TOPIC:

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

OBJECTIVES:
At the end of the chapter, the students will be able to:
 Analyze the functions of the three main parts of an electronic communication system.
 Differentiate the types of electronic communication and list examples of each type
 Relate the role of modulation and multiplexing in facilitating signal transmission
 Identify applications of electronic communications
 Solve voltage, current, gain, and attenuation in decibels and apply these formulas in
applications involving cascaded circuits.

LEARNING CONTENT:
A. Important Events in Development of Communication System
B. Electronic Communication System
C. Types of Electronic Communication
D. Modulation and Multiplexing
E. Electromagnetic Spectrum
F. A Survey of Communication Applications

A. Important Events in Development of Communication System

WHEN? WHO OR WHERE? WHAT?

1837 Samuel Morse Invention of the telegraph (patented
in 1844).
1843 Alexander Bain Invention of facsimile.
1866 United States and England The first transatlantic telegraph cable laid.
1876 Alexander Bell Invention of the telephone.
1877 Thomas Edison Invention of the phonograph.
1879 George Eastman Invention of photography.
1887 Heinrich Hertz (German) Discovery of radio waves.
1887 Guglielmo Marconi (Italian) Demonstration of “wireless”
communications by radio waves.
1901 Marconi (Italian) First transatlantic radio contact made
1903 John Fleming Invention of the two-electrode vacuum
tube rectifier.
1906 Reginald Fessenden Invention of amplitude modulation; first
electronic voice communication
demonstrated.
1906 Lee de Forest Invention of the triode vacuum tube.
1914 Hiram P. Maxim Founding of American Radio Relay
League, the first amateur radio
organization.
1920 KDKA Pittburgh First radio broadcast.
1923 Vladimir Zworykin Invention and demonstration of television.
1933-1939 Edwin Armstrong Invention of the superheterodyne receiver
and frequency modulation.
1939 United States First use of two-way radio (walkie-talkies).
1940-1945 Britain, United States Invention and perfection of radar (World
 War II).
1948 John von Neumann and others Creation of the first stored program and
others electronic digital computer.
1948 Bell Laboratories Invention of transistor.
1953 RCA/ NBC First color TV broadcast.
1958-1959 Jack Kilby (Texas Instruments) Invention of integrated circuits.
and Robert Noyce (Fairchild)
1958-1962 United States First communication satellite tested.
1961 United States Citizens band radio first used.
1973-1976 United States Ethernet and first LANs.
1975 Metcalfe First personal computers.
1977 United States First use of fiber-optic cable.
1982 United States TCP/IP protocol adopted.
1982-1990 United States Internet development and first use.
1983 United States Cellular telephone networks.
1993 United States First browser Mosaic.
1995 United States Global Positioning System deployed.
1996-2001 Worldwide First smartphones by BlackBerry, Nokia,
Palm.
1997 United States First wireless LANs.
2000 Worldwide Third-generation digital cell phones.
2009 Worldwide First fourth-generation LTE cellular
networks.
2009 Worldwide First 100 Gb/s fiber optical networks.

B. Electronic Communication System

All electronic communication systems have a transmitter, a communication channel or

medium, and a receiver. These basic components are shown in Figure 1. The process of
communication begins when a human being generates some kind of message, data or other
intelligence that must receive by others. A message may also be generated by a computer or
electronic current.

FIGURE 1. A GENERAL MODEL OF ALL COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

Transmitter
The transmitter itself is a collection of electronic components and designed to convert the
electrical signal to a signal suitable for transmission over a communication medium.
Transmitter are made up of oscillators, amplifiers, tuned circuits and filters, modulators,
frequency mixers, frequency synthesizers, and other circuits.

Communication Channel
The communication channel is the medium by which the electronic signal is sent from one
place to another. Many different types of media are used in communication system, including
wire conductors, fiber-optic cable, and free space.
 Electrical Conductors. In its simplest form, the medium may simply be a pair of wires that
carry voice signal from a microphone to a headset. It may be a coaxial cable such as that
used to carry cable TV signals. Or it may be a twisted-pair cable used in a local-area
network (LAN) for personal computers.
 Optical Media. The communication medium may also be a fiber-optic cable or “light pipe”
that carries the message on a light wave. These are widely used today to carry long-
distance calls and all Internet communications. The information is converted to digital
form that can be used to turn a laser diode off and on at high speeds.
 Free Space. When free space is the medium, the resulting system is known as radio.

Receivers
A receiver is a collection of electronic components and circuits that accepts the transmitted
message from the channel and converts it back to a form understandable by humans.

Transceiver
Most electronic communication is two-way, and so both parties must have both a transmitter
and a receiver. As a result, most communication equipment incorporates circuits that both
send and receive. These units are commonly referred to as transceivers.
Ex. Telephones, fax machines, and computer modems

Noise
Noise is mentioned here because it is the bane of all electronic communications. Its effect is
experienced in the receiver part of any communications system. The measure of noise is
usually expressed in terms of the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio (SNR), which is the signal power
divided by the noise power and can be stated numerically or in terms of decibels (dB).

C. Types of Electronic Communication

Electronic communications are classified according to whether they are (1) one-way (simplex)
or two-way (full duplex or half duplex) transmissions and (2) analog or digital signals.

1.) Simplex
The simplest way in which electronic communication is conducted is one-way
communications, normally referred to as simplex communication. Examples are shown in
Figure 2. The most common forms of simplex communication are radio and TV broadcasting.

FIGURE 2. SIMPLEX COMMUNICATION

2.)Duplex
The bulk of electronic communication is two-way, or duplex communication. For example,
people communicating with one another over the telephone can talk and listen simultaneously.

a.Half Duplex
The form of two-way communication in which only one party transmits at a time is known as
half duplex communication. The communication is two-way, but the direction alternates: the
communicating parties take turns transmitting and receiving. Most radio transmissions, such
as those used in the military, fire, police, aircraft, marine, and other services, are half duplex
communication.

b.Full duplex
Full-duplex data transmission means that data can be transmitted in both directions on a
signal carrier at the same time.
ex. Cellphone

Analog Signals
An analog signal is a smoothly and continuously varying voltage or current. Some typical
analog signals are shown in Fig. 3. A sine wave is a single-frequency analog signal. Voice
and video voltages are analog signals that vary in accordance with the sound or light
variations that are analogous to the information being transmitted.

FIGURE 3. ANALOG SIGNAL (a) SINE WAVE

Digital Signals

Digital signals, in contrast to analog signals, do not vary continuously, but change in steps or
in discrete increments. Most digital signals use binary or two-state codes. Some examples are
shown in Figure 4.

FIGURE 4. DIGITAL SIGNALS (a) Telegraph (Morse Code) (b) Continous-Wave (CW) Code
(c) Serial Binary Code
D. 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, and multiplexing allows more than one signal to be transmitted concurrently over a
single medium. Modulation and multiplexing techniques are basic to electronic communication.

Baseband Transmission

Before it can be transmitted, the information or intelligence must be converted to an

electronic signal compatible with the medium. For example, a microphone changes voice
signals (sound waves) into an analog voltage of varying frequency and amplitude. This signal
is then passed over wires to a speaker or headphones. This is the way the telephone system
works.

In a communication system, baseband information signals can be sent directly and

unmodified over the medium or can be used to modulate a carrier for transmission over the
medium. Putting the original voice, video, or digital signals directly into the medium is referred
to as baseband transmission. For example, in many telephone and intercom systems, it is the
voice itself that is placed on the wires and transmitted over some distance to the receiver. In
most computer networks, the digital signals are applied directly to coaxial or twisted-pair
cables for transmission to another computer.

In many instances, baseband signals are incompatible with the medium. Although it is
theoretically possible to transmit voice signals directly by radio, realistically it is impractical. As
a result, the baseband information signal, be it audio, video, or data, is normally used to
modulate a high-frequency signal called a carrier. The higher- frequency carriers radiate into
space more efficiently than the baseband signals themselves. Such wireless signals consist
of both electric and magnetic fields. These electromagnetic signals, which are able to travel
through space for long distances, are also referred to as radio-frequency (RF) waves, or just
radio waves.

Broadband Transmission

Modulation is the process of having a baseband voice, video, or digital signal modify another,
higher-frequency signal, the carrier. The information or intelligence to be sent is said to be
impressed upon the carrier. The carrier is usually a sine wave generated by an oscillator. The
carrier is fed to a circuit called a modulator along with the baseband intelligence signal. The
intelligence signal changes the carrier in a unique way. The modulated carrier is amplified and
sent to the antenna for transmission. This process is called broadband transmission.

The three ways to make the baseband signal change the carrier sine wave are to vary its
amplitude, vary its frequency, or vary its phase angle. The two most common methods of
modulation are amplitude modulation (AM) and frequency modulation (FM).
In AM, the baseband information signal called the modulating signal varies the amplitude of
the higher-frequency carrier signal. In FM, the information signal varies the frequency of the
carrier. The carrier amplitude remains constant. Varying the phase angle produces phase
modulation (PM). Phase modulation produces frequency modulation; therefore, the PM signal
is similar in appearance to a frequency-modulated carrier.

Multiplexing

The use of modulation also permits another technique, known as multiplexing, to be used.
Multiplexing is the process of allowing two or more signals to share the same medium or
channel. A multiplexer converts the individual baseband signals to a composite signal that is
used to modulate a carrier in the transmitter. At the receiver, the composite signal is
recovered at the demodulator, then sent to a demultiplexer where the individual baseband
signals are regenerated.

E. THE ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM

Electromagnetic waves are signals that oscillate; i.e., the amplitudes of the electric and
magnetic fields vary at a specific rate. The field intensities fluctuate up and down, and the
polarity reverses a given number of times per second. The electromagnetic waves vary
sinusoidally. Their frequency is measured in cycles per second (cps) or hertz (Hz). These
oscillations may occur at a very low frequency or at an extremely high frequency. The range
of electromagnetic signals encompassing all frequencies is referred to as the electromagnetic
spectrum.

All electrical and electronic signals that radiate into free space fall into the electromagnetic
spectrum. Not included are signals carried by cables. Signals carried by cable may share the
same frequencies of similar signals in the spectrum, but they are not radio signals. Fig. 5
shows the entire electromagnetic spectrum, giving both frequency and wavelength. Within the
middle ranges are located the most commonly used radio frequencies for two-way
communication, TV, cell phones, wireless LANs, radar, and other applications. At the upper
end of the spectrum are infrared and visible light. Fig. 6 is a listing of the generally
recognized segments in the spectrum used for electronic communication.

Figure 5. The Electromagnetic Spectrum

 Figure 6. The Electromagnetic Spectrum Used in Electronic Communication

Frequency and Wavelength

A given signal is located on the frequency spectrum according to its frequency and
wavelength.

Frequency. Frequency is the number of times a particular phenomenon occurs in a given

period of time. In electronics, frequency is the number of cycles of a repetitive wave that
occurs in a given time period. A cycle consists of two voltage polarity reversals, current
reversals, or electromagnetic field oscillations. The cycles repeat, forming a continuous but
repetitive wave. Frequency is measured in cycles per second (cps). In electronics, the unit of
frequency is the hertz, named for the German physicist Heinrich Hertz, who was a pioneer in
the field of electromagnetics. One cycle per second is equal to one hertz, abbreviated (Hz).
Therefore, 440 cps = 440 Hz.

Prefixes representing powers of 10 are often used to express frequencies. The most
frequently used prefixes are as follows:
k = kilo =1,000 = 103
M = mega =1,000,000 = 106
G = giga =1,000,000,000 = 109
T = tera =1,000,000,000,000 = 1012

Thus, 1000 Hz = 1 kHz (kilohertz). A frequency of 9,000,000 Hz is more commonly expressed

as 9 MHz (megahertz).

Wavelength. Wavelength is the distance occupied by one cycle of a wave, and it is usually
expressed in meters. Wavelength is measured between identical points on succeeding cycles
of a wave, as Fig. 7 (b) shows.
 Figure 7. Frequency and Wavelength. (a) One Cycle; (b) One Wavelength

If the signal is an electromagnetic wave, one wavelength is the distance that one cycle
occupies in free space. It is the distance between adjacent peaks or valleys of the electric and
magnetic fields making up the wave.

Wavelength is also the distance traveled by an electromagnetic wave during the time of one
cycle. Electromagnetic waves travel at the speed of light, or 299,792,800 m/s. The speed of
light and radio waves in a vacuum or in air is usually rounded off to 300,000,000 m/s (3x108
m/s), or 186,000 mi/s. The speed of transmission in media such as a cable is less. The
wavelength of a signal, which is represented by the Greek letter λ (lambda), is computed by
dividing the speed of light by the frequency f of the wave in hertz:
λ = 300,000,000 / f

Example:
1. Find the wavelengths of:
(a) a 150-MHz signal (c) an 8-MHz signal
(b) a 430-MHz signal (d) a 750-kHz signal

2. A signal with a wavelength of 1.5 m has a frequency of?

3. A signal travels a distance of 75 ft in the time it takes to complete 1 cycle. What is its
frequency?

4. The maximum peaks of an electromagnetic wave are separated by a distance of 8 in. What
is the frequency in megahertz? In gigahertz?

Bandwidth

Bandwidth (BW) is that portion of the electromagnetic spectrum occupied by a signal. It is

also the frequency range over which a receiver or other electronic circuit operates. More
specifically, bandwidth is the difference between the upper and lower frequency limits of the
signal or the equipment operation range. Fig. 1-16 shows the bandwidth of the voice
frequency range from 300 to 3000 Hz. The upper frequency is �2 and the lower frequency is
�1 . The bandwidth, then, is
BW = �2 − �1
 Figure 8. Bandwidth

A Survey of Communication Applications

The applications of electronic techniques to communication are so common and pervasive

that you are already familiar with most of them. You use the telephone, listen to the radio, and
watch TV. You also use other forms of electronic communication, such as cellular telephones,
ham radios, CB and Family radios, home wireless networks for Internet access, texting,
electronic mail, and remote-control garage door openers.

 Simplex (One Way)

1. AM and FM radio broadcasting. Stations broadcast music, news, weather reports, and
programs for entertainment and information. It includes shortwave.
2. Digital radio. There is both satellite and terrestrial. Radio programming is transmitted in
digital format.
3. TV broadcasting. Stations broadcast entertainment, informational, and educational
programs by radio.
4. Digital television (DTV). Radio transmission of television programming is performed by
digital methods, both satellite and terrestrial, e.g., highdefinition television (HDTV) and
Internet Protocol Television (IPTV).
5. Cable television. Movies, sports events, and other programs are distributed to subscribers
by fiber-optic and coaxial cable.
6. Facsimile. Printed visual material is transmitted over telephone lines. A facsimile, or fax,
machine scans a document and converts it to electronic signals that are sent over the
telephone system for reproduction in printed form by another fax machine. Faxes can also be
sent from a computer.
7. Wireless remote control. This category includes a device that controls any remote item by
radio or infrared. Examples are missiles, satellites, robots, toys, and other vehicles or remote
plants or stations. A remote keyless entry device, garage door opener, and the remote control
on your TV set are other examples.
8. Internet of Things (IoT). The monitoring or control of remote devices, appliances, and other
items in a home, office or other facility is usually accomplished by a combination of wireless
and Internet connectivity.
9. Navigation and direction-finding services. Special stations transmit signals that can be
picked up by receivers for the purpose of identifying exact location (latitude and longitude) or
determining direction and/ or distance from a station. Such systems employ both land-based
and satellite stations. The services are used primarily by boats and ships or airplanes,
although systems for cars and trucks are being developed. The Global Positioning System
(GPS) which uses 24 satellites is the most widely used.
10. Telemetry. Measurements are transmitted over a long distance. Telemetry systems use
sensors to determine physical conditions (temperature, pressure, flow rate, voltages,
frequency, etc.) at a remote location. The sensors modulate a carrier signal that is sent by
wire or radio to a remote receiver that stores and/or displays the data for analysis. Examples
are satellites, rockets, pipelines, plants, and factories.
11. Radio astronomy. Radio signals, including infrared, are emitted by virtually all heavenly
bodies such as stars and planets. With the use of large directional antennas and sensitive
high-gain receivers, these signals may be picked up and used to plot star locations and study
the universe. Radio astronomy is an alternative and supplement to traditional optical
astronomy.
12. Surveillance. Surveillance means discreet monitoring or “spying.” Electronic techniques
are widely used by police forces, governments, the military, business and industry, and others
to gather information for the purpose of gaining some competitive advantage. Techniques
include phone taps, tiny wireless “bugs,” clandestine listening stations, and reconnaissance
airplanes and satellites.
13. Music services. Continuous background music is transmitted for doctors’ offices, stores,
elevators, and so on by local FM radio stations on special high-frequency subcarriers that
cannot be picked up by conventional FM receivers.
14. Internet radio and video. Music and video are delivered on a computer via the Internet.

 Duplex (Two Way)

15. Telephones. One-on-one verbal communication is transmitted over the vast worldwide
telephone networks employing wire, fiber optics, radio, and satellites.
a. Cordless telephones provide short-distance wireless communication for cord-free
convenience.
b. Cell phones provide worldwide wireless communications via handsets and base stations
and the wired telephone system. In addition to voice communications, cell phones facilitate e-
mail, Internet access, instant message service, video, and games.
c. Internet telephones, known as voice over the Internet protocol (VoIP) phones, use high-
speed broadband services (cable, DSL, wireless, fiber) over the Internet to provide digital
voice communications.
d. Satellite phones use low-earth-orbit satellites to give worldwide voice service from any
remote location on earth.
16. Two-way radio. Commercial, industrial, and government communication is transmitted
between vehicles, handheld units, and base stations. Examples include police, fire, taxi,
forestry service, trucking companies, aircraft, marine, military, and government.
17. Radar. This special form of communication makes use of reflected microwave signals for
the purpose of detecting ships, planes, and missiles and for determining their range, direction,
and speed. Most radar is used in military applications, but civilian aircraft and marine services
also use it. Police use radar in speed detection and enforcement.
18. Sonar. In underwater communication, audible baseband signals use water as the
transmission medium. Submarines and ships use sonar to detect the presence of enemy
submarines. Passive sonar uses audio receivers to pick up water, propeller, and other noises.
Active sonar is like an underwater radar with which reflections from a transmitted ultrasonic
pulse are used to determine the direction, range, and speed of an underwater target.
19. Amateur radio. This is a hobby for individuals interested in radio communication.
Individuals may become licensed “hams” to build and operate two way radio equipment for
personal communication with other hams.
20. Citizens Radio. Citizens band (CB) radio is a special service that any individual may use
for personal communication with others. Most CB radios are used in trucks and cars for
exchanging information about traffic conditions, speed traps, and emergencies.
21. Family Radio Service. This is a two-way personal communication with handheld units over
short distances (< 2 mi).
22. The Internet. Worldwide interconnections via fiber optic networks, telecommunications
companies, cable TV companies, Internet service providers, and others provide World Wide
Web (WWW) access to millions of websites and pages and electronic mail (e-mail).
23. Wide-Area Networks (WANs). Worldwide fiber-optic networks provide long-distance
telephone and Internet services.
24. Metropolitan-area networks (MANs). Networks of computers transmit over a specific
geographic area such as a college campus, company facility, or city. Normally they are
implemented with fiber-optic cable, but may also be coaxial cable or wireless.
25. Local-area networks (LANs). Wired (or wireless) interconnections of personal computers
(PCs), laptops, servers, or mainframe computers within an office or building for the purpose of
e-mail, Internet access, or the sharing of mass storage, peripherals,
data, and software.