Telecommunication fundamentals

Module 2:
Transmission Impairments

Prof. M. Samy EL-Hennawey

 TRANSMISION IMPAIRMENTS

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
i.e. What is sent is not what is received.
There are three types of channel impairments called:
1. Attenuation
2. Distortion
3. Noise
 Channel Impairments

Transmitted Signal
Attenuation
 It results in the decrease of the signal level
keeping its shape unchanged.
Attenuated Signal
Noise
 It is undesired signals tend to interfere with
the desired signal
 It may vary the desired signal shape if its
power high relative to the power of with the Noisy Signal
desired signal
Distortion
 It leads to change the shape of the signal.
Distorted Signal

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 Attenuation
 It results in the decrease of the signal level keeping its shape
unchanged.
 i.e. all frequency components suffer the same attenuation amount.
 Attenuation
Voltage Gain (Av)

 Ratio output voltage to the input voltage.

 Output has greater amplitude than the input

output Vout
AV  
input Vin
Example: What is the voltage gain of an amplifier that produces an output of 750
mV for 30 V input?
Av==25000
 Attenuation
Voltage Attenuation (Av)

 Refers to loss introduced by a circuit.

 Output is less than input.
Vout
Attenuatio n A 
Vin
 For cascade circuit, total attenuation is,
AT =A1 x A2 x A3 …..
 Voltage divider network may introduce
attenuation.
 Attenuation
 Attenuation can be offset by introducing gain using amplifiers.
 Attenuation
Power Gain (AP)
 In communications engineering, it is useful to measure variation of
power when a signal propagated from beginning point to an another
point to see if the power is amplified or attenuated.
 This done by measuring the ratio of the two points power that called
power gain.
P1 P2 P3

Ap ( 2,1) P2 / P1 Ap ( 3, 2) P3 / P2

Ap (3,1) P3 / P1  Ap ( 2,1) * Ap ( 3, 2)

 Most amplifiers are power amplifier, the same procedure can be used to
calculate power gain, Ap.

8 Ap = Pout / Pin
 Attenuation
Power Gain (AP)

Examples
1) The power output of an amplifier is 6 W. The
power gain is 80. What is the input power?

2) Three cascade amplifier have power gains of 5,

2, and 17. The input power is 40 mW. What is the
output power?

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 Attenuation
Decibels (dB)
The decibel (abbreviated dB) is a more suitable unit used to
measure the power gain. It is defined by:

P  P1 P2
Ap ,( 2,1) (dB) 10 log10  2 
 P1 
 Using the decibel allows us to contrast greatly differing power levels
with a simple two- or three-digit number instead of a more burdensome
nine- or 10-digit one.
 For instance, instead of characterizing the difference in two power
levels as 1,000,000,000 to 1, it's much simpler to use the decibel
representation as 10*log (1,000,000,000/1), or 90 dB.
 The same goes for very small numbers: The ratio of 0.000000001 to 1
can be characterized as -90 dB.
 Clearly if Ap is negative mean attenuation

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Decibels : Attenuation
Examples
Example: For the shown communication system, 100 10
find the attenuation of the transmission medium W W

Ap ,( 2,1) (dB) 10 log10 10 / 100  10dB 100 A(dB)= -10 dB 10
W W

Example: If a communication system has gain 20 dB and Po = 550mW,

compute Pi
 Po 
Since 20 10 log10   10 log10 Ap
P  
P Communication P
i o
 i System
With G=20dB

Note if y 10 log10 x  x 10 y / 10

Po
then 10( AP dB ) /10 100 Pi = 550/100 = 5.5 mW
Pi
Decibels (dB)
Attenuation
Another reason that engineers use the decibel to measure the
changes in the strength of a signal is that decibel numbers can be
added (or subtracted) when we are measuring several points
(cascading) instead of just two.
P1 P2 P3
P   P3 
Ap ,( 2,1) (dB) 10 log10  2  Ap ,(3, 2 ) (dB ) 10 log10  
 P1   P2 

 P3 
Ap ,(3,1) 10 log10    Ap ,( 2,1)  Ap ,(3, 2 )
 P1 
A21(dB)= -10 dB A32(dB)= 20 dB
P1 P2 P3
A31(dB) = 10 dB 12
Decibels Attenuation
Example, for the shown communication link, signal travels from
point 1 to point 4. In this case, the decibel value can be calculated as:

𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛( 𝑑𝐵)=− 3+7 − 3=+1

P  P4
10 log10  4  1 100.1
 P1  P1
 Attenuation
Decibels :
The loss in a cable is usually defined in decibels per kilometer (dB/km).
Examples
If the signal at the beginning of a cable has a power of 2 mW. The cable
has attenuation of −3 dB/km, what is the power of the signal at distance 5
km?
5 km (-3 dB/km)
2 mW ? mW

Solution
The loss of 5 km of the cable in decibels = 5 × (-3) = −15 dB.
We can calculate the power as
P 
 15 10 log10  2 
 P1 
P2
10  1.5 0.71  P2 2 0.7 1.4 mW
P1
 Attenuation
Decibels (dB)

V1 V2

Note if voltage at each point is given instead of the power, then

the power gain can e calculated as follows:

Since : Ap(dB) = 10 Log Ap = 10 Log Po/Pi

Alternatively, the above equations can be represented as
Ap(dB) = 10 Log10 (Vo2/Ro)/(Vi2/Ri)

If (Ro = Ri)
 v2 
Ap (dB) 20 log10  
 v1 
 Attenuation
Decibels : Examples
A pre-amplifier has a power gain of 28 dB. Compute the following:
a) If Vi = 2 mV then Vo = ?
ApdB = 10 Log Ap
Ap = 10 ApdB/10
Ap = 25.11

b) If Vi increases from 2 to 5 mV, how many dB has the signal

power increased?
Ap(dB) = 20 Log (Vfin/Vinit) = 20 Log (5/2)
= 20 Log 2.5 = 7.95 dB

c) If Vi drops from 2 to 1 mV, how many dB has the signal power

dropped?
Ap(dB) = 20 Log (Vfin/Vinit) = 20 Log (1/2)
= 20 Log .5 = -6 dB
 Attenuation
Decibels
Power in decibels
Sometimes the decibel is used to measure the absolute power at a certain point
instead of measuring the ratio of powers at two points (relative power). In this
case, it is referred to as dBm. The unit dBm denotes an absolute power level
measured in decibels and referenced to 1 milliwatt (mW). dBm is calculated as:
P [mW ]
dBm 10 log10
1 [mW ]

1 mW is a convenient reference point from which to measure power.

Note:
• Use dB when expressing the ratio between two power values.
• Use dBm when expressing an absolute value of power at certain point.
Example: Calculate the power of a signal with dBm = −30 .

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Decibels Attenuation
Example: Calculate the absolute power at the transmitter (Tx) and
the receiver (Rx), then find the attenuation of the link.
10 *103 Tx Rx
Absolute power at Tx = 10 log10 40 dBm Communication
1 [mW ] 10 W 100 mW
Link
100
Absolute power at Rx = 10 log10 20 dBm
1 [mW ]

100 *10  3 1
AP , Link 10 log10 10 log10  20 dB
10 100 Tx A(dB)= -20 dB Rx
40 dBm 20 dBm
OR Ap , Link 20 dBm  40 dBm  20 dB

i,e, subtracting two dBm levels gives the attenuation between them in dB. (Prove)
 a) For the shown communication link, if you have the following:
ϭϬϬŬŵ ϴϬŬŵ
dƌĂŶƐŵŝƚƚĞƌ ZĞƉĞĂƚĞƌ ZĞĐĞŝǀ Ğƌ
Wϭ dƌĂŶƐŵŝƐƐŝŽŶ WϮ Wϯ dƌĂŶƐŵŝƐƐŝŽŶ Wϰ
D ĞĚŝƵŵ ͞ϭ͟ D ĞĚŝƵŵ ͞Ϯ͟
 The Transmitter transmits (point P1) a signal of power 100W .
 The repeater is used to re-transmit the transmitted signal with the same power,
i.e. power at “point P3” is 100W.
 The attenuation of the two transmission media is -0.2 dB/km
Then calculate
1) The gain of the repeater in dB.
2) Power at “point P4” in Watt and the overall gain of the link in dB.

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 Distortion

• Each signal component travels with its own propagation speed

and suffer different attenuation amounts .
• The components will arrive at their destination at different times.
• The phase differences caused by the different arrival times leads
to change the shape of the signal (distortion).
 Distortion

• Linear Distortion: Attenuation of each frequency components

does not vary with frequency.

• Nonlinear Distortion: Attenuation of each frequency components

varies with frequency.

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 Noise

 It is undesired signals tend to interfere with the desired signal

 It may vary the desired signal shape if its power high relative to
the power of with the desired signal 22
 Noise
Introduction
 Noise is random signal that interfere with the information signal.
 In radio receiver, noise may produce hiss in the loudspeaker
output.
 In television receivers “snow” or “confetti” (colored snow) becomes
superimposed on the picture
 Noise can limit the range of systems.
 It affects the sensitivity of the receiver by placing a limit on the
weakest signals that can be amplified.
 Noise

Introduction
Why is it important to study the effects of Noise?

a) It sets the lower limit for the detectable signals.

b) It sets the upper limit for system gains.
c) Develop mathematical models to take the effects of
noise into account when analyzing electrical
circuits/systems.
d) Our ability to recover the required data without error
is inversely proportional to the magnitude of noise
 Noise

Classification of Noise
NOISE

EXTERNAL INTERNAL

 Its sources are external to the  It is the noise created by any

receiver of the active or passive
 External noise includes devices found in receivers
atmospheric and man made  The internal noise can be
noise. classified into thermal noise,
and shot noise.
 Noise
External Noise
The sources of external noise are situated outside the
investigated circuit, which merely acts as a receiving antenna

Sources of external noise can classified into :

 Equipment / Man-made Noise

 Atmospheric Noise
 Noise
External Noise Sources
 Equipment / Man-made Noise It is the noise that is due to undesired
waves generated from nearby man made sources like electric motors
and switching equipment, leakage from high-voltage lines and
fluorescent lights. Fluorescent lights are powerful source of such noise
and therefore should not be used where sensitive receiver reception or
testing is being conducted.
 Atmospheric Noise It is the noise that is due to undesired waves
generated from natural sources like sun (sun rays), lightning discharge
in thunderstorms other natural electric disturbances occurring in the
atmosphere.

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 Noise
Internal Noise
Internal Noise refers to the noise generated by any active or
passive devices inside an investigated device or circuit
(receiver). internal noise can be classified into:
 Thermal noise
Originating from the random motion of free electrons due
to temperature inside a piece of conductive material.
 Shot Noise
 It is caused by random emission of charged carries in

the electronic device and appears as a randomly

varying noise current superimposed on the output.
 When amplified, it is supposed to sound as though a

shower of lead shot were falling on a metal sheet.

Hence the name shot noise.
 Noise
Internal Noise
Thermal noise
Thermal noise power is proportional to the product of
bandwidth and temperature. Mathematically, thermal noise
power is
N=(KT) BW
N = noise power,
K=Boltzmann’s constant (1.3810-23 J/K)
BW = bandwidth,
T = absolute temperature in Kelvin ( the room
temperature =17oC or 290oK= 273 + 17oC )

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 Noise

Thermal noise Examples

Example 1: Calculate the thermal noise power available from any
resistor at room temperature (290K) for a bandwidth of 1 MHz..

Example 2: For an electronic device operating at a temperature of

17oC with a bandwidth of 10 kHz, determine
 Thermal noise power in watts and dBm

400.2 10 16 mW
N dBm 10 log10 400.2 10 16  133.98 dBm
 Crosstalk
T R
Far-end
Crosstalk
T R
Near-end
Crosstalk
R T
 Crosstalk: electrical noise or interference caused by inductive and
capacitive coupling of signals from adjacent channels

 It occurs when strong signals radiating from transmitting pair of wires are
coupled in to adjacent weak received signals

 In LANs, the crosstalk noise has greater effect on system Performance

than any other types of noise

 Problem is reduced by using unshielded twisted pair lines (UTP) or

shielded twisted pair (STP). By twisting the cable pairs together, the EMF
surrounding the wires cancel out each other.
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 Crosstalk
Crosstalk
Minimizing Crosstalk
1. Using twisted pair of wires
2. Use of shielding to prevent signals from radiating in to other
conductors
3. Transmitted and received signals over long distance are
physically separated and shielded
4. Balanced transformers are used with twisted pair media to
cancel crosstalk signals coupled equally in both lines
5. Maximum channels used within a cable are limited to a
certain value

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 Multipath Fading

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