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Chapter 1

Introduction to Electronic Communication

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Significance of
Human Communication

 Communication is the process of exchanging

information.

 Main barriers are language and distance.

 Contemporary society’s emphasis is now the

accumulation, packaging, and exchange of
information.

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Significance of
Human Communication
 Methods of communication:
1.Face to face
2.Signals
3.Written word (letters)
4.Electrical innovations:
 Telegraph
 Telephone
 Radio
 Television
 Internet (computer)
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Communication Systems

 Basic components:

 Transmitter
 Channel or medium
 Receiver

 Noise degrades or interferes with transmitted

information.

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Communication Systems

A general model of all communication systems.

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Examples of Communication

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Communication Systems
Transmitter
 The transmitter is a collection of electronic
components and circuits that converts the electrical
signal into a signal suitable for transmission over a
given medium.

 Transmitters are made up of oscillators, amplifiers,

tuned circuits and filters, modulators, frequency mixers,
frequency synthesizers, and other circuits.

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Communication Systems
Communication Channel
 The communication channel is the medium by which
the electronic signal is sent from one place to another.
 Types of media include
 Electrical conductors
 Optical media
 Free space
 System-specific media (e.g., water is the medium for sonar).

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Communication Systems
Receivers
 A receiver is a collection of electronic components and
circuits that accepts the transmitted message from the
channel and converts it back into a form understandable
by humans.
 Receivers contain amplifiers, oscillators, mixers, tuned
circuits and filters, and a demodulator or detector that
recovers the original intelligence signal from the
modulated carrier.

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Communication Systems
Transceivers
 A transceiver is an electronic unit that incorporates
circuits that both send and receive signals.
 Examples are:
• Telephones
• Fax machines
• Handheld CB radios
• Cell phones
• Computer modems

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Communication Systems
Attenuation
 Signal attenuation, or degradation, exists in all media
of wireless transmission. It is proportional to the square
of the distance between the transmitter and receiver.

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Communication Systems
Noise
 Noise is random, undesirable electronic energy that
enters the communication system via the
communicating medium and interferes with the
transmitted message.

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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
2. Analog or digital signals.

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Types of Electronic
Communication
Simplex
 The simplest method of electronic communication is
referred to as simplex.
 This type of communication is one-way. Examples are:
 Radio
 TV broadcasting
 Beeper (personal receiver)

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Types of Electronic
Communication
Full Duplex
 Most electronic communication is two-way and is
referred to as duplex.
 When people can talk and listen simultaneously, it is
called full duplex. The telephone is an example of this
type of communication.

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Types of Electronic
Communication
Half Duplex
 The form of two-way communication in which only one
party transmits at a time is known as half duplex.
Examples are:
 Police, military, etc. radio transmissions
 Citizen band (CB)
 Family radio
 Amateur radio

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Types of Electronic
Communication
Analog Signals
 An analog signal is a smoothly and continuously
varying voltage or current. Examples are:
 Sine wave
 Voice
 Video (TV)

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Types of Electronic
Communication

Analog signals (a) Sine wave “tone.” (b) Voice. (c) Video (TV) signal.
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Types of Electronic
Communication
Digital Signals
 Digital signals change in steps or in discrete
increments.
 Most digital signals use binary or two-state codes.
Examples are:
 Telegraph (Morse code)
 Continuous wave (CW) code
 Serial binary code (used in computers)

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Types of Electronic
Communication

Digital signals (a) Telegraph (Morse code). (b) Continuous-wave (CW) code. (c)
Serial binary code.
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Types of Electronic
Communication
Digital Signals
 Many transmissions are of signals that originate in
digital form but must be converted to analog form to
match the transmission medium.
 Digital data over the telephone network.
 Analog signals.
 They are first digitized with an analog-to-digital (A/D)
converter.
 The data can then be transmitted and processed by
computers and other digital circuits.

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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.
 Multiplexing allows more than one signal to be
transmitted concurrently over a single medium.

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Modulation and Multiplexing

Multiplexing at the transmitter.

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The Electromagnetic Spectrum

 The range of electromagnetic signals encompassing

all frequencies is referred to as the electromagnetic
spectrum.

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The Electromagnetic Spectrum

The electromagnetic spectrum.

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The Electromagnetic Spectrum

Frequency and Wavelength: Frequency

 A signal is located on the frequency spectrum according
to its frequency and wavelength.
 Frequency is the number of cycles of a repetitive wave
that occur in a given period of time.
 A cycle consists of two voltage polarity reversals,
current reversals, or electromagnetic field oscillations.
 Frequency is measured in cycles per second (cps).
 The unit of frequency is the hertz (Hz).

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The Electromagnetic Spectrum

Frequency and Wavelength: Wavelength

 Wavelength is the distance occupied by one cycle of a
wave and is usually expressed in meters.
 Wavelength is also the distance traveled by an
electromagnetic wave during the time of one cycle.
 The wavelength of a signal is represented by the Greek
letter lambda (λ).

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The Electromagnetic Spectrum

Frequency and wavelength. (a) One cycle. (b) One wavelength.

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The Electromagnetic Spectrum

Frequency and Wavelength: Wavelength
Wavelength (λ) = speed of light ÷ frequency
Speed of light = 3 × 108 meters/second
Therefore:
λ = 3 × 108 / f
Example:
What is the wavelength if the frequency is 4MHz?
λ = 3 × 108 / 4 MHz
= 75 meters (m)

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The Electromagnetic Spectrum

Frequency Ranges from 30 Hz to 300 GHz

 The electromagnetic spectrum is divided into segments:

Extremely Low Frequencies (ELF) 30–300 Hz.

Voice Frequencies (VF) 300–3000 Hz.
Very Low Frequencies (VLF) include the higher end of the
human hearing range up to
about 20 kHz.
Low Frequencies (LF) 30–300 kHz.

Medium Frequencies (MF) 300–3000 kHz

AM radio 535–1605 kHz.

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The Electromagnetic Spectrum

Frequency Ranges from 30 Hz to 300 GHz

High Frequencies (HF) 3–30 MHz

(short waves; VOA, BBC
broadcasts; government and
military two-way communication;
amateur radio, CB.
Very High Frequencies (VHF) 30–300 MHz
FM radio broadcasting (88–108
MHz), television channels 2–13.
Ultra High Frequencies (UHF) 300–3000 MHz
TV channels 14–67, cellular
phones, military communication.

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The Electromagnetic Spectrum

Frequency Ranges from 30 Hz to 300 GHz

Microwaves and Super High 1–30 GHz
Frequencies (SHF)
Satellite communication, radar,
wireless LANs, microwave ovens

Extremely High Frequencies (EHF) 30–300 GHz

Satellite communication, computer
data, radar

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The Electromagnetic Spectrum

Optical Spectrum
 The optical spectrum exists directly above the
millimeter wave region.
 Three types of light waves are:
 Infrared
 Visible spectrum
 Ultraviolet

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The Electromagnetic Spectrum

Optical Spectrum: Infrared

 Infrared radiation is produced by any physical
equipment that generates heat, including our bodies.
 Infrared is used:
 In astronomy, to detect stars and other physical bodies in the
universe,
 For guidance in weapons systems, where the heat radiated
from airplanes or missiles can be detected and used to guide
missiles to targets.
 In most new TV remote-control units, where special coded
signals are transmitted by an infrared LED to the TV receiver to
change channels, set the volume, and perform other functions.
 In some of the newer wireless LANs and all fiber-optic
communication.
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The Electromagnetic Spectrum

Optical Spectrum: The Visible Spectrum

 Just above the infrared region is the visible spectrum
we refer to as light.
 Red is low-frequency or long-wavelength light
 Violet is high-frequency or short-wavelength light.
 Light waves’ very high frequency enables them to
handle a tremendous amount of information (the
bandwidth of the baseband signals can be very wide).

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The Electromagnetic Spectrum

Optical Spectrum: Ultraviolet

 Ultraviolet is not used for communication
 Its primary use is medical.

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

 Channel bandwidth refers to the range of

frequencies required to transmit the desired
information.

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Gain, Attenuation,
and Decibels
 Most circuits in electronic communication are used to
manipulate signals to produce a desired result.

 All signal processing circuits involve:

 Gain
 Attenuation

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Gain, Attenuation,
and Decibels
Gain
 Gain means amplification. It is the ratio of a circuit’s output
to its input.
output Vout
AV = =
input Vin

An amplifier has gain.

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Gain, Attenuation,
and Decibels
 Most amplifiers are also power amplifiers, so the same
procedure can be used to calculate power gain AP where
Pin is the power input and Pout is the power output.

Power gain (Ap) = Pout / Pin

 Example:

The power output of an amplifier is 6 watts (W). The power

gain is 80. What is the input power?

Ap = Pout / Pin therefore Pin = Pout / Ap

Pin = 6 / 80 = 0.075 W = 75 mW
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Gain, Attenuation,
and Decibels
 An amplifier is cascaded when two or more stages
are connected together.
 The overall gain is the product of the individual circuit
gains.

 Example:
Three cascaded amplifiers have power gains of 5, 2, and 17.
The input power is 40 mW. What is the output power?

Ap = A1 × A2 × A3 = 5 × 2 × 17 = 170
Ap = Pout / Pin therefore Pout = ApPin
Pout = 170 (40 × 10-3) = 6.8W

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Gain, Attenuation,
and Decibels
Attenuation
 Attenuation refers to a loss introduced by a circuit or
component. If the output signal is lower in amplitude
than the input, the circuit has loss or attenuation.
 The letter A is used to represent attenuation
 Attenuation A = output/input = Vout/Vin
 Circuits that introduce attenuation have a gain that is
less than 1.
 With cascaded circuits, the total attenuation is the
product of the individual attenuations.

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Gain, Attenuation,
and Decibels

Total attenuation is the product of individual attenuations of each cascaded circuit.

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Gain, Attenuation,
and Decibels
Decibels
 The decibel (dB) is a unit of measure used to express
the gain or loss of a circuit.
 The decibel was originally created to express hearing
response.
 A decibel is one-tenth of a bel.

 When gain and attenuation are both converted into

decibels, the overall gain or attenuation of a circuit can
be computed by adding individual gains or attenuations,
expressed in decibels.

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Gain, Attenuation,
and Decibels
Decibels: Decibel Calculations
 Voltage Gain or Attenuation
dB = 20 log Vout/ Vin

 Current Gain or Attenuation

dB = 20 log Iout/ Iin

 Power Gain or Attenuation

dB = 10 log Pout/ Pin

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Gain, Attenuation,
and Decibels
Decibels: Decibel Calculations

 Example:
An amplifier has an input of 3 mV and an output of 5 V.
What is the gain in decibels?

dB = 20 log 5/0.003
= 20 log 1666.67
= 20 (3.22)
= 64.4

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Gain, Attenuation,
and Decibels
Decibels: Decibel Calculations
 Example:
A filter has a power input of 50 mW and an output of 2
mW. What is the gain or attenuation?
dB = 10 log (2/50)
= 10 log (0.04)
= 10 (−1.398)
= −13.98

 If the decibel figure is positive, that denotes a gain.

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A Survey of
Communications Applications
 Simplex
 AM and FM  Paging services
broadcasting  Navigation and
 Digital radio direction-finding
 TV broadcasting services
 Digital television (DTV)  Telemetry
 Cable television  Radio astronomy
 Facsimile  Surveillance
 Wireless remote control  Music services
 Internet radio and
video
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A Survey of
Communications Applications
 Duplex
 Telephones  Family Radio service
 Two-way radio  The Internet
 Radar  Wide-area networks
 Sonar (WANs)
 Amateur radio
 Metropolitan-area
 Citizens radio
networks (MANs)
 Local area networks
(LANs)

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Jobs and Careers in the
Communication Industry
 The electronics industry is roughly divided into
four major specializations:
1. Communications (largest in terms of people
employed and the dollar value of equipment
purchased)
2. Computers (second largest).
3. Industrial controls.
4. Instrumentation.

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Jobs and Careers in the
Communication Industry
Types of Jobs
 Engineers design communication equipment and
systems.

 Technicians install, troubleshoot, repair, calibrate, and

maintain equipment.

 Engineering Technicians assist in equipment design,

testing, and assembly.

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Jobs and Careers in the
Communication Industry
Types of Jobs
 Technical sales representatives determine customer
needs and related specifications, write proposals and
sell equipment.

 Technical writers generate technical documentation for

equipment and systems.

 Trainers develop programs, generate training and

presentation materials, and conduct classroom training.

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Discussion
 Facebook

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Discussion
 SafeBook

http://www.safebook.eu

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