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Early beginnings - It is impossible to say exactly where the story of radio starts. The early
scientists who saw and investigated the effects of electricity and magnetism were crucial to the
story. But a number of people also noticed effects that were probably caused by radio waves.
Galvani is thought to have witnessed the effects of electromagnetic waves as he was investigating
the conduction of electricity. Others too including Henry, Edison and others may also have
witnessed effects as well.
Maxwell proves the existence of e/m waves - It was James Clerk Maxwell who first proved the
existence of an electromagnetic (e/m) wave. He proved it mathematically, and published his
findings in a number of papers. Much of this early work was performed whilst he was at Kings
College London. His work was summarised in a book entitled "Treatise on Electricity and
Magnetism." In 1871 Maxwell moved to Cambridge where he became the first director of the
Cavendish Research Laboratory.
1887 Hertz discovers radio waves - In a series of experiments started in 1887 Heinrich Hertz
proved the physical existence of radio waves that Maxwell had shown to exist mathematically. His
transmitter consisted of a simple spark gap across an induction coil with a loop of wire to act as an
antenna. The receiver consisted of a smaller gap in a loop the same size as that in the transmitter.
In his experiments Hertz also discovered many of their properties. The results of his experiments
performed in 1887-8 were published between 1888-90. Whilst other people had seen the effects
before, nobody had realised what they were, and Hertz is rightly credited with having discovered
radio or Hertzian waves as they were first called.
1894 The coherer is popularised - The coherer, an item used to detect radio waves took many
years to develop with the earliest observations dating back to 1850. The first person to use the
idea of the coherer was a Frenchman named Edouard Branly. He discovered that the resistance
of a glass tube filled with metal filings fell to a few hundred ohms when an electrical discharge
occurred nearby. The filings could then be "de-cohered" by a sharp tap on the tube. These devices
were effective in detecting the transmissions of a spark transmitter. The idea was popularised by
Oliver Lodge, especially as a result of a lecture he gave in 1894.
1894 Marconi's first experiments - In the autumn of 1894 Marconi performed his first
experiments with radio waves in the attic of his parents house in Bologna. Initially he was only able
to achieve distances of a few metres, but he made significant progress, steadily increasing the
distance over which he send the signals. He managed to send signals over a distance of about 2
kilometres, and realising the possibilities of the system for maritime communications he gave a
demonstration to the Italian authorities. Unfortunately they were not impressed, and as a result
Marconi moved to England.
1897 Marconi demonstrates radio waves travel over water - Marconi gave his first public
demonstrations in December 1896. One major use for radio could be in crossing stretches of water.
Cables were expensive and very vulnerable. Accordingly in the summer of 1897 Marconi set up a
link spanning the 14 kilometres of the Bristol Channel. After this Marconi put on many other
demonstrations and gave lectures: many were to the press and in this way he was able to gain the
maximum amount of publicity. It also stimulated the interest of other experimenters.
1899 First cross channel link - Marconi steadily increased the range of his wireless system. In
the spring of 1899 a first link was set up to cross the English Channel between an existing station
at South Foreland in England and a station set up at Wimereux near Bologne in France. This was
the first international wireless transmission. Another demonstration was organised later in the year
and it was found that the signals from Wimereux could be heard back at Marconi's factory in
Chelmsford over 130 kilometres away.
1901 First transatlantic transmission - With the successes in using radio waves to cross the
English channel Marconi turned his eyes towards greater distances and being able to send
messages across the Atlantic. If he could succeed in this he would be able to use his system to
send messages across the Atlantic more cheaply than using a cable, and also keep in contact with
ships over vast distances. Marconi started this venture by setting up stations at Polhu in Cornwall
England and Cape Cod in Massachussetts, USA. Storms destroyed the huge antennas at both
sites, and Marconi rebuilt the antenna at Poldhu, but relocated the station from Cape Cod to a site
in Newfoundland. However the letter "S" being transmitted by the station in England was just
received although with great difficulty in Newfoundland on 12th December 1901.
Over the years, many different types of radio receiver have been designed.The different types of
receiver have arisen out of the needs of the day and the technology available.
Early radio receivers had poor performance compared to those used today. Nowadays with
advanced techniques like digital signal processing, and high performance semiconductors and
other components, very high performance radios are commonplace.
Each application has its own requirements and as a result, many different types of radio receiver
are needed.
Some radio receiver types are much simpler than others, whereas some have higher levels of
performance and are not confined by space as much.
In view of the huge difference in requirements and performance levels needed, many different
types of radio can be seen these days.
Radio receiver types
Many of the different radio receiver types have been around for many years. The component
technology, and in particular semiconductor technology has surged forwards enabling much higher
levels of performance to be achieved in a much smaller space.
• Tuned radio frequency, TRF : This type of radio receiver was one of the first that was
used. The very first radio receivers of this type simply consisted of a tuned circuit and a
detector. Crystal sets were early forms of TRF radios. . . . . . . Read more about the How does
a crystal radio work
Later amplifiers were added to boost the signal level, both at the radio frequencies and
audio frequencies. There were several problems with this form of receiver. The main one
was the lack of selectivity. Gain / sensitivity was also an use. . . . . . Read more about
the TRF Radio Receiver
• Regenerative receiver: The regenerative radio receiver significantly improved the levels of
gain and selectivity obtainable. It used positive feedback and ran at the point just before
oscillation occurred. In this way a significant multiplication in the level of "Q" of the tuned circuit
was gained. Also major improvements in gain were obtained this way. . . . . . Read more about
the Regen Radio Receiver
• Super regenerative receiver: The super regenerative radio receiver takes the concept of
regeneration a stage further. Using a second lower frequency oscillation within the same stage,
this second oscillation quenches or interrupts the oscillation of the main regeneration – typically
at frequencies of around 25 kHz or so above the audio range. In this way the main regeneration
can be run so that the stage is effectively in oscillation where it provides very much higher levels
of gain. Using the second quench oscillation, the effects of running the stage in oscillation are
not apparent to the listener, although it does emit spurious signals which can cause interference
locally. Gain levels of over a million are not uncommon using this type of radio receiver. . . . .
. Read more about the Super-Regenerative Radio Receiver
• Superheterodyne receiver: The superheterodyne form of radio receiver was developed to
provide additional levels of selectivity. It uses the heterodyne or mixing process to convert
signals done to a fixed intermediate frequency. Changing the frequency of the local oscillator
effectively tunes the radio. . . . . . Read more about the Superheterodyne Radio Receiver
• Direct conversion receiver: This type of radio format converts the signal directly down to the
baseband frequency. Initially it was used for AM, Morse (CW) and SSB transmissions, but now
it is widely used for digital communications where IQ demodulators are used to take advantage
of the variety of phase shift keying, PSK, and quadrature amplitude modulation, QAM signals.
Many of these different types of radio receiver are in widespread use today. Each type of radio has
its own characteristics that lend its use to particular applications.
COGNITIVE RADIO
cognitive radio (CR) is a radio that can be programmed and configured dynamically to use the
best wireless channels in its vicinity. Such a radio automatically detects available channels in wireless
spectrum, then accordingly changes its transmission or reception parameters to allow more
concurrent wireless communications in a given spectrum band at one location. This process is a form
of dynamic spectrum management.
Description
In response to the operator's commands, the cognitive engine is capable of configuring radio-
system parameters. These parameters include "waveform, protocol, operating frequency, and
networking". This functions as an autonomous unit in the communications environment,
exchanging information about the environment with the networks it accesses and other cognitive
radios (CRs). A CR "monitors its own performance continuously", in addition to "reading the
radio's outputs"; it then uses this information to "determine the RF environment, channel
conditions, link performance, etc.", and adjusts the "radio's settings to deliver the required quality
of service subject to an appropriate combination of user requirements, operational limitations,
and regulatory constraints"[1].
Some "smart radio" proposals combine wireless mesh network—dynamically changing the path
messages take between two given nodes using cooperative diversity; cognitive radio—
dynamically changing the frequency band used by messages between two consecutive nodes on
the path; and software-defined radio—dynamically changing the protocol used by message
between two consecutive nodes.
J. H. Snider, Lawrence Lessig, David Weinberger, and others say that low power "smart" radio is
inherently superior to standard broadcast radio.
Technology
Although cognitive radio was initially thought of as a software-defined radio extension (full
cognitive radio), most research work focuses on spectrum-sensing cognitive radio
(particularly in the TV bands). The chief problem in spectrum-sensing cognitive radio is
designing high-quality spectrum-sensing devices and algorithms for exchanging spectrum-
sensing data between nodes. It has been shown that a simple energy detector cannot
guarantee the accurate detection of signal presence,[15] calling for more sophisticated
spectrum sensing techniques and requiring information about spectrum sensing to be
regularly exchanged between nodes. Increasing the number of cooperating sensing nodes
decreases the probability of false detection.
Filling free RF bands adaptively, using OFDMA, is a possible approach. Timo A. Weiss and
Friedrich K. Jondral of the University of Karlsruhe proposed a spectrum pooling system, in
which free bands (sensed by nodes) were immediately filled by OFDMA subbands.
Applications of spectrum-sensing cognitive radio include emergency-
network and WLAN higher throughput and transmission-distance extensions. The evolution
of cognitive radio toward cognitive networks is underway; the concept of cognitive networks is
to intelligently organize a network of cognitive radios.
Functions
The main functions of cognitive radios are:
• Power Control: Power control[19] is usually used for spectrum sharing CR systems to
maximize the capacity of secondary users with interference power constraints to protect the
primary users.
• Spectrum sensing: Detecting unused spectrum and sharing it, without harmful interference to
other users; an important requirement of the cognitive-radio network is to sense empty
spectrum. Detecting primary users is the most efficient way to detect empty spectrum.
Spectrum-sensing techniques may be grouped into three categories:
• Transmitter detection: Cognitive radios must have the capability to determine if a signal
from a primary transmitter is locally present in a certain spectrum. There are several
proposed approaches to transmitter detection:
• Matched filter detection
• Energy detection: Energy detection is a spectrum sensing method that detects the
presence/absence of a signal just by measuring the received signal power.[20] This
signal detection approach is quite easy and convenient for practical implementation.
To implement energy detector, however, noise variance information is required. It
has been shown that an imperfect knowledge of the noise power (noise uncertainty)
may lead to the phenomenon of the SNR wall, which is a SNR level below which the
energy detector can not reliably detect any transmitted signal even increasing the
observation time.[21] It[22] has also been shown that the SNR wall is not caused by the
presence of a noise uncertainty itself, but by an insufficient refinement of the noise
power estimation while the observation time increases.
• Cyclostationary-feature detection: These type of spectrum sensing algorithms are
motivated because most man-made communication signals, such
as BPSK, QPSK, AM, OFDM, etc. exhibit cyclostationary behavior.[23] However, noise
signals (typically white noise) do not exhibit cyclostationary behavior. These detectors
are robust against noise variance uncertainty. The aim of such detectors is to exploit
the cyclostationary nature of man-made communication signals buried in noise.
Cyclostationary detectors can be either single cycle or multicycle cyclostatonary.
• Wideband spectrum sensing: refers to spectrum sensing over large spectral bandwidth,
typically hundreds of MHz or even several GHz. Since current ADC technology cannot afford
the high sampling rate with high resolution, it requires revolutional techniques, e.g.,
compressive sensing and sub-Nyquist sampling.[24]
• Cooperative detection: Refers to spectrum-sensing methods where information from
multiple cognitive-radio users is incorporated for primary-user detection[25]
• Interference-based detection
• Null-space based CR: With the aid of multiple antennas, CR detects the null-space of the
primary-user and then transmits within the null-space, such that its subsequent transmission
causes less interference to the primary-user
• Spectrum management: Capturing the best available spectrum to meet user communication
requirements, while not creating undue interference to other (primary) users. Cognitive
radios should decide on the best spectrum band (of all bands available) to meet quality of
service requirements; therefore, spectrum-management functions are required for cognitive
radios. Spectrum-management functions are classified as:
• Spectrum analysis
• Spectrum decision[26] [27]
The practical implementation of spectrum-management functions is a complex and multifaceted
issue, since it must address a variety of technical and legal requirements. An example of the
former is choosing an appropriate sensing threshold to detect other users, while the latter is
exemplified by the need to meet the rules and regulations set out for radio spectrum access in
international (ITU radio regulations) and national (telecommunications law) legislation.
Applications
CR can sense its environment and, without the intervention of the user, can adapt to the user's
communications needs while conforming to FCC rules in the United States. In theory, the amount
of spectrum is infinite; practically, for propagation and other reasons it is finite because of the
desirability of certain spectrum portions. Assigned spectrum is far from being fully utilized, and
efficient spectrum use is a growing concern; CR offers a solution to this problem. A CR can
intelligently detect whether any portion of the spectrum is in use, and can temporarily use it
without interfering with the transmissions of other users.[29]According to Bruce Fette, "Some of the
radio's other cognitive abilities include determining its location, sensing spectrum use by
neighboring devices, changing frequency, adjusting output power or even altering transmission
parameters and characteristics. All of these capabilities, and others yet to be realized, will
provide wireless spectrum users with the ability to adapt to real-time spectrum conditions,
offering regulators, licenses and the general public flexible, efficient and comprehensive use of
the spectrum".
Examples of applications include:
1. Spectrum allocation
2. Measurement and/or modeling of spectrum usage [36] [37]
3. Efficiency of spectrum utilization
Antenna heights
Static RRM schemes are used in many traditional wireless systems, for example 1G and 2G cellular
systems, in today's wireless local area networks and in non-cellular systems, for example
broadcasting systems. Examples of static RRM schemes are:
Some schemes are centralized, where several base stations and access points are controlled by
a Radio Network Controller (RNC). Others are distributed, either autonomous algorithms in mobile
stations, base stations or wireless access points, or coordinated by exchanging information among
these stations.
Examples of dynamic RRM schemes are:
AREAS OF APPLICATION
Telegraph
Telephone
In the late 1800s, further experiments in electricity led inventors to develop the
telephone. As with the telegraph, the telephone sends electrical signals through
wires to a distant receiver; in place of staccato clicks which take training to
understand, telephone wires carry the sounds of actual speech. Although telephones
and telegraphs coexisted for several decades, telegraphs are now mostly museum
pieces; in 2012, telephones continue to be a dominant form of personal
communications.
Radio
Radio systems send voice, data and video by means of wireless signals. Not long
after Bell developed the telephone, other inventors such as Nikola Tesla and
Guglielmo Marconi experimented with sending signals over the air using high-
frequency electronic circuits and antennas. Radio systems introduced the concept of
broadcasting, in which thousands of listeners hear speech and music sent by a
single transmitter. Today, the concept of radio extends from traditional broadcast
stations to cell phones and wireless data networks.
Satellites
Internet
The Internet had its beginnings in a military research project called the Advanced
Research Projects Agency Network in the 1960s. It was an early data network which
permitted computer users at different locations to share information. ARPANET was
a testing ground for ideas such as dividing large amounts of data into same-size
chunks called packets. In addition to the user's data, the packet has the network
addresses of the sender and receiver. Devices called routers pass packets along
from one system to another until they arrive at their destination. Users added more
computers to the network, and in the early 1980s, the ARPANET became the larger
Internet. Originally, researchers used the Internet for data and simple emails, but in
the late 1980s, Tim Berners-Lee developed a standard format for linked pages of
text, and the World Wide Web was born. Today, the Internet continues to grow and
develop, both in the services it offers and the speed of the network hardware which
carries data.