
continuous range of values.
 Digital Communication
➢ Advantages
• Relatively inexpensive digital circuits may be used;
• Privacy is preserved by using data encryption;
• Data from voice, video, and data sources may be merged and
transmitted over a common digital transmission system;
• In long-distance systems, noise dose not accumulate from repeater
to repeater. Data regeneration is possible
• Errors in detected data may be small, even when there is a large
amount of noise on the received signal;
• Errors may often be corrected by the use of coding.

➢ Disadvantages
• Generally, more bandwidth is required than that for analog systems;
• Synchronization is required.
 Encoding and Decoding for Digital
Communication
➢ Coding involves adding extra (redundant) bits to data to reduce or
correct errors at the output of the receiver.

The disadvantage of these extra bits is to increase the data rate

and the bandwidth of the encoded signal.

General Digital Communication System

 Deterministic and Random Waveforms

➢ A Deterministic waveform can be modeled as a

completely specified function of time.
w(t ) = A cos(0t + 0 )
➢ A Random Waveform (or stochastic waveform)
cannot be modeled as a completely specified
function of time and must be modeled
probabilistically.

➢ In this course we will focus mainly on

deterministic waveforms.
Block Diagram of A Communication System

➢ All communication systems contain three main sub

systems:
1. Transmitter
2. Channel
3. Receiver

Transmitter Receiver
 Block Diagram of A Communication System
TRANSMITTER:
➢ The signal-processing block is used for more efficient transmission.
Examples:
• In an analog system, the signal processor may be an analog low-pass filter to
restrict the bandwidth of m(t).
• In a hybrid system, the signal processor may be an analog-to-digital converter
(ADC) to produce digital signals that represent samples of the analog input
signal.

➢ The transmitter carrier circuit converts the processed base band signal into a
frequency band that is appropriate for the transmission medium of the channel.

Example:
• An amplitude –modulated (AM) broadcasting station with an assigned frequency
of 850 kHz has a carrier frequency fc=850kHz. The mapping of the base band
input information waveform m(t) into the band pass signal s(t) is called
modulation. It will be shown that any band pass signal has the form

s(t ) = R(t )cos(ct +  (t )) c = 2 f

If R(t)=1 and θ(t) = 0, s(t) would be a pure sinusoid of frequency f=fc with zero
bandwidth.
 Block Diagram of A Communication System
Channel:
➢ Channels represents the path in which signals travel from transmitter to receiver.
Very general classification of channels are:

• Wire: Twisted-pair telephone line, coaxial cable, waveguide, and fiber-optic

cables.
• Wireless: Air vacuum, and seawater.

In general, the channel medium attenuates the signal so that the delivered
information deteriorated from that of the source. The channel noise may arise
from natural electrical disturbances or from artificial sources.

Transmitter Receiver
 Block Diagram of A Communication System
Receiver:
➢ The receiver takes the corrupted signal at the channel output and converts it to
be a base band signal that can be handled by the receiver’s base band processor.

➢ The base band processor cleans up this signal and delivers an estimate of
the source information m(t) to the communication system output.

➢ In digital systems, the measure of signal deterioration is usually taken to be the

probability of bit error P(e) – also called Bit Error Rate (BER) of the delivered
data m(t).

➢ In analog systems, the performance measure is usually taken to be the Signal-to-

noise Ratio (SNR) at the receiver output.

Transmitter Receiver
What makes a Communication System GOOD
➢ We can measure the “GOODNESS” of a
communication system in many ways:

▪ How close is the estimate to the original signal m(t)

• Better estimate = higher quality transmission
• Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) for analog m(t)
• Bit Error Rate (BER) for digital m(t)

▪ How much power is required to transmit s(t)?

• Lower power = longer battery life, less interference

▪ How much bandwidth B is required to transmit s(t)?

• Less B means more users can share the channel
• Exception: Spread Spectrum -- users use same B.

▪ How much information is transmitted?

• In analog systems information is related to B of m(t).
• In digital systems information is expressed in bits/sec.
 Frequency Bands

➢ Regulations specify, modulation type, bandwidth, power,

type of information and etc. that a user can transmit
over designed frequency bands.
➢ Frequency assignments and technical standards are set
internationally by International Telecommunication
Union (ITU).
➢ Each nation of ITU retains sovereignty over spectral
usage and standards adopted in its territory.

➢ Each nation is expected to abide by the overall

frequency plan adopted by ITU.
 Propagation of Electromagnetic Waves
➢ The propagation characteristics of electromagnetic waves
used in wireless channels are highly dependent on the
frequency.
➢ Based on carrier frequency EM wave propagations can be
classified as:
• GROUND-WAVE PROPAGATION
• SKY-WAVE PROPAGATION
• Line of Sight (LOS) PROPAGATION
Ionized Regions Above Earth.

• Ionization of air is caused

by UV rays from the sun.

• Ionized air shows different

properties at different
levels (Density and pressure).

• Speed of the wave differs

with the changing properties.

• Dominant regions are

named as D, E, F1 and F2 .
 GROUND-WAVE PROPAGATION
➢ Dominant mode of propagation for frequencies below 2 MHz.

➢ Diffraction of the wave causes the wave to propagate along the surface
of the earth.

➢ This propagation mode is used in AM Radio Broadcasting.

➢ Diffraction of waves in “D” layer helps propagation along the surface of

earth.
 SKY-WAVE PROPAGATION
➢ Dominant mode of propagation for EM waves in the
frequency range of 2 MHz to 30 MHz.
➢ Long coverage is obtained by reflection of wave at the
ionosphere and at the Earth’s boundary.
➢ This mode is used in HF band International Broadcasting
(Shortwave Radio).
➢ Sky-wave propagation is caused primarily by reflection
from the F layer (90 to 250 miles in altitude).
 SKY-WAVE PROPAGATION
➢ The refraction index of the ionosphere can be approximated as

Where,
n -- Refractive index,
N -- Free electron density (number of electrons/m3) ( ~ 1010/m3)
f -- Frequency of the wave (Hz).

➢ Refractive index will change gradually with the altitude.

➢ Traveling waves will gradually bend according to Snell’s law.

nr Sin φr = ni Sin φi
➢ Waves will be bent back to earth. Ionosphere acts as a reflector.
Transmitting station will have coverage areas along the surface of earth.
 LINE-OF SIGHT (LOS) PROPAGATION
➢ Dominant mode of propagation for EM waves above 30 MHz.
➢ Since the frequency is high,

f2 >> 81 N so that n ≈ 1 ( Free Space)

➢ This mode can be used in Satellite Communications.

➢ The disadvantage of LOS is that the signal path has to be above the horizon and
the receiver antennas need to be placed on tall towers so that they can see
each other.
 LOS Calculations
➢ Let’s assume
d = Distance to the horizon;
h = Antenna height...
r = Effective radius of earth Where h << r

d 2 + r 2 = ( r + h) 2 or d 2 = 2rh + h 2
d  2rh

➢ Effective radius of earth = 4/3 * real radius

Effective radius of earth
r = 4/3 * 3960 = 5280 miles

Converting feet to mile

Example: For a television station with an h=1000 ft
tower,
d = √(2000) = 44.7 miles.
The transmitter will cover an area of 44.7 miles
around.
 Measuring Information
➢ Definition: Information Measure (Ij)
The information sent from a digital source (Ij) when the jth
massage is transmitted is given by:

where Pj is the probability of transmitting the jth message.

• Messages that are less likely to occur (smaller value for Pj) provide
more information (large value of Ij).
• The information measure depends on only the likelihood of sending
the message and does not depend on possible interpretation of the
content.
• For units of bits, the base 2 logarithm is used;
• if natural logarithm is used, the units are “nats”;
• if the base 10 logarithm is used, the units are “hartley”.
 Measuring Information
➢ Definition: Average Information (H)
The average information measure of a digital source is,

– where m is the number of possible different source messages.

– The average information is also called Entropy.

• Definition: Source Rate (R)

The source rate is defined as,

– where H is the average information

– T is the time required to send a message.
 Measuring Information-Example1.1

➢ Find the information content of message that consists of a digital word 12

digits long in which each digit may take on one of four possible levels. The
probability of sending any of the four levels is assumed to be equal, and
the level in any digit does not depend on the values taken on by pervious
digits.

Answer:
Possible combinations of 12 digits ( # of possible messages) = 412

Because each level is equally likely,

all different words are equally likely.
 Channel Capacity & Ideal Comm. Systems
➢ For digital communication systems, the “Optimum System” may defined as
the system that minimize the probability of bit error at the system output subject
to constraints on the energy and channel bandwidth.

➢ Is it possible to invent a system with no error at the output

even when we have noise introduced into the channel?
Yes under certain assumptions !.
➢ According Shannon the probability of error would approach zero, if R< C
Where
• R - Rate of information (bits/s)
• C - Channel capacity (bits/s)

Capacity is the maximum amount of information that

a particular channel can transmit. It is a theoretical
upper limit. The limit can be approached by using
Error Correction

➢ B - Channel bandwidth in Hz and

➢ S/N - the signal-to-noise power ratio
 Channel Capacity & Ideal Comm. Systems

ANALOG COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS

In analog systems, the OPTIMUM SYSTEM might be defined as the one that
achieves the Largest signal-to-noise ratio at the receiver output, subject to
design constraints such as channel bandwidth and transmitted power.

Question:
Is it possible to design a system with infinite signal-to-noise ratio at the output
when noise is introduced by the channel?

Answer: No!

DIMENSIONALITY THEOREM for Digital Signalling:

Nyquist showed that if a pulse represents one bit of data,
noninterfering pulses can be sent over a channel no faster than 2B
pulses/s, where B is the channel bandwidth.
Problems
Problems
 Example:

• A black and white TV frame is composed of

3*105 pixels and each pixel can take one of 10
intensity levels with equal probability. We
should transmit 30 frames per second and we
should have at least 30dB SNR to obtain an
acceptable quality. Find the minimum
bandwidth for this communication system.
Solution: