COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS

1.RADIO
Radio broadcasting is for transmission of speech, music, entertainment programmes. These
informations are transmitted as radio waves.
 AM broadcast services use the long wave band from 150 to 285 kHz, medium wave band from
535 to 1605 kHz and short wave band upto 21.4 MHz.
 The mode of transmission is double side bands with carrier, with an audio base band range of 5
kHz.
 Broadcast station frequency assignments are spaced at intervals of 10 kHz.
 The output power from the transmitter ranges from few 100 watts for local stations and about
100 kilowatts for international transmitters.

AM BROADCAST RADIO TRANSMITTER

The block diagram of an AM transmitter is shown below

 Microphone converts the speech or music to be transmitted into an electrical signal.

 The audio signal processing unit limits the band of the modulating signal to 5 kHz.
 This signal is then sent to audio pre amplifier and power amplifier to amplify the voltage and
power levels respectively and then to the modulator amplifier.
 Carrier wave of desired frequency is generated by RF oscillator.
 The buffer amplifier isolates RF oscillator from the other blocks to maintain the constant carrier
frequency.
 Power amplifier boosts the power level of the carrier.
 Finally the carrier is fed to the another input of modulator amplifier which performs amplitude
modulation of the carrier with respect to the modulating signal which has fed to the modulator.
AM wave is then transmitted through antenna.
AM RADIO RECEIVER
There are two types of radio receivers.
1. TRF – Tuned radio frequency receiver.
2. Super heterodyne receiver.
 Super heterodyne receiver is used to a large extent now-a-days. The special features of
super heterodyne receiver is listed below.
1. Improved selectively interms of station on adjustments channels.
2. Selectivity remains uniform over the broadcast band.
3. Provides higher stage gain.
4. Provides stable operation.
 In the process of superhetrodyne reception, the signal voltage is mixed with a local
oscillator voltage and is converted into a new signal of lower frequency called the
intermediate frequency (IF).
The block diagram of superhetrodyne receiver is shown below.

 Intermediate frequency (IF) amplifier provides the major portion of the amplification and
selectivity of the receiver.
 The incoming RF signal is mixed with the frequency from the local oscillator. At the output of
mixer the sum (f0+fs) and difference (f0-fs) components are generated.
 By some suitable arrangements the difference frequency (f 0-fs) is extracted,
 Called as intermediate frequency, and amplified.
 The amplified signal is then demodulated and finally the power level of the audio signal is
increased so that it can derive the loud speaker.
 Loud speaker converts the electrical signal to audio signal.
 2.TELEVISION
 Television means seeing the scene at a distance. (Tele-Distance, Vision-seeing)
 A television system must faithfully reproduce the motion, sound, colour, the structural details
and the relative brightness of the scene.
 The standard television picture has a ratio of 4:3 of width to height which is called as aspect
ratio.
 Camera is used to generate picture signal and the sound signal is generated by microphone.
 Electron beam of the camera scans the images sequentially from left to right and from top to
bottom.
 In India the scanning rate is 25 photo frames per second since the supply frequently is 50 Hz.
There are two types of TV
1.Monochrome (black & white) system 2. Colour TV system.
Television broadcasting station in India is assigned a bandwidth of 7 mHz for each channel.
Each channels are assigned the frequency rangs from 54 to 216 MHz in VHF band.

MONOCHROME TV TRANSMITTER
Simplified monochrome TV Transmitter block diagram is shown below.

 A Scene / picture is focused by camera and scanned by electronic beam, where the intensity is
modulated by the brightness of the scene.
 Camera has photosensitive elements that convert the optical images into electrical signal.
 The black and white TV requires only brightness or luminance whereas colour TV requires
luminance and chrominance signals.
 The chrominance signal occupies significant portion in frequency spectrum whereas luminance
signal does not use Colour TV system and monochrome TV must be compatible i,e the chrominance
signals must be cooled in such a way that a satisfactory picture will be produced by a monochrome
receiver and vice versa.
 Scanning and synchronizing circuits produce, synchronizing and blanking pulses.
 Video signals, synchronizing and blank pulses are combined in the AM modulating amplifier.
 The video signal is amplified by video amplifier. Sound signals are FM modulated and combined
with video signal in combining network then it is transmitted via omnidirectional antenna.

TV RECEIVER
 Simplified TV receiver block diagram is shown below.

 Both audio and video signals are subjected to superhetrodyne action simultaneously.
 Both signals are separated. A folded dipole (or) Yagi-uda antenna is used at the receiving end.
It provides proper impedance matching so that the maximum transmitted energy is received.
 RF tuner is used to achieve good noise figure and provide image rejection. Desired channel can
be selected using tuning circuit.
 Mixer will generate the IF signal and it is applied to two sets of tuned IF amplifier. One is tuned
to sound intermediate frequency and the other to image IF. The unwanted signals from each
channel are removed by the help of rejection filters.
 Audio is fed to FM demodulator and fed to the loud speaker. Images are demodulated using
diode detector. The demodulated composite video signal is given to a sync separator. It
separates the synchronizing pulse and then image is given to the picture tube.
 3.FAX (FACSIMILE)
 FAX is a capable of transmitting and receiving printed matter which may include graphics,
drawings, pictures, handwritten texts etc.
There are two types of facsimile systems exist.
1. Photographic facsimile
2.Document facsimile
 Document facsimile is more popular than the photographic system.
 Facsimile information is transmitted using regular telephone lines at the same tariff as the
telephone chargers.
The general block diagram of facsimile system is.

 The input document is applied to the scanning process. This scanner converts the print material
into electrical signals.
 This signal should be compressed by using compression techniques. This signal should be
transmitted through transmission.
 This transmitted signal is received by receiver and the compressed signal is converted into
decompressed by using decompression method.
 Here, we can get original document and fed to the printer. Finally, we can get printed
document.
FACSIMILE TRANSMISSION:

 The photographic or document is to be transmitted is wrapped around the drum and fixed by
means of clips.
 Light from the lamp is focussed by means of optical lenses to illuminate a fine spot of the drum.
 The drum is set in motion to give rotational and axial movement. As the drum moves past the
illuminated spot, to photograph fixed to its surface is scanned.

 Light rays reflected from the drum surface are focused towards the mark using optical
lenses.
 They passed through a small aperture in the center of the most and illuminate the cathode
of a photo electric cell.
 The cathode converts light rays into electric current.
 If the portion of the photographic is black, then light is fully absorbed. The reflected light
rays reaching the photoelectric cell are zero. The cathode emission is zero.
 Therefore the electric current developed by this tube is also zero.
 On other hand the area falling under the illuminated spot is white, reflection of light rays
become maximum. It makes maximum photoelectric current.
 A chopper disc is coupled to the electric motor. It is used for providing necessary rotation to
the drum.
  The modulated signal is developed by the photoelectric cell. This signal is amplified by
using amplifier. This amplified output is given to detector. This detected signal is used for
producing frequency modulated waves in a reactance tube modulator circuit.

 The resulting frequency modulated signal is mixed with a sinusoidal local oscillator signal.
When the picture is black the beat frequency is 2.3 kHz.
 When the picture is white, the beat frequency is 1.5 kHz. Thus the mixer output consists of
a centre frequency of 1.9 kHz with frequency deviation of 400 kHz.
 This modulating frequency signal is used as a modulating signal to modulate a radio
transmitter. It can also be transmitted through telephone lines.

FACSIMILE RECEPTION:
 The construction of a facsimile receiver is similar to that of transmitter. This facsimile signal is
applied to the lamp.
 This lamp consists of an inert gas like Neon, Argon or Helium.
 The lamp gives an optical output having intensity proportional to the signal voltage. The
obtained optical signal is focused on to a photographic paper fixed over the rotating drum.
 The drum rotates in a similar manner as the transmitting drum.
 To ensure proper reception, it is necessary that the transmitting and receiving drums should be
operated in synchronization. For this purpose, a synchronizing signal of 1020 Hz is transmitted
along with the fax signals.
 The correlation between the signal and receiving drum speed is adjusted and controlled by
means of a stroboscope. The system maintains a maximum deviation of about 0.001% between
transmitting and receiving drum speeds.
 4.MICROWAVE COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS
 Electromagnetic waves in the frequency range of 1GHz to 30 GHz are referred as
microwaves. The various microwave frequency bands are shown below.
FREQUENCY MICROWAVE BAND DESIGNATION
Old New
(500-1000) MHz VHF ‘C’ band
(1-2) GHz L D
(2-3) GHz S E
(3-4) GHz S F
(4-6) GHz C G
(6-8) GHz C H
(8-10) GHz X I
(10-12.4) GHz X J
(12.4-18) GHz Kv J
(18-20) GHz K J
(20-26.5) GHz K K
(26.5-40) GHz Ka K

ADVANTAGES OF MICROWAVE COMMUNICATION

 Microwave communication offers wide bandwidth, hence more number of channels can be
obtained.
 Line of sight (LOS) propagation is more reliable when compared to software communication.
 Improved directivity with an aerial array.
 Low power requirements in the order of milliwatts & Microwatts.
 As the microwaves travels only on line-of-sight (LOS) parts, the transmitter and receiver must
be visible to each other.
 Hence it is necessary to provide several repeaters in between the transmitter and the receiver
at about 50 km intervals.
 As microwave communication offers large transmission bandwidth, thousands of telephone
channels along with some TV channels can be transmitted over the same route using the same
facilities.
 Usually, the carrier frequencies in the range 3 to 12 GHz are used for microwave
communication.
 The transmitter output power is low because highly directional high antennas are used.
 Simple block diagram of the equipments needed to provide one channel of a ground based
microwave system is shown below.

 In the block diagram, there are two terminal stations and one more repeater stations.
 At the sending end several telephone channels and one or more TV channels are frequency
multiplexed to form a baseband signal.
 The base band signal is allowed to frequency modulate the IF carrier in the lower frequency
range, which is then converted to the microwave frequency of 4 GHz.
 The signal is amplified and fed through a directional antenna towards a repeater which is at a
50 km distance.
 At repeater station, the received signal is down converted to IF, amplified then up converted to
a new frequency of 6 GHz
 The frequency conversion is done so that the outgoing and incoming signals don’t interfere with
each other in the repeater station.
 The signal is retransmitted towards the receiving terminal station where it is down converted to
the IF and demodulated to recover the base band signal.
 Then the base band signal is demultiplexed to recover the individual telephone & television
channels signals.

APPLICATIONS:

 Terrestrial Microwave links (LOS) are used to carry telephony, data and TV signals.
 Satellite communication uses microwave frequencies for their operation.
 Rader of many applications such as fire control, weather detecting, missile guidance and air
traffic control are using microwave frequencies for their operation.
 Sensitive microwave receivers are used in radio astronomy to detect & study the
electromagnetic radiation from the SUN and a number of radio stars that emit radiation from
plasmas.
 Microwave radiations has also found some medical applications for heating tumuours.
 Microwave can be used for material cutting.
 Microwave oven operates at 2450 MHz can be domestic purpose.
 Microwave radiometers can be used to map atmospheric temperature profiles, moisture
conditions in soils and crops and also to other remote sensing applications.
 Microwave can be used to study the basic properties of molecular, Atomic and Nuclear
systems.
 5. SATELLITE COMUNNICATION SYSTEMS
 A satellite is a physical object that orbits or revolves around some celestial body. The earth and
other planets are satellite which revolve the sun, and the moon is a satellite of the earth.
 A balance between the inertia of the revolving satellite and the gravitational pull of the orbited
body keeps the satellite in orbit.
SATELLITE ORBITS:
 The paths along which satellites move in the space around earth are called orbits.
 A satellite can move in three types of orbit namely synchronous orbits, polar orbits and inclined
orbits.
 The synchronous orbit is the most useful orbit for communication purposes. Every country of the
world wants a slot in synchronous orbit. Synchronous orbit lies in the equatorial plane of the
earth
 The other characteristics of the orbit are
a) Apogee
b) Perigee
c) Inclination

 Apogee is the farthest point on the orbit of a satellite from the earth.
 Perigee is the nearest point on the orbit of a satellite from the earth.
 Inclination of the orbit is determined by the angle it makes with the equator.
The synchronous orbit is further classified into
 Geostationary orbit
 Geosynchronous orbit
SATELLITE ARCHITECTURE AND ORGANISATION
 All satellite communication systems consists of two basic parts.
1. Satellite or space craft.
2. One or more earth stations.
 The satellite performs the function of a radio repeater or relay station. Two or more earth may
communicate with one another through the satellite rather than directly point to point on the
earth.
 The general block diagram of satellite is as shown.
 The major subsystems of satellite are
a) Solar panels
b) Communication subsystems
c) Telemetry, tracking and command subsystem
d) Attitude control subsystem
e) Propulsion subsystem

a. SOLAR PANELS
 They supply the electrical power for the space craft. They drive regulators that distribute DC
power at all other subsystems. And they charge the batteries that operate the satellites during
eclipse periods.
 Both DC-to-DC converters and DC-to-AC converters are used to supply special voltages to
some subsystems.
 b. COMMUNICATION SUBSYSTEM
 The heart of a communication satellite is the communication system. This a set of transponders
that receiver the up-link signals and retransmit them to earth.
 A transponder is a repeater that implements a wide band communications channel which can
carry many simultaneous communication transmissions.
 The communication subsystem consists of multiple transponders. These receive the up-link
signals, amplify them, translate them in frequency and amplify them again for retransmission as
down-link signals.
 The transponders share a common antenna subsystem for both reception and transmission.
c. TELEMENTRY, TRACKING AND COMMAND SUBSYSTEM
 It monitors on-board conditions such as temperature and battery voltage and transmits this data
back to ground station for analysis.
 The ground station may then issue orders to the satellite by transmission a signal to the
command subsystem, which then is used to control many spacecraft functions, such firing the
jet thrusters.
d. POPULATION SUBSYSTEM
 The jet thrusters and the Apogee kick motor (AKM) are part of the population subsystem. They
are controlled by commands from the ground.
e. ATTITUDE – CONTROL SUBSYSTEM
 It provides stabilization in orbit and senses changes in orientation. It fires the jet thrusters to
perform attitude adjustment and station keeping that keep the satellite in its assigned orbital
pattern.
 An earth stations takes the signals to be transmitted known as baseband signals and
frequency modulates a microwave carrier
 The most common baseband signals are voice, video and computer data.
 These uplink signals are then amplified, translated in frequency and retransmitted on the
down link to one or more earth stations.
 The component that performs this function is known as a transponder.
 Most modern communications satellite contain atleast 12 transponders.
 These transponders operate in the microwave frequency stage.
EARTH STATIONS:
 The earth station or ground station is the terrestrial base of the system.
 The earth station communicates with the satellite to carry out the designated mission.
 The earth station may be located at the end user’s facilities or may b located remotely with
ground-based intercommunication links between the earth station and the end user.
 Today earth stations are much less complex and the antennas are smaller. Many earth stations
are now located on the top buildings or in other urban areas directly where the end user
resides.
EARTH STATION ORGANISATION:
An earth station consists of five major subsystems namely
a) Antenna subsystems
b) Receiver subsystems
c) Transmit subsystems
d) Ground communication Equipment (GCE) subsystem
e) Power subsystem.
SATELLITE APPLICATIONS
 Communications
 Surveillance or observation (Monitoring purpose)
 One of the newest and most useful satellite systems is the Global positioning systems (GPS)
whose primary application is Navigation system for military.
 TV signals can be transmitted through satellite.
 Iridium-a worldwide cellular type telephone system using 66 satellites.
 6. FIBER OPTIC COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
 An optical fiber consists of a central core and an outer cladding.
 The material of core has higher index of refraction as compared to cladding. The optical fibers
are available either as a single fiber or as several fibers.
 The components of a typical fiber-optic communication system are illustrated

 The information signal to be transmitted may be voice, video or computer data.

 The first step is to convert the information into a form compatible with the communications
medium. This is usually done by converting continuous analog signals such as voice and video
(TV) signals into a series of digital pulses.
 An A/D converter is used for this purpose. Computer data is already in digital form.

OPTICAL SOURCE:
 The digital pulses are then used to flash a powerful light source off and very rapidly. In simple
low cost systems that transmit over short distances, light emitting diode (LED).
 This is a semiconductor device that puts out a low intensity red beam. Other colors are also
used.
  Infra-red beam like those used in TV remote controls are also used in transmission. Another
commonly used light source is the solid-state laser. This is also a semiconductor device that
generates an extremely intense single-frequency light beam

OPTICAL DETECTOR:

 The light beam pulses are then fed into a fiber-optic cable where they are transmitted over long
distances
 At the receiving end, a light-sensitive device known as a photocell or light detector is used to
detect the light pulses. This photo cell or photo detector converts the light pulses into an
electrical signal.
 The electrical pulses are amplified and reshaped back into digital form. They are fed to a
decoder, such as D/A converter, where the original voice or video is recovered.
 In very long transmission systems, repeater units must be used along the way. Since the light is
greatly attenuated when it travels over long distances, at some point it may be too weak to be
received reliably.
 To overcome this problem, special relay stations are used to pick up the light beam, convert it
back into electrical pulses that are amplified and then retransmit the pulses on another light
beam.
 Several stages of repeaters may be needed over very long distances. But despite the
attenuation problem, the loss is less than that occurs with the electric cables.
APPLICATIONS:
1. Long distance telephone system.
2. Interconnect computers in networks within a large building.
3. Carry control signals in airplanes and ships.
4. Secure communications systems at military bases.
5. Shipboard and Aircraft communications.
6. Plant and traffic control.
7. Data acquisition and control signal communication in industrial process control systems.
8. Nuclear plant instrumentation.