COMMUNICATION – the process whereby information is transferred from one point in space and time,

called the source, to another point, the destination or user.

MESSAGE – the physical manifestation of the information as produced by the source.

SIGNAL – a time-varying quantity such as voltage and current.

TRANSDUCER – a device that converts one energy to another.

COMMUNICATION SYSTEM – the totality of mechanism that provides information link between source
and destination.

3 BASIC ELEMENTS
1. TRANSMITTER – a collection of electronic components and circuits designed to convert the
information into a signal suitable for transmission over a given communication medium.
2. TRANSMISSION CHANNEL – the electrical connection between transmitter and receiver, bridging
the distance from source to destination.
3. RECEIVER – the collection of electronic components and circuits that accept the transmitted
message from the channel and convert it back into a form understandable by humans.

INPUT MESSAGE INPUT SIGNAL TRANSMITTED SIGNAL RECEIVED SIGNAL OUTPUT SIGNAL OUTPUT MESSAGE

SOURCE INPUT TRANSMITTER TRANSMISSION RECEIVER OUTPUT DESTINATION

TRANSDUCER CHANNEL OR TRANSDUCER
MEDIUM

ATTENUATION
DISTORTION
INTERFERENCE
NOISE

COMPLETE BLOCK DIAGRAM OF COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

UNWANTED AND UNDESIRABLE EFFECTS ENCOUNTERED IN THE MEDIUM

1. ATTENUATION – the progressive decrease of power density and signal power as distance
increases
2. DISTORTION - signal alteration due to imperfect response of the system to the desired
signal
 3. INTERFERENCE – contamination by extraneous signals, usually manmade, of a form
similar to the desired signals. It may be two or more signals picked up at the same time by
the receiver.
4. NOISE – random and unpredictable electric signals from natural causes both internal and
external to the system.

MODULATION – systematic alteration of the carrier wave in accordance with the message (modulating
signal)

Types of modulation
1. CONTINUOUS-WAVE MODULATION – the carrier is simply a sinusoidal waveform.
2. PULSE MODULATION – the carrier is periodic train of pulses.

Reasons for modulation

1. for ease of radiation
2. to reduce noise and interference
3. for frequency assignment
4. for multiplexing
5. to overcome equipment limitation

WAYS IN WHICH ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION ARE CLASSIFIED:

1. according to transmission mode
(a) SIMPLEX – information travels in only one direction
(b) HALF-DUPLEX – transmission can occur in both directions, but not at the same time
(c) FULL-DUPLEX – transmission can occur in both direction at the same time
(d) FULL/FULL-DUPLEX – it is possible to transmit and receive simultaneously but not
necessarily between the same locations.
2. according to type of intelligence
(a) analog (b) digital
3. according to transmitted signal
(a) baseband signal (b) modulated signal

BASEBAND TRANSMISSION – putting the original voice, video or digital signals directly into
the medium.