Chapter 1: Communication System

Introduction
Communications

⚫ Communications
Transfer of information from one place to another.
Should be efficient, reliable and secured.
“A communication system is a process of conveying
information from a source to a destination”

⚫ Communication system
Components/subsystems act together to
accomplish information transfer/exchange
“An electronic communication system is transferring
information using an electrical field as a mean of signal”

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Requirements
⚫ Rate of information transfer
⚫ The rate of information transfer is defined as the amount of
information that must be communicated from source to
destination.
⚫ It will determined the physical form and technique used to
transmit and receive information and therefore determines
the way system is designed and constructed

⚫ Purity of signal received

⚫ The received signal must be the same as the transmitted
signal

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Requirements
⚫ Simplicity of the system
⚫ Any communication system must be convenient in order to be
effective and efficient and easy to use

⚫ Reliability
⚫ Users must be able to depend on a communication system. It
must work when needed and transmit and receive information
without errors or with an acceptable error.

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Elements of Communication system

Input
Message Input Transmitter
Transducer

noise Channel

Output Transmission
Message Output medium
Receiver
Transducer

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Elements of Communication system
⚫ Input Transducer
To convert the message to a form suitable for the
particular type of communication system.

Eg: Speech waves are converted to voltage

variation by a microphone.

⚫ Transmitter
Processes the input signal → to produce a transmitted signal that
suited the characteristic of transmission channel.
eg: modulation, coding

Other functions performed:

Amplification, filtering
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Elements of Communication system
⚫ Channel (Transmission medium)
A medium that bridges the distance from source to destination.
eg: Atmosphere (free space), coaxial cable, fiber optic,
waveguide
Signal undergoes degradation from noise, interference and distortion.

⚫ Transmission systems can be evaluated according to five (5) main

criteria:

→ Capacity → Performance
→ Distance → Security
→ Cost which include installation, operation and maintenance

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Elements of Communication system

The two main categories of channel commonly used are:

⚫ Line (conducted media)

⚫ The channel is made up metallic cable (such as coaxial
cable, twisted pair, parallel wires, and others) or fibre optic
cable.

⚫ Free space or radiated media

⚫ This is the medium where the transmission of signal is
carried out by the propagation of electromagnet wave.
⚫ The main applications are in radio broadcasting,
microwaves and satellites transmission systems.

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Elements of Communication system

• Loses in medium of transmission

• However, each medium introduces losses termed as

attenuation, distortion and adds noise to some degree to the
transmitted signal. The amount of attenuation, distortion and
noise depends on the type of transmission medium used.

• There is normally no signal processing in the transmission

medium, it is just the medium where the transmitter is
connected to the receiver.

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Elements of Communication system

⚫ Receiver
To extract the desired signal from the output channel and to
convert it to a form suitable for the output transducer.
eg: Demodulation, decoding

Other functions performed:

Amplification, filtering.

⚫ Output Transducer
Converts the electrical signal at its input into a form desired by
the system used.
Eg: Loudspeaker, PC and tape-recorders.

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Losses in Communication System
Various unwanted undesirable effect crop up in transmissions

⚫ Attenuation
⚫ Reduces signal strength at the receiver

⚫ Distortion
⚫ Waveform perturbation caused by imperfect response of the
system to the desired signal itself
⚫ Equalizer can be used to reduced the effect

⚫ Interference
⚫ Contamination by extraneous signals from human sources

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Losses in Communication System

⚫ Noise
⚫ Random and unpredictable electrical signals from internal or
external to the system
⚫ The term SNR (signal to noise ratio) is used to measure
performance (noise) relative to an information analog signal
⚫ The term BER (Bit Error Rate) is used in digital system to
measure the deterioration of the signal

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Analog vs. Digital
The signal can be analog or digital message:
⚫ Analog
⚫ Continuous Variation

- Assumes the total range of frequencies/time

⚫ All information is transmitted.

⚫ Digital
⚫ Takes samples

- non-continuous stream of on/off pulses

⚫ Translates to 1s and 0s

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 Analog Vs Digital
(Advantages and Disadvantages)
Digital CS Analog CS

Advantages: Disadvantages:
⚫ Inexpensive ⚫ Expensive
⚫ Privacy preserved (Data ⚫ No privacy preserved
encrypt.) ⚫ Cannot merge different data
⚫ Can merge different data ⚫ No error correction capability
⚫ Error correction

Disadvantages: Advantages:
⚫ Larger bandwidth ⚫ Smaller bandwidth
⚫ Synchronization problem is ⚫ Synchronization problem is
relatively difficult. relatively easier.

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Baseband vrs Modulated Signal

⚫ Baseband Signal
⚫ Base band signal is the modulating signal/original information
signal either in a digital or analog form (intelligent/message) in
communication system
Example: voice signal (300Hz – 3400Hz)

⚫ Transmission of original information whether analog or digital,

directly into transmission medium is called baseband
transmission.

⚫ Modulated Signal
⚫ Modulated signal is baseband signal which its original frequency
is shifted to higher frequency to facilitate transmission
purposes
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Block Diagram of Modulation Process

Baseband MODULATION Modulated

signal PROCESS signal

Carrier

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Baseband Transmission

⚫ The need of baseband transmission:

⚫ The concepts and parameter of baseband transmission are

used in modulated transmission
⚫ Performance of baseband transmission is used as the standard
for comparing modulation techniques

⚫ Baseband signal is not suitable for long distance communication

because:

⚫ Hardware limitation (eg: requires very long antenna)

⚫ Interference with other waves

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Modulation
⚫ Modulation –

Process of changing baseband signals to facilitate

the transmission medium

⚫ Process of modulation

⚫ Frequency translation such as AM, FM, PM etc

⚫ Sampling and coding such as PAM, PCM etc
⚫ Keying such as ASK, FSK etc

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Modulation
⚫ Types of modulation :

⚫ Analogue modulations are frequency translation method

caused by changing the appropriate quantity in a carrier signal

⚫ Digital modulation is the result of changing analogue signal

into binary ones by sampling and coding

⚫ Keying modulations are digital signals subsequently

modulated by the frequency modulation by using one or other
analogue method

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Why Modulate?

⚫ Reduce noise and interference

⚫ By using proper frequency where noise and interference are
at minimum
⚫ Increasing power is costly and may damage equipment

⚫ Frequency Assignment
⚫ For TV and radio broadcasting, each station has a different
assigned carrier

⚫ Multiplexing
⚫ Combining several signals for simultaneous transmission on
one channel by placing each signal on different carrier
frequency

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Electromagnetic Frequency Spectrum

⚫ The electromagnetic frequency spectrum is divided into

⚫ subsections, or bands, with each band having a different
name and boundary

⚫ The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) is an

international agency in control of allocating frequencies and
services within the overall frequency spectrum

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Electromagnetic Frequency Spectrum

⚫ In the United State, the Federal Communications Commission

(FCC) assigns frequencies and communications services for free
space radio propagation

# Speed of electromagnetic wave = speed of light, c = 3.0x108 ms-1

f = freq
λ = wavelength
c = f

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24/09/17 Nurul/DEE3413/Intro to Com. Sys. 23
Radio Communication System

⚫ It is wireless communication system

⚫ The information is being carried by the electromagnetic waves,

which is propagated in free space

⚫ Electromagnetic waves are waves that travel at the speed of light

and made up of an electrical field and magnetic field at right
angles to one another and to the direction of propagation

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Radio Communication System

Transmitting Receiving
antenna antenna

Transmitter Receiver

Block diagram of a radio communication system

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Propagation Waves

There are three main type of propagations:

⚫ Ground wave propagation

⚫ Dominants mode for frequencies below 2 MHz
⚫ The movement tend to follow the contour of the earth with
large antenna size

⚫ Sky-wave propagation
⚫ Dominants mode for frequencies between 2 – 30 MHz range
⚫ Coverage is obtained by reflection the wave at ionosphere
and at the earth boundaries
⚫ This is because the index refractions of the ionosphere
varies with the altitude as the ionization density changes

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Propagation Waves

⚫ There are areas of no coverage along the earth surface

between transmitting and receiving antenna
⚫ The angle of reflection and the loss of signal depend on the
frequency, time, season, activities of the sun etc

⚫ Space wave propagation (LOS)

⚫ Dominants mode for frequencies above 30 MHz where in
propagates in straight line
⚫ No refraction and can almost propagates through ionosphere

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Satellite Communication

⚫ Satellite employs LOS radio transmission over very long distance

⚫ It offers brad coverage even across the ocean and can handle
bulk of very long distance telecommunication

Satellite
down-link
uplink

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Historical Development

Year Events
1844 Telegraph
1876 Telephone
1904 AM Radio
1923 Television
1936 FM Radio
1962 Satellite
1966 Optical links using laser and fiber optics
1972 Cellular Telephone

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Historical Development
Year Events
1975 First digital telephone switch
1975 Wideband communication system (cable TV etc)
1980 Compact disc is developed by Philip & Sony
1981 FCC adopts rules for commercial cellular telephone
1982 Internet is used to replace ARPANET
1985 Fax machines widely available in offices
1989 First SONET standard optical fiber products released
1990 WWW becomes part of the internet
1990-2000 Digital communication system (ISDN, BISDN, HDTV,
handheld computers, digital cellular etc Global
telecom system

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Limitation in a Communication System

There are two categories of limitations:

⚫ Technological constraint
⚫ Equipment ability
⚫ Economy and cost factor
⚫ National and international law and agreement as well as
standardization (such as ITU etc)
⚫ Interaction with existing system
⚫ Physical constraint
⚫ Bandwidth
⚫ The difference between the upper frequency and lower
frequency of the signal or the equipment operation range
⚫ Noise
⚫ Any unwanted electrical energy present in the usable passband
of a communication circuit

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