Quaid-e-Awam

University of Engineering &

Technology Nawabshah
Communications Systems (Lecture Notes)
By
Dr. Abdul Sattar Saand
Assistant professor
Department of Electrical Engineering.
QUEST Nawabshah

Class Hours:
Monday- Friday
9:00-1:30

Office Hours
Mon 9:00-3:30
Class room: A/B

(You can also come to my office at any time if you need to see me)
 Communication System
 In telecommunication, a communications system is a collection of
individual communications networks, transmission systems, relay
stations, tributary stations, and data terminal equipment (DTE)
usually capable of interconnection and interoperation to form an
integrated whole.

 The components of a communications system serve a common

purpose, are technically compatible, use common procedures,
respond to controls, and operate in union.

 Telecommunications is a method of communication.

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Dr. Abdul Sattar Saand
 Overview
Communication is the transfer of data/information from one place to
another place, from one system to an other system say (Telephone
Exchanges, Mobile Systems etc. This transformation should be
accomplished efficiently, reliability and securely as possible.
Communication is process of transformation/exchange of information b/w
two systems.
Communication Systems: Components/subsystems act together to
accomplish information transfer/exchange between two systems or entities
with high Quantity of services and QoS.
Communication Networks: A Communication Network is composed of
network nodes, each of which has computing power and can transmit and
receive Message / Information over communication link.
Communication Process
The steps between a source and a receiver that result in the
transfer and understanding of meaningful Information.
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Definition of Communication

Communication is the transmission of information from a source to a

user/destination.
This definition suggests a certain block diagram configuration for a
communication system and introduces additional terms.

Noise

Transmitted Received Received

signal signal
Info. info.

Source Transmitter Channel Receiver User

Figure: Basic Elements of Communication System

Dr. Abdul Sattar Saand [4]

 Communication Systems
 A communication system conveys information from its
source to a destination.
 Examples:
 Telephone

 TV

 Radio

 Cell phone

 Satellite

 Computer

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 BASIC Elements of a Communication System
Message Transmitted Received Output
Input Signal Signal Signal Output
Signal
Message Message
Input Output
Transmitte Channel Receiver
Transduce Transduce
r
r r
Carrier Noise

Input Transducer: Converts the message produced by a source to a form

suitable for the communication system.
Example: In electrical communications, speech waves are converted by a
microphone to voltage variation. Speech waves  Microphone  Voltage

 Source: Analog or digital

 Example: Speech, music, written text, Video

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 Transmitter
Transmitter: The transmitter processes the input signal to produce a signal that
suits to the characteristics of the transmission channel.
Signal processing for transmission almost always involves modulation and may
also include coding.
In addition to modulation, other functions performed by the
transmitter are amplification, filtering, Multiplexing and coupling the modulated
signal to the channel.

 The transmitter, also known as the sender or source, is the device that
originate the information transfer. Or The Transmitter Couple the message to
the channel.

 Operations: Amplification, Modulation, Multiplexing

 Examples: Transmitters include voice telephones, data terminals, host
computer systems, and video cameras, TV station , Radio Stations and web
server

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 Basic Elements of Communication System
Noise

Transmitted Received Received

Info. signal signal info.
Source Transmitter Channel Receiver User

Source:
The source is the originator of the information.
The source may be a human voice, music, digital data from a computer, etc.
Information:
Data which the user did not possess prior to communicating with the source.

Dr. Abdul Sattar Saand [8]

 Basic Elements of Communication System
Noise

Transmitted Received Received

signal signal info.
Info.
Source Transmitter Channel Receiver User

Channel:
The channel is the physical transmission medium over which the communication is sent. It
may be wires, radio airwaves, fiber optics, etc.
All channels have physical limitations which will distort and attenuate the transmitted signal and
which will add noise to the transmitted signal.
Thus, the received signal will not be an exact duplicate of the transmitted signal.
Receiver:
The receiver attempts to translate the received signal back into the original information sent by
the source. This involves basically two steps:
1) Compensating, as best as possible, for the noise and distortion added by
the channel .
2) “Undoing” the shaping and formatting from the transmitter
[9]
 Transmission links/channels/path
 Convey Electrical Signal, Electromagnetic Signal, bits,
bytes, packets
 Physical medium

 Copper (or aluminum)

 Optical fiber
 Glass, plastic

 Free-space

 Radio
 Satellite, microwave link, mobile, wireless LAN,

‘Bluetooth’
 Communication can be:

 Point-to-point
 Point to multi point and
 Broadcast
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 Types of Networks

 LAN (Local Area Network) is mainly private

 Ether net, Token ring
 Or interconnected
 WAN (Wide Area Network) can be private or public
 Interconnected
 MAN (Metropolitan Area Network) is mainly public
 Interconnected by Optical fibre
 Global Network is public
 The internet
 The telephone network

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Channel-Medium-Transmission
Channel: Physical medium that does the transmission of information, selected by the
sender through which the message travels to the receiver.
A circuit is a communications path, over an established medium, between two or
more points, from end to end, between transmitter and receiver.
 Circuit generally implies a logical or physical connection over a physical line.
Further, the term circuit often is used interchangeably with path, link, line, and
channel.
 Circuits comprising copper twisted wire are either two - wire or four – wire,
depending on the requirements of the specific application and the fundamental
nature of the network.
 Circuits also may be for purposes of either Access or Transport.

 Access circuits are from the customer premises to the edge of the carrier
network.
 while Transport circuits are employed in the core, or backbone, of the network
for purposes of long - haul transmission.
Types of Channels The channel can have different forms: The atmosphere (or free
space), coaxial cable, fiber optic, waveguide, etc.

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 Modes of Transmission
 Circuits may be
 Simplex (one - way),

 Half Duplex (two - way, but only one way at a time), or

 Full - duplex (simultaneous two - way).

 Every channel introduces some amount of distortion, noise

and interference. So the signal undergoes some amount of
degradation from noise, interference and distortion.

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 Physical Transmissions Medias
 Twisted pair
 Two wires twisted together.
 Makes them less susceptible to acting like
an antenna and picking up radio frequency
information or appliance noise.
 Telephone company uses twisted-pair copper
wires to link telephones.
 Coaxial cable
 Also two wires:
 One of the wires is woven of fine strands of
copper forming a tube.
 The wire mesh surrounds a solid copper wire
that runs down the center.
 Space between has a non-conducting
material.
 Makes them more impervious to outside
noise.
 Fiber-optic cable
 Light is electromagnetic.
 Can transmit more information down a single strand.
 It can send a wider set of frequencies.
 Each cable can send several thousand phone
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conversations or computer communications.
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Wireless Media
 Second type of Communication Channel is Wireless connections
 The link is made using electromagnetic energy that goes through
space instead of wires or cables.
 Three types of wireless communications commonly used.

 Infrared (Commonly used in TV and VCR remote controls.)

 Radio frequency

 Microwave –

 Satellite communications use microwaves

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Engr. Abdul Sattar Saand
 Receiver

 The receiver, also known as the sink, is the target device, or destination device,
that receives the information transferred by the transmitter through Transmission
Medium..
Functions
 The function of receiver is to extract the desired signal from the received signal
at the channel output and to convert it to a form suitable for the output
transducer.
 Other functions performed by the receiver: amplification (the received signal may
be extremely weak), demodulation and filtering.
 Operations: Amplification, Demodulation, Filtering, De-multiplexing

 Type of Receivers: Receivers can be telephones, mobile, data terminals, host

computers, and video monitors like Telephone, TV set, radio, web client,
Mobile, Telephone etc.
 Note: that most devices are capable of both transmitter and receiver functions;
exceptions include broadcast radio and TV devices.

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 Output Transducer
Output Transducer: Converts electrical signal into the form desired by the
system or user.
Example: Loudspeaker, personal computer (PC), tape recorders

Decoding – Before the message can be received, the symbols in it must be

translated in to a form that can be understood by the receiver.
Feed back loop – how successful we have in transferring our messages as
originally intended.

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 BASIC TERMS USED IN
COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS

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Engr. Abdul Sattar Saand
A Sine Wave

Characteristics of a Sine wave

are :
• Amplitude,
• Frequency , and
• Phase

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 Frequency (f, Hz, c/s) and Period
 Frequency is the rate of change with respect to time. If a signal does
not change at all, its frequency is zero.
 If a signal changes instantaneously, its frequency is infinite.
 Frequency and period are the inverse of each other.
 Period refers to the amount of time, in seconds, a signal needs to
complete 1 cycle.
 Frequency refers to the number of periods in 1 s.
 Period is the inverse of frequency, and frequency is the inverse of
period, as shown in the following formulas.
 Period is expressed in seconds.
 Frequency is expressed in Hertz (Hz), which is cycle per second.

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 LOW and High Frequency
Two signals with the same amplitude and phase, but different
frequencies

• If the value of a signal changes over a very short span of

time, its frequency is high.
• If it changes over a long span of time, its frequency is low.

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 Phase
 The term phase describes the position of the
waveform relative to time 0. If we think of the
wave as something that can be shifted backward
or forward along the time axis.
 Then the, Phase describes the amount of that
shift. It indicates the status of the first cycle.
 Phase is measured in degrees or radians [360°
is 2π rad; 1° is 2π/360 rad, and 1 radis 360/(2π)].
 A phase shift of 360° corresponds to a shift of a
complete period; a phase shift of 180°
corresponds to a shift of one-half of a period; and
a phase shift of 90° corresponds to a shift of one-
quarter of a period.

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 Wave Length λ
 Wavelength is another characteristic of a signal traveling through a transmission
medium. Wavelength fixes the time period or the frequency of a simple sine wave
to the propagation speed of the medium.
 The wavelength is the distance that a signal can travel in one period.
 Wavelength can be calculated if the propagation speed is given (the speed of light)
and the time period of the signal. However, since time period and frequency are
related to each other, if wavelength is represent by λ, propagation speed is
represented by c (speed of light), and frequency is denoted by f, then we can get

 c/f

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 To measure the capacity of communications links.
The bandwidth of a composite signal is the difference between the highest and
the lowest frequencies contained in that signal.
 Bandwidth: Digital
 Number of bits per second (bps) that can be sent over a link.

 The wider the bandwidth, the more diverse kinds of information can be
sent.
 Simplest is voice, most sophisticated is moving videos.

 Bandwidth: Analog

 The difference between the highest and lowest frequencies that can
be sent over an analog link (like phone lines).
 Measurement is given in hertz (Hz).

 For both: The wider the bandwidth, the more information can flow over the
channel.

Typical cable bandwidths used in local area networks.

Cable: Typical Bandwidth:
Twisted Pair 10 to 100 Mbps
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Coaxial Cable Lecture Notes in Ccommunication
10 to 100 Mbps
Systems By 24
Fiber-optic cable 10 to
Dr. Abdul Sattar 100 Tbps
Saand
 TRANSMISSION/LINE IMPAIRMENTS/ Flaws-
Limiting Factors.-

 Signals Travel Through transmission media, which are

not perfect , The imperfection causes signal impairment.

 This means that the signal at the beginning of the

medium is not the same as the signal at the end of the
medium. what is sent is not what is received !

 Signal received may differ from signal transmitted

 Analog - degradation of signal quality
 Digital - bit errors

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 Basic limitations on the performance
of a communications system.
Following are the basic performance limiting factors in the communication system

Impairment
Causes

Attenuation Noise
distance Natural /man made

Distortion
causes delay
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 Attenuation
 Signal strength falls off with distance
 Depends on medium.

 Attenuation means a loss of energy. When a signal, simple or

composite, travels through a medium, it loses some of its energy
in overcoming the resistance of the medium.
 That is why a wire carrying electric signals gets warm. Some of
the electrical energy in the signal is converted to heat.
 To compensate for this loss, amplifiers are used to amplify the
signal.
 Received signal strength:
 must be enough to be detected
 must be sufficiently higher than noise to be received without
error

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 Attenuation….

 Therefore the attenuation is a function of the nature of

the transmission medium and the physical length of the
channel.
 More difficult to separate the signal from noise at higher
transmission speeds
 Amplifiers: is used to restore original strength of the
signal

 Distortion means that the signal changes its form or shape

that causes delay in arriving at the final destination.

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Engr. Abdul Sattar Saand
Signal and Noise
 Signal is the information you want to transmit.
 Noise is just another signal, added to and interfering with
the signal you want to transmit.
 Some noise is random and unavoidable that comes from
natural sources.
 Some noise is intentional and is actually someone else‟s
signal.
 A party can be “noisy” even though most of the “noise” is
just conversations other than yours!

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 Noise
• There are two Types of Noise.

• External and Internal Noise Noise

External Noise: Originates in the communication medium

 Man-made noise- ignition noise

 Generated by equipment such as motors External Internal

 Atmospheric noise (electrical discharges) Noise Noise
 Dominates at lower frequencies.

 Space noise (Mostly solar noise)

 Dominates at higher frequencies and can be a serious problem in

satellite communications
Internal Noise: Generated by components within a communication system
(thermal noise).

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 Noise
 Noise is an unwanted form of energy that tends to interfere with the reception
and accurate reproduction of the wanted Signal.
 On any telecommunication link there will be noise and distortion of Some degree.
Various techniques are used to reduce these factors to an acceptable minimum
level.
 Noise is always present is in electronic systems and its effect can be devastating
to the performance of the system.
 There are several types of noise, such as
 thermal noise,
 induced noise,
 crosstalk, and impulse noise, these noises may corrupt the signal.

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Lecture Notes in Ccommunication Systems By
Dr. Abdul Sattar Saand
 Noise….

 Thermal noise is the random motion of electrons in a wire which creates

an extra signal not originally sent by the transmitter.
 Induced noise comes from sources such as motors and appliances. These
devices act as a transmit antenna, and the transmission medium acts as the
receiving antenna.
 Crosstalk is the effect of one wire on the other. One wire acts as a sending
antenna and the other as the receiving antenna.
 Impulse noise is a spike (a signal with high energy in a very short time)
that comes from power lines, lightning, and so on.

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Engr. Abdul Sattar Saand
Transmission Impairments Visually

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 Signal-to-Noise Ratio
 Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR): Is an important measure of
performance in Communication System. The SNR
determines Quantitatively the Quality of Signal that is
corrupted by Noise.
 SNR is defined as the Ratio of Signal Power to Noise
Power at the Same point. Either at input or output of a
component of the Communication System.
SNR= Signal Power/Noise Power =Ps/Pn
 S/N is normally measured in dB (decibel).
 It is a relationship between the signal we want ,versus
the noise that we do not want, which is in the medium.

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 THE dB IN COMMUNICATIONS

 dB (decibel)
 It is a relative unit of measurement used frequently in
electronic communications to describe power gain or loss.
 Decibels (dBs) are used to specify measured and calculated
values in noise analysis, audio systems, microwave system
gain calculations, satellite system link-budget analysis,
antenna power gain, light-budget calculations, and many other
communications system measurements.
 In each case, the dB value is calculated with respect to a
standard or specified reference.

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 Lecture Notes in Ccommunication Systems By 36
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 Loudness of sound
=> The level of sound.

- measuring unit: decibel

dB
- The higher the decibel, the louder
is the sound.

- Can be measured with a decibel

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meter .
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 Radio Frequency Spectrum
 Communications systems are often categorized by the frequency
of the carrier.
 Table l provides the names for various frequency ranges in the
radio spectrum.
 The extra-high-frequency range begins at the starting point of
infrared frequencies, but the infrareds extend considerably beyond
300 GHz (300 X 109 Hz).
 After the infrareds in the electromagnetic spectrum (of which the
radio waves are a very small portion) come light waves,
ultraviolet rays, X rays, gamma rays, and cosmic rays.

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 Radio Frequency Spectrum

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 Frequency Spectrum Example

Application Frequency Band

AM Radio 0.54-1.6 MHz
TV (Channels 2-6) 54-88 MHz

TV (Channels 7-13) 174-216 MHz

FM Radio 88-108 MHz

Cellular mobile radio 806-901 MHz

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 Radio Frequency Spectrum
ABBREV FREQUENCY RANGE DESIGNATION EXAMPLES OF
IATION APPLICATION
VLF 3-30kHz Very Low Frequency
LF 30-300kHz Low Frequency
MF 300kHz-3 MHz Medium Frequency AM Broadcast
HF 3-30 MHz High Frequency Aircraft Radio
VHF 30-300 MHz Very High Frequency FM Broadcast
UHF 300 MHz-3 GHz Ultra High Frequency
SHF 3-30 GHz Supper High Frequency Satellite/Ground
EHF 30-300 GHz Extremely High Frequency Microwave

ELF 30-300 Hz Extremely Low Frequency Telephone

VF 300Hz-3kHz Voice Frequency

AF 30 Hz-15 kHz Audio Frequency

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 Electromagnetic (E/M) Spectrum :
Ranges from 30 Hz to several GHz
To be transmitted, Information (Data) must be transformed to electromagnetic
signals.

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 Electromagnetic Waves

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 Electromagnetic Spectrum

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 Review Questions (Assignment No.1 - Date to submit 16-1-2017
Define and discuss in detail:
a) Communication system discus in detail the basic elements of
communication system?
b) Low Frequency and High frequency and Carrier frequency.
c) Analogue and digital communications
d) What are the modes of transmission discuss.
e) Enlist Radio Frequency Spectrums and their applications
f) Discus radio frequency spectrum and its management by FAB Pakistan
g) Attenuations, Distortion, Noise and its types , SNR & Decibels?
Bandwidth.
g) Do practice of the Examples 1-10 of chapter No.1
Modern Electronic Communications by Beasley Jefrrey

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Dr. Abdul Sattar Saand
 Books for Reference
 Electronic Communications Systems by Frank R. Dungman
Third Edition 2002.
 Communications Systems and Networks by Ray Horak New
York, Second Edition, 2000.
 Introduction to Data Communications and Networking” by
Wayne Tomasi 2008.
 Introduction to Telecommunications (Voice ,Data and the
Internet) Second Edition , by Marion Cole, 2008.
 Telecommunication and The Computer by James Martin Third
Edition, 2006 .

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 Tele-Communication
 The words "tele", "phon", and "graph" are derived from Greek.

 Tele – means „at a distance‟

 Phon – means sound or speech
 Graph - means writing or drawing

 Therefore, telecommunication means communication at a distance.

 This can be done through wires called transmission lines or through
atmosphere by a radio link. Other examples include:

 Telephone – speaking at a distance

 Television – seeing at a distance
 Telegraph – writing at a distance

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