CS 58 – NETWORKS AND

COMMUNICATIONS

INSTRUCTOR:
ENGR. IVY MAY DC. RUMBAOA
 Introduction to Communication
Communication
is the process of exchanging information. People communicate to convey their
thoughts, ideas, and feelings to others. The process of communication is inherent to all
human life and includes verbal, nonverbal (body language), print, and electronic
processes.

Two of the main barriers to human communication

1. Distance
Another issue is communicating over long distances. Face-to-face interactions
were the only way for early humans to communicate. Long-distance communication was
first achieved by the use of basic signals such as drumbeats, horn blasts, and smoke
signals, and later through the use of signal flags (semaphores). Even greater distances
could be covered as messages were relayed from one place to another.
2. Language
Between people of different cultures or nationalities, language
barriers arise.

The distance barrier was then solve by the invention of

the telegraph in 1844 and telephone in 1876. Radio was
discovered in 1887, and wireless telegraphy was demonstrated in
1895. Electronic communications plays a vital role in all our lives
and is essential to the success of our information society.
 COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS
All electronic communication systems have a transmitter, a
communication channel or medium, and a receiver. The process of
communication begins when a human being generates some kind of
message, data, or other intelligence that must be received by others. A
message may also be generated by a computer or electronic current.
This message, in the form of an electronic signal, is fed to the
transmitter, which then transmits the message over the
communication channel. The message is picked up by the receiver and
relayed to another human. Along the way, noise is added in the
communication channel and in the receiver.
Basic Components
● Transmitter
● Channel or Medium
● Receiver

Noise it is defined as anything that interferes with the communication process

between a speaker and an audience. It's also referred to as interference.
Noise can be external (a physical sound) or internal (a mental disturbance),
and it can interfere with communication at any point.
1. Transmitter
The first step in sending a message is to convert it into electronic
form suitable for transmission. For voice messages, a microphone is used to
translate the sound into an electronic audio signal. For TV, a camera converts
the light information in the scene to a video signal. In computer systems, the
message is typed on a keyboard and converted to binary codes that can be
stored in memory or transmitted serially. Transducers convert physical
characteristics (temperature, pressure, light intensity, and so on) into
electrical signals.
The transmitter itself is a collection of electronic components and
circuits designed to convert the electrical signal to a signal suitable for
transmission over a given communication medium.
2. 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 systems, 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 a 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).
 ● 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.
Alternatively, audio or video analog signals can be used to vary the
amplitude of the light.
 ● Free Space. When free space is the medium, the resulting
system is known as radio. Also known as wireless, radio is the broad
general term applied to any form of wireless communication from one
point to another. Radio makes use of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Intelligence signals are converted to electric and magnetic fields that
propagate nearly instantaneously through space over long distances.
Communication by visible or infrared light also occurs in free space.
 ● Other Types of Media. Although the most widely used
media are conducting cables and free space (radio), other types
of media are used in special communication systems. For
example, in sonar, water is used as the medium. Passive sonar
“listens” for underwater sounds with sensitive hydrophones.
Active sonar uses an echo-reflecting technique similar to that
used in radar for determining how far away objects under water
are and in what direction they are moving.
3. 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.. The output is the original signal, which is
then read out or displayed. It may be a voice signal sent to a speaker, a video
signal that is fed to an LCD screen for display, or binary data that is received
by a computer and then printed out or displayed on a video monitor.

Transceivers
-is an electronic unit that incorporates circuits that both send and receive
signals.
Attenuation
Signal attenuation, or degradation, is inevitable no matter what the
medium of transmission. Attenuation is proportional to the square of the
distance between the transmitter and receiver. A transmitted signal,
distorting digital pulses in addition to greatly reducing signal amplitude over
long distances. Thus considerable signal amplification, in both the transmitter
and the receiver, is required for successful transmission. Any medium also
slows signal propagation to a speed slower than the speed of light.

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.
 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.
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 below. The most common forms of simplex
communication are radio and TV broadcasting. Another example of one-way
communication is transmission to a remotely controlled vehicle like a toy car
or an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV or drone).
Full 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. This is called full duplex communication. Examples of full duplex communication
include telephone calls, Cellular/Mobile phone calls, upload and download in your internet
service and others.

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. Citizens band (CB), Family Radio, and amateur radio
communication are also half duplex. These are also known as Walkie talkies.
Two types of Signals
Analog Signals
An analog signal is a smoothly and continuously varying voltage or current.
Some typical analog signals are shown in figure below. (a) A sine wave is a single-
frequency analog signal. (b) Voice and (c) video (TV) voltages are analog signals that
vary in accordance
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 Fig. 1-6. The earliest forms of both wire and
radio communication used a type of on/off digital code. The telegraph used Morse
code, with its system of short and long signals (dots and dashes) to designate letters
and numbers. See Fig. 1-6(a). In radio telegraphy, also known as continuous-wave
(CW) transmission, a sine wave signal is turned off and on for short or long durations
to represent the dots and dashes. Refer to Fig. 1-6(b).
Data used in computers is also digital. Binary codes representing numbers,
letters, and special symbols are transmitted serially by wire, radio, or optical
medium. The most commonly used digital code in communications is the American
Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII, pronounced “ask key”). Fig. 1-6(c)
shows a serial binary code.
Many transmissions are of signals that originate in digital form, e.g., telegraphy messages or
computer data, but that must be converted to analog form to match the transmission medium.
An example is the transmission of digital data over the telephone network, which was designed
to handle analog voice signals only. If the digital data is converted to analog signals, such as
tones in the audio frequency range, it can be transmitted over the telephone network. Analog
signals can also be transmitted digitally. It is very common today to take voice or video analog
signals and digitize them with an analog-to-digital (A /D) converter. The data can then be
transmitted efficiently in digital form and processed by computers and other digital circuits.
 Modulation and Multiplexing
Modulation and Multiplexing are electronic techniques for transmitting information efficiently
from one place to another.
● Modulation
An electronic technique in which a baseband information signal modifies a carrier
signal (usually a sine wave) for the purpose of frequency translation and carrying the
information signal via radio. The common types of modulation are amplitude, frequency and
phase.

*Why modulation is needed?

-To generate a modulated signal suited and compatible to the characteristics of the transmission
channel.
-For ease radiation and reduction of antenna size
-Reduction of noise and interference
-Channel assignment
-Increase transmission speed
● Multiplexing
the process of simultaneously transmitting two or more baseband information
signals over a single communications channel.
Frequency-Division Multiplexing
is an analog technique that can be applied when the bandwidth of a link (in hertz) is
greater than the combined bandwidths of the signals to be transmitted. In FOM, signals
generated by each sending device modulate different carrier frequencies. These modulated
signals are then combined into a single composite signal that can be transported by the link.

The figure shows the schematic diagram of an FDM system. The transmitter end contains
multiple transmitters and the receiver end contains multiple receivers. The communication
channel is present between the transmitter and receiver.
Wavelength-Division Multiplexing
is designed to use the high-data-rate capability of fiber-optic cable. The optical fiber
data rate is higher than the data rate of metallic transmission cable. Using a fiber-optic cable for
one single line wastes the available bandwidth. Multiplexing allows us to combine several lines
into one.

The schematic diagram of a WDM system is shown in the figure. The transmitter end contains
multiple optical transmitters and the receiver end contains multiple optical receivers. The
communication channel (optical fiber) is present between the transmitter and receiver.
Time-Division Multiplexing
is a digital process that allows several connections to share the high bandwidth of a
link. Instead of sharing a portion of the bandwidth as in FDM, time is shared. Each connection
occupies a portion of time in the link.

As shown in the below figure, the various time slots are arranged into frames and each frame
consists of one or more time slots dedicated to each device (transmitter). For example, if there
are 3 devices, there will be 3 slots in each frame. Similarly, if there are 5 devices, there will be 5
slots in each frame.
NEXT TOPIC :

-The Electromagnetic Spectrum

-Frequency and Wavelength
-The Optical Spectrum
-Bandwidth