EEE/ECE F311

COMMUNICATION
SYSTEMS
SEM I – 2025-26

LECTURE 02
August 22, 2025 Ravi Kadlimatti, “Communication Systems," BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus
WORD OF CAUTION

➢ The course textbook and reference books are the primary study materials. These 2

slides would only serve as a supplementary aid for your preparations.

➢ Hence, in case of any ambiguity regarding the completeness and correctness of

these slides, the textbook has to be taken into confidence.

➢ These slides are provided for your reference. Do not share or reproduce the content

without obtaining permission from the course instructor.

Ravi Kadlimatti, “Communication Systems," BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus August 22, 2025
COMMUNICATION SYSTEM DESIGN

Analyze
communication Selecting
medium, appropriate 3
understanding forward error
propagation correction (FEC) Component
characteristics, codes, interleaving selection, circuit
noise levels, strategies, and design, antenna
interference automatic repeat integration, and
sources, and request (ARQ) system assembly.
frequency response. protocols.

Define system
specifications, Comprehensive
Select appropriate Filtering, testing validates
performance
modulation equalization, system performance
criteria, data
techniques synchronization, against initial
rates, power
and detection. requirements.
constraints, and
environmental
conditions.

Ravi Kadlimatti, “Communication Systems," BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus August 22, 2025
COMMUNICATION SYSTEM MODEL

Ravi Kadlimatti, “Communication Systems," BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus August 22, 2025
CHANNEL (1)
➢ A channel is a physical medium that acts like a filter, attenuating signals and distorting their shape.
Attenuation increases with distance. The signal loss can be small for short distances but massive for 5

long distances, like in interplanetary communications.

➢ Distortion is caused by physical effects like frequency-dependent gains, multipath interference,
and Doppler shifts.
➢ Linear distortion occurs when a channel affects different frequencies in a signal differently. It can be
partly corrected by an equalizer at the receiver.
➢ Nonlinear distortion causes attenuation that varies with the signal amplitude. This can also be
partly corrected by a complementary equalizer.
➢ Channel distortions can also be proactively compensated for at the transmitter by applying a
"predistortion" to the signal before it's sent.

Ravi Kadlimatti, “Communication Systems," BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus August 22, 2025
CHANNEL (2)
➢ In addition to distortion, signals are corrupted by noise, which is a catch-all term for random and
unpredictable interferences. 6

➢ Noise comes from two main sources: External Noise: Originates outside the system. Examples
include interference from nearby channels, human-made sources like car ignitions, and natural
phenomena like lightning, solar radiation, and electric storms.
➢ Internal Noise: Originates within the system's electronic components, caused by the thermal motion
of charged particles.
➢ With careful design, external noise can be minimized and sometimes even eliminated.
➢ Internal noise can be reduced but can never be fully eliminated; it's an inherent part of electronic
devices.
➢ Noise is a fundamental factor that limits the speed and capacity of telecommunications.

Ravi Kadlimatti, “Communication Systems," BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus August 22, 2025
DIGITAL SIGNALS AND SIGNAL DISTORTION
➢ One prominent feature of digital
communications is the enhanced immunity of 7

digital signals to noise and interferences.

➢ A finite alphabet leads to noise and interference
immunity. The receiver's decision can be made
with reasonable certainty even if the pulses
have suffered modest distortion and noise.
➢ The waveform shape itself in an analog message
carries the needed information, and even a
slight distortion or interference in the waveform
will show up in the received signal.

Ravi Kadlimatti, “Communication Systems," BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus August 22, 2025
ANALOG-TO-DIGITAL (A/D) CONVERSION (1)
➢ Two steps take place in A/D conversion:
➢ A continuous-time signal is first sampled into a discrete-time signal. The Nyquist
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sampling theorem states that if the highest frequency in the signal spectrum is 𝐵 Hz, the
signal can be reconstructed from its discrete samples, taken uniformly at a rate above 2𝐵
samples per second.
➢ Continuous amplitude is then quantized into a discrete level signal. A quantizer partitions
the signal range into 𝐿 intervals.
➢ When analog signals are transmitted by digital means, some error, or uncertainty, in the
received signal can be caused by quantization, in addition to channel noise and interferences.
➢ By increasing 𝐿, we can reduce to any desired amount the uncertainty, or error, caused by
quantization (also referred to as the quantization noise).
Ravi Kadlimatti, “Communication Systems," BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus August 22, 2025
ANALOG-TO-DIGITAL (A/D) CONVERSION (2)

Ravi Kadlimatti, “Communication Systems," BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus August 22, 2025
PULSE CODE MODULATION (PCM)

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Ravi Kadlimatti, “Communication Systems," BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus August 22, 2025
BANDWIDTH AND POWER
➢ If a channel of bandwidth 𝐵 can transmit 𝑁 pulses per second, then to transmit 𝐾𝑁 pulses per
second by means of the same technology, we need a channel of bandwidth 𝐾𝐵.
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➢ The number of pulses per second that can be transmitted over a channel is directly
proportional to its bandwidth 𝐵.
➢ The signal power 𝑃𝑠 plays a dual role in information transmission.
➢ A certain minimum signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at the receiver is necessary for successful
communication. Thus, a larger signal power 𝑃𝑠 allows the system to maintain a minimum SNR
over a longer distance, thereby enabling successful communication over a longer span.
➢ From the information theory point of view, the channel bandwidth 𝐵 and the signal power 𝑃𝑠
are, to some extent, exchangeable; that is, to maintain a given rate and accuracy of information
transmission, we can trade 𝑃𝑠 for 𝐵, and vice versa.
Ravi Kadlimatti, “Communication Systems," BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus August 22, 2025
ENERGY AND POWER (1)

Energy: J (Joule) 12

Power: W (Watt)

Ravi Kadlimatti, “Communication Systems," BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus August 22, 2025
ENERGY AND POWER (2)
Examples
13

W
J

Q: Determine the power and rms value of the signal given by,

Ravi Kadlimatti, “Communication Systems," BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus August 22, 2025
CLASSIFICATION OF SIGNALS (1)

➢ This course is limited in scope to the following classes of signals: 14

➢ Continuous time and discrete time signals

➢ Analog and digital signals

➢ Periodic and aperiodic signals

➢ Energy and power signals

➢ Deterministic and random signals

Ravi Kadlimatti, “Communication Systems," BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus August 22, 2025
CLASSIFICATION OF SIGNALS (2)

➢ Continuous time and discrete time signals

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Ravi Kadlimatti, “Communication Systems," BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus August 22, 2025
CLASSIFICATION OF SIGNALS (3)

➢ Analog and digital signals

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(a) analog and continuous time;

(b) digital and continuous time;
(c) analog and discrete time;
(d) digital and discrete time.

Ravi Kadlimatti, “Communication Systems," BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus August 22, 2025
CLASSIFICATION OF SIGNALS (4)

➢ Periodic and aperiodic signals

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Ravi Kadlimatti, “Communication Systems," BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus August 22, 2025
CLASSIFICATION OF SIGNALS (5)

➢ Energy and power signals

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Energy signal if,

Power signal if,

Ravi Kadlimatti, “Communication Systems," BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus August 22, 2025
CLASSIFICATION OF SIGNALS (6)

➢ Deterministic and random signals

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➢ A signal whose physical description is known completely, in either mathematical or

graphical form, is a deterministic signal.

➢ If a signal is known only in terms of some probabilistic descriptions, such as mean value,

mean squared value, and distributions, rather than its full mathematical or graphical

description, it is a random signal.

Ravi Kadlimatti, “Communication Systems," BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus August 22, 2025
UNIT IMPULSE SIGNAL (DIRAC DELTA)

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➢ Multiplication of the unit impulse 𝛿(𝑡) by a function 𝜙(𝑡) that is known to be continuous at

𝑡 = 0 gives,

Ravi Kadlimatti, “Communication Systems," BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus August 22, 2025
UNIT STEP SIGNAL

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Ravi Kadlimatti, “Communication Systems," BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus August 22, 2025
SIGNAL VECTORS (1)

➢ Consider a signal 𝑔(𝑡) defined over a closed time interval [𝑎, 𝑏].
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➢ Signal vector 𝐠 as an 𝑁−dimensional vector:

Ravi Kadlimatti, “Communication Systems," BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus August 22, 2025
SIGNAL VECTORS (2)
➢ Inner product of two 𝑁-dimensional vectors 𝐠 and 𝐱:
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➢ Two signals 𝑔(𝑡) and 𝑥(𝑡) are orthogonal over an interval 𝑡1 < 𝑡 < 𝑡2 , if

∗ refers to the
conjugation operator.

➢ Inner product of two complex signals 𝑔(𝑡) and 𝑥(𝑡):

Ravi Kadlimatti, “Communication Systems," BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus August 22, 2025
SIGNAL CORRELATION (1)
➢ The correlation co-efficient (similarity index) of two real signals 𝑔(𝑡) and 𝑥(𝑡) is
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➢ The cross-correlation function of two complex signals 𝑔(𝑡) and 𝑧(𝑡):

∞ ∞
𝜓𝑔𝑧 𝜏 ≡ න 𝑧 𝑡 𝑔∗ 𝑡 + 𝜏 𝑑𝑡 = න 𝑧 𝑡 + 𝜏 𝑔∗ 𝑡 𝑑𝑡
−∞ −∞

➢ The autocorrelation function of a real signal 𝑔(𝑡) :

Ravi Kadlimatti, “Communication Systems," BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus August 22, 2025
SIGNAL CORRELATION (2)
➢ Orthogonality of a complex signal set 𝑥1 (𝑡), 𝑥2 (𝑡), . . . , 𝑥𝑁 (𝑡) over a time domain Θ (which
may be an interval [𝑡1 , 𝑡2 ]): 25

➢ If all signal energies have equal value of 𝐸𝑛 = 1, then the set is normalized and is called an
orthonormal set.
➢ Approximating a signal 𝑔(𝑡) over the Θ by a set of 𝑁 mutually orthogonal signals 𝑥1 (𝑡), 𝑥2 (𝑡), . .
. , 𝑥𝑁 (𝑡):

Ravi Kadlimatti, “Communication Systems," BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus August 22, 2025
PARSEVAL’S THEOREM

➢ If 𝑔(𝑡) can be precisely expressed as the sum of orthonormal set 𝑥1 (𝑡), 𝑥2 (𝑡),….., then
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➢ Then, the energy of the signal can be expressed as,

Ravi Kadlimatti, “Communication Systems," BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus August 22, 2025
FOURIER SERIES (1)

➢ A periodic signal 𝑔(𝑡) can be expressed over an interval of 𝑇0 second(s) as an exponential

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Fourier series:

➢ Since 𝐷𝑛 is complex in general, we need two plots: the magnitude of 𝐷𝑛 and the angle of 𝐷𝑛 .

Ravi Kadlimatti, “Communication Systems," BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus August 22, 2025
FOURIER SERIES (2)

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Ravi Kadlimatti, “Communication Systems," BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus August 22, 2025
FOURIER SERIES – PARSEVAL’S THEOREM
➢ A periodic signal 𝑔(𝑡) can be expressed over an interval of 𝑇0 second(s) as an exponential
Fourier series: 29

➢ Signal power:

For a real signal, 𝐷𝑛 = |𝐷−𝑛 |,

Ravi Kadlimatti, “Communication Systems," BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus August 22, 2025
FOURIER TRANSFORM
➢ The Fourier Transform of a signal 𝑔(𝑡) (not necessarily periodic) is denoted by

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➢ The Inverse Fourier Transform is given by,

Ravi Kadlimatti, “Communication Systems," BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus August 22, 2025