Communicating Information

30. Communicating information Content 30.1 Principles of modulation 30.2 Sidebands and bandwidth 30.3 Transmission of information by digital means 30.4 Different channels of communication 30.5 The mobile-phone network Learning outcomes Candidates should be able to: (a) understand the term modulation and be able to distinguish between amplitude modulation (AM) and frequency modulation (FM) (b) recall that a carrier wave, amplitude modulated by a single audio frequency, is equivalent to the carrier wave frequency together with two sideband frequencies (c) understand the term bandwidth (d) demonstrate an awareness of the relative advantages of AM and FM transmissions (e) recall the advantages of the transmission of data in digital form (f) understand that the digital transmission of speech or music involves analogue-todigital conversion (ADC) on transmission and digital-to-analogue conversion (DAC) on 1 reception

(g) show an understanding of the effect of the sampling rate and the number of bits in each sample on the reproduction of an input signal (h) appreciate that information may be carried by a number of different channels, including wire-pairs, coaxial cables, radio and microwave links and optic fibres (i) discuss the relative advantages and disadvantages of channels of communication in terms of available bandwidth, noise, crosslinking, security, signal attenuation, repeaters and regeneration, cost and convenience (j) describe the use of satellites in communication (k) recall the relative merits of both geostationary and polar orbiting satellites for communicating information (l) recall the frequencies and wavelengths used in different channels of communication (m) understand and use signal attenuation expressed in dB and dB per unit length

(o) understand that in a mobile-phone system, the public switched network (PSTN) is linked to base stations via a cellular exchange (p) understand the need for an area to be divided into a number of cells, each cell served by a base station (q) understand the role of the base station and the cellular exchange during the making of a call from a mobile phone set (r) recall a simplified block diagram of a mobile phone handset and understand the function of each block

Principles of modulation, sidebands and bandwidth

Communication
Any system of communication must have transmitter and a receiver A simple system of communication at a short distance could be one person A speaking to another person B
A is the transmitter B is the receiver Communication system is sound waves

For 2 people in different rooms, a system of communication could be

a microphone A in one room a loudspeaker B in another room communication system is a twin pair of wires the microphone converts the sound waves into electrical signals that is transmitted along the wires to the loudspeaker where it is converted back into sound waves

Communication of could also be achieved using radio waves

the signal from the microphone would be amplified and applied to a transmitting aerial. the radio waves produced by the aerial would be transmitted and picked up by a receiving aerial. after amplification the received signals would be passed to a loudspeaker
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Disadvantages
Transmitting aerial Receiving aerial

Microphone
Amplifier

Speaker
Amplifier

The 3 systems of communication in the earlier slide have 3 serious disadvantages

only one system could operate in an area because the receiver/receiving aerial would not be selective i.e. it would pick up all signals or any signal the aerial required for the transmission of the low frequencies of sound waves(about 20 Hz to 20 kHz) would be very long (Try calculating it!) the electrical power required for transmission over long distances would be very large

All problems are solved by a process known as modulation

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Modulation
Modulation is a process whereby a high frequency wave, known as a carrier wave is transmitted. This carrier wave has either the amplitude varied or the frequency varied so as to carry information pg 427 Fig 16.2 A/AS level Physics Chris Mee In amplitude modulation(AM), the carrier wave has constant frequency. The amplitude of the carrier wave is made to vary in synchrony with the displacement of the information signal The rate at which the amplitude of the carrier wave varies is related directly to the frequency of the information signal Amplitude modulation is not the same as superposition. Superposition involves the addition of displacements, whereas AM is achieved by multiplication of the displacements In frequency modulation(FM), the amplitude of the carrier wave remains constant. The frequency of the carrier is made to vary in synchrony with the displacement of the information signal The use of a carrier wave allows different radio stations in the same area to transmit at the same time, but each radio station has a different transmitting carrier wave frequency. The receiver is tuned or adjusted to the frequency of whichever transmitter or radio station is desired i.e. the receiver accepts the signal transmitted on that particular carrier wave and rejects all other carrier wave frequencies7

Example
A sinusoidal carrier wave has a frequency of 800 kHz and an amplitude of 5.0 V. The frequency deviation of the carrier wave is 30 kHz V-1 i.e. for every 1.0 V change in displacement of the signal, the frequency of the carrier wave changes by 30 kHz. The carrier wave is frequency-modulated by a sinusoidal signal of frequency 10 kHz and amplitude 2.0 V. Describe the modulated carrier wave. Solution
Amplitude of information signal = 2.0 V. This gives a frequency variation of (2 x 30) = 60 kHz The carrier wave has a constant amplitude of 5.0 V The carrier frequency changes from 740 kHz to 860 kHz This change of frequency occurs 10000 times per second

AM - sidebands and bandwidth

If a carrier wave of frequency fC is AM by an information signal having only one frequency fS, and this waveform is analysed, the AM wave is found to be made up of 3 frequencies namely (fC + fS), fC, and (fC fS) The frequency spectrum of this modulated wave i.e. the graph showing the variation with frequency of the amplitudes of each component is as below:

Amplitude

(fC + fS ) fC (fC fS )

Frequency

The central frequency fC is the frequency of the carrier wave and it has the largest amplitude The other 2 frequencies, (fC + fS) and (fC fS) are known as the sideband frequencies or just sidebands The bandwidth is the range of frequencies occupied by the AM waveform. This bandwidth is equal to 2fS
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If music is the food of love, then play on!

For the broadcast of music, the information signal will contain a wide range of frequencies from about 20 Hz to 20 kHz A typical frequency spectrum for such an AM wave will have multiple sidebands on either side of the carrier wave frequency In practice, the very high frequencies in music may not be broadcast so as to reduce the bandwidth of the transmitted signal causing some quality loss of reproduction but for normal broadcasting this loss will be minimal or not noticeable The frequency spectrum of a FM wave differs from an AM frequency waveform in that FM has additional sidebands that are multiples of the information signal frequency, resulting in a greater bandwidth for the same range of broadcast frequencies

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Relative advantages of AM and FM transmissions

Range
AM radio transmissions on long-wave(LW), medium-wave(MW) and shortwave(SW) wavebands are broadcast over very large distances so that one transmitter can serve a large area FM transmissions have a range of only about 30 km and this range is by line-ofsight hence many transmitters are required to broadcast over a large area

Interference and Quality

Electrical equipment that produces sparks produce em waves that are picked up by an aerial When a radio is tuned to an AM broadcast, this interference will add to the displacement of the AM signal and will appear as noise Since an FM signal is based on changes in frequency and not displacement, the interference is not picked up by the aerial and hence does not alter the frequency of the signal This means that the quality of the FM reception is generally better than that of AM since there will be less noise or interference

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cont..
Cost and simplicity
FM can be used to serve small local areas but it is simpler and cheaper to broadcast and receive using AM, as the AM transmitters are much simpler electronically than those for FM

Bandwidth and Quality

The bandwidth of AM broadcasts on the LW and MW wavebands is 9 kHz which means that the highest frequency that can be broadcast is 4.5 kHz which is quite adequate for speech but not for music for which distortion can be easily noticed The bandwidth of an FM broadcast on the very-high-frequency(VHF) waveband is about 200 kHz, giving a maximum frequency that can be transmitted or broadcast of about 15 kHz hence offering higher quality

Transmission waveband and transmitters

The LW waveband has a range of frequencies from about 30 kHz to 300 kHz If the bandwidth of each AM broadcast is 9 kHz, then theoretically (300-30)/9 = 30 transmitters could broadcast in the same area without causing interference between each other For FM broadcasting(300-30)/200 = 1 transmitter only can broadcast in the LW band Hence the number of transmitters that can share the same waveband is much larger for AM than FM For this reason FM is broadcast only at frequencies in excess of 1 MHz
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Summary of AM/FM transmissions

FM transmissions are more expensive than AM and the area covered by one FM transmitter is much smaller

The difference in the coverage is an advantage where local radio is concerned but a disadvantage as regards national radio
The bandwidth necessary for FM is greater

The quality of the received FM signal is much better because of the increased frequency spectrum and it also suffers less noise

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Example
A particular transmitter is broadcasting an AM signal of frequency 200 kHz. The transmitter is broadcasting a programme of music with a maximum frequency of 4.5 kHz. Determine for this AM signal: (a) the wavelength (b) the bandwidth Solution

(a) wavelength = speed of em waves/frequency = 1500 m (b) bandwidth = 2 x 4.5 = 9.0 kHz

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Digital transmission

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Analogue signals
Any information that has the same variations with time as the information itself is known as an analogue signal. e.g. the signal produced by a microphone is analogous to the sound wave incident on the microphone Much of the information that we wish to transmit and communicate is analogue in nature e.g. speech, music, television pictures etc When any signal is transmitted over a long distance, it will pick up stray electromagnetic waves which we call noise Noise is not just unwanted sound, but any unwanted random signal that adds to the signal that is being transmitted Also the power of the transmitted signal and the received signal becomes less i.e. the signal is attenuated Hence for long distance transmission, the signal has to be amplified at regular intervals This amplification of an analogue signal also causes the noise to be amplified and so the signal becomes distorted or noisy pg 432 fig 16.6 Physics Chris Mee

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Digital signals
A digital signal consists of a series of highs and lows with no values between the highs and lows The data in the signal is transmitted as a particular sequence of highs and lows or effectively a sequence of 1s and 0s This digital signal also suffers from noise and attenuation However on amplification, the noisy 1s and 0s can be re-shaped or regenerated to return the signal to the original form Such amplifiers are known as regenerator amplifiers whose function is to filter out any noise pg 432 fig 16.7 Physics Chris Mee Unlike an analogue signal, a digital signal can be transmitted over a long distance with regular regenerations without the signal becoming degraded Modern digital electronic circuits are in general more reliable and cheaper to produce than analogue circuits Additional advantage of digital systems is that extra information or data can be added to the transmissions. These extra data are a code for the receiving system so that the transmitted signal may be checked and corrected before the signal is finally produced
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Binary numbers or digits

A binary number is a number that has the base 2 whereas a decimal number has the base 10 A binary number consists of a number of digits or bits(binary digit) Below are 16 binary numbers shown as 4-bit numbers with their equivalents in decimal. Larger numbers would require digital numbers with more bits
Decimal number 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Binary number 0000 0001 0010 0011 0100 0101 0110 0111 1000 1001 1010 1011 1100 1101 1110 1111

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cont..
When reading a digital number, the bit on the left-hand side of the number is called the most significant digit or MSB. This bit has the largest value The bit on the right-hand side has the least significant value and is known as the least significant digit or LSB When the LSB is 1, this corresponds to decimal number 1 When the second bit shows 1, this corresponds to decimal number 2 When successive bits show 1 they correspond to decimal numbers 4,8,16,32,64,128,256,512,1024 etc Hence the binary number 1101 corresponds to 8+4+0+1 = 13 Conversely decimal number 11 equals 8+0+4+1 which corresponds to binary number 1011

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Decimal to binary conversion

Method 1 Divide the denary(decimal) number by 2 write the whole number result underneath and the remainder in a column to the right. 2 Repeat the process until the number is reduced to zero. 3 The binary number is found by reading the remainder column from the bottom upwards. Example 52 26 0 So 5210 = 1101002 13 0 61 30 11 01
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Example
Convert 218710 to a binary number 2187 1093 1 546 1 273 0 136 1 68 0 34 0 17 0 81 40 20 10 01 218710 = 1000100010112

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Binary to decimal conversion

Method Step 1: Write down the values of the columns 8421 Step 2: Write the binary number underneath 8421 e.g. 1 0 0 1 Step 3: Evaluate the values of the columns 8x1=8 4x0=0 2x0=0 1x1=1 Step 4: Add up the values 8+1=9
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Example
Convert 1011001012 to a denary number Step 1: Write down the column values by starting with a 1 on the right-hand side then just keep doubling as necessary 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 2 1 20 256 128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1 Step 2: Enter the binary number under the column headings 256 128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1 1 0 1 1 00 101 Step 3: Add up all the column values where the binary digit is 1 256 + 64 + 32 + 4 + 1 = 357 So, 1011001012 = 35710 or just 357 since denary can be assumed in this case

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The transmission of a signal

In an analogue signal such as speech or music, the generated voltage varies continuously and for digital transmission this analogue signal must be converted into a digital signal before transmission This is achieved by using an analogue-to-digital converter(ADC) In a ADC, the analogue signal is sampled at regular intervals of time, at what is known as the sampling frequency or sampling rate The value of the sampled voltage measured at each sampling time is converted into a digital(binary) number that represents the voltage value and is then transmitted pg 435 fig 16.8 Physics Chris Mee Example Assuming that a 4-bit number is being used i.e. 24 = 16 levels, then the number representing a signal that is sampled as 5.0 V would be 0101 When sampling, the number representing the sample would be the whole number below the actual value of the sampled voltage If the signal were to be sampled as 11.4 V, then the 4-bit number would be 1011. A sampled signal of 11.8 V would also be 1011
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The reception of a signal

At the receiver, the transmitted signal that is received has to be converted back into an analogue signal This is achieved by using a digital-to-analogue converter(DAC) In a DAC, the digital signal is converted into an analogue signal The recovered signal and the faithfulness of the reproduction of the initial analogue signal, can be improved by using more voltage levels and also sampling at a higher frequency The number of bits in each digital number limits the number of voltage levels In the last example 4 bits were used i.e. 16 levels In practice, 8 or more bits would be used for sampling. A 8-bit number would give 28 = 256 voltage levels. The number of bits needs to be as high as possible The choice of sampling also determines the amount of information that can be transmitted Around 1900, Nyquist showed that in order to recover an analogue signal of frequency f, then the signal must be sampled at a frequency greater than 2f The greater the sampling frequency, the more faithful is the reproduction of the original signal For example for good quality music, the higher audible frequencies must be present i.e. frequencies up to 20 kHz, hence for compact discs(CDs) the sampling frequency is 44.1 kHz For speech example in a telephone system, the sampling frequency is 8 kHz as the highest frequency transmitted is limited to 3.4 kHz, otherwise it would prove costly 26

Channels of communication

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Transfer of information
A signal whether analogue or digital is transmitted and received using different channels of communication Also between conversions from analogue to digital signals or vice-versa, the signal has to be transferred from one place to another This may be achieved in various ways using different channels of communication including
Wire-pairs Coaxial cables Radio links Microwave links Optic fibres

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Picture of wire-pair

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Wire-pairs
It is the simplest link between a transmitter and receiver of information In the early days of electrical communication using Morse code, the transmitter and receiver were connected directly to one another by means of 2 copper wires(or 1 copper wire and earth return) known as a wire-pair In modern communication systems, wire-pairs are used mainly for shortdistance communication at relatively low frequencies e.g. linking telephones to the nearest exchange or linking a door bell in a house to the switch outside the door

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Wire-pairs cont
High-frequency electrical signals lose their energy over short distances in wire-pairs i.e. the signals have high attenuation partly due to the heating caused by the electrical resistance of the wires and partly due to the emission of radiation(radio waves) since the wires acts as aerials Hence a signal going any distance in a wire-pair must be amplified at regular intervals Since the wire-pairs act as aerials, they also pick up any electromagnetic waves and unwanted signals as noise which causes deterioration of the signal Again, since wire-pairs are close to each other, they pick up each others signal This effect is known as cross-talk or cross-linking which means that wirepairs give rise to poor security since the signals can be tapped easily The bandwidth of a wire-pair is only 500 kHz and as a result wire-pairs are limited as to the amount of information that they can carry

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Summary of wire-pairs
Are used mainly for short distance communications Cause high attenuation of signals Easily pick up noise Suffer from cross-talk Are of low security Have limited bandwidth

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Picture of coaxial cable

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Coaxial cables
A coaxial cable consists of 2 wire conductors which are insulated
an inner metal conductor covered by an insulator a second conductor(in the form of thin wire braid) that covers the first insulator another protective layer of insulation covering the braided conductor

The braided 2nd conductor acts as the return for the signal and is earthed The earthed outer braiding shields the inner conductor from external interference Hence, coaxial cables are far less noisy than wire-pairs and provide better security Attenuation is also reduced, hence repeater amplifiers can be further apart on coaxial cables The bandwidth of coaxial cables is about 50 MHz, hence much more information can be carried along a coaxial cable than along a wire-pair However, coaxial cables are more costly Coaxial cables are used to connect an aerial to a television, astro aerial to the astro decoder
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Radio waves
The alternating current in a wire acts as an aerial Energy is radiated from the aerial in the form of electromagnetic waves which travel outwards from the aerial with the speed of light Electromagnetic waves in the range of 30 kHz 3 GHz are generally referred to as radio waves The first radio waves used for communication were of very low frequency and hence very long wavelength. These radio waves were switched on and off so that communication was by Morse code Development of AM enabled voice communication Further developments including FM and the use of different carrier waves enabled higher quality communication and also more radio stations to operate in the same area

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Radio waves cont

The intensity of the radio waves will always be reduced or attenuated as the distance from the transmitter increases but the degree of attenuation depends on the frequency of the waves For simple radio communications, AM broadcasts on the medium wave(MW) and long wave(LW) are relatively cheap and technically less complex and are transmitted as surface waves as they provide coverage over large areas The choice of aerial for transmission determines whether the radio waves are emitted in all directions as in broadcasting(omnidirectional) or in one direction as in point to point communication(unidirectional) Similarly for the receiving of radio signals, the choice of aerial is determined by whether the signal from all directions or only one direction is to be received Aerials with dish reflectors enable the radio waves to be transmitted as a parallel beam As the frequency of the carrier wave increases, the bandwidth also increases The wavelength of the radio waves determines the length of the aerial For mobile phones, the aerial must be for the sake of convenience short and hence the wavelength must also be relatively short
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Summary data on radio waves

Name of radio wave Space wave Frequency range > 30 MHz Distance line-of-sight between transmitter and receiver plus satellite communication worldwide, as a result of multiple reflections from the ionosphere and the ground or sea up to 1000 km

Sky wave

3 MHz 30 MHz

Surface wave

< 3 MHz

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Radio frequency bands

Communication type Frequency range LW radio MW radio SW radio FM radio TV broadcasting & mobile phones Microwave links Satellite links 30 kHz 300 kHz 300 kHz 3 MHz 3 MHz 30 MHz 30 MHz 300 MHz 300 MHz 3 GHz 3 GHz 30 GHz 30 GHz 300 GHz Wavelength in air 10 km 1 km 1 km 100 m 100 m 10 m 10 m 1 m 1 m 10 cm 10 cm 1 cm 1 cm 1 mm Frequency band low frequencies LF medium frequencies MF high frequencies HF very high frequencies VHF ultra high frequencies UHF

super high frequencies SHF extra high frequency EHF

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Picture of microwave link

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Microwaves
Microwaves are also electromagnetic waves and are in the range of 3 GHz to 30 GHz and are generally used for point to point communications as the range of transmissions is limited to line of sight Reflecting parabolic dishes are used so that the transmission is in the form of a parallel beam and so that as much wave power as possible can be focussed onto the receiving aerial The reflecting parabolic dishes at the transmitter or the receiver are not the aerials . The aerial is found at the focus of the transmitting or reflecting dish The bandwidth of a microwave link is of the order of 1 GHz which means that the microwave beam has a large capacity for transmitting information

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Picture of optic fibre cable or optical fibre

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Optic fibres
An optic fibre consists of a fine strand of very pure glass(thinner than hair) surrounded by a protective covering Pulses of light or infra-red radiation carrying digital data travel along the fibre as a result of total internal reflection The radiation pulses are provided by lasers and have very high frequencies of the order of 108 MHz(i.e.1014 Hz) In theory a single pulse need only last for 10-14 seconds; however lasers cannot be controlled at such high frequencies and the duration of a single pulse or bit is governed by the frequency at which the laser can be switched on and off With present technology the frequency is about 800 MHz, but technology is always improving Such high frequencies mean a large bandwidth so many different phone calls can share the same optic fibre

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Summary of advantages of optic fibres

Large bandwidth giving rise to large transmission capacity Much lower cost than metal wires Diameter and weight of cable is much less than metal cable, hence easier handling and storage Much less signal attenuation, so far fewer regenerator amplifiers are required, reducing the cost of installation Do not pick up electromagnetic interference so very high security and negligible cross-talk Can be laid alongside existing routes such as electric railway lines and power lines

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Signal attenuation
Loss of power when a signal passes along a wire or optic fibre is referred to as attenuation The amount of attenuation increases as the distance that the signal travels increases i.e. attenuation is proportional to distance Power is lost in various ways;
In the case of an electrical signal in a metal wire signal power is lost as heating in the wire In optic fibres light power is lost as a result of absorption in impurities in the glass and also scattering due to imperfections In a beam of electromagnetic waves travelling through air, power is lost as a result of absorption and scattering

In order that a signal is detected, the power of the signal must be a minimum number of times greater than the noise power. This ratio is known as the signal-to-noise ratio(S/N ratio). This ratio can be very large or very small Signals are amplified and the output of the amplifier is a certain number of times greater than the input. The amplifier gain could be 100,000 When a microwave signal is sent from Earth to a satellite, the signal power may be reduced by a factor of 1019 In order to condense the scale of such variations and to make the numbers 44 more manageable, the power levels are compared on a logarithmic scale

Bel and decibels

For easy comparison and convenience, the logarithmic comparison of the S/N ratio is given as a ratio in a unit known as the bel which has the symbol B Hence number of bels = lg(P2/P1) where P2 and P1 are 2 powers that are being compared Since the bel is a large unit, the ratio is usually expressed as a decibel where 1 bel = 10 decibels or 10 dB Hence number of decibels (dB) = 10 lg(P2/P1) If P2 > P1 the dB number is positive If P2 < P1 the dB number is negative

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Example
A signal having a power of 2.4 W is amplified in a 2-stage amplifier. The first stage has again of 18 dB and the second stage provides a further amplification of 25 dB. Calculate: a) the total gain of the 2-stage amplifier b) the power of the output signal from the amplifier Solution a) For the 1st stage the input is V1 and the output is V giving a gain G1 = V/V1 For the 2nd stage the input is V and the output is V0 giving a gain G2 = V0/V Total gain = V0/V1 = (G2V)/(V/G1) = G1 x G2 = gain of 1st stage x gain of 2nd stage Gain, when expressed in dB is a logarithm, therefore when 2 gains are multiplied, then the gains in dB must be added together lg(total gain) = lg(gain of 1st stage x gain of 2nd stage) = lg(gain of 1st stage) + lg(gain of 2nd stage) = 18 + 25 = 43 dB b) Gain in dB = 10 lg(P2/P1) 43 = 10 lg(P2/(2.4 x 10-6)) and taking antilogs, P2= 0.048 W
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Logarithm fundamentals
Base 10 The log of a number to the base 10 is the power to which the number 10 must be raised in order to give that number e.g. 100 = 102, so the logarithm to the base ten of 100 i.e. log 100, is 2.00 2.00 = 100.301 so the logarithm to the base ten of 2.00 i.e. log 2.00, is 0.301 101.699 = 50 and so log 50.0 = 1.699 Multiplication When 2 numbers are multiplied, if the numbers are expressed as numbers to the base 10, then the powers of the base ten are added e.g. 75 x 3.00 = 101.875 x 100.477 = 102.352, so 102.352 = 225 Division When 2 numbers are divided, if the numbers are expressed as numbers to the base 10, then the powers of the base ten are subtracted e.g. 75 3 = 101.875 100.477 = 101.398, so 101.398 = 25 Gain The gain of an amplifier is usually expressed in dB i.e. Gain in dB = 10 lg(Pout/Pin) in series, hence the combined gain is found either by multiplying together the 2 actual gains or by adding together the gains when expressed in dB 47

Signal attenuation
In a transmission line the amount of attenuation is dependent on the length of the line L Hence attenuation per unit length = (1/L) 10 lg(P2/P1) Attenuation per unit length is measured in dB km-1 Channel Attenuation per unit length(dB km-1)

Optic fibre 13 Coaxial cable 3 at 10 MHz Coaxial cable 40 at 3 GHz (hence attenuation for coaxial cables depends on frequency)

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Example
The signal input to an optic fibre is 7.0 mW. The average noise power in the fibre is 5.5 x 10-19 W and the signal-to-noise ratio must not fall below 24 dB. The fibre has an attenuation of 1.8 dB km-1. Calculate: a) the minimum effective signal power on the cable b) the maximum uninterrupted length of the optic fibre through which the signal can be transmitted Solution a)

number of decibels(dB) = 10 lg(P2/P1) 24 = 10 lg(Pmin/(5.5 x 10-19))

102.4 = Pmin/(5.5 x 10-19) therefore min effective signal power is = 1.38 x 10-16 W

b) total attenuation of signal to reach minimum = 10 lg(Pinput/Pmin) = 10 lg((7.0 x 10-3)/(1.38 x 10-16)) = 137 dB maximum uninterrupted length = total attenuation/attenuation per unit length = 137/1.8 49 = 76 km

Communication satellites
Although long distance communication using radio waves is possible on the MW waveband(as surface waves) and the SW waveband(as sky waves), for modern communication systems, there are 3 main disadvantages:
1) Long distance communication using sky waves is unreliable as it depends on reflection from layers of ions in the upper atmosphere which vary in height and density.
This gives rise to variable quality of signal. Surface waves are also unreliable because there is poor reception in hilly areas

2) The wavebands available on MW and SW are already crowded 3) The bandwidths that are available are narrow and completely unable to carry large amounts of information

Satellite communication enables more wavebands to be made available and at much higher frequencies, thus giving rise to a much greater data carrying capacity

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Basic principle of satellite communications

Pg 445 fig 16.13 Physics by Chris Mee Procedure
1) A carrier wave of frequency fup is sent from a transmitter T on Earth to a satellite 2) The satellite receives the signal greatly attenuated 3) The signal is amplified 4) The carrier frequency is changed to a lower frequency fdown 5) The carrier wave of fdown is then directed back to a receiver R on Earth

The uplink and downlink carrier frequencies fup and fdown respectively are different so that the very low power signals received from Earth are not swamped by(i.e. can be distinguished from) the high power signal that is transmitted back to Earth Typical values of uplink/downlink are 6/4 GHz(6/4 GHz band), 14/11 GHz and 30/20 GHz The communication satellite may be in geostationary orbit which means that the satellite is above the equator, orbits the Earth with a period of 24 hours at a height of 3.6 x 104 km above the Earths surface and in the same direction as the rotation of the Earth which is from west to east From the viewpoint of a person on Earth, the satellite remains above the same point on the Earths surface
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cont..
The transmitting aerial and the receiving aerial on Earth both have large parabolic reflectors For geostationary satellites, these aerials can be in fixed positions and hence the satellite does not need to be tracked This also means that a geostationary satellite can have a permanent link with a transmitting ground station hence maintaining communications with any point on the Earths surface that can receive the signal from the satellite A number of satellites with overlapping areas allows for long distance communications removing the need for long distance submarine cables International television broadcasting is possible allowing for live events in one country to be viewed by another

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All is not well with geostationary satellites

There are problems with geostationary satellites Geostationary satellites are in equatorial orbits which means that communication in polar regions may not be possible because a satellite will not be in line-of-sight The height of the orbit may also pose a problem as between the transmission and receipt of the signal, the wave must travel at least twice the distance between the satellite and Earth i.e. 7.2 x 104 km for which the time to travel is 0.24 seconds This delay may be increased where several satellites were involved and would not be acceptable for telephone conversation To avoid these problems, geostationary satellites may be used in conjunction with optic fibres

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Polar satellites
Polar satellites are satellites that have low orbits and pass over the poles The orbital period is about 100 minutes Since the Earth rotates below these satellites, then in any period of 24 hours, the satellite will pass over every region of the Earths surface Continuous communications with a single polar satellite is not possible, however, information may be transmitted to the satellite while it is overhead This data can be stored and transmitted back to Earth when the satellite is above the appropriate area Continuous communications is possible using a number of polar satellites in orbits which are inclined to one another so that at least one satellite is always above the transmitter and receiver, but in this case the aerials must track the satellites in their orbits The advantage of using polar satellites is that their orbital height is only of the order of 105 m(a few hundred km) and hence delays in telephone conversations are not noticed Since polar satellites pass over the whole of the Earth in any 24 hour period, they are used for remote sensing e.g. military espionage, geological prospecting, weather forecasting etc The Global Positioning System(GPS or sat nav) uses the signals from a number of satellites that are not in geostationary orbits 54

The mobile phone system

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Inside the Cell Phone

One of the most intricate devices used daily

Components:
Circuit board Antenna/aerial Liquid Crystal Display Keyboard Microphone Speaker Battery

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Circuit Board
Analog-to-Digital, Digital-toAnalog converters Digital Signal Processor (DSP) Radio Frequency (RF) Control RF Amplifiers Power Control ROM and Flash memory Microprocessor

Front

Back

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Circuit Board: Flash memory, Microprocessor

Flash Memory

Microprocessor

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LCD Display

Keypad

Cell-phone speaker, microphone and battery backup

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The public switched telephone network(PSTN)

In the early days of telephones, every caller was connected directly to all other callers. This was possible because there were few phones and all were local, for example all in one building As the number of phones increased, the telephone exchange was introduced
When a call was to be made, the caller would contact the exchange The operator at the exchange would make the electrical connections necessary for the call to be made If the person to be called was not connected to the local exchange of the caller, the operator at the local exchange would contact the other persons local exchange via a trunk exchange Trunk exchanges were connected by trunk lines

In modern systems, the telephone operator has been replaced by electronic relays that carry out the switching operations International exchanges called gateways have been introduced so that telephone communications may be worldwide The public switched telephone network(PSTN) uses the principle of exchanges. It is a "switched" network because a connection is made between caller and receiver before any communication begins Pg 448 fig 16.14 Physics by Chris Mee PSTN => local exchange trunk exchange gateway trunk exchange local exchange
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PSTN cont..
The telephone network can be visualised as a "hub and spokes" arrangement. When the call is made, if it is local to the exchange, then the signal is carried along a spoke to the local exchange (i.e. the hub) then routed down another spoke to the receiver. If the call is a "trunk" call (i.e. not local to the exchange) then the local exchange routes the call to the trunk exchange for onward delivery to the exchange local to the receiver. For international calls, the local exchange will route to an international gateway Local exchange <> trunk exchange<>international gateway=PSTN In this PSTN system, The caller is connected to the PSTN through a local exchange Each caller has a fixed line, either a wire-pair or an optic fibre that links the subscriber(the phone user) to the local exchange The fixed line means that the user has limited mobility while making a call More recently, mobile phone systems were developed that did not require a permanent line to the local exchange Cellular system developed to provide mobile telephony: telephone access anytime, anywhere First mobile telephone system was developed and inaugurated in the U.S. in 1945 in St. Louis, MO. This was a simplified version of the system used today. 61

First Mobile Telephone System

One and only one high power base station with which all users communicate.
Normal Telephone System
Wired connection

Entire Coverage Area

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Problem with Original Design

Original mobile telephone system could only support a handful of users at a timeover an entire city!

With only one high power base station, users phones also needed to be able to transmit at high powers (to reliably transmit signals to the distant base station).

Car phones were therefore much more feasible than handheld phones, e.g. police car phones.

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Improved Design
Over the next few decades, researchers at AT&T Bell Labs, USA developed the core ideas for todays cellular systems.

Although these core ideas existed since the 60s, it was not until the 80s that electronic equipment became available to realize a cellular system.

In the mid 80s the first generation of cellular systems was developed and deployed.

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The mobile phone system and network

Pg 448 fig 16.15 Physics by Chris Mee A mobile or cellular(cell) phone or handset is a portable device which has a small transmitter and receiver. It is a combination of radio and telephone When a call is made, the transmitter provides a radio link between the caller and a base station The base station is linked to a cellular exchange through a cable The cellular exchange provides access to the PSTN A base station provides coverage (communication capabilities) to users on mobile phones within its coverage area. Users outside the coverage area receive/transmit signals with too low amplitude for reliable communications. Users within the coverage area transmit and receive signals from the base station. The cellular exchange is connected to the wired telephone network (PSTN). Mobile phone handset radio link base station cellular exchange PSTN

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cont..
When a mobile phone is linked to a base station, this is achieved using a particular carrier-wave frequency The range of carrier-wave frequencies is limited to a number that is far less than the number of mobile phones This means that each mobile phone does not have its own carrier frequency, and that the same frequency must be shared with many other phones at the same time This is made possible by having a network of base stations

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Radio frequency bands

Communication type Frequency range LW radio MW radio SW radio FM radio TV broadcasting & mobile phones Microwave links Satellite links 30 kHz 300 kHz 300 kHz 3 MHz 3 MHz 30 MHz 30 MHz 300 MHz 300 MHz 3 GHz 3 GHz 30 GHz 30 GHz 300 GHz Wavelength in air 10 km 1 km 1 km 100 m 100 m 10 m 10 m 1 m 1 m 10 cm 10 cm 1 cm 1 cm 1 mm Frequency band low frequencies LF medium frequencies MF high frequencies HF very high frequencies VHF ultra high frequencies UHF super high frequencies SHF extra high frequency EHF

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The mobile phone architecture

The carrier wave between the handset and the base station is in the UHF band which has limited terrestrial range This means that the aerial on or in the handset is conveniently short, but more importantly the base station transmitter aerials have a limited range and operate on low power The country to be covered by the mobile phone network is divided into cells, each cell having its own base station The base station has an omnidirectional antenna and the transmitted radio waves are powered so as to have a range approximately equal to the radius of the cell (a few km) The base station is usually near the centre of the cell so that the transmitter sending out radio waves in all directions covers the whole of the cell without overlapping significantly into neighbouring cells In order that interference between phone calls does not occur near the boundary between 2 cells where the signals from the base stations overlap, the band of carrier wave frequencies allocated to neighbouring base stations is different

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The Core Idea or Cellular Concept

Countries to be covered by the mobile network are divided into cells , each having its own base station Thus, instead of one base station covering an entire city, the city was broken up into cells, or smaller coverage areas. Each of these smaller coverage areas had its own lower-power base station. User phones in one cell communicate with the base station in that cell. The cellular concept:

multiple lower-power base stations of certain carrier frequency that service mobile users within their coverage area and handoff users to neighbouring base stations as users move. Together base stations tessellate the system coverage area.

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3 Core Principles
Small cells 'tessellate' (a word in mathematics which means to cover a plane surface by repeated use of a single shape, without gaps or overlapping)

Users 'handoff' as they move from one cell to another.

'Frequency reuse'

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Tessellation
Some group of small regions tessellate a large region if they cover the large region without any gaps or overlaps. There are only three regular polygons that tessellate any given region. Three regular polygons that always tessellate:

Equilateral triangle Square Regular Hexagon

Triangles Squares Hexagons

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Circular Coverage Areas

Original cellular system was developed assuming base station antennas are omnidirectional, i.e. they transmit in all directions equally.
Users located outside some distance to the base station receive weak signals. Result: base station has circular coverage area.

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Circles dont Tessellate!

Thus, ideally base stations have identical, circular coverage areas. What is the problem? Interference and blind spots

The most circular of the regular polygons that tessellate is the hexagon.
Thus, early researchers started using hexagons to represent the coverage area of a base station, i.e. a cell.

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Thus the name Cellular

With hexagonal coverage area, a cellular network is drawn as:

Base Station

Since the network resembles cells from a honeycomb, the name cellular was used to describe the resulting mobile telephone network.

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Handoffs

A crucial component of the cellular concept is the notion of handoffs.

Mobile phone users are by definition mobile, i.e. they move around while using the phone.
Thus, the network should be able to give them continuous access as they move.

This is not a problem when users move within the same cell.
When they move from one cell to another, a handoff is needed. A user is transmitting and receiving signals from a given base station, say B1. Assume the user moves from the coverage area of one base station into the coverage area of a second base station, B2. B1 notices that the signal from this user is degrading. B2 notices that the signal from this user is improving.

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A Handoff (contd)
At some point, the users signal is weak enough at B1 and strong enough at B2 for a handoff to occur.

Specifically, messages are exchanged between the user B1 and B2 so that communication to/from the user is transferred from B1 to B2.

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Frequency Reuse
Extensive frequency reuse allows for many users to be supported at the same time. Total em spectrum allocated to the service provider is broken up into smaller bands. A cell is assigned one of these bands. This means all communications (transmissions to and from users) in this cell occur over these frequencies only Neighbouring cells are assigned a different frequency band. This ensures that nearby transmissions do not interfere with each other. The same frequency band is reused in another cell that is far away. This large distance limits the interference caused by this cell In frequency reuse, a group of local cells use different frequencies to transmit/receive signals in their cell. This group of local cells is referred to as a cluster.

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Clustersize of 7
Assume a clustersize of 7. This means that a total 395 voice channels are divided into groups of seven. Thus, each cell has about 56 voice channels. This is the most number of users that can be supported in a cell, i.e. roughly 10 square miles in normal environments. This may/may not be sufficient based on the distribution of users.

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Clustersize of 7, Reuse Pattern

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How the mobile phone/handset works

When a mobile phone handset is switched on, it transmits a short signal at regular intervals in order to identify itself This signal is detected by one or more base stations The base stations transfer the signal to the cellular exchange where a computer selects the base station with the strongest signal and also allocates a carrier-wave frequency for communication between the base station and the mobile phone During the time that the handset is switched on or is in actual use, the signal strength is monitored at the cellular exchange If the caller moves from one cell to another, then the relative strengths of the signal from base stations changes The call from the handset is re-routed through the base station that provides the strongest signal

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Block diagram of the mobile phone handset

Aerial/ Switch Tuning circuit Amplifier

R.F. amplifier

Modulator / Oscillator

De-modulator / Oscillator

Parallel-to-serial converter

Serial-to-parallel converter

ADC

DAC

A.F. amplifier

A.F. amplifier

Microphone

Loudspeaker

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Inner workings of the mobile phone handset

Transmitter The caller speaks into the microphone The microphone produces an analogue voltage of the sound wave This signal is amplified using the audio-frequency (a.f.) amplifier The analogue voltage is converted into a digital signal using the ADC The parallel-to-series converter takes the whole of each digital number and emits it as a series of bits(binary digits) The frequency of the oscillator is allocated by the computer at the cellular exchange This carrier-wave frequency is modulated by the series of bits from the parallel-to-series The modulated carrier wave is amplified and switched to the aerial where it is transmitted as a radio wave Receiver Any signal received at the aerial is switched to a tuning circuit This circuit selects only the carrier-wave frequency that has been allocated to the handset by the computer at the cellular exchange The selected signal is amplified by the radio-frequency (r.f.) amplifier This signal is then demodulated so that the information signal is in digital form The series-to-parallel converter enables each sampled digital voltage to be separated These digital numbers are then converted into an analogue waveform in the DAC The analogue signal is amplified before sound is produced in the loudspeaker

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Communications & Interference

The transmission path is very complex, ranging from the simple line-of-sight transmission to encountering such terrain as buildings, hills and trees. Wireless channels are extremely unpredictable.

Abrupt drop, or fading, of signal strength in the land mobile wireless channel is quite common. The fading feature of the mobile channel depends on the radio wave propagation environment.

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Cell phone towers

The box houses the radio transmitters and receivers that let the tower communicate with phones. The radio transmitters connect with the antennae on the tower through thick cables.
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Cell phone disposal

300 million registered cell phones and increasing. By 2015, there will be at least 500 million cell phones in use and another 500 million older phones to be disposed. Toxins that accumulate in the environment - arsenic, antimony, beryllium, cadmium, copper, lead, nickel and zinc cause cancer and neurological disorders Recycling program

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Risks

Brain tumors?

The brain cancer patients did not report more cellular phone use

Side of the head on which the brain cancer occurred and the side on which the cellular phone was used no link.

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An important Technology beyond voice

Cellular telephony is one of the fastest growing technologies on the planet. Newer phones allow users to do much more than hold phone conversations. Store contact information Make task/to-do lists Keep track of appointments Calculator Send/receive email Send/receive pictures Send/receive video clips Surf the internet Play games Integrate with other devices (PDAs, MP3 Players, etc.)

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Multiple Access in Cellular Networks

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Multiple transmitters, one receiver

In many wireless systems, multiple transmitters attempt to communicate with the same receiver.

For example, in cellular systems cell phones users in a local area typically communicate with the same cell tower.

How is the limited spectrum shared between these local transmitters? In such cases, system adopts a multiple access policy.

There are three widely-used multiple access methods or policies

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Cellular Access Technologies

The 3 most common cell-phone network technologies for transmitting information are:

Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)

All the above allows for multiple access by splitting calls

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FDMA
In FDMA, we assume that a base station can receive radio signals in a given band of spectrum, i.e., a range of continuous frequency values.

The band of frequency is broken up into smaller bands, i.e., sub-bands.

Each transmitter (user) transmits to the base station using radio waves in its own sub-band.

Frequency Sub-bands Time

Cell Phone User 1 Cell Phone User 2 : : Cell Phone User N

91 91

TDMA
In pure TDMA, base station does not split up its allotted frequency band into smaller frequency sub-bands.

Rather it communicates with the users one-at-a-time, i.e. round robin access

Time is broken up into time slots, i.e., small, equal-length intervals

Frequency Bands User 2 User 1 User 3

User N

Time
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CDMA
CDMA is a more complicated scheme. Here all users communicate to the receiver at the same time and using the same set of frequencies. This means they may interfere with each other. The system is designed to control this interference. A desired users signal is deciphered using a unique code assigned to the user.

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Cocktail Party Analogy!

In this cocktail party analogy, people talk to each other at the same time and thus interfere with other. To keep this interference in control, we require that all partiers must talk at the same volume level; no one partier shouts above anybody else. Also, to make sure that each speaking partier is heard correctly by his/her intended listener (and nobody else can listen in), we require each speaker to use a different language to communicate in The caveat in this analogy is that if you speak in one language, it is assumed that only your desired listener can understand this language. Thus, if you were at this party and only understood one language, say English, then all non-English conversations would sound like gibberish to you. The only signal you would understand is English, coming from your intender speaker (transmitter).

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Channels
Channel is a general term which refers to a frequency in an FDMA system, a timeslot/frequency combination in TDMA, or a code in CDMA.

This way, a base station has a fixed number of channels and can support only that many simultaneous users.

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Dual band, Dual mode Triband, Trimode

What is Dual band? CDMA digital cellular (800 MHz) or CDMA digital PCS (1900 MHz). What is Triband? GSM 900, 1800 and 1900 (MHz)

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Standards: Rules for a Cellular Network

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The Inner Workings

Government agencies (FCC) give licenses to companies (service providers) to provide cellular access in a particular geographic region.

These licenses allow the service provider to setup cellular towers in that region which can transmit over a prescribed band of frequencies.

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Standards
The service providers must use one of the approved cellular standards for developing the cellular network in that region.

These standards are mutually agreed upon rules adopted by the industry on how the cell phone system operates.

These standards described the air interface, i.e., how cell phones and base stations must communicate with each other

These mutually agreed upon standards change over time, as technology progresses. The first cellular systems deployed in the U.S. adhered to a standard called Analog Mobile Phone System (AMPS). This system existed in the mid 80s to early 90s. The first cellular network used analog technology. Specifically, speech was converted to an FM signal and transmitted back and forth from user phones.

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Second Generation of Cellular

The second generation (2G) of cellular networks were deployed in the early 90s. 2G cellular phones used digital technology and provided enhanced services (e.g., messaging, caller-id, etc.). In the U.S., there were two 2G standards that service providers could choose between The two standards used in U.S. are different from the 2G system used in Europe (called GSM) and the system used in Japan. First U.S. standard is called Interim Standard 136 (IS-136) and is based on TDMA (time-division multiple access). Second is called IS-95 and is based on CDMA (code-division multiple access). Most present systems are what is called the 2.5 generation (2.5G) of cellular.

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Present Cellular Systems

Most present cell systems are 2.5G. They offer enhanced services over second generation systems (emailing, web-browsing, etc.). Some 2.5G systems (such as AT&Ts) are compatible with the European system, Global System Mobile (GSM). Presently, service providers are setting up third generation (3G) cellular systems 3G offers higher data rates than 2.5G. This allows users to send/receive pictures, video clips, etc. This service is starting to become more and more available in the U.S. There are two standards for 3G, Wideband CDMA (WCDMA) and cdma2000. These two standards have been adopted world-wide. Both are based on CDMA principles.

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Complete Cellular Network

A group of local base stations are connected (by wires) to a mobile switching center (MSC). MSC is connected to the rest of the world (normal telephone system).
MSC

Public (Wired) Telephone Network

MSC

MSC MSC

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Mobile Switching Centers

Mobile switching centers control and coordinate the cellular network.

They serve as intermediary between base stations that may be handing off users between each other.

Base stations communicate with each via the MSC.

MSC keep track of cell phone user subscription.

MSC connects to the wired phone network (rest of the world).

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