ELC 224 – Electric Communications

Introduction to
Communication Systems

Lecturer: Dr. Reham Samir

 References
 Behrouz A. Forouzan “Data Communication and
Networking” (5th Edition), McGraw Hill International
Edition, 2015.

 B.P. Lathi, “Modern Digital and Analog

Communication Systems” (3rd Edition), Oxford
University Press, 1998.
Communication System Block Diagram
 Communication System Block Diagram
 The components of a communication system are as follows:
 The source originates a message, such as a human voice, a television
picture.

 If the data is nonelectrical (human voice, television picture), it must

be converted by an input transducer into an electrical waveform
referred to as the baseband signal or message signal.

 The transmitter modifies the baseband signal for efficient

transmission.

 The channel is a medium such as wire, coaxial cable, a waveguide,

an optical fiber, or a radio link through which the transmitter output is
sent.
 Communication System Block Diagram

 The receiver reprocesses the signal received from the channel by

undoing the signal modifications made at the transmitter and the
channel.

 The receiver output is fed to the output transducer, which converts

the electrical signal to its original form (the message).
 Modulation
 Baseband signals produced by various information sources are not
always suitable for direct transmission over a given channel.

 These signals are usually further modified at the transmitter to

facilitate transmission. This conversion process is known as
modulation.

 At the receiver, the modulated signal must pass through a reverse

process called demodulation in order to reconstruct the baseband
signal.

 In the process of modulation, the baseband signal is used to modify

some parameter of a high-frequency carrier signal.
 Modulation
 The carrier and the baseband signal may be compared to a stone
and a piece of paper. If we wish to throw a piece of paper, it cannot
go too far by itself. But by wrapping it around a stone (a carrier), it
can be thrown over a longer distance.

 Carrier
 A carrier is a sinusoid of high frequency, and one of its parameters
such as amplitude, frequency, or phase is varied in proportion to the
baseband signal.
 Accordingly, we have amplitude modulation (AM), frequency
modulation (FM), or phase modulation (PM).
 In AM, the carrier amplitude varies in proportion to base band signal
m(t) , and in FM, the carrier frequency varies in proportion m(t).
Modulation

 Carrier signal

 Modulating (base band) signal

 Amplitude-modulated wave

 Frequency-modulated wave
 Modulation
 Important reasons for modulation are:
 Modulation reduces antenna size.
 We modulate a high-frequency carrier, thus translating the signal
spectrum to the region of carrier frequencies that corresponds to a much
smaller wavelength then a smaller radiating antenna size.

 Modulation Increases the range of communication

 The low frequency baseband signals are hard to transmit at large
distance.

 The energy of a signal depends upon its frequency. So the greater the
frequency, the greater the distance of transmission.
 Modulation
 Important reasons for modulation are:
 Modulation allows simultaneous transmission of several Signals
(allows multiplexing)
 If Several radio stations broadcast audio baseband signals directly,
without any modification, they would interfere with each other.

 Thus, it would be possible to broadcast from only one radio or television

station at a time but this is wasteful.

 We can use various audio signals to modulate different carrier

frequencies, thus translating each signal to a different frequency range.