COMSATS

Principles of Communication Systems (PCS)

EEE 351

Lecture # 03
Limitations of Communication
Systems
Modulation
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Rate and Channel Bandwidth

• For a communication system, the most • Channel Bandwidth (B)
fundamental factors of concern are Range of all the frequencies a channel
– Rate of Information. can transmit with reasonable fidelity.
– Quality of Information.

• Signal Power (S)

• For a communication system, the
The power content of the transmitted
ultimate goal is to attain ‘Maximum’
rate of information with out any error signal is termed as Signal Power (S).
which implies the ‘Highest’ quality of
information. • Both, channel bandwidth and signal
power, affect the rate and quality of
• Two parameters which play the vital role information.
for achieving the above mentioned goals
include • Only qualitative aspect of this effect
– Channel Bandwidth. are considered here for now.
– Signal Power.
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Channel Bandwidth vs Rate
• If a signal is compressed in terms
of time, it can be transmitted in
less amount of time.
• Suppose a signal is compressed in
time by a factor of 2, then it can
be transmitted in half the time
and ultimately the speed of
transmission is doubled.
• But, when a signal is squeezed in
time domain, it is expanded in
frequency domain and vice versa.
• This implies that compression by a
factor of 2 in time domain causes
an expansion by a factor of 2 in
frequency domain.
• This expansion causes an increase
in the required bandwidth to
achieve the acceptable quality of
information (without distortion) at
the receiver.
• The conclusion: ‘Rate of
information is directly proportional
to the required channel bandwidth
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Signal Power vs Quality of Transmission &
Bandwidth
• Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) is the key
parameter for any communication
system.
• Signal power (S) can be controlled
within certain limitation but the noise
power is beyond control.
• Signal power (S) can be varied in
order to achieve a certain value of
SNR.
• Increasing the signal power (S)
increases the SNR which ensures the
better quality of transmission.
• Additionally, a higher SNR helps to
transmit the information over the
longer distances.
• For any communication system, a
better quality of information requires a
minimum value of SNR which is usually
controlled by the signal power (S).
• If the signal power (S) in increased, it is
possible to transmit using a smaller
bandwidth and vice verse. In other
words the signal power (S) and
channel bandwidth (B) are
exchangeable.
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Conclusion
• In effect, the two major communication • Signal power (S) is directly related to
resources are the ‘Bandwidth (B)’ and the SNR along with the fact that signal
the ‘Transmitted Power (S)’. power (s) and Channel Bandwidth (B)
are exchangeable.
• The importance of one may supersede
the other depending upon the • The preceding fact implies that SNR
communication system under
and bandwidth are also exchangeable.
consideration.

•
• The relationship between the
A telephone system has limited
bandwidth (3KHz) with a lot of available bandwidth expansion factor and the
power. SNR is exponential

• Space vehicles have infinite bandwidth • Double/ triple the bandwidth & see
available but power constraints are the effect? Is it true the other way
tough. around (Effects of changing SNR)?
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Channel Capacity
• The limitation on communication
system imposed by the channel
bandwidth (B) and Signal to Noise
Ratio (SNR) is given in Shannon’s
channel capacity theorem.
C= B log2 (1 + SNR) bits/sec
• Where
– C= Channel Capacity/ Shannon
Rate.
– B= Channel Bandwidth.
– SNR= Signal to Noise Ratio.
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• The channel capacity or information
rate (C) is the maximum number of bits
that can be transmitted per second with
a probability of error very close to zero.
• It is impossible to achieve an
information rate greater than this
without errors induced in the
transmission.
• The Shannon’s theorem gives a
theoretical maximum rate of
information which is practically
impossible to achieve. Most of the
practical systems operate below the
Shannon Rate.
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Modulation
• All the message sources usually
generate the baseband signals which
are not appropriate for direct
transmission.
• In order to make these baseband signals
suitable for transmission, some form of
modification is carried out on these
signals. This process of modification is
usually referred to as ‘Modulation’.
• This process usually involves a high
frequency periodic sinusoid-usually
referred to as carrier signal- having
three parameters including Amplitude,
Frequency and Phase.
• Anyone of these parameters is varied
according to the original baseband signal
to generate a signal suitable for
transmission.
• Depending upon the parameter varied,
three broad categories of modulation
schemes are known as
– Amplitude Modulation (AM).
– Frequency Modulation (FM).
– Phase Modulation (PM).
• Demodulation
A reverse process of modulation.
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Advantages of Modulation
• Modulation has certain advantages which enable an efficient
communication. These include

– Ease of Radiation.
– Simultaneous Transmission of Several Signals.
– Effecting the exchange of SNR with Bandwidth.
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Analog and Digital Modulation

Analog Modulation Digital Modulation
• In analog modulation, an analog • In digital modulation, a digital
input modulates the carrier input modulates the carrier
signal. signal.

• Analog modulation can take a • Digital modulation can only take

range of different values. two values namely ‘0’ and ‘1’.

• Cheaper to implement. • Expensive to implement.

• Poor Noise immunity. • Better noise immunity.

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References
[1] B.P. Lathi, Modern Digital and Analog Communication Systems, 3rd Edition,
Oxford University Press Inc.