ETEG 302

Lecture 1
Anup Thapa, PhD
Dept. of EE, KU, Dhulikhel, Nepal
26 Sept.,

Dept. of EE
Kathmandu University

2016

ETEG 302

Communication Systems
AM/FM radio
issues
TV
Cellular

Throughput

WMAN

Delay

WLAN

Fairness

WPAN

Energy

WBAN

Security

mmWave
THz
Dept. of EE
Kathmandu University

ETEG 302

Communication Systems History

1830
1876
1901:
1906
1923-1938
1936
1938-1945
1948-1950
1953:
1962
1962-1966
1972
1985
1990s

Dept. of EE
Kathmandu University

Telegraph:
Telephony:
First transatlantic radio telegraph by Marconi
Radio: AM
Television: Monochrome
Armstrongs case of FM radio
World War II Radar and microwave systems
Information Theory and coding. C. E. Shannon
Color TV
Satellite communications begins with Telstar I.
High Speed digital communication
Motorola develops cellular telephone.
Fax Machines
GPS, HDTV
ETEG 302

Communication Systems Overview

Communication is the transfer of information from one place to
another.
However, This should be done
- as efficiently as possible
- with as much reliability as possible
- as securely as possible

Efficiently Vs.
Reliability ???

Communication System: Components/subsystems act together

to accomplish information transfer/exchange.

Dept. of EE
Kathmandu University

ETEG 302

Communication Systems
Source
Input
Transducer

Distortion
and noise
Transmitter

Channel

Receiver

Output
Transducer

Destination

A source originates a message, such as a human voice, a television picture,

a teletype message and so on.
The message is converted by an input transducer into an electrical
waveform (baseband signal).
The transmitter modifies the baseband signal for efficient transmission
(A/D, encoder, and a modulator).
The channel is a medium such as a coaxial cable, an optical fiber, a radio
link.
The receiver processes the signal received to undo modifications made at the
transmitter and the channel (D/A, decoder, and a demodulator).
The output transducer convert the signal into the original form.
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Kathmandu University

ETEG 302

Channel
A channel is a physical medium that behaves partly like a filter that
generally attenuates the signal and distorts the transmitted waveforms.
The signal attenuation increase with the length of channel.
Signal waveforms are distorted because of physical phenomena such
as frequency-dependent gains, multipath effects, and Doppler shift.

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Kathmandu University

ETEG 302

Attenuation
Attenuation can be known as the power loss of a signal travelling
through any media. It is a natural phenomenon and occurred due
to the wave characteristics such as refraction, reflection and
diffraction. For instance, sound waves containing our voice
cannot be heard at long distances due to attenuation.
Naturally, attenuation happens exponentially with the travelled
distance. Hence, usually measured in decibels per unit length,
which is a logarithmic unit. Amplifiers are used to remove the
effect of attenuation and repeaters are used to transmit the
reconstructed signals.
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Kathmandu University

ETEG 302

Distortion
Distortion is known as the alternation of the original signal. This may
happen due to the properties of the medium. There are many types of
distortion such as amplitude distortion, harmonic distortion, and phase
distortion. For electromagnetic waves polarization distortions also
occurs. When the distortion occurs, shape of the waveform is
changed.
Signal waveforms are distorted because of physical phenomena such
as frequency-dependent gains, multipath effects, and Doppler shift.

Dept. of EE
Kathmandu University

ETEG 302

Channel
Therefore, a channel is a physical medium that behaves partly like a
filter that generally attenuates the signal and distorts the transmitted
waveforms.

In addition to the signal

distortion, the signal could
be corrupted along the path
by undesirable interferences
and disturbances termed as

noise.
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Kathmandu University

ETEG 302

Channel Noise
Interfering signals are random and are unpredictable from sources
both external and internal.
External Sources: Interference signals transmitted on nearby channels,
human-made noise generated by faulty contact switches of used
electrical equipment, fluorescent lights or natural noise from
lightening, microwave ovens, cellphone emissions and so on.
Internal Sources: Thermal motion of charged particles in conductors,
random emission, and diffusion or recombination of charged carriers
in electronic devices.
External noise can be minimized and eliminated however internal
noise although can be minimized, never can be eliminated.
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Kathmandu University

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ETEG 302

Wireless Communication Signal

To be transmitted, Information (Data) must

be transformed to electromagnetic signals.

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Kathmandu University

ETEG 302

Electromagnetic Spectrum

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Kathmandu University

ETEG 302

Radio Wave Propagation Modes

1 Ground Wave Propagation
Follows contour of the earth Can Propagate considerable distances
Frequencies up to 2 MHz Example : AM radio

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Kathmandu University

ETEG 302

Radio Wave Propagation Modes

2 Sky Wave Propagation
Signal reflected from ionized layer
of atmosphere. Signal can travel
a number of hops, back and forth
Examples SW radio
3 Line-of-Sight Propagation
Transmitting and receiving antennas
must be within line of sight
example
Satellite communication
Ground communication
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Kathmandu University

ETEG 302

Communication Signal Types

Data can be analog or digital.

Analog data are continuous and take
continuous values.
Digital data have discrete states and take
discrete values.

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Kathmandu University

ETEG 302

Analog and Digital Messages

Digital messages are constructed with a finite
number of symbols. Example: a Morse-coded
telegraph message (dot and dash).
Analog messages are characterized by data whose
values vary over a continuous range. For example,
the temperature of a certain location.
Communication system could be analog or digital
but recently digital is dominating and replacing
Analog
Early Telephone Vs VoIP
Broadcast television Vs Digital Channels
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Kathmandu University

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ETEG 302

Difference between Analog and Digital Signal

Analog Signals

Digital Signals

Continuous

Discrete

Infinite range of values

Finite range of values

More exact values, but more

difficult to work with

Not as exact as analog, but

easier to work with

Example: A digital thermostat in a room displays a temperature of 72.

An analog thermometer measures the room temperature at 72.482. The
analog value is continuous and more accurate, but the digital value is
more than adequate for the application and significantly easier to process
electronically.
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Kathmandu University

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ETEG 302

Analog and Digital Signal Application

Applications:
Analog
Thermometer.
photocopiers
old land-line telephones
audio tapes
VCRs (same as TV)
Digital:
PCs, PDAs
Mobile Phones.

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Kathmandu University

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ETEG 302

Digital Over Analog

If we look at the latest electronic communication products, newer digital
technology which is also better is replacing the old analog technology Agree ?

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Kathmandu University

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ETEG 302

Digital Over Analog

If we look at the latest electronic communication products, newer digital
technology which is also better is replacing the old analog technology Agree ?

E.g. Cellular communication (AMPS to GSM, WCDMA)

VHS cassette system to DVD
CRT to HD TV
Telephone to VoIP

Then, Why are digital technologies better?

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Kathmandu University

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ETEG 302

Digital Over Analog

Why are digital technologies better?
-Economic (Semi Conductors..Microprocessors..Fast..Easy)
-Quality (Comparatively Immune to noise)
-Signal Regeneration
-Use of Repeaters
-Digital Source Coding
-Error Correction

-Others
Editing
Data Storage
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Kathmandu University

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ETEG 302

Analog-to-Digital (A/D) Conversion

An analog signal is converted to a digital signal by means of
an analog to digital (A/D) converter.
Digital signal are more robust to noise.

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Kathmandu University

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ETEG 302

Analog-to-Digital (A/D) Conversion

Two steps take place in A/D conversion: a continuous time signal is first
sampled into a discrete time signal, whose continuous amplitude is then
quantized into a discrete level signal.
Each sample is
approximated or
rounded off to the
nearest
quantization level.
sampling interval
is T, not shown in
figure

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Kathmandu University

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ETEG 302

Analog-to-Digital (A/D) Conversion

Accuracy of the quantized signal can be improved
by increasing the number of levels L.

For intelligibility of voice signals, L=8 or 16 is

sufficient. For commercial use, L=32 is minimum,
and for telephone communication, L =128 or 256
is commonly used.

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Kathmandu University

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ETEG 302

Pulse Coded Modulation

Pulse-code modulation (PCM) is a
method used to digitally represent
sampled analog signals.
One information bit refers to one
binary digit 1 or 0.

L quantization level could be

represented by an ordered combination
of 1 or 0.
Combination order becomes log2L.
If L=16, then each quantized level can
be described uniquely by 4 bits.
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Kathmandu University

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ETEG 302

Digital Vs. Analog Communication

Digital Communication System

Analog Communication System
Advantage :
Disadvantages :
inexpensive digital circuits
expensive analog components
secured (data encryption)
less secured
can merge different data (voice, video and
data) and transmit over a common digital
can not merge data from diff. sources
transmission system
no error correction capability
error correction by coding
Disadvantages :

larger bandwidth
synchronization problem
difficult

Dept. of EE
Kathmandu University

Advantages :

is

relatively

smaller bandwidth
synchronization problem
easier

is

relatively

ETEG 302

Modulation and Detection

Analog signal generated by the message sources or digital signals
generated through A/D conversion of analog signals are often referred to
as baseband signals.
Baseband signals may be directly transmitted over a suitable channel
(e.g., telephone, fax), however depending upon the channel and signal
frequency domain characteristics, baseband signals produced by various
information sources are not always suitable for direct transmission over
a given channel.

As such they should be matched.

Moving channel ?
Moving message ?
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Kathmandu University

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ETEG 302

Modulation and Detection

For suitable transmission, message signals must be moved to the right
channel frequency bandwidth. And the process is called modulation.

Modulation: In electronics and telecommunications, modulation is the

process of varying one or more properties of a periodic waveform, called the
carrier signal, with a modulating signal that typically contains information to
be transmitted.

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Kathmandu University

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ETEG 302

Modulation and Detection

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Kathmandu University

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ETEG 302

&
Discussion
&
END
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Kathmandu University

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ETEG 302