Electronic Communication

Communication is the processes of conveying information from one place to

another.
Electronic communication is accomplished by modulating a carrier by the
signal and modulated signal passes through a medium (natural or artificial), on
the other end that will be received and demodulated.

Propagation/transmission of EM energy
 Guided propagation (bounded) - Use some artificial media to carry signals
 Transmission line Electrical power, telephone
• Two wire lines few tens of MHz
• Coaxial few GHz
• Strip and Microstrip lines
 Wave guides microwaves GHz
 Optical fibers visible, IR THz
 Unguided propagation (unbounded) - Wireless communication -
Wave propagation - No artificial media, signal is carried through some
terrestrial media
 TL/WG WP TL/WG

Transmission of energy from transmitting antenna to receiving antenna.

 Earth surface ground (surface) wave propagation

 Space space (tropospheric) wave propagation
 Ionosphere sky (ionospheric) wave propagation

Which mode ? frequency.

Radiowaves

Band Name Frequency Wavelength Applications

Extremely Low Freq. (ELF) 30 - 300 Hz 10,000 - 1,000 Km Power line frequencies
Infra Low (ILF) 300 Hz - 3 KHz 1,000 - 100 Km Telephone Com.
Very Low Frequency (VLF) 3 - 30 KHz 100 - 10 Km Marine Com.
Low Frequency (LF) 30 - 300 KHz 10 - 1 Km Marine Com.
Medium Frequency (MF) 300 KHz - 3 MHz 1000 - 100 m AM Broadcasting
High Frequency (HF) 3 - 30 MHz 100 - 10 m Long distance Com.
Very High Frequency (VHF) 30 - 300 MHz 10 - 1 m FM Broadcasting
Ultra High Frequency (UHF) 300 MHz - 3 GHz 100 - 10 cm Cellular Telephone
Super High Frequency (SHF) 3 - 30 GHz 10 - 1 cm Microwave, Sat.Com.
Extremely High Freq. (EHF) 30 - 300 GHz 10 - 1 mm Wireless local loop
Broadcasting MW  550-1600 KHz, SW  5-25 MHz, FM  88-108 MHz, TV  VHF, UHF

Kilo (103), Mega (106), Giga (109), Terra (1012), Peta (1015), Exa (1018)
milli (10-3), micro (10-6), nano (10-9), pico (10-12), femto (10-15), atto (10-18)
Basic Properties of Radio waves
• EM waves, velocity c =3 * 108 m/s, c = fλ, Modes TEM, TE, TH, HE, EH
• Polarization – displacement of EF and MF
Orientation of EF vector  Polarization
- Horizontal polarization - EF vector is parallel to ground - Horizontal antenna
- Vertical polarization - Vertical antenna
- Linear or plane polarization – orientation of EF vector remains same as the
wave propagates.
- Elliptical polarization – If the orientation of EF
vector changes as the wave propagates,
- Circular polarization – if the two components
are equal in magnitude and out of phase by
900 or 2700
- Right handed (clockwise) circular
polarization
- Left handed (anticlockwise) circular
polarization
• Reflection - Similar to similar to the reflection of light by a mirror.
- Obeys the 3 basic laws of reflection
- Magnitude and phase of the reflected ray may change
Reflection coefficient – vector ratio of reflected to incident wave R = Γ 
R depends on
- dielectric constant, conductivity,
- frequency,
- polarization and
- angle of incidence
Range of Γ varies from 0 to 1, for a perfect reflector, Γ = 1, i.e. no absorption,
for all practical surfaces Γ < 1

R very much depends on polarization and angle,

For high frequency , at grazing angle, for VP, R = 1 180
HP, R = 1 0
For VP, as angle increases magnitude and phase decreases rapidly

Reflection of radio waves from earth surface and other object like buildings
• Refraction - follows the Snell’s Law: n1 sin θ1 = n2 sin θ2
- refraction in atmosphere and ionosphere – direction of propagation changes

• Diffraction – bend of radiowaves around an obstacle

– Explains radio reception behind a mountain or tall building
– Lower frequencies tend to bend more, higher frequencies are more directional
(woofer can be anywhere, while tweeters must be aimed at listener)

• Interference - When two waves of same source traveled by different path and
arrives at a point - path difference - phase difference - constructive and
destructive interference
Interference effect is very significant at high frequencies (microwaves)
• Absorption – molecules in the atm. absorb radio waves –
resonances absorption, peaks in absorption spectrum
Absorption of frequencies above 10 GHz is very significant.
O2 - 60 and 120 GHz
H2O - 23 and 180 GHz
Rain, cloud, fog etc increases absorption very significantly

Avoid absorption bands for communication

Free space propagation: (Ideal condition)
Free space - isotropic, homogeneous medium with no external forces such as
EF, MF, GF, no particles, no electrons/ions, dielectric constant =1
- No absorption, refraction, diffraction, reflection, scattering i.e. no interaction
with propagation of waves
- Straight line or line of sight propagation
- Free space is not likely to exist anywhere, certainly not near earth surface

- Concept of free space provides a simplified approach to wave propagation

- At higher frequencies (above VHF region), propagating conditions
approximates to that of the free space
Field strength (or field intensity) in free space propagation
- Represents strength of the EF, measured in V/m
- An important parameter in communication

- Point isotropic source with power PT.  radiates uniformly in all directions
- Since there is no interaction with media, EM waves spreads uniformly in all
directions  spherical wave front.

- For small area or long distance, wavefront

can be considered as plane
𝑃𝑇
- power density (power/unit area) 𝑃𝐷𝑖 =
4𝜋𝑑 2
- Inverse Square low  when distance is doubled;
the power density reduces to one fourth.
Practical antennas are directive antennas – radiate more power in one
direction at the expense of power in other directions.
PD
Directivty.Gain  GT  GT > 1
PDi
PT
PT GT
PD  PDi * GT 
4d 2
d
EF strength (field intensity) of the wave at the receiving antenna (V/m)

From antenna theory , Field Intensity = E  Z * PD

 0 4 *10 7
Z  wave.impedance     120
 0 8.85 *10 12

120PT GT 30 PT GT 30 PT GT
E Z * PD   
4d 2 d2 d

Field intensity at unit distance = E0  30 PT GT E0

E
d
Power received by an antenna
having an effective aperture Aeff,
PT PR
PT GT GT GR
PR  PD * Aeff  Aeff
4d 2 d
G 4 GR 2
From antenna theory,  2 Aeff 
Aeff  4

PT GT GR 2   
2

PR   PT T R
G G 
4d 2 4  4d 
2
PR  c 
 GT GR  
PT  4df 

Generally, the expression is written in terms of MHz and Km

2
PR  3 *108   0.57 *10 3 
 GT GR    GT GR 
6 

 4d *10 f *10 
3 2
PT  (df ) 
 PR 
   GT .db  GR.db  (32.5  20 log d  20 log f )  GT .db  GR.db  Ldb
 PT  db
L - transmission path loss, due the spreading of the wave as it propagates.
• EM energy gets attenuated even while travelling
through free space, due to spreading.
<
• Attenuation depends on distance from transmitter
and operating frequency.
 PR 
   GT .db  GR.db  (32.5  20 log d  20 log f )  GT .db  GR.db  Ldb
 PT  db
For the same distance, an EM wave at 100 MHz will be attenuated 40db
more than an EM wave at 1 MHz (20 log 100 = 40).

If the distance is increased by 10 times from any reference level, the

attenuation will increase by 20 db.

For a propagating EM wave, the attenuation at 10 Km distance will be more

by 6 db as compared to the attenuation at 5 Km.

EF and MF are stronger in the vicinity of the transmitter, but the energy has
to be distributed over a large area as they move away from the transmitter.
In reality, the free space conditions are modified by
• proximity of earth surface
• presence of atmosphere
• presence of ionosphere

absorption
Atmosphere scattering
Refraction

reflection/refraction
Real ionosphere scattering
absorption

reflection,
earth surface absorption
diffraction
interference
Three modes:
 Ground wave (Surface wave) - part of the energy traveling over earth surface
- guided by earth surface
- significant at low frequencies especially <3 MHz - VLF, LF, MF -
MW Radio broadcasting,
 Sky wave (ionospheric wave) - reflected back by ionosphere under favorable
conditions.
- Normal ionosphere reflects frequencies - 5-25 MHz (HF)
- SW broadcasting
 Space wave (tropospheric wave) - travels in space above the earth surface,
- Significant at high frequencies especially > 30 MHz - VHF, UHF, SHF, EHF
- FM, TV, RADAR, Satellite communication
- almost line of sight especially at high freq

Modes are frequency depended