By

Dr. Hend Abd El-Azem Malhat

Lecture (1)
Outline:
 General Introduction
 Communication system (Function, Efficiency, and Elements)
 Types Of Communication Systems
 Types of Data Flow
 The Criteria of Good Communication System:
 Sources of Information
 Analogue And Digital Message
 Transmission Impairment (Degradation)
 Communication Network
 Communication Channels
 Function of a Communication System
 Data communications are the exchange of data between
two devices via some form of transmission medium such
as a wire cable.

(1) Receiver
Transmitter

(3)
(4) (5)
(2)
oSimple steps for the transmission of information from
one point to another
The generation of a message signal: voice, music, picture,
or computer data.
The description of the message signal by a set of symbols:
electrical, aural, or visual.
The encoding of these symbols in a form that is suitable for
transmission over a physical medium of interest.
The transmission of the encoded symbols over the medium.
The decoding and reproduction of the original symbols.
The recreation of the original message signal.
 Elements of a Communication System
Basic block diagram of a communication system:

Source Transmitter Receiver Recipient

Efficiency of a Communication System
depends on four fundamental characteristics:
Delivery: Data must be received by the intended device or
user and only by that device or user.
Accuracy: The system must deliver the data accurately. Data
that have been altered in transmission and left uncorrected are
unusable.
Timeliness: The system must deliver data in a timely manner
and without significant delay. Data delivered late are useless.
Jitter: Jitter refers to the variation in the packet arrival time. It
is the uneven delay in the delivery of audio or video packets.
 Types of a Communication System
Point-to-point communication, as telephone and link
between an Earth station and a robot navigating the
surface of a distant planet.

Broadcasting communication (multi-point), as radio

and television.
 Types of a Data Flow
Simplex:
The communication is unidirectional as on a one-way
street.
Only one of the two devices on a link can transmit; the
other can only receive
Keyboards and traditional monitors are examples of
simplex devices.
 Types of a Data Flow
 Half-Duplex:
Each station can both transmit and receive, but not at
the same time.
When one device is sending, the other can only
receive, and vice versa.
The entire capacity of the channel can be utilized for
each direction.
 Types of a Data Flow
 Full-Duplex:
Both stations can transmit and receive simultaneously
In full-duplex mode, signals going in one direction
share the capacity of the link with signals going in the
other direction.
One common example of full-duplex communication is
the telephone network.
The Criteria of Good Communication System
High capacity
Large bandwidth (BW)
High signal to noise ratio (S/N)
Small size and weight
Immunity to interference and crosstalk
Signal security
Low propagation loss
Ruggedness and flexibility
System reliability and ease of maintenance
Potential low cost
 Sources of Information
 Information today comes in different forms such as text,
numbers, images, audio, and video.
 There are four important sources of information: speech,
music, pictures, and computer data.
 A source of information may be characterized in terms of the
signal that carries the information.
 Analogue And Digital Message
 Analogue messages
The data whose value varies over a continuous range.
 Analogue And Digital Message
 Digital messages
are constructed with a finite number of symbols.
A digital message constructed with M symbols is called
an M-ary message.
 Sine Wave
 The sine wave is the most fundamental form of a periodic
analog signal.
Transmission Impairment
(Degradation)
 Attenuation
 Attenuation means a loss of energy, overcoming the
resistance of the medium.
To compensate for this loss, amplifiers are used to amplify
the signal.
 Distortion
 The signal changes its form or shape.
 Occur in a composite signal made of different frequencies.
Each signal component has its own propagation speed
through a medium and, therefore, its own delay in arriving at
the final destination.
 Noise
 The unwanted signal that tends to disturb the transmission and
processing of message signals in a communication system.
 The sources of noise may be external or internal to the
system.
 Decibel (dB)
 Measures the relative strengths of two signals or one signal at
two different points.
 The decibel is negative if a signal is attenuated and positive if
a signal is amplified.

where P1 and P2 represent signal power and V1 and V2 are the

signal voltage.
 Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)
 A measure of the effect of noise expressed in (dB),

where PS is the signal power, PN is the noise power.