Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1, Introduction Communication is the process of establishing connection or link between two points for information exchange. . OR Communication is simply the process of conveying message at ¢ communication is the basic process.of exchanging information. The electronic equipments which are used for communication purpose, are called communication equipments. Different communication equipments when assembled together form a communication system. z ‘Typical examples of communication system are line telephony and line teleg- raphy, radio telephony and line telegraphy, radio broadcasting, point-to-point co: munication and mobile communication, computer.communication, radar-commu- nication, television broadcasting, radio telemetry, radio aids to navigation, radio aids to aircraft landing etc. The earliest communication system namely line-telegraphy originated in eight- een fourties (1840s). In eddition to this, line telephony came a few decades later whereas radio-communication could become possible in the beginning of twentieth century on invention of triode valve. Radio communication was further greatly improved during World War II. It became more widely used through the invention « of transistor, integrated circuits (ICs) and other semiconductor devices in the sub- sequent years. Also, in recent years, communication has become more widespread with the uce of satellite; and fibre optics, Today, there has been an increasing emphasis on the use of «omputers in communication. distance or 1.2. Basic Communication System So ‘As discussed in last article, the purpose of a communication system is to transmit an_information-bearing. ignal, from _a source, one point, to a user or ‘destination, located at arother_p y. Figure 1.1. shows the block diagram of a basic communication system in which the different functional elements are represente | by blocks. The essential components of a basic comm\ nication system are in{»rmation source, trs itter, comm nication channe! , and receiver. This meais that any communication system either simple or ad- vance, analog or digital must have these blocks. Now we shall discuss the functioning of these blocks.2 = Digital Communications Information |_, Source itput Trane: |_| L_.| 4 Output |" mitter: Channel Receiver Het message Distortion & Noise Fig, 1.1. Block diagram ofa basic communication system, 1, Information Souree We know that a communication system serves to communicate a message or information. This message or information originates in the information source. In general, there can be Various messages in the form of words, groups of words, code, symbols, sound signal etc. However, out of these messages, only the desired message is selected and conveyed or communicated. In short, we can say that the function of information source is to produce required message which has to be transmitted. 2Ifput Transducer A Transducer is a device which converts one form of energy i ther form. The message from the information source may or may not be electrical in nature. In a case when the message produced by the information source is not electrical in nature, an input transducer is used to convert it into an eiectrical signal. \3- Transmitter The transmit nal for_¢ {_ transmission. function of the transmitté ectrical sigaal_from different as- pects. For example in radio broadcasting the electrical signal obtained from sound signal, is processed to restrict its range of audio frequencies (upto 5KHz in ampli- tude modulation radio broadcast) and is often amplified. In wire telephony, no real processing is needed. However, in long-distance radio communication or broad- cast, signal amplification is nocessary before modulation. Modulation is the main function of the transmitter. In modulation, the message signal is superimposed upon the high-frequency carrier signal. In short, we can say that inside the trans- miter, signal processings such as restriction of range of audio frequencies, ampli- fication and modulation are achieved. All these processings of the message signal are done just to ease the transmission of the signal through the channel. ‘Thus we conclude that the transmitter is required to make the signal suit for signal suitable for conduction ever the channel. 4, The Channel and the Noise "With reference to the block diagram of a communication system in figure 1.1, the term channel means the medium through which the message travels from the transmitter to the receiver. In other words, we. thatthe function of the channel is to provide a physical connection betwe transmitter and the re- There are two types of channels, namely point-to-point channels and broad- cast channels. Examples of point-to-point channels are wire lines, microwave links and optical ftbres. Wire-lines operate by guided electromagnetic waves and they are used for local telephone transmission. In case of microwave links, the trans- mitted signal is radiated as an electromagnetic wave in free spaco. Microwave links are used in long-distance telephone transmission. An cptical fiber is a low.| | loss, well-controlled, guided optical medium. Optical fibres are used in optiay | «as " mM optical, communications. Although these three channels operate differently, they all pry. | vide a physical medium for the transmission of signels from one point to ancthe:’ point. Therefore, for thes channels, the term point-to-point is used, On the other hand, the broadcast channels provide a capability where several receiving stations can be reached simultaneously from a single transmitter. An example of a broadcast channel is a satellite in geo-stationary orbit, which covers about one third of the earth’s surface. 4 During the process of transmission and reception the signal gets distorted due to noise introduced in the system. S40 Be Noise is an unwanted signal which tend to interfere with the required signal. Noi isvalways random in character. Noise may interfere with signal at any point ina communication system. However, the noise Has its greatest effect on the signal in the channel. pesca: ‘The main function of the receiver is to reproduce the message signal in elestri- cal form from the distortad received signal: This reproduction of the original sig- nal is accomplished by a process known as the demodulation or detection: De- modulation is the reverse process of modulation carried out in transmitter. 6, Destination ‘~~ Destination is the final stage which is used to convert an electrica signal into its original form. message 1.3. Classification of Communication Regarding the mode of p1 opagation, communication may be divided in the follow- - ing two forms : 3 fi) Line Communication, (ii) Wireless or Radic Communication. 1.3.1. Line Communication "th line communication, the medium of transmission is-a-pair-of-conductors called transmission line..'This is also called as line channel, This means that in line communication, the transmitter and the. receiver are.connected_through_a wire or line. However, the installation and maintenance of a transmission line is not only costly and complex but also overcrouds the open space. Apart from this, its message transmission capability is also limited. 1,3.2. Wireless or Radio Communication < vl wireless or radio communication, a message is transmitted through open’ space by electromagnetic waves called us radio waves. Radio waves are radiated from the transmitter in open space through a device called anteniia. A receiving antenna intercepts the redio waves at the receiver. All the radio, T.V. and satellite broadcasting are wirelets or radio communication. The ndvantages ef wireless iffectiveness, possible long distance. communication and communication_are cust. simplicity. . Modulation ‘Modulation may be defined as the process by which some characteristic of a signal called carrier is varied in accordance with the instantaneous value of another signal called modulating, signal. Signals céntaining information or intelligencs are referred as modula sirmals, ‘This information bearing signal is alse ealled at4 » Digital Communications » baseband signal. The carrier frequency is greater than th i : The c eq ter than the modulati ‘The signal resulting from the process of modulation is ealled modulated spel ‘ In other words; it may be stated that the modulation is the process of placing the message signal over some cairer signal to make it suitabl i er ance uitable for transmission, Types of Modulation Modulation is basically of two types : \) Continuous Wave Modulation : When the carrier wave is continuous ‘in nature, the modulation process is known as continuous wave (CW) modulation ‘ar analog-modulation. Examples of continuous wave modulation are Amplitude Modulation and Angle Modulation. (ii) Pulse Modulation : When the carrier wave is a pulse-ty the modulation process is known as pulse modulation. Examples of pi tion are Pulse Amplitude Modulation, Pulse Width Modulation, Pulse Code Modu- lation ete. 1.4.2. Need for Modulation or Benefits of Modulation As discussed earlier, the message signal or baseband signal is used to modu- late a high frequency carrier signal inside the transmitter. After modulation, the resulting modulated signal is transmitted with the help of an antenna which is connected at the output side of the transmitter. This modulated signal then trav- els down the channel to reach at the input of the receiver. Now, one question can arise why we use modulation in communication sys- tem or what will happen if we transmit message signal or audio signal without modulation. The answer is that the modulation serves several purpose in commu- nication system as discussed below : (@ Practicality of Antenna : We know that in case when free space is used as a transmitting medium (i.e., channel), messages are transmitted and received with the help of antennas. For efficient radiation and reception the transmitting and receiving antennas must have lengths comparable to a quarter-wavelength of the frequency used. For example, In AM broadcast systems, the maximum audio frequency transmitted from a radio station is of the order of 5 KHz. If this message audio signal were to be transmitted without modulation, then the height of the antenna required for an effective radiation and reception will be 1/4" of the wave- length given as a beg a 3x10 _5 Km. 4x5x10° Obviously, it will he totally impracticable to construct and instal an ante of such a height. However, this height of the antenna may be re at ee dulation tion technique and yet effective radiation and reception is achiever rane higher Process, low frequency or audio signal at radio stations aru translater Oe frequency spectrum ie., radio frequency range. Theso higher Fate O° With the small wavelength act as carrier for the audio frequencies tots Hoe {ng signal). Thus the height of the antenna required is much reduce Practical, : . carrier ‘As an example, ifan audio frequency is translated to a radio frequency a of frequency 4 MHz, the antenna height required would be or walntroduction w' 5 _ 6 3x10® © af 4x3 10° 4x10? = 0.25 x 100 = 25 metres ‘This antenna height .aay be achieved practically. Gi) To remove Interference : Another reason for not radiating modulating” signal itself is that the frequency range of audio signal is from 20 ‘Hz to 20 KHz. In iene readeasting, there are several radio stations. In case, there is no modula, tion, all these stations traasmit audio or sound signals in the range of 20 Hz to 20, KHz. Due to this transmission over same range, the programmes of different.” stations will get mixed up. + Hence, in order to keop the various signals separate, it is necessary to trans: Jate os shift them to different portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Thus each wetion is allocated a band of frequency. This also overcomes the drawback of poor radiation efficiency at low frequency. : ‘As an example, in Amplitude Modulation radio-broadeast, the maximum modu- lating signal frequency permitted is 5 KHz, Amplitude Modulation requires.a® bandwidth of 10 KHz for each station or channel. Therefore, broadcast channels gan be placed adjacent to each other, each channel occupying 10 KHz bandwidth. » Honce, different stations may be allotted bandwidths say from 790 to 800 KHz, £00 t9'810 KEfz and so on. In radio receiver, a tuned circuit at the input selects the desired station and rejects all other stations. oe (iii) Reduction of Noise : Noise is the major limitation of any communica- tion, Although noise can not be eliminated completely, but with the help of several modulation schemes, the effect of nuise can be minimized. a8 1.5. Demodulation. as tated earlior, the modulated signal is transmitted from the transmitter. ko A eaten the channel, (ic., transmission medium). The receiver receives the trav siod signal. Sinee inside the transmitter, modulation is esrrier out, there: fore, at the receiver the modulated signal must pass through a reverse process voited demodulation in o:der to reconstruct the baseband or original signal. “Thus, demodulation is the process of separating message signal from the modu- lated signal. 1.6. Radio Frequency Spectrum © Te radio communication systoms, carriers of wide range of frequencies are used for different types of serviccs. Infact, sometimes, communication systems are also: categorised in terms of fiequeney of the carrier. Radio Frequency Spectram mey Le defined as that portion of electromagnetic spectrum which is used for electronic communications. Table 11. specifies the Radio Frequency Spectrum. ‘Talle 1.1, Radio Frequency Spectrum S.No. | Frequency-R:inge Designation Abbrevation 1 30 — 300 Fz Extremely low frequency ELF 2 300 — 3000 tz Voice frequency VF 3. 3—30 KH: Very low frequency VLE 4 30 — 300 Kilz Low frequency6 = Digital Communications « 8. 300 — 3000 KHz Medium frequency MF 6. 3—30 MHz High frequency HF a 30 — 300 MHz Very high frequency VHF 8. 300 — 3000 Miz Ultra high frequency UHF 9. 3—30GHz Super high frequency SHF 10. 30 — 300 GHz Extra high frequency EHF During last few years, an increasingly bigger portion of the electromagnetic spectrum has been used for transmitting messages from one place to another place. This is due to the fact that, in electronic communication system, message is generally transmitted over the communication channel by superimposing the Pressage signal onto a high-frequency carrier signal. According to information theory, the amount of information which can be transmitted is directly related to the frequency range of the carrier signal. Actually, an increase in the carrier signal frequency theoretically increases the available transmission bandwidth and provides a greater information capacity. Hence, to increase information capacity, higher frequencies are employed, 17. Analog and Digital Signals Before we discuss Analog and digital communications, let us have a quick view of analog and digital signals. ‘The analog signal is that type of signal which varies smoothly and continu- ously with time. This means that analog signals are defined for every value of time and they take on continuous values in a given time interval. Thus, we can say that analog messages are characterized by data whose values vary over a continuous range. The signal depicted in figure 1.2 is an analog signa, In fact, for analog signal, the name-derives from the fact that such a signal is analogous to the physical signal that it represents. The vast majority of signals, in the world around us are alalog. For example, the temperature or the atmospheric pressure of a certain location may vary over a continuous range and may assume an infi- nite number of possible values. Similarly, a speech waveform is an analog signal since it has amplitudes that vary over a continuous range. (0) Fig. 1.2, An analog signal. An alternative form of signal representation is that of a sequence of numbers, cach number representing the signal magnitude at an instant of time. The result- ing signal is called a digital signal. Digital messages are constructed with a finite number of syribols. For example, the printed language consists of 26 letters, 10 numbers, a space and several punctuation marks. Therefore, any text is a digital message constructed from about 50 symbols. Now, since a digital signal is represented only by digits, therefore we can use any number system to represent a digital signal. However, in practice, we gener-EADY “Introduction y 7° ally use binary number x) system to represent a digital signal. In a bi- 45 nary system, each digit in the number takes on one of only two . Dee eae dee Logicvalues-» Old 0 1 1 0 1 70 0 spondingly, the digital Fig. 1.3. Variation of a binary digital signal with time. signals in binary systoms need have only two voltage levels which may be labled low and high. Figure 1.3. Shows a digital signal, Observe that the waveform is a pulse train with OV representing a ‘0’ signal or logic ‘0’ and + 5V representing logic ‘I’. ° 18. Conversion of Analog Signals to Digital Signals In communication systems, sometimes it happens that we are available with ana- log signal, however, we hav to transmit a digital signal for a particular applica- tion. In such cases, we hav? to convert an analog signal into digital signal. This means that we have to can“ert a continuous time signal in the form of digits. To see how a signal can be corverted from analog to digital form, let us consider an analog signal as shown in figure 1.4(a). First of all, we get sample of this signal according to sampling theo: em*. For this purpose, we mark the time-instants ¢ ty, fy and so on, at equal tir..e-intevals along the time axis. At each of these time- instants, the magnitude of he signal is measured and thus samples of the signal are taken. Figure 1.4(b) shows a representation of the signal of figure 1.4(a) in terms of its samples. ‘Now, we can say that the signal in figure 1.4(b) is defined only at the sampling instants. ‘This means that it no longer is a continuous function of time, but rather, it is a discrete-time signal. However, since the magnitude of each smaple can take any value in a continuous range, the signal in figure, 1.4.(b) is still an analog signal. ‘This difficulty is neatly resolved by a process known as quantization. In quantization, the total, amplitude range which the signal may occupy is. divided into a number of standard ‘evels. ‘As shown in figure 1.4(c), amplitudes of the signal x(¢) lie in the range (- m,, 2m, m,) which is partitioned into L intervals, each of magnitude Av = =: Now, each smaple is approximated or rounded off to the nearest quantized Jevel ‘as shown in figure. Since each samplo is now approximated to one of the L numbers, there- fore the information is digitized. The quantized signal is an approximation of the original one. We can improve the accuracy of the quantized signal to any desired degree simply by increasing the number of levels L. |8 «Digital Communications xO) 0 Sampled Md signal el Quantized signal vols ii \ Allowed quantiza me © Fig. 14.(a)An analog signal, (b) Samples of analog siagnal, (c) quantization 19. Analo, Dependin, under ; g and Digital Communication aa 6 upon the message signal, communication may also be classified as (i Analog Communication, ®) Digital Communication 1.9.1. Anat, 20 alog Communication cept ath e or iggtl98 commanication is that type of eommunteation in which the mer analagr ation signal to be transmitted is analog in nature. This Peet aaaioe NOE communication the modulating signal (ie, baseband signal) is an Bonals CmeeM a oS et Me £ = Introduction » 9. signal. This analog message signal may be obtained from sources such as speech, video shooting ete. She In Analog communication, the analog message signal modulates some high carrier frequency inside the transmitter to produce modulated signal. This modu- lated signal is then transm:tted with the help of a transmitting antenna to travel through the transmission channel. At the receiver, this modulated signal is re- ceived and processed to recover the original message signal. Figure 1.5 shows the block diagram of an analo; communication system. nates [~ in ‘Anatog = [4 Ouuae [outnut Analog | Input nalog "| Trans = jutput message} Transducer] input ©] mitter Channel |—*} Receiver "| r-ansducer | montage signal 1 es Distortion & Neise Fig. 1.5. Basic Analog Communication System. Presently all the AM, FM radio transmission and T.V. transmission are ex- amples of analog communication. 1.9.2. Digital Communicaton In digital communication, the message signal to be transmitted is digital in nature. This means that digital communication involves the transmission of in- - Yormation in digital form. 1.9.3. Model of a Digital Communication System Figure 1.6. shows the model of a digital communication system. The overall purpose of the system is to transmit the message or sequences of symbols coming out of a source to a destination point at as high a rate and accuracy as possible. ‘The source and the destination point are physically separated in space and a com~ munication channel connects the source to the destination point. The communica- tion channel accepts electrical (i.e., electromagnetic) signals and the output of the channel is usually a smeared or distorted version of the input due to the non-ideal nature of the communication channel. In addition to this, the information-bearing signal is also corrupted by unpredictable electrical signals (é.e., noise) from both man-made and natural causes. Thus, the smearing and th noise introduce errors in the information being transmitted and limits the rate at which information can be communicated from the source to the destination. Discrete — information{-»} SOU Lo Grantel L-+} Modulator -— formation) Bacoder [~~] Encoder Electrical communication channel . Source, |__| Channel stination | I+) |—+{ Demodulator] «—- Destination ; Nler{ 7) decsder | 77] Demodulator Fig. 1.6. lodel of a Digital Communication System robability of incorrectly doooping a message symbol at the receiver is often used as a measure of performance of a digital communication system,10 «Digital Communications Now let us have a detailed look at cach of the functional blocks in a digital communication system, 1.9.3.1. Diserete Information Source Information source may be classified into two categories based upon the na- ture of their output ic., analog information sources and discrete information Sources. Tn ease of analog communication, the information source is analog. Ana. log information sources, such as microphone actuated by speech, emit one or more continuous amplitude signals. Th case of digital communication, the information source produces a message signal which is not continuously varying with time, Rather the message signal is intermittent with respect to time. The output of descrete 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 tay be transformed into a discrete information source through the process of sampling and quantizing. Discrete information sources are characterized by the following parameters: (@) Source alphabet : These are the letters, digits or special characters available from the information source, (i) Symbol rate : It is the rate at which the information source generates source alphabets, It is generally repressented in symbols/sec unit. Gii) Source alphabet probabilities : Bach source alphabet from the source has independent accurrence rate in the sequence. As an example, letters A, E, I ete., occur frequently in the sequence, Hence probability of the occurrence of each source alphabet can become one of the important property which is useful in dig. ital comunication. (ie) Probabilistic dependence of symbols in a sequence : The informa: tion carrying capacity of each source alphabet is different in a particular sequence. This parameter defines average information content of the symbols. The entropy of a source describes the average information content per symbol in long mes. sages. Entropy may be defined in terms of bits per symbol. Bit is the abbreviation for a binary digit. This means that the source information rate is the product of symbol rate and source entropy ive, Information rate = Symbol rate x Source entropy (Bits/sec.) (Symbols/sce.) _(Bits/Symbol) Thus, the information rate represents minimum average data rate required to transmit information from source to the destination. 1.9.3.2. Source Encoder and Decoder The symbols produced by the information source are given to the source en- coder. These symbols cannot be transmitted directly. They are first converted into digital form (ie., binary sequence of 1’s and 0's) by the source encoder, Each binary ‘1’ and ‘0 is known as a bit. The group of bits is called a codeword. The Source encoder assigns codewords to the symbols. For each distinct symbol, there is an unique codeword, The codeword can be of 4, 8, 16 or increased in each codeword, the creased, Asan example, 8 bits would that 8-bits may be used to re represent 218 = 52 bits length. As the numbor of bits are ymbols that may be represented are also in- ¢., 266 distinet eo . This means G symbols and similarly 16 bits inay 0 on. Some typically source encoders are pres) 65536 symbols8 introauction pulse code modulators, delta modulators, vector quantizers ete. Soures ene trs must have following important parameters : ee (i) Block size : Block size describes the »naximum number of distinct codewords which can be represented by a source encoder. This depends on the number of bits in the codeword. As an example, the bolck size of 8 bits source encoder will be 28 ie, 256 codewords. fii) Codeword length Codoword length is the number of bits used to represent each codeword. As an example, if 8 bits are assigned to each codeword, tien the codeword length will be 8 bits e (iii) Average data rate Average data rate is the output bits per second from the source encoder. In fact, the source encoder assigns multiple number of bits to each input symbol. Hence the data rate is generally higher than the symbol rate. As an exmaple, if we consider that the symbols are given to the source encoder and the length of codeword is 8 bits, then the output data rate from the source encoder would be given as, - Data rate = Symbol rate x Codeword length 10x 8 Data rate = 80 bits/ Seconds Also, since the information rate is the minimum number of bits per second needed to convey informaticn from source to destination, therefore the optimum data rate is equal to the iaformation rate. However, due to practical limita- tions, designing such type cf source encoder is quite difficult. Thus, the average data rate is higher than th: information rate and hence symbo! rate also. (iv) Efficiency of the Encoder The efficiency of the excoder is the ratio of minimum source information rate to the actual output data rate of the source encoder. In last, it may be noted that at the receiver end, some sort of decoder is used to perform the reverse operation to that of source encoder. It converts the bi- nary output of the channe! decoder into a symbol sequence. Som2 decoders also use memory to store codewords. The decoders and the encoders can be synchro- nous or asynchronous. 1.9.3.3. Channel Encoder and Decoder After converting the message or intormation signal in the form of binary sequence by the source encoder, the signal is transmitted through the channel. The communication chaniel adds noise and interference to the signal being transmitted. Hence errors. are introduced in the binary sequence recvived at the receiver end. Therefore, the errors are also introduced in the symbols yenerated {r2 these binary codewords. ‘us channel coding is done to avoid these types errors. In fact, the chanzel encoder adds some redundant binary bits tothe input sequence. Also, thee redundant bits are always added with some 2 Grly defined logic, As an exainple, let us consider that the codeword from 1° tee encoder to make it 4-bits long, This fourth bit is added (he 10° such @ manner { ber of I's in the encoded word reinain even known as even p Tanle 42 gives the output ofa souree encoder, the £2 ym9 « Digital Communicalons® se $$ So sy depending on the parity and the output of channel encoder bit crinay be observed from the table that each codeword at tie ous tains “even” number of 1's. Now, at the recsiver otha , if odd der con nel encocer detected, then the recei | onevaf 1's are detected, ceiver comes to know tha is aur the recived signal. The channel decoder at the reer an ble te ror in accurate bit sequence and hanntt instruct error free ac reduce the festa vr fe effects of channel noise an Table 1.2. Output of Bit to be added by the channel Output of source encoder encoder for an even parity channel encoder bb. bg by by by by, ro 0 0 treo o 1 0 2 Oo 1041 oo 0 0 0 00 0 1a 1 triad This means that the channel encoder and decoder serve to increase the reliability of a received signal. However the extra bits which are added by the channel encoders carry no information, rather, they are used by the channel decoder to detect and correct errors if any. The coding and decoding operation at the encoder and decoder needs the memory and processing of binary data, However, in the modern time, due to use of microcontrollers and computers, the complexity of the encoders and de- coders is much reduced. A channel encoder must have the following important parameters: (i) The coding rate that depends upon the redundant bits added by the channel encoder. (i) The coding method used. ii) Coding efficiency which is the ratio of data rate at the input to the data rate at the output of the encoder. (iv) Error control capabilities. (v) Feasibility of the encoder and decoder. 19.3.4. Digital Modulators and Demodulators In articles 1.4 and 1.5, we discussed why modulators and demodulators are needed in communication systems, Now, if the modulating signal is digital (ce. binary codewords), then digital modulation techniques are used. The carrier signal used by digital modulators is always continuous sinusoidal wave of high equency. In fact, the digital modulators map the input binary sequence of 1's and 0's to the analog signal waveforms. For example, if one bit at a time Wansmitted, then digital modulator signal is 5,(0) to transmit binary ‘0 an $0) to transmit binary ‘1’ as shown in figure 1.7. ‘ herd? the signal s,(t) has low frequency compared 2o signal s,(), Horee. isa, cven though the modulated signal seems to be continuous, the ee Actatioe waiittete (i.e. in steps), This means that a signal carrier is converted » Yeforms 5(0) and s9(¢) because of digital modulation. ‘ted gba Now, if the codeword consits of two bits and they are to be transmittedCmemage or zaquonce, s, | Introduction «13 Lime, then there would be 2? i.,, 4 distinct symbols i.e., codewords. ‘Thus, these codewords will require four, distinct waveforms for transmission purpose. Such types of modulators are Fnovn ag M-ary modulators. Amplitude shift keying SK), phase shift keying (PSK), frequency shift keying (FSW), differential phase’’ shift keying (DPSK) and Minimum shift keying (MSK) ar the various digital modulators. ee ae ee fen—te-n—| Ff a foo fa | A 5D 10 Fig. 1:7. The output of a digital modulator. However, since these modulators use a continuous carrier wave, therefore they are also known as digital CW modulators. At the receiver end, the digital demodulator converts the input moodulated signal into the sequence of binary bits. A digital modulation method must have following important parameters: (i) Bandwidth needed to transmit the signal, (ii) Probatity of symbol or bit error, (iié) Synchronous or asynchrouous inethod of detection, (iv) Complexity of implementation. 1.9.3.5. Communications Channel ‘As discussed ‘earlier. the connection between transmitter and receiver is established through a communication channel. ‘The communication can take place through wirelines, wireless or fiber oplic channels, The other media such as optical disks, magnetic tapes and disks etc. may also be called as a. commu- hication channel since they can also carry data through them. However, it may be noted that each and every communication channel has some inherent prob- lems, These are : (i) Signal Attenuation : The signal attenuation in channel occurs due to the internal resistance of the channel and fading of the signal. : (ii) Amplitude and Phase distortion : The transmitted signal is dis- torted in amplitude and phase due to the non-linear characteristics of the com- munication channel. Ves (ii) Additive noise interference : Additive noise interference is’ pro- duced due to internal so’id state devices and resistors ete., uscd to implementa communication system. . (iv) Multipath distortion : The multipath distortion occurs mostly in wireless communication channels. \ In fact, the signals coming from different paths tend to interfere with each other. 1.10. Advantages and Disadvantages of Digital Communication In this section, we shall discuss the advantages and disadvantages of digital communication briefly.14 = Digital Communications « Advantages: Following are the advantages of digital communication: ( The digital communication systems are simpler and cheaper compared to analog communication systems because of the advances made in the IC technologies. (i) In digital communication, the specch, video and other data may be merged and transmitted over a common channel using multiplexing. fii) Using data encryption, only permitted receivers may be allowed to de- tect the transmitted data. This property is of its most importance in mnilitary applications, j0) Since the transmission is digital and the channel encoding is used, therefore the noise does not accumulate from repeatgr to repeater in long distance communications. \(y) Since the transmitted signal is digital in nature, therefore a large amount of noise interference may be tolerated. sy) Since in digital communication, channel coding is used, therefore the errors may be detected and corrected in the receivers. (vii) Digital communication is adaptive to other advanced branches of data processing such as digital signal processing, image processing and data compression etc. Disadvantages Although digital communication offers, so many advantages as discussed above, it has some drawbacks also. However the advantages of digital commu- sication outweight disadvantages. The disadvantages are as under : {@ Due to analog to digital conversion, the data rate becomes high. Thero- fore more transmission bandwidth is required for digital communica- tion. j) Digital communication needs synchronizatioa in case of synchronous modulation. 1.11. Baseband and BandPass Transmission As discussed earlier, the message signal generated from the information source is known as baseband signal. This baseband signal may be a combination of two or more message signals. If the baseband signal is transmitted directly, then it is known as baseband transmision. This means that the baseband trans- mission does not used modulators and demodulators. The baseband signal may be both analog as well as digital. ‘The analog baseband signal varies continuously with timo and has continu- ous amplitude. ‘The digital bascband signal is discrete in both time and ampli- tude. The baseband transmission is preferred at low frequencies and for short distances. However, Inter Symbol Interference (ISI) is the major problem asso- ciated with the baseband transmission, Now if the modulated signal is transmitted over the chaunel, it is known as bandpass or simply passband transmission, Whenever a modulating sig- nal is impressed upon a carrier, the modulated signal is produced. This modu- lated signal has fixed band of frequencies around carrier frequency. In fact, the pature of such a signal is bandpass type. Therefore, modulated signals are known as passband or bandpass signals. As an example, if a 1 kHz modulatingsignal is impressed upon 2.100 kilz carrier signal by using amplitude noi), ier chnique then two sidebands will be generated. Lower sideband willbe (100-1) i.e. 99 kHz and upper sideband will be at (100 + 1) ée., 101 kHz, st ‘Thus, the amplitude modulated signal will have frequencies from 99 kite | 101 kHz. These frequencies are bandpass type. This means that the modulated signals are also bandpass i.c., passband type. It may be noted that the bandpass transmission is generally used at-high frequencies and for long distances, All television and satellite transmission are bandpass type. The bandpass transmission may be both analog and digital: It the digital signal modulates the carrier, then it is known as digital passband transmission. 1.12, Fundamental Limitations of Communication System While designing a communication system, an engineer generally faces several constraints or limitations, These are noise limitation, bandwidth limitation and equipment limitation. 1.12.1, Noise Limitation ‘The noise may be defined as an unwanted form of energy which tend to inter- fere with the transmission and reception of the desired signals in a communica: tion system. The noise cannot be eliminated completely. However, the effect of noise on desired signals can be minimised with the help of several tech-* niques. Noise can be classi:ied into two broad categories depending upon its source: external noise and interna) noise. External noise is that type of noise whose sources ‘are external to a communication system. The examples of external noise are at- mospherie noise, galactic wise and industrial noise. On the other. hand, internal noise is that type of noise whose sources are internal to a communication system, ‘The examples of internal roise are thermal noise and shot noise. This type of noise js inevitable in every comraunication system and forms a basic limitation on trans- mission and reception of signals. Infact, the noise limits our ability to identify the intended or desired message correctly and thus limits information transmission. Typical noise variations are measured in microvolts. if the signal variations are quite large in comparison, then the effect of noise is very small and may be ignored. Infact, in many practical communication systems, :he effect of noise is generally unnoticeable. However, in ong-distance communicaion systems operating with a limited amount of signal power, the signal may be as small as noise or even smaller than the noise. Thus, jin such cases, the presence of noise severally limits the capabilities of a ‘communi- cation system. 1.12.2. Bandwidth Limitation Tn addition to noise, the bandwidth limitation is another major constraint int communication system. The frequency range or the band of frequency needed for a particular given transmission is known as bandwidth. This band of fret" cies required for a particular transmission is also called channel. This ban!” frequencies or bandwidth for a particular transmission is always allocated = some International regulatory agencies. ‘This type of regulation is essent avoid intorferonce among the signals having same frequency. But, fo *& transmission, this allocated bandwidth may not be sufficient to convey the em information. __ Infact, the information theory states that the greater is the transmissie? width of a communication system, the more is the information that can Meo mitted. Let us consider a simple example. Suppose one is listening 0 ® jon bam a16 pigital Communi cations ve. The complete amount of information available to the ; on AM a a teequency range upto 15 KHz, ie., musical internat nee it contait frequency. of 15 KHz. However, in AM radio the maximum modulati - unl fe resiieted unt 5 KHz and hence the maximum bandwidth of Att cea eneY ig 10 KHz. te, ‘um AM radio receiver cannot reproduce all the information con- canerermuse becase this will require a bandwidth of 30 KHz, On the other tsne ne git allocated a PM transmission is about 200 KH, Thus on hand, the gan easily reproduce tho transmitted information without any distr- receiver ans that a FM system has a better fidelity than an AM system. Also, m "ed in common life that one prefers to listen to a FM radio than an observ’ efers | s we can conclude that bandwidth is a major fundamental limita- uunication system. tiot itmay be ‘AM radio. Thu n of a comm 112.3. Equipment Limitation ‘the noise and bandwidth limitations dictate theoretically what can or cannot be achieved in terms of performance in a communication system. However, this | limit may not be realised in a practical system due to equipment limi- tations. For example, theory might require a band-pass filter with a quality factor off100 at a centre frequency of i KHz. Such a filter cannot be realised in practice. ven ifa filter with nearly identical characteristics is built, the cost may exceed what the user of the communication system wants to pay. Thus equipment limita- tion is another major problem in a communication system. tion theoretical 1.13. Historical Perspective The evolution of Modern Electronic Communication The ele.tronic communication has undergone through a chain of dramatic developments even since the first electronic communication invented by Morse in 1838. However, it may be noted that this development became possible due to the parallel development in the field of electronic devices, circuits etc. To provide his- torical perspective, the important developments in the field of electronic communi- cation are listed ahead : Table 1.3 : A Chronology of Electronic Communication Development Year 1800-1837 | Preliminary developments 1838 The invention of telegraphy 1845 ‘The Kirchoff's circuit laws enunciated 1864 Maxwell's equations predict electromagnetic radiation, ° 1876 The invention of telephony 1887 ‘The invention of wireless telegraphy 1904 Communication Electronics ed Transmission theory iooy_ | vention of television . Federal communications commission established 193; m ibag | Teletypewriter service initiated ; 1036 | TES: Black devetops the negative-feedback amplifier Armstrong's paper states the ease for FM radio 1937 Pulse code modulation 1938 : SL Radar and microwave communieation | __————~sw Introduction ».17. 1948 | Informatior theory and coding 4950 | Time-divisiin multiplexing applied to telephony 4953 | Colour T.V. Standards established in United States : 156 _ | Firat transcceanie states telephone cablo (96 voice channels) 1958 | Long-distance data transmission system developed for military purposes. 1960 | Maiman demonstrated the first Laser ; 1961 | Intograted circuits go into commercial production. 1962 | Satellite coimunication bogins with Telestar T 1962-1966 | High-speed digital communication. 1963 | Solid-state microwave oscillators 1964 | Full electronic telephone switching system goes into service. 1965 | Mariner IV transmitts pictures from Mars to earth. 1966-1975 | Wideband communication systems 1979 | Intercity optical links 1988 | Under sea fiber optical link (PR Review Questions ; LS 1s of a communication system ? ‘and explain the function ofeach What are the basic constituen! 2. Draw the block diagram of a communication system block. What is meant by the term ‘Channel’ as applied to a communication system? Why is a high-frequency carrier needed in a commyn ion system ? Explain the need for modulation in a commun sation system 7 Explain the radio frequency spectrum used in ‘communication system. Explain the difference between Analog and Digital communications. How will you convert in analog signal into a digital signal. igri m of a digital communication system and explain the function 9. Draw the block of each block. 10. Write the advantages and disa: | Explain the differenc: between baseband transmission and bandpa: =] °\ —— Tm | Objective Type Questions frequency used in AM broadca: .s of a digital communication system. \lvantage: ss transmission. Find the correct choice ist system is 1. The highest modulating (a) 10 KH (6) 15 KHz () 5Khz (@) 2 MHz 2, ‘The high frequency (UF) range ‘extends from (a) 300-3000 KHz (b) 3-30 MHz (d) 300-3000 MHz. (©) 30-300 MHz