Elements of Communication Systems
Elements of Communication Systems
Elements of Communication Systems
0
Communication
System
motion.marufu@telone.co.zw
History of Communication Systems
• Down through the ages, people have devised numerous methods for
communicating their thoughts and needs to others. In primitive days, when human
beings lived in small groups distributed over a relatively small geographical area,
communication within the group took place through speech, gestures, and
graphical symbols.
• As these groups became larger and civilizations spread over large geographical
areas, it was necessary to develop methods of long distance communication. Early
attempts at long distance communication included such things as smoke signals,
light beams, carrier pigeons, and letters transported by a variety of means.
• With the beginning of the industrial revolution, the need for fast and accurate
History of communication
Cont’d
• Communication systems employing electrical signals to convey information from one place to another
over a pair of wires provided an early solution to the problem of fast and accurate means of long distance
communication. The field of electrical communication engineering received tremendous attention during
and after World War II.
• Significant developments during this era includes radar and microwave systems, transistor and
miniaturized integrated circuits, communication satellites, and lasers. Today, electrical communication
systems span the entire world carrying voice, text, pictures, and a variety of other information.
• During the post-war era there was also a vast growth in the automation and computer industries.
This growth made it necessary for computers and other machines to communicate not only with
people but also with other machines. In many cases the information to be exchanged between
people and machines, and between machines is digital or numerical in contrast to the
predominantly analog information exchanged in personal communications. Irrespective of the
nature of information transmitted, and the actual method of transmission, we can use the
following model to describe a communication system.
Model of an electrical communication System
• Figure 1.1 shows the basic functional blocks of a communication system. The overall
purpose of this system is to transfer information from one point in space and time,
called the source, to another point, the user destination. As a rule, the message produced
by a source is not electrical. Hence an input transducer is required for converting the
message to a time-varying electrical quantity called a message signal. At the destination
point, another transducer converts the electrical waveform to the appropriate message.
• The information source and the destination point are usually separated in space. The
channel provides the electrical connection between the information source and the user.
The channel can have many different forms such as a microwave radio link over free
space, a pair of wires, or an optical fiber. Regardless of its type, the channel degrades
the transmitted signal in a number of ways. The degradation is a result of signal
distortion due to imperfect response of the channel and due to undesirable electrical
signals (noise) and interference.
History of Communication Cont’d
• Noise and signal distortion are two basic problems of electrical
communication. The transmitter and the receiver in a
communication system are carefully designed to avoid signal
distortion and minimize the effects of noise at the receiver so that
a faithful reproduction of the message emitted by the source is
possible.
Transmitter
• The transmitter couples the input message signal to the channel. While it may sometimes be
possible to couple the input transducer directly to the channel, it is often necessary to process
and modify the input signal for efficient transmission over the channel. Signal processing
operations performed by the transmitter include amplification, filtering, and modulation. The
most important of these operations is modulation-a process designed to match the properties of
the transmitted signal to the channel through the use of a carrier wave.
• Modulation is the systematic variation of some attribute of a carrier waveform such as the
amplitude, phase, or frequency in accordance with a function of the message signal.
• Two basic types of modulation: the continuous carrier wave (CW) modulation and the pulse
modulation. In continuous wave (CW) carrier modulation the carrier waveform is continuous
(usually a sinusoidal waveform), and a parameter of the waveform is changed in proportion to
the message signal. This results in Amplitude, frequency and Phase modulation.
Transmitter
• Information sources can be classified into two categories based on the nature of their outputs: analog
information sources and discrete information sources.
• Analog information sources, such as a microphone actuated by speech, or a TV camera scanning a
scene, emit one or more continuous amplitude signals (or functions of time). The output of discrete
information sources such -as a teletype or the numerical output of a computer consists of a sequence of
discrete symbols or letters.
• An analog information source can be transformed into a discrete information source through the
process of sampling and quantizing.
• An essential feature of any source that generates information is that its output is described in
probabilistic terms, i.e., the output of a source is not deterministic. Otherwise, there would be no need
to transmit the message.
• A transducer is usually required to convert the output of a source into an electrical signal that is
suitable for transmission. For example, a microphone serves as the transducer that converts an acoustic
speech signal into an electrical signal, and a video camera that converts an image into an electrical
signal. At the destination, a similar transducer is required to convert the electrical signals that are
received into a form that is suitable for the user, e.g., acoustic signals and images.
Receiver
• The main function of the receiver is to extract the input message signal from the
degraded version of the transmitted signal coming from the channel.
• The receiver performs this function through the process of demodulation, the
reverse of the transmitter's modulation process. Because of the presence of noise
and other signal degradations, the receiver cannot recover the message signal
perfectly.
• In addition to demodulation, the receiver usually provides amplification and
filtering.
Receiver
• Atmospheric Noise
• Atmospheric noise or static is caused by lighting discharges in thunderstorms and other natural
electrical disturbances occurring in the atmosphere. These electrical impulses are random in
nature. Hence the energy is spread over the complete frequency spectrum used for radio
communication.
Atmospheric noise accordingly consists of spurious radio signals with components spread over
a wide frequency range. These spurious radio waves constituting the noise get propagated over
the earth in the same fashion as the desired radio waves of the same frequency. Accordingly at a
given receiving point, the receiving antenna picks up not only the signal but also the static from
all the thunderstorms, local or remote.
The field strength of atmospheric noise varies approximately inversely with the frequency. Thus
large atmospheric noise is generated in low and medium frequency (broadcast) bands while
very little noise is generated in the VHF and UHF bands. Further VHF and UHF components of
noise are limited to the line-of-sight (less than about 80 Km) propagation. For these two-
reasons, the atmospheric noise becomes less severe at Frequencies exceeding about 30 MHz.
Extraterrestrial Noise
There are numerous types of extra-terrestrial noise or space noises depending on their sources.
However, these may be put into following two subgroups: Solar noise ,Cosmic noise
• Solar Noise
This is the electrical noise emanating from the sun. Under quite conditions, there is a steady
radiation of noise from the sun. This results because sun is a large body at a very high temperature
(exceeding 6000°C on the surface), and radiates electrical energy in the form of noise over a very
wide frequency spectrum including the spectrum used for radio communication. The intensity
produced by the sun varies with time. In fact, the sun has a repeating 11-Year noise cycle. During
the peak of the cycle, the sun produces some amount of noise that causes tremendous radio signal
interference, making many frequencies unusable for communications. During other years. the noise
is at a minimum level.
Cosmic noise
• Also called Galactic noise. Distant stars are also suns and have high
temperatures. These stars, therefore, radiate noise in the same way as
our sun. The noise received from these distant stars is thermal noise (or
black body noise) and is distributing almost uniformly over the entire
sky. We also receive noise from the centre of our own galaxy (The
Milky Way) from other distant galaxies and from other virtual point
sources such as quasars and pulsars . It has a maximum
value at about 20 MHz and is negligible above 500MHz.
Man-Made Noise (Industrial Noise)
• By man-made noise or industrial- noise is meant the electrical noise
produced by such sources as automobiles and aircraft ignition,
electrical motors and switch gears, leakage from high voltage lines,
fluorescent lights, and numerous other heavy electrical machines. Such
noises are produced by the arc discharge taking place during operation
of these machines. Such man-made noise is most intensive in industrial
and densely populated areas. Man-made noise in such areas far exceeds
all other sources of noise in the frequency range extending from about 1
MHz to 600 MHz
Expressing noise level
• Nose factor is the ratio of input S/N power to output S/N power or ration of S/N
power at the input to S/N power at the output.
• = 290(F-1).
INTERNAL NOISE IN COMMUNICATION
• Thermal Noise
• Conductors contain a large number of 'free" electrons and "ions" strongly bound by molecular forces. The
ions vibrate randomly about their normal (average) positions, however, this vibration being a function of
the temperature. Continuous collisions between the electrons and the vibrating ions take place. Thus there
is a continuous transfer of energy between the ions and electrons. This is the source of resistance in a
conductor. The movement of free electrons constitutes a current which is purely random in nature and over
a long time averages zero. There is a random motion of the electrons which give rise to noise voltage
called thermal noise.
Thus noise generated in any resistance due to random motion of electrons i5 called thermal noise
or white or Johnson noise.
•
The analysis of thermal noise is based on the Kinetic theory. It shows that the temperature of particles is a
way of expressing its internal kinetic energy. Thus "Temperature" of a body can be said to be equivalent to
the statistical rms value of the velocity of motion of the particles in the body. At -273°C (or zero degree
Kelvin) the kinetic energy of the particles of a body becomes zero .Thus we can relate the noise power
generated by a resistor to be proportional to its absolute temperature. Noise power is also proportional to
the bandwidth over which it is measured. From the above discussion we can write down.
Thermal/Johnson/Niquist noise
• This type of noise is generated by all resistances (e.g. a resistor, semiconductor,
the resistance of a resonant circuit, i.e. the real part of the impedance, cable etc).
Diagram for deriving thermal noise voltage
Thermal noise voltage
derivation
• The equipartition law of Boltzmann and Maxwell combined with the works of
Johnson and Nyquist states that the thermal noise power generated within a
source for a 1-Hz bandwidth is
• = KT where =Noise power density, K = Boltzmann's constant =1.38 X J/K and T =
absolute temperature in Kelvin (room temperature = 17 or 290K. This at room
temperature = 1.38 x J/K X 290 K = 4 X W/Hz.
• The total noise power is equal to the product of the bandwidth and the noise
density. Therefore, the total noise power present in bandwidth (B) is
• N = KTB where N =Total noise power, KT = Noise power density and B is
bandwidth if Hertz of the device or system.
• The diagram shows the equivalent circuit for an electrical noise source. R is
internal resistance of the noise source and is in series with noise source . For
maximum power transfer R =
Thermal noise voltage formula derivation
• Therefore the noise voltage dropped across R is equal to and
the noise power (N) developed across the load resistor is equal to KTB.
• = = = = (From the diagram R = =
• = 4R = 4RKTB (=kTB)
•
• =
• Thermal noise is often referred to as ‘white noise’ because it has a uniform
uniform ‘spectral density’.
White noise cont’d
• Where is a 100-kV resistor over the frequency ranbandwidth in hertz, T is
temperature in Kelvin K(°C + 273), R is resistance in ohms, K is Boltzmann
constant and is equal to 1.38 x J/K . From equation (2), we see that the square of
the rms noise voltage is proportional to the absolute temperature of le resistor, the
value of the resistor, and the bandwidth over which it is measured. En is quite
independent of the frequency.
• Questions
Q1. R.F. amplifier is saving an input resistor of 8K and works in the frequency
range of 12 MHz to 15.5 MHz Calculate the rms noise voltage at the input to this
amplifier at an ambient temperature of 17oC?.
Q2. What is the open-circuit noise voltage across ge of direct current to 20 kHz at
room temperature (25°C)?
Q3.What is the open-circuit noise voltage across a 100-kV resistor over the
frequency range of direct current to 20 kHz at room temperature (25°C)?
Flicker noise
• Experimentally provided that an unwanted signal exists in electronic components,
even when the component is kept at 0 Kelvin temperature ( no thermal noise) and
no external voltage is applied ( no shot noise). This noise is known as Flicker
noise.
The origins of flicker noise are somewhat less understood as compared to thermal
noise and shot noise, but predicts that, may be due to imperfection in the crystalline
structure of all materials
• Flicker noise is inversely proportional to the frequency at the signal being
observed. Due to this reason flicker noise is also known as 1/f noise. The 1=f
noise is important from 1 Hz to 1 MHz. Beyond 1 MHz, the thermal noise is more
noticeable.
Flicker noise Cont’d
•
• For a noiseless channel, the Nyquist bit rate formula defines the theoretical maximum bit
rate
BitRate = 2 x bandwidth x L
• In this formula, bandwidth is the bandwidth of the channel, L is the number of signal
levels used to represent data, and Bit Rate is the bit rate in bits per second.
• According to the formula, we might think that, given a specific bandwidth, we can have
any bit rate we want by increasing the number of signa11eve1s. Although the idea is
theoretically correct, practically there is a limit. When we increase the number of signal
levels, we impose a burden on the receiver. If the number of levels in a signal is just 2,
the receiver can easily distinguish between a 0 and a 1. If the level of a signal is 64, the
receiver must be very sophisticated to distinguish between 64 different levels. In other
words, increasing the levels of a signal reduces the reliability of the system.
Noisy Channel: Shannon Capacity
Fig 1.8 - Coaxial cable (a) basic coaxial cable (b) details inside coaxial cable
(c)coaxial photo
Coaxial Cont’d
Fig 1.11 - Optic fiber cable (a) basic concept (b) details inside a fiber line (c) sample photography of a
fiber bundle.
Radio Transmission
• Radio encompasses the electromagnetic spectrum in the range of 3 kHz to 300 GHz. Radio
transmission uses an unguided medium, and may possess principal benefits, but at the expense
of some major short comings.The most important advantage of radio transmission over cable
transmission is that it does not require any physical medium. Radio systems are quick to install
and because no digging of cable into the ground is required, the investment costs are much
lower.
• One important factor that restricts the use of radio transmissions is the shortage of frequency
bands. The most suitable frequencies are already occupied and there are many systems with a
growing demand for wider frequency bands.
• Examples of other systems using radio waves are public cellular systems, professional mobile
radio systems, cordless telephones, broadcast radio and TV, satellite communications, and
WLANs.
• The use of radio frequencies is regulated by the ITU-R at the global level and, for example, by
BAZ or POTRAZ To implement a radio system, permission from a national
telecommunications authority is required.
Radio Transmission cont’d
Advantages of Radio
Salient benefits of radio transmission are as follows:
• Radio uniquely allows the realization and deployment of mobile systems with a
multitude of diverse wireless applications and services.
• Radio inherently possesses broadcast, narrowcast, and multicast capabilities.
• Radio networks can be quickly implemented or reconfigured and extra terminals
can be easily introduced or removed.
• Radio systems do not require right-of-way and can be deployed by procuring only
the sites where the antennas are located.
• Signal level can be maintained over much longer distances in radio systems than
in wired systems, as with an increase in the distance, the attenuation in decibels
increases only logarithmically in radio systems but linearly in wired systems.
Radio Transmission cont’d
Disadvantages of Radio
The major drawbacks of radio transmission are as follows:
• The radio spectrum is finite and scarce and, unlike wired media, it is not possible to procure
additional capacity. An operating frequency in a radio band can be reused only in sufficiently-
distant geographical areas or by certain multiple access schemes.
• To maximize its utility, the radio spectrum is mainly regulated by government agencies, as
regulatory bodies apply strict requirements on the emission characteristics of radio
communication equipment, and frequency coordination is generally required when planning
radio systems.
• Interference, which is the energy that appears at the receiver from sources other than its own
transmitter, is a major degradation in radio systems.
• Path characteristics (i.e., attenuation and distortion) tend to vary with time, often in an
unpredictable way. Multipath fading, a significant impairment in radio communications
especially in mobile systems, occurs when the transmitted signal arrives at the receiver via
propagation paths at different delays.
• Signals can be much more easily intercepted in wireless systems than in wired systems; it is
Radio Transmission cont’d
Radio Spectrum
• It is imperative to highlight that spectrum is a very scarce commodity, and
efficient use of any part of spectrum is of paramount importance.
• Radio spectrum refers to the part of the electromagnetic spectrum corresponding
to radio frequencies— i.e., frequencies lower than around 300 GHz (or,
equivalently, wavelengths longer than about 1 mm). Frequency assignments and
technical standards are set internationally by the International
Telecommunications Union (ITU). The Radio communication Sector of ITU
(ITU-R) provides frequency assignments and is concerned with the efficient use of
the radio frequency spectrum.
Frequency bands
Frequency bands
• Some parts of spectrum have been designated as industrial, scientific,
and medical (ISM) bands. There are a dozen ISM bands, such as 2.4–
2.5 GHz and 5.725–5.875 GHz. These bands allow limited power
transmission from various transmitting devices as well as
unintentional radiations, such as microwave ovens, and short-range,
low-power communication systems, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth
devices, and cordless phones. The communication equipment
operating in ISM bands must tolerate any interference generated by
other ISM equipment as users have no regulatory protection.
Radio wave propagation
• The energy in a radio frequency (RF) current can radiate off a conductor into
space as electromagnetic waves (radio waves). This is the basis of radio
technology. In radio communications, the signal is transmitted using an antenna
that radiates energy at some carrier frequency and is received by another antenna.
The propagation characteristics of electromagnetic waves used in radio channels
are highly dependent on the operating frequency. Under similar conditions of
propagation, the higher-frequency signal attenuates faster than the lower
frequency signal and becomes too weak to be detected at the receiver. An RF
power amplifier is used to amplify the power level of such a transmitted signal, so
that it can travel larger distances with less attenuation. Also, the higher the
operating frequency is, the more directive the antenna beam becomes.
Radio Wave Propagation
• Like light waves, radio signals by nature travel in a straight line, and therefore
propagation beyond line of sight requires a means of deflecting the radio waves.
The available methods are reflection (when the radio signal is bounced off a
surface), refraction (when the radio signal bends due to a change in medium),
diffraction (when the radio signal meets a sharp edge and redirects), and scattering
(when the radio signal spreads out). For any type of radio communications, the
signal disperses with distance. The signal attenuation in free space is inversely
related to the square of the distance that the radio signal must travel as well as the
square of the frequency that the radio signal is operating at.
Radio Wave Propagation
• Depending on the frequency and antenna, the radiated energy can propagate in
either a unidirectional or omnidirectional fashion. In the former case, a properly-
aligned antenna can receive the modulated signal, and in the latter case, any
antenna in the area of coverage can receive the signal. In general, radio
frequencies below 1 GHz or so are more suitable for omnidirectional applications
and above 1 GHz or so are typically tailored for unidirectional applications. Also,
at low and medium frequencies, radio waves can penetrate walls. This is viewed as
an advantage when a signal is required to be received inside a building and is
regarded as a disadvantage when it is required to isolate a communication to just
inside or outside a building to reduce the level of interference.
Radio Wave Propagation
• The range of 300 MHz to 300 GHz is known as microwave radio frequencies. Rain
attenuation, which refers primarily to the absorption of a microwave frequency
signal by atmospheric rain, snow, or ice, is a dominant source of signal
degradation. Rain attenuation is a function of many factors, such as location,
distance, elevation angle, and frequency. Rain attenuation is directly related to
frequency (i.e., the higher the operating frequency, the more severe the rain
attenuation can be).
• Radio waves at different frequencies propagate in different ways. As shown in the
next slide, there are three distinct methods for the transmission of radio signals:
ground-wave propagation, sky-wave propagation, and line-of-sight propagation.
Ground wave propagation
• Ground-wave propagation: It is the dominant mode of propagation for frequencies
below 2 MHz (all bands up to and including the lower part of MF band). In this
frequency range, the Earth and the ionosphere (the layer of atmosphere where
particles exist as ions) act as a waveguide for radio wave propagation. These low-
frequency signals propagate (by diffraction) in all directions around the curved
surface of the Earth for thousands of kilometers. Distance depends on the amount
of power in the signal. Since the ground is not a perfect electrical conductor,
ground waves are attenuated rapidly as they follow the Earth’s surface. The signal
attenuation is a function of time and the frequency band. Also, the atmospheric
noise level is rather high. The channel bandwidths available in these frequency
bands are rather modest and in turn yield rather low transmission speeds. Typical
applications include long-range navigation and maritime communications, radio
beacon, and AM radio broadcasting.
Ground wave propagation
• Interference refers to energy that appears at the receiver from sources other than
its own transmitter. It can manifest itself in wired cables in the form of crosstalk
and echo, but it is significantly more dominant in radio communications.
• Interference can be generated by other users of the same frequency or by
equipment that inadvertently transmits energy outside its band and into the bands
of adjacent channels or systems.
• Figure 1.
2W/4W Circuits
• Subscriber loops are and will remain two-wire circuits, because they are one of the biggest
investments of the fixed telephone network.
• Early telephone connections through the network were two-wire circuits. Longer connections
attenuate the speech signal and amplifiers are needed on the line. In two-wire circuits,
amplification of a signal may cause oscillation or ringing if the output signal of an amplifier
loops back to the input circuit of another transmission direction (Figure 2.6).
• The operating principle of electronics in the network is unidirectional and inside the network
we use two wires for each direction, or four-wire (4W) connections.