ChapterOne:

IntroductiontoCommunication
Systems

Introduction
Communicationswasoneofthefirstapplicationsof
electricaltechnology
Practicalelectricalcommunicationsbeganwiththetelegraph
Voicecommunicationbecamepossiblewiththeinventionof
thetelephone
Marconidevelopedthefirsttransatlanticradio
communicationin1901

Elementsofa
CommunicationSystem
Anycommunicationsystemmovesinformationfroma
sourcetoadestinationthroughachannel
Thediagrambelowillustratesthebasicelementsofall
communicationsystems

TheSource
Thesourceoftheinformationsignalcanbeanalogor
digital
Typicalexamplesarevideo,audio,anddigitaldata
Sourcesmaybedescribedbythefrequencyrangethey
occupy
Telephonequalityfrequencyrangeis300Hz3kHz
Musicfrequencyrangeis20Hz20kHz
Videorequiresafrequencyrangefromdcto4.2MHz

TheChannel
Acommunicationchannelcanbe:
Apairofconductors
Fiberopticcable
RadioFrequency

Sometimesthechannelcarriestheinformationdirectly
Somesituationscallforacarriersignaltopropagatethesignal
andtypically,thiscarrierwillbemodulated
Theinformationimpresseduponthecarrierisreferredtoasthe
modulatingsignal
Thefrequencyspectrumoftheinformationsignalisreferredtoas
thebaseband

TypesofModulation
Allsystemsofmodulationarevariationsonasmall
numberofpossibilities
Acarrierisgeneratedatamuchhigherfrequencythanthe
highestbasebandsignal
Usually,thecarrierisasinewave
Inmodulation,theparametersthatcanbechangedare:
Frequency
Amplitude
Phase

SignalBandwidth
Anunmodulatedcarrierwouldexistatonlyonefrequency
andhaszerobandwidth
Howmuchfrequencyrangeisneededforacarrierdepends
uponthebasebandfrequencyrange
HartleysLawrelatesbandwidthandinformationcapacity:
I=ktB

FrequencyDivisionMultiplexing
Usingmodulatedcarriers,severalcarrierscanbeusedat
differentfrequencies
Multiplexingisthetermusedtorefertothecombiningof
twoormoreinformationsignals
Whentheavailablefrequencyrangeisdividedamongthe
signals,theprocessisknownasfrequencydivision
multiplexing
RadioandtelevisionsignalsareexamplesofFDM

FDMinVHFBand

TimeDivisionMultiplexing
Anothermethodusedforformultiplexingiscalledtime
divisionmultiplexing
Insteadofdividingthebandwidth,theentirebandwidthis
usedforeachsignal,butonlyforasmallpartofthetime
DigitaltelephonesystemsuseTDM

Frequency
Bands

DistortionlessTransmission
Areceivershouldrestorethebasebandsignalexactly
Anychangesinthebasebandsignalarereferredtoas
distortion
Sometypesofdistortionare:

Intermodulationdistortion
Harmonicdistortion
Nonlinearfrequencyresponse
Nonlinearphaseresponse
Noise
Interference

TimeandFrequencyDomains
Timedomainreferstoamplitudeversustime
Signalscanalsobedescribedasfrequencydomain
Spectrumanalyzersgivesafrequencydomainrepresentationofa
signal

FourierSeries
Anywellbehavedperiodicwaveformcanberepresented
asaseriesofsineand/orcosinewavesatmultiplesofits
fundamentalfrequency
ThisisknownasaFourierseries
Mathematically,aFourierseriesisexpressedby:

A0
f (t)
A1 cos t B1 sin t A2 cost B2t....
2

EffectofFilteringonSignals
Manysignalshaveabandwidththatistheoreticallyinfinite
Limitingthefrequencyresponseofachannelremoves
someofthesesignalsandcausesthetimedomaintobe
distorted
Shiftingthephaseanglesofasquarewaveresultsina
signalotherthanasquarewave
Ingeneral,thewiderthebandwidth,thebetter
Forpracticalandlegalpurposes,bandwidthisconstrained
tolessthanoptimal

NoiseandCommunications
Noiseinachanneloriginatesbothinthechannelandinthe
communicationequipment
Noiseconsistsofundesired,usuallyrandom,variations
thatinterferewiththesignalsandinhibitcommunication
Noiseisclassedoneoftwoways:
Externalnoise
Internalnoise

ExternalNoise
Externalnoise
Equipmentnoise
Atmosphericnoise
Spacenoise

InternalNoise
Internalnoise

Thermalnoise
Shotnoise
Partitionnoise
Excessnoise(flickernoise)
Transittimenoise

AdditionofNoisefrom
DifferentSources
Allofthenoisesourceshaverandomwaveforms
Theamplitudeataparticulartimecannotbepredicted,
thoughtheaveragevoltageiszeroandtheRMSvoltageor
currentandaveragepowerarepredictable(andnotzero)

SignaltoNoiseRatio
Inananalogsystem,noisemakesthesignalunpleasantto
watchorlistento,orinextremecases,difficulttounderstand
Indigitalsystems,noiseincreasestheerrorrate
Overall,itisnotthelevelofthenoisethatisofinterestina
systembuttheratioofthesignaltonoisepower
Thissignaltonoiseratioisusuallyexpressedindecibelsis
oneofthemostimportantcharacteristicsofacommunication
system
Signaltonoiseratioisfoundby:
S / N (dB) 10 log

PS
PN

NoiseFigure
Sincethermalnoiseisproducedbyallconductorsand
activedevices,itfollowsthatanystageina
communicationsystemwilladdnoise
NoiseFigureisafigureofmerit,indicatinghowmucha
component,stage,orseriesofstagesdegradesthesignal
tonoiseratioofasystem

(S /N )i
NF
(S /N )o

EquivalentNoiseTemperature
Equivalentnoisetemperatureis
anotherwayofspecifyingthe
noiseperformanceofadevice
Noisetemperaturehasnothingto
dowiththetemperatureofthe
device;itistheabsolute
temperatureofaresistor,that
connectedtotheinputofa
noiselessamplifier,wouldproduce
thesamenoiseattheoutputasthe
deviceunderdiscussion

CascadedAmplifiers
Whentwoormoreamplifiersareconnectedincascade,
thenoisefigureofthefirststageisthemostimportantin
figuringthenoiseperformanceoftheentiresystem
becausethenoisegeneratedthereisamplifiedinall
succeedingstages

SpectrumAnalysis
Anordinaryoscilloscopeis
usefulforexaminingthe
timedomainofasignal
Aspectrumanalyzeris
usedfortheanalysisofa
signalinthefrequency
domain