EEE1024:Fundamentals of Electrical and Electronics Engineering

Module –7: Communication Systems

 Communication Systems

 Communication channels run through physical media between a Source and a Destination.

 A communication channel may be provided through guided media such as a copper cable or optical
fibre or through an unguided medium such as a radio link.

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 Communication Systems

The performance of a communication channel is mainly described by the following parameters:

 Bandwidth/Bit rate:
 Bandwidth is the difference between the upper and lower cut-off frequencies of a communication
channel
 In digital transmission the term bit rate is often used to express the capacity of a channel.
 The bit rate is measured in bits per second (bps).
 Attenuation:
 As a signal propagates along a communication channel, its amplitude decreases.
 In long-distance transmission, amplifiers (for analogue signals) and repeaters (for digital signals)
are installed at regular intervals to boost attenuated signals.

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 Communication Systems

 Noise:
 In communication, electrical noise is an inherent problem.
 When digital signals are travelling inside the channel, sometimes noise is sufficient to change the
voltage level corresponding to logic ‘0’ to that of logic ‘1’ or vice versa.
 Noise level is normally described by the Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) and measured in decibels
(dB).
 Signal propagation delay:
 The finite time delay that it takes for a signal to propagate from Source to Destination is known as
propagation delay.
 In a communication channel both the media and repeaters that are used to amplify and reconstruct
the incoming signals cause delays.
 As some of the Smart Grid applications require real-time low latency communication capabilities, it
is important to consider the propagation delay of a channel.

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 Wired Communication

Open wire

 Early telephone circuits used two open wire lines and this technology is still used in some countries.
 Power Line Carrier (PLC) that uses the power line as a physical communication media could also be
considered an open wire communication system.
 It offers the possibility of sending data simultaneously with electricity over the same medium.
 PLC uses a Line Matching Unit (LMU) to inject signals into a high voltage transmission or distribution
line.
 The injected signal is prevented from spreading to other parts of the power network by line traps.

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 Wired Communication

Optical fiber

 Optical fibre transmission is used both inside substations and for long-
distance transmission of data.
 Optical fibres are often embedded in the stranded conductors of the shield
(ground) wires of overhead lines.
 These cables are known as OPtical Ground Wires (OPGW).
 Optical fibres may be wrapped around the phase conductors or sometimes a
standalone cable, an all-dielectric self-supporting (ADSS) cable, is used.
 Optical fibre consists of three components:
 Core: The thin glass centre of the fibre where the light travels is called
the core.
 Cladding: The outer optical material surrounding the core that reflects the
light back into the core is called the cladding.
 Buffer: In order to protect the optical surface from moisture and damage,
it is coated with a layer of buffer coating.

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 Wired Communication

Optical fiber

 Compared to other communication media, fibre optic cables have a much

greater bandwidth.
 They are less susceptible to signal degradation than copper wire and their
weight is less than a copper cable.
 Unlike electrical signals in copper wires, light signals from one fibre do not
interfere with those of other fibres in the same cable. Further, optical fibre
transmission is immune to external electromagnetic interference (EMI).
 The main disadvantages of optical fibre transmission include the cost, the
special termination requirements and its vulnerability (it is more fragile than
coaxial cable).

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 Wireless communication

Radio communication

 The substations of power networks are often widely distributed and far from the control centre.
 For such long distances, the use of copper wire or fibre optics is costly.
 Radio links provide an alternative for communication between the Control Centre and substations.
 Radio communication may be multipoint or point-to-point, operating typically either at
 UHF frequencies (between 300 MHz and 3 GHz)
 microwave frequencies (between 3 and 30 GHz).

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 Wireless communication

Radio communication

Ultra high frequency

 UHF radio represents an attractive choice for applications where the required bandwidth is
relatively low and where the communication end-points are widespread over harsh terrain.

 It uses frequencies between 300 MHz and 3 GHz.

 Unlike microwave radio, UHF does not require a line of sight between the Source and Destination.

 The maximum distance between the Source and Destination depends on the size of the antennae
and is likely to be about 10–30 km with a bandwidth up to 192 kbps.

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 Wireless communication

Radio communication

Microwave radio

 Microwave radio operates at frequencies above 3 GHz, offering high channel capacities and
transmission data rates.
 Microwave radio is commonly used in long-distance communication systems.
 Microwave radio offers Capacity ranging from a few Mbps to hundreds of Mbps.
 The capacity of transmission over a microwave radio is proportional to the frequency used, thus,
the higher the frequency, the bigger the transmission capacity but the shorter the transmission
distance.
 Microwave radio requires a line of sight between the Source and Destination, hence, high masts
are required.
 In case of long-distance communications, the installation of tall radio masts will be the major cost
of microwave radio.

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 Wireless communication

Cellular mobile
communication
 Cellular mobile technology offers communication between moving
objects.

 To make this possible, a service area is divided into small regions

called cells.

 Each cell contains an antenna which is controlled by a Mobile

Telephone Switching Office (MTSO)

 In a cellular network, the MTSO ensures the continuation of

communication when a mobile device moves from one cell to
another.

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 Wireless communication

Satellite communication

 Satellites have been used for many years for telecommunication networks and have also been
adopted for Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems.

 A satellite communication network can be considered as a microwave network with a satellite

acting as a repeater.

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 Wireless communication

Satellite communication

Geostationary orbit satellite communication

 Currently, many satellites that are in operation are placed in Geostationary Orbit (GEO).
 A GEO satellite or GEOS is typically at 35,786 km above the equator and its revolution around the Earth
is synchronised with the Earth’s rotation.
 The high altitude of a GEO satellite allows communications from it to cover approximately one-third of
the Earth’s surface.
 Disadvantages
 The challenge of transmitting and detecting the signal over the long distance between the satellite
and the user.
 The large distance travelled by the signal from the Source to reach the Destination results in an
end-to-end delay or propagation delay of about 250 ms.

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 Wireless communication

Satellite communication

Low earth orbiting (LEO) satellite communication

 LEO satellites are positioned 200–3000 km above the Earth, which reduces the propagation delay
considerably.
 In addition to the low delay, the proximity of the satellite to the Earth makes the signal easily
detectable even in bad weather.
 Advantages
 rapid connection for packet data,
 asynchronous dial-up data availability,
 reliable network services,
 relatively reduced overall infrastructure support requirements when compared to GEO.
 In addition, LEO satellite-based communication channels can support protocols such as TCP/IP
since they support packet-oriented communication with relatively low latency.

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