TELECOMMUNICATION ENG.

I (EEE 211)
LECTURE NOTES 2: Overview
of Communication Systems
1
Kumasi Technical
University
[Link]

Achiaa Osei-Donkor
Department of
January 28, 2023
Electrical/Electronic Engineering
 Outline

What is a
System?
Communication
System
Elements of
Communication
Systems

Information and
Message
What is a System?
Tranmitter and
Receiver

The Transmission
Channel Communication System
Modes of
Communication
Transmission Modes of Communication Transmission

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 What is a System

What is a 3
System?
Communication
System
Elements of
Communication
Systems

Information and
Message ▶ A system is a mathematical (a) Single input - single output System.
Tranmitter and
Receiver
model of a physical process
The Transmission that relates the input (or
Channel
excitation) signal to the output
Modes of
Communication (or response) signal.
Transmission
▶ For example, input x output y
(b) Multiple inputs - single output System.
given as:

y = Tx

▶ T represents well-defined rule

by which x is transformed into y.

(c) Systems with multiple inputs and multiple outputs.

Figure 1: Types of Systems

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 Elements of a Communication System

What is a
System?
Communication ▶ A communication system is a system that conveys information from
System
Elements of 4 its source to a destination some distance away.
Communication
Systems

Information and
▶ There are three essential parts of any communication system:
Message
▶ the transmitter
Tranmitter and
Receiver ▶ the transmission channel
The Transmission
Channel
▶ receiver
Modes of
Communication
Transmission

Figure 2: Elements of communication system.

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 Elements of a Communication System: Information /
Message I
What is a
System?
Communication
▶ Information is the source of a communication system.
System
Elements of ▶ It is the entity to be transmitted.
Communication
Systems ▶ Message is the physical manifestation of information as produced by
Information and 5
Message the source.
Tranmitter and
Receiver
▶ The goal of communication system is to reproduce an acceptable
The Transmission replica of the source message/information.
Channel

Modes of
▶ The message may either be
Communication
Transmission ▶ analog: a quantity that varies continuously with time. Examples:
acoustic pressure produced during speech.
OR
▶ digital: a quantity whose amplitudes are from a discrete set of
elements. Examples signals produced from the computer
keyboard.
▶ Information from the source can be converted to electrical signals
(current / voltage) using input transducers or sensors.
▶ Output transducers are also used to convert electrical message
signals into the desired output form.

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 Elements of a Communication System: Information /
Message II
What is a
System?
Communication
System
Elements of ▶ A transducer is a device that converts energy from one form to
Communication
Systems another.
Information and
Message
6 ▶ Input transducers (sensors) convert energy in the form of sound,
Tranmitter and light, heat, etc. into equivalent electrical signals.
Receiver

The Transmission ▶ Microphones, thermocouple, photodiodes

Channel

Modes of
▶ Output transducers convert electrical signals to energy of another
Communication form.
Transmission
▶ Loudspeakers, lamps, leds, motor, heater

Figure 3: Communication system with input and output transducers.

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 Elements of a Communication System: The Transmitter
and Receiver
What is a
System?
Communication ▶ The transmitter processes the input signal to produce a suitable
System
Elements of signal for the transmission channel.
Communication
Systems ▶ A transmitter can be a separate piece of electronic equipment, or an
Information and
Message electrical circuit within another electronic device.
Tranmitter and
Receiver
7 ▶ Signal processing for transmission usually involves
The Transmission ▶ modulation
Channel
▶ coding
Modes of
Communication
Transmission ▶ The receiver operates on the output signal from the communication
channel.
▶ The receiver prepares the signal for delivery and sends it to the
transducer at the destination.
▶ Receiver operations usually include:
▶ amplification
▶ demodulation
▶ decoding
▶ filtering
▶ A transmitter and a receiver combined in one unit is called a
transceiver.
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 Elements of a Communication System: The Transmission
Channel I
What is a
System?
Communication ▶ The transmission channel is the electrical medium between the
System
Elements of source and the destination.
Communication
Systems ▶ The transmission channel may be
Information and
Message ▶ guided: example via a pair of wires like a coaxial cable, twisted
Tranmitter and
Receiver
pair, etc.
The Transmission 8
▶ unguided: radiowaves, microwaves
Channel
▶ Every channel introduces some amount of transmission loss or
Modes of
Communication
Transmission
attenuation.
▶ Attenuation reduces signal strength progressively with increasing
distance.
▶ Other factors that affect the integrity of channel transmission include:
1. Interference
▶ Interference is contamination by extraneous signals from
human sources, other transmitters, power lines and
machinery, switching circuits, etc.
▶ It occurs most often in radio systems whose receiving
antennas usually intercept several signals at the same time.

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 Elements of a Communication System: The Transmission
Channel II
What is a
System?
Communication
System
Elements of ▶ It also appears in cable systems if the transmission wires or
Communication
Systems receiver circuitry pick up signals radiated from nearby
Information and
Message sources.
Tranmitter and ▶ Appropriate filtering techniques can remove interference to
Receiver

The Transmission 9
a large extent.
Channel
2. Noise
Modes of
Communication ▶ Noise refers to random and unpredictable electrical signals
Transmission
that corrupt the received signal.
▶ Noise can be produced by natural processes both internal
and external to the system.
▶ Filtering reduces noise contamination, but there inevitably
remains some amount of noise that cannot be eliminated.
3. Distortion
▶ Distortion is waveform perturbation caused by imperfect
response of the system to the desired signal itself.
▶ Unlike noise and interference, distortion disappears when
the signal is turned off.
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 Elements of a Communication System: The Transmission
Channel III
What is a
System? ▶ In a linear channel, distortion can be corrected or reduced
Communication
System using equalizers.
Elements of
Communication
Systems
▶ Communication Systems are designed to efficiently utilize two
Information and primary communication resources:
Message

Tranmitter and
1. Transmitted power - the average power of the transmitted signal.
Receiver

The Transmission 10 2. Transmission channel bandwidth. The concept of channel

Channel
bandwidth applies to signals and systems as a measure of
Modes of
Communication speed.
Transmission
▶ When a signal changes rapidly with time, its frequency content, or
spectrum, extends over a wide range giving it a large bandwidth.
▶ The ability of a system to follow signal variations is reflected in its
usable frequency response or transmission bandwidth.
▶ Every communication system has a finite bandwidth B that limits the
rate of signal variations.
▶ For a digital signal with r symbols per second, the bandwidth must be
r
B≥ (1)
2
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 Elements of a Communication System: The Transmission
Channel IV
What is a
System?
Communication
System
Elements of
Communication
Systems

Information and
▶ The channel capacity (C) is given by the Shannon-Hartley law as
Message

C = B log2 (1 + S/N)
Tranmitter and
Receiver (2)
The Transmission 11
Channel
where S/N is the linear signal-to-noise power ratio (not in decibels).
Modes of
Communication ▶ Channel capacity expression in equation 2 estimates the maximum
Transmission
limit on a channel’s performance.
Examples:
1. Find the maximum channel capacity for a channel with S/N of 20 dB
and 1000 KHz available bandwidth.

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 Communication Transmission Modes I

What is a
System?
Communication
System
Elements of ▶ Communication transmission can be categorized into 3 main modes:
Communication
Systems 1. Simplex:
Information and
Message ▶ In simplex mode, communication occurs in only one
Tranmitter and
Receiver
direction (unidirectional communication).
The Transmission
▶ The transmitter can send the message but it cannot receive
Channel
from the receiver.
Modes of 12 ▶ Uses one channel for communication.
Communication
Transmission
▶ Examples are conventional TV and FM radio broadcast,
computer keyboard and monitor.
2. Half-duplex:
▶ In half-duplex mode, communication occurs in both
directions but no simultaneously.
▶ Both transmitter and receiver send and receive messages
from each other, but one at a time.
▶ It is two-way directional communication.
▶ Uses one channel for communication.
▶ Example is the walkie-talkie.

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 Communication Transmission Modes II

What is a
System?
Communication
System
Elements of
Communication
Systems

Information and
Message

Tranmitter and
Receiver

The Transmission
Channel

Modes of 13
Communication
Transmission

Figure 4: Differences in the modes of communication transmission.

3. Full-Duplex
▶ In full-duplex mode, communication occurs in both
directions simultaneously.
▶ It is a simultaneous two-way communication.
▶ Uses two channels for communication.
▶ Example is the telephone.
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