Introduction to Electronic

Communications

ELECTRONICS
Computers
largest field in terms of sales of equipment and services and
number of employees
Computer Industry
concerned with the development and
servicing
of computer hardware and software
used by businesses, industry
and government
for the processing, storage and retrieval of
data.

ELECTRONICS
Communications
second largest in size
Communications Industry
concerned with electronic equipment used for transfer of
information between two or more points.

ELECTRONICS
Control
smallest field
Control Field
concerned with electric power as well as various kinds
of electronic components and circuits used to operate
lights, heating elements, electric motors and other
devices.

Communication
Communication
basic process of exchanging information
transferring of information from one place to another
Human Communication
convey their thoughts, ideas and feelings to one another
- spoken words / non-verbal / letters

Communication
Barriers of Human Communications
1. Language
2. Distance

Electronic Communications
Electronic Communication
transmission, reception and processing of information
between two or more locations using electronic circuits.

Electronic Communications
History
Late 19th century electricity was discovered
1837 1844 First Electronic Communications System

Electronic Communications

Electronic Communications
1866 First Successful use of a
Transatlantic Telegraph Cable

Electronic Communications
1876 Telephone

Electronic Communications
1887 Hertz discovers Radio Waves

Electronic Communications
1894 95 Wireless Telegraphy

Electronic Communications
1901 First Transatlantic Radio
Transmission

Electronic Communications
1903-04 Fleming Valve was invented

Electronic Communications

1906 08 Triode Vacuum Tube /

First Radio Telephone Broadcast

Electronic Communications

1920 First Commercial Radio (AM)

Electronic Communications
1923 Television was invented

Electronic Communications
1931 Radio Astronomy was
introduced

Electronic Communications

1933 FM

Electronic Communications

1936 First FM Commercial

Broadcasting

Electronic Communications

1940-45 RADAR was perfected

Electronic Communications

1948 Transistor was invented

Electronic Communications

1954 Colored Television

Electronic Communications
1959 - Integrated Circuits

Electronic Communications

1962 First Commercial Satellite

Communication Systems

Basic components:
Transmitter
Channel or medium
Receiver

Noise degrades or interferes with transmitted

information.

Communication Systems

A general model of all communication systems.

Communication Systems
Transmitter
The transmitter is a collection of electronic
components and circuits that converts the
electrical signal into a signal suitable for
transmission over a given medium.
Transmitters are made up of oscillators,
amplifiers, tuned circuits and filters, modulators,
frequency mixers, frequency synthesizers, and
other circuits.

Communication Systems
Radio Transmitter

Communication Systems
Communication Channel
The communication channel is the medium by
which the electronic signal is sent from one place
to another.
Types of media include
Electrical conductors
Optical media
Free space
System-specific media (e.g., water is the
medium for sonar).

Communication Systems

Communication Systems
Attenuation
Signal attenuation, or degradation, exists in all
media of wireless transmission. It is proportional
to the square of the distance between the
transmitter and receiver.

Communication Systems
Noise
Noise is random, undesirable electronic energy
that enters the communication system via the
communicating medium and interferes with the
transmitted message.

Communication Systems
Interference
Interference is the contamination by extraneous
signals from human sources other transmitters,
power lines, machine switching circuits

Communication Systems
Receiver
A receiver is a collection of electronic
components and circuits that accepts the
transmitted message from the channel and
converts it back into a form understandable by
humans.
Receivers contain amplifiers, oscillators, mixers,
tuned circuits and filters, and a demodulator or
detector that recovers the original intelligence
signal from the modulated carrier.

Communication Systems
Radio Receiver

Communication Systems
Transceiver
A transceiver is an electronic unit that
incorporates circuits that both send and receive
signals.
Examples are:
Telephones
Fax machines
Handheld CB radios
Cell phones
Computer modems

Type of Electronic
Communications
Types of Electronic Communications
A. One Way or Two Way
B. Types of Intelligence Signals Transmitted
C. Baseband or Modulated Signals

Type of Electronic
Communications
One Way or Two Way Transmission
1. Simplex one way communication
2. Half Duplex one party transmits at a time
3. Full Duplex can transmit and receive simultaneously
4. Full Full Duplex possible to transmit and receive
simultaneously, but not necessarily between the same two
locations.

Type of Electronic
Communications
Simplex
The simplest method of electronic communication is
referred to as simplex.
This type of communication is one-way. Examples are:
Radio
TV broadcasting
Beeper (personal receiver)

Type of Electronic
Communications
Half Duplex
The form of two-way communication in which only one
party transmits at a time is known as half duplex.
Examples are:
Police, military, etc. radio transmissions
Citizen band (CB)
Family radio
Amateur radio

Type of Electronic
Communications
Full Duplex
Most electronic communication is two-way and is referred
to as duplex.
When people can talk and listen simultaneously, it is called
full duplex. The telephone is an example of this type of
communication.

Type of Electronic
Communications
Types of Intelligence Signals Transmitted
1. Analog Signal a continuously varying voltage or current
2. Digital Signal digital codes / data
Digital Communications
1. Digital Transmission
2. Digital Radio

Type of Electronic
Communications
Analog Signals
An analog signal is a smoothly and continuously varying
voltage or current. Examples are:
Sine wave
Voice
Video (TV)

Analog signals (a) Sine wave tone. (b) Voice. (c) Video (TV)
signal.

Type of Electronic
Communications
Digital Signals
Digital signals change in steps or in discrete increments.
Most digital signals use binary or two-state codes. Examples
are:
Telegraph (Morse code)
Continuous wave (CW) code
Serial binary code (used in computers)

Type of Electronic
Communications

Digital signals (a) Telegraph (Morse code). (b) Continuous-wave (CW) code. (c)
Serial binary code.

Type of Electronic
Communications
Digital Signals
Many transmissions are of signals that originate in digital
form but must be converted to analog form to match the
transmission medium.
Digital data over the telephone network.
Analog signals.
They are first digitized with an analog-to-digital
(A/D) converter.
The data can then be transmitted and processed by
computers and other digital circuits.

Type of Electronic
Communications
Baseband or Modulated Signals
Baseband Transmission putting the original voice, video, or digital signals
directly into the medium.
Modulation process of having a baseband voice, video, or digital signal modify
another higher frequency signal.

Modulation and
Multiplexing

Modulation and multiplexing are electronic techniques for

transmitting information efficiently from one place to another.
Modulation makes the information signal more compatible
with the medium.
Multiplexing allows more than one signal to be transmitted
concurrently over a single medium.

Modulation and
Multiplexing
REASONS FOR MODULATION

Reduce antenna length

Difficulty in radiating low-frequency signals from an antenna in
the form of electromagnetic energy.
Reduce noise and interference
For frequency assignment

Modulation and
Multiplexing

LIMITATIONS

Noise
Bandwidth is that portion of the electromagnetic spectrum
occupied by a signal
- It is also the frequency range over which an information
signal is transmitted over which a receiver or other
electronic circuit operates
- USF LSF
- or the equipment operation range

Modulation and
Multiplexing

Baseband Transmission
Baseband information can be sent directly and unmodified
over the medium or can be used to modulate a carrier for
transmission over the medium.
In telephone or intercom systems, the voice is placed
on the wires and transmitted.
In some computer networks, the digital signals are
applied directly to coaxial or twisted-pair cables for
transmission.

Modulation and
Multiplexing
Broadband Transmission
A carrier is a high frequency signal that is modulated by audio, video, or
data.
A radio-frequency (RF) wave is an electromagnetic signal that is able to
travel long distances through space.

Modulation and
Multiplexing
Broadband Transmission
A broadband transmission takes place when a carrier
signal is modulated, amplified, and sent to the antenna
for transmission.
The two most common methods of modulation are:
Amplitude Modulation (AM)
Frequency Modulation (FM)
Another method is called phase modulation (PM), in
which the phase angle of the sine wave is varied.

Modulation and
Multiplexing

Modulation at the transmitter.

Modulation and
Multiplexing

Types of modulation. (a) Amplitude modulation. (b) Frequency modulation.

Modulation and
Multiplexing
Broadband Transmission
Frequency-shift keying (FSK) takes place when data is converted to
frequency-varying tones.
Devices called modems (modulator-demodulator) translate the data from
digital to analog and back again.
Demodulation or detection takes place in the receiver when the original
baseband (e.g. audio) signal is extracted.

Modulation and
Multiplexing
Multiplexing
Multiplexing is the process of allowing two or more signals to share the same
medium or channel.
The three basic types of multiplexing are:
Frequency division
Time division
Code division

Modulation and
Multiplexing

Multiplexing at the transmitter.

Modulation and
Multiplexing
Frequency Division Multiplexing

Using modulated carriers, several carriers can be used at

different frequencies
Multiplexing is the term used to refer to the combining of two
or more information signals
When the available frequency range is divided among the
signals, the process is known as frequency-division
multiplexing
Radio and television signals are examples of FDM

Modulation and
Multiplexing
Time-Division Multiplexing

Instead of dividing the bandwidth, the entire bandwidth

is used for each signal, but only for a small part of the
time
Digital telephone systems use TDM

The ELECTROMAGNETIC
SPECTRUM
Electromagnetic Waves signals that oscillate
Electromagnetic Spectrum entire range of frequencies
Frequency the number of times a particular phenomenon
occurs in a given period of time.
- cycles per second (cps)
- Hertz

The ELECTROMAGNETIC
SPECTRUM
Cycle each alternation or oscillation
- each complete alternation of a
waveform
1 cps = 1 Hz

The ELECTROMAGNETIC
SPECTRUM
Wavelength the distance between two points of
similar cycles of a periodic wave.
- distance travelled by an electromagnetic wave
during the time of one cycle.

The ELECTROMAGNETIC
SPECTRUM
Relationship of Frequency and Wavelength
= C

velocity of light
f
frequency

= 300, 000, 000 m/s

f
= 11.8 x 109 inches/s
f

The ELECTROMAGNETIC
SPECTRUM

The ELECTROMAGNETIC
SPECTRUM

The ELECTROMAGNETIC
SPECTRUM
Extremely Low Frequencies (ELF)
- 30 300 Hz
- ac power lines frequencies
- low end of human hearing range
- low frequency telemetry signals

Voice Frequencies (VF)

- 300 3000 Hz
- human speech
- standard telephone channels (voice band channels)

The ELECTROMAGNETIC
SPECTRUM
Very Low Frequencies (VLF)
- 3 30 kHz
- higher end of human hearing range
- musical instruments
- specialized government and military systems (submarine communications)

The ELECTROMAGNETIC
SPECTRUM

Low Frequencies (LF)

- 30 300 kHz
- marine and aeronautical navigation
- subcarriers

Medium Frequencies (MF)

- 300 3000 kHz
- AM Radio Broadcasting ( 535 1605 kHz)
- marine and aeronautical communications applications

The ELECTROMAGNETIC
SPECTRUM
High Frequencies (HF)
- 3 30 MHz
- short waves
- two way radio communications/ short wave radio broadcasting
- amateur radio / CB Communications
- Voice of America and Radio Free Europe Broadcast

The ELECTROMAGNETIC
SPECTRUM
Very High Frequencies (VHF)
- 30 300 MHz
- mobile radio
- marine and aeronautical communication
- Commercial FM Broadcasting (88-108MHz)
- Commercial TV Broadcasting Channels 2-13 (54-216MHz)

The ELECTROMAGNETIC
SPECTRUM
Ultra High Frequencies (UHF)
- 300 3000 MHz
- Channels 14 83
- Land Mobile Communications and Services
- Radar and Navigation Services (Military)
- Microwave and Satellite Radio Systems
- microwaves

The ELECTROMAGNETIC
SPECTRUM
Super High Frequencies (SHF)
- 3 30 GHz
- Microwave and Satellite Communications
- Radar

Extremely High Frequencies (EHF)

- 30 300 GHz
- very sophisticated, expensive and specialized application of radio
communications
- millimeter waves

The ELECTROMAGNETIC
SPECTRUM
Infrared
- 300 3000 GHz
- 3 30 THz
- 30 300 THz
- not radio waves
Infrared Signals electromagnetic radiations generally associated with heat
- used in heat seeking guidance systems, electronic photography
and astronomy.

The ELECTROMAGNETIC
SPECTRUM
Infrared Region sandwiched between the highest radio frequencies and the
visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Micron one millionth of a meter
Long Infrared 0.01 mm to 1000nm
Short Infrared 1000 to 700 nm
Applications: Astronomy, Guidance in Weapon Systems, TV Remote Control Units

The ELECTROMAGNETIC
SPECTRUM
Visible Light
- 300 3000 THz
- Visible Range for Humans
- Light wave Communications
Light a special type of electromagnetic radiation that has a wavelength in the 0.4 to
0.8 m range.
Light wavelengths usually expressed in Angstroms ()
1 = one ten-thousandth of a micron
Visible Range : 8000 4000

The ELECTROMAGNETIC
SPECTRUM
Lasers operate on extremely narrow beam of light which is easily modulated with
voice, video and data information

Ultra Violet Rays ( 3 30 PHz)

X Rays ( 30 300 PHz)

Gamma Rays ( 300 3000 PHz)

Cosmic Rays ( 3 EHz 30 EHz)

Summary Band Designations

Extremely Low frequencies include AC power distribution signals and

low frequency telemetry signals.

Voice Frequencies includes human speech signals ( voice band or voice

frequency channels).

Very low Frequencies includes upper end of human hearing frequency

range. It is used for specialized government and military systems, such as
submarine communications.

Low Frequencies primarily used for marine and aeronautical navigation.

Medium Frequencies used primarily for commercial AM radio

broadcasting (535 to 1605 KHz).

High Frequencies often referred to as short waves. Most two-way radio

communications used this range.

Very High Frequencies used for mobile radio, marine and aeronautical
communications, commercial FM broadcasting (88 to 108 MHz), and
commercial television broadcasting of channels 2 to 13 ( 54 to 216 MHz)

Summary Band
Ultrahigh Frequencies used by commercial television broadcasting of
Designations
channels 14 to 83, land mobile communication services, cellular telephones,
certain radar and navigation systems, microwave and satellite radio systems.
Generally, frequencies above
frequency

1 GHz are considered microwave

Superhigh frequencies include majority of the frequencies used for

microwave and satellite radio communications systems.

Extremely High Frequencies seldom used in radio communications except

in very sophisticated, expensive and specialized applications.

Infrared not generally referred to as radio frequencies. Refers to

electromagnetic radiation generally associated with heat. Used in heatseeking guidance systems, electronic photography and astronomy

Visible light incudes frequencies within the visible range of humans

(0.3PHz to 3PHz). Used for light wave communications.

Ultraviolet rays, X-rays, gamma rays, and cosmic rays have little application
to electronic communications

The ELECTROMAGNETIC
SPECTRUM
Classification of Transmitters
- for licensing purposes in the US
- identified by a three-symbol code containing a combination of letters and
numbers
- type of modulation of the main carrier (letter)
- identifies the type of emission (number)
- describes the type of information (letter)
- A3E

The ELECTROMAGNETIC
SPECTRUM
M = Modulation Type
N None
A AM (Amplitude Modulation), double sideband, full
carrier
H AM, single sideband, full carrier
R AM, single sideband, reduced or controlled carrier
J AM, single sideband,
suppressed carrier
B AM, independent sidebands
C AM, vestigial sideband (commonly analog TV)

The ELECTROMAGNETIC
SPECTRUM
F Angle-modulated, straight FM
G Angle-modulated, phase modulation (common; sounds like FM)
D Carrier is amplitude and angle modulated
P Pulse, no modulation
K Pulse, amplitude modulation (PAM, PSM)
L

Pulse, width modulation (PWM)

M Pulse, phase or position modulation (PPM)

The ELECTROMAGNETIC
SPECTRUM
Q Pulse, carrier also angle-modulated during pulse
W Pulse, two or more modes used
X All cases not covered above

The ELECTROMAGNETIC
SPECTRUM
N = Nature of modulating signal
0 None
1 Digital, on-off or quantized, no modulation
2 Digital, with modulation
3 Single analog channel
7 Two or more digital channels
8 Two or more analog channels
9 Composite, one or more digital channel, one or more analog
X All cases not covered above

The ELECTROMAGNETIC
SPECTRUM
I = Information type
N None
A Aural telegraphy, for people (Morse code)
B Telegraphy for machine copy (RTTY, fast Morse)
C Analog
fax
D Data, telemetry, telecomm
E Telephony, voice, sound broadcasting
F Video, television
W Combinations of the above
X All cases not covered above

Bandwidth and Noise

Bandwidth and Information capacity

Bandwidth and Information

capacity
Significant Limitation on the Performance of a
Communication System:
1. bandwidth
2. noise

Bandwidth and Information

capacity
Bandwidth portion of the electromagnetic spectrum occupied by a signal
- the frequency range over which an information signal is transmitted
or over which a receiver or other electronic circuit operates
- the difference between the upper and lower frequency limits of the
signal or the equipment operation range.

Bandwidth and Information

capacity
Channel Bandwidth range of frequencies required to transmit the desired
information

BW = f2 f1

Bandwidth and Information

capacity
BW of the CC BW of the Info
Information Theory a highly theoretical study of the efficient use of BW to
propagate information through electronic communication systems.

Information Capacity a measure of how much information can be transferred

through a communication system in a given period of time.

Bandwidth and Information

capacity
Hartleys Law = R. Hartley, 1920, Bell Telephone Laboratories

The wider the bandwidth and the longer the time of

transmission, the more information that can be conveyed
through the system.
CBxt

Bandwidth and Information

capacity
where:
I Information Capacity
B Signal Bandwidth
t transmission time

Bandwidth and Information

capacity
Information Theory C.E. Shannon, 1948, Bell telephone Laboratories
- relates information capacity, bandwidth and, signal-to-noise
ratio

I = B log2 ( 1 + S/N )
I = 3.32 B log10 ( 1 + S/N )

Bandwidth and Information

capacity
For a standard voice-band communication channel with a
signal-to-noise power ratio of 1000(30dB) and a BW of 2.7
kHz, the information that can be transferred is

I = 2700 log 2 ( 1 + 1000 )

I = 26.9 kbps

Bandwidth and Information

capacity
where:
I information capacity (bits per second)
B bandwidth (Hz)
S/N signal-to-noise ratio (unit less)

B = I / log2 ( 1 + S/N )