COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

Communication is the basic process of exchanging information.

Say,
Human beings communicate to convey their thoughts, ideas, and feelings to one another.

Even;
Animals, insects or other living things may have their own languages to communicate in order to
convey the message.

ln daily activity in life, we are interested in communicating some information which may include
some thought, news, feeling and so on to others. Thus, in a broad sense, the term communication
refers to the transmission of information from one place to the other.

The process of communication in all human life (electrical and or non-electrical in nature) includes:
verbal,
nonverbal (body language),
print,
Electrical and electronic form

Two of the main barriers to human communication:

1. language
2. distance.

Short distance communication:

The information transmission between humans sitting very close (example, in a classroom) may
take place via one or more of the following means:
speech,
facial expressions, and
gestures.
Among these, the most effective one is via speech mode. However, the speech mode of
communication is also limited by how loud a person can produce the speech signal and is effective
only over few tens of meters.

For long-distance communication:

For few years or centuries back (history), initially humans employed non-electrical means like:
Written words (letters)
drumbeats,
smoke signals,
waving signal flags (semaphores)
horn blasts,
running messengers (e.g. mercury- Greek Myth),
Horseback rider,pigeons, ships, trains
Newspapers, books
Postal offices …
(When messages were relayed from one location to another, even greater distances could be covered.)
The electrical means of communication, say:
 Increases the ability to share information.
 wire telegraphy
 telephony
 radio communication
 Television
 satellites
 computers
 Wireless communication (e.g. mobile phones)
(fibre optics made communication even more widespread with an increasing
emphasis on wireless communication and network)
 Internet and other data communications

The Human communication

It took a dramatic change forward in the late nineteenth century with respect the discoveries and
inventions through sciences and technology, especially when electricity was discovered and its
many applications were explored. The telegraph was invented in 1844 and the telephone in 1876.
Radio waves was discovered in 1887 and television was introduced. Referring to its history of
electronic communication.

Some known forms of electronic communication:

1. telephone,
2. Mobile phone
3. radio,
4. TV,
5. Computer
6. Internet, etc…

The basic objective of electrical communication:

Transmission of information from one place to the other.

Some different steps involved in the transmission of information may be outlined as follows:
1.Origin of information in the mind of the person who wants to communicate
2.Generation of message signal carrying the information
3.Converting the message signal into electrical form using a suitable transducer
4. Processing the message signal such that it will have the capability to travel for a long distance
5. Transmission of the processed message signal. to the desired destination
6. Reception of the processed message signal at the desired destination
7. Processing the received. message signal in such a way to recreate the original non-electrical form
8. Finally delivering the information from the message signal to the intended point of destination.
The field of electronics divide into 3 major sub-fields:
1. Computers
2. Communications
3. Controls

Computers
- the largest field of electronics in terms of sales of equipment, services & number of
employees.
- the youngest of the three sub-field of electronics.
- computer intruded the other sub-field of electronics due to the introduction and demand of
automation technology.

The computer industry:

Concerning on the development of computer hardware and software.
- maximizing the capability of transferring and processing, analyzing, computing,
storage and retrieval of data.

Communication
- the second largest among the sub-field.
- the oldest sub-field of electronics, since electronics started with radio communication.
- the introduction of computer made communication fast and reliable.

The Communication industry:

Concerned on the the development of electronic equipment used for the transfer of information a
source to any point of destination.
Information (data) may classified into form of:
Voice, or audio
Text messages
Pictures
Video,
Code, computer data and other form of electronic information

Control Electronics
- the smallest among the group/ sub-field of electronics

The control electronic industry:

Concerned to the development of equipment that deals with electrical power as well as various
kinds of electrical and electronic components and or circuits used to operate such:
Lights
Heating elements
Electric motors
Sensors
Solenoids
Actuators, and other electrical devices
- the introduction and merging of computers in the control field made it more fast and reliable
in terms of automation.
Example:
Frequency drives, PLC, SCADA etc.
Elements of a communication system

The basic form of electronic communication system

1. Transmitter
2. Communication channel or medium
3. Receiver

the general model of communication system

Terms:
1. Transmitter
2. Receiver
3. Medium
4. Noise
5. Source
6. Destination
7. Information
8. Radio
9. Electromagnetic wave
10. Electronics