Ayesha Rizvi Section A EE-17086

CS Assignment
1) Week 1 Summary
(lecture 1)

In first week’s lecture, communication was defined as the exchange of information and its purpose
was to form a connection between transmitter and receiver with the goal of delivering source
message to destination without distortion. Examples are telephone, radio, TV, satellite and internet.

Elements of a communication system consist of transmitter which modulates the message and
passes it to a medium called a channel, through which the signal propagates to the receiver that
modulates the signal and then processes it.

Information can be of two types: a message or signal. A message is a non-electrical quantity (such
as speech, audio or video inputs) containing pure information that can be converted to an electrical
quantity (voltage or current), called a signal, for transmission purpose.

Communication can be classified based on modes into simplex unidirectional communication, to

only send information (such as radio and TV broadcasting), or duplex bidirectional communication.
Duplex communication can further classify into full duplex, where transmitter and receiver can send
and receive information simultaneously, or half duplex, where this process happens one at a time
(example radio transmissions used in fire, military, police and other services).

Point to point communication has one receiver (example telephone) but point to multipoint
communication has many receivers (example radio, TV) and can be either intended for all network
users, termed broadcasting, or specific ones, known as multicasting.

Repeaters amplify without distorting original signal and are placed between transmitter and
receiver. Antenna is a collection of wires present in transmitters and receivers meant to radiate and
receive electromagnetic waves. They can be either omnidirectional - radiate and receive in all
horizontal directions – or directional – only focus energy in one direction.

Baseband transmission involves a baseband signal modulating a high frequency carrier by either
changing its amplitude (Amplitude modulation, AM), frequency (Frequency Modulation, FM), or
phase (Phase Modulation, PM). The modulated signal is amplified and transmitted through an
antenna. Digital data modulation is done by converting to frequency varying tones (Frequency Shift
Keying, FSK) or 180 degrees phase shift (Phase Shift Keying, PSK).

(lecture 2)

Analog signal is a smoothly and continuously varying voltage or current (video or voice voltages)
whereas digital signals change in discrete increments mostly binary (such as Morse code used in
radio telegraphy and data in computers).
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There are two types of channel: wired (or line) and wireless (or radio) communication channels.
Wired channels are also known as a guided medium with physical cables running between
transmitter and receiver (e.g. telephone). However, wireless or unguided mediums make use of
antenna for transmission and reception (e.g. radio, TV broadcast, satellite, Bluetooth).

Analog Communication System (ACS) consists of following blocks: information source, transducer,
transmitter, channel, receiver and noise. Information source is a non-electrical quantity (e.g. human
voice, picture), which is converted to a time varying electrical signal, called baseband signal, by a
transducer. The transmitter’s modulator modulates the baseband signal by a higher frequency
carrier sine wave, then amplifies the resulting signal by power amplifiers and sends it over the
channel to the desired receiver. Modulation process is commonly used for long distance
transmission. A receiver’s demodulator on the other end extracts the original intelligence signal
from the modulated carrier and is then amplified (increasing signal amplitude without distortion) to
bring the signal back into human readable form. The signal may also be filtered to remove any
unwanted signals.

The disturbances in communication channels occur in the form of noise, distortion, interference,
multipath fading and attenuation. Noise is usually added with uniform power across all frequencies
in the channels of all electronic communications, with its effect being experienced in the receiver. It
is expressed as a ratio of signal power to noise power, called signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and
measured in dB. Noise can be filtered out to some extent but is generally reduced by using
components with low noise levels and operate at lower temperatures. Distortion is the imperfect
response of a system to a signal resulting in wave perturbation and can be either linear or non-
linear. Linear or amplitude distortion can be corrected by an equalizer whereas companding is used
to cancel the effect of non-linear distortion of frequency and phase of transmitting signal.
Interference is contamination by external signals, as in the case of multiple signals being intercepted
at the antenna of radio system, which can be combated through filtering and the use of frequency
band called Guard Band. Multipath fading refers to reduction in signal power level, prominent in
wireless communication, mainly due to multipath propagation or bad weather conditions.
Attenuation refers to reduction of signal strength, measured in dB and can be compensated by
amplification.

Digital Communication System (ACS) consists of following blocks: information source, transducer,
source encoder, channel encoder, modulator, channel, digital demodulator, channel decoder,
source decoder and output transducer. The source is an analog signal which is fed to an input
transducer to be converted to an electrical signal and then passed through an Analog to digital
converter (ADC) resulting in a digital signal. The compression of the signal to reduce signal
bandwidth is done by the source encoder. The channel encoder adds error correcting bits to the
signal to reduce error impact of noise. A digital modulator then modulates the signal by a carrier
and converts it into analog form to be transmitted through the channel. After that, the signal is
demodulated and brought back to digital form, where the channel decoder reconstructs the error
free signal and it is digitized once again (sampled and quantized) by the source decoder and
converted into useful format by output transducer.
Ayesha Rizvi Section A EE-17086

Analog to Digital Conversion is a three step process. It starts off with sampling when the continuous
time analog signal is sampled for instantaneous values at a certain frequency. The sampled signal is
quantized that is the continuous valued signal is converted into discrete values, usually done by
rounding off the values. And the last stage is encoding, in this stage the sampled and quantized
signal is then compressed by giving a binary code to each quantized level.

(lecture 3)

Modulation: It is the process in which a low frequency (base band) signal is superimposed on a high
frequency carrier to change the parameters of the carrier and make it compatible for long distance
transmissions. There are different types of modulations:

Analog Modulation: It is when the carrier is analog and the modulating signal is also analog in
nature. There are three types of analog modulation: Amplitude Modulation, Frequency Modulation
and Phase Modulation, where the amplitude, frequency and phase angle of the carrier signal is
varied w.r.t. the modulating signal respectively.

Digital Modulation: It is when the carrier is analog and the modulating signal is digital in nature.
There are three types of digital modulation:
Amplitude shift keying (ASK): Amplitude of carrier is varied proportional to modulating signal.
Frequency shift keying (FSK): frequency of carrier is varied proportional to modulating signal.
Phase shift keying (PSK): Phase angle of carrier is varied proportional to modulating signal.

Pulse Modulation: It is when the carrier is digital and the modulating signal is analog in nature.
There are three types of pulse modulation: Amplitude modulation(PAM), Pulse width modulation
(PWM) and Pulse code modulation(PCM).

Advantages of Modulation:

Modulation is required to increase the bandwidth of the signal and to send two or more signals
through the same channel. Following are some advantages of modulation:

 Frequency is inversely proportional to the wavelength of the signal and size of antennas
depends on the wavelength. Hence practical size of antenna can be installed.
 Reduced noise and interference
 Each modulating signal occupies a different frequency in the frequency domain hence mixing of
signals is avoided.
 Frequency of the baseband signal is increased after modulation so the signal can be
transmitted over long distances.
 Multiplexing is possible.

Limitations of Communication system:

There are two limitations to the communication system:

1. Bandwidth Limitation:
Ayesha Rizvi Section A EE-17086

Bandwidth is basically the range of frequencies in which a circuit operates. So when the
information signal superimposed on a carrier is transmitted not only the carrier signal is
transmitted but the modulation process generates some other signals above and below the
modulation frequency that take up the portion of the spectrum. These other signals are called
sidebands.
There are two types of bandwidths:
 Signal bandwidth: It is the difference of the highest and lowest frequency in the
information signal.
 Channel bandwidth: It is the range of frequencies that the channel allows to pass
through it without loss of information.
2. Noise Limitation: Noise is another major factor that affects the efficiency of the
communication system. It is an unpredictable and random electric signal that is added into the
information signal due to both internal and external causes. It can be minimized by filtering but
can’t be eliminated. There are two types of noise:
 Internal Noise: This type of noise is added with in the conductor it can be because of the
thermal properties of the conductor that is the agitation of the atoms of the conductor or
it can be because of the shot noise.
 External Noise: This type of noise is because of external factors like atmospheric noise
that is caused by thunder or lightening or because of man made noises that are of cars,
motor, aircrafts etc.

Signal To noise Ratio (SNR) is used to determine the performance of the system. High SNR is
required which means better quality as signal is dominating. It is the ratio of signal power level to
noise power level.

2) Week 2 Summary
(All topics)

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. 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.

Primary difference between licensed and unlicensed bands is that the licensed bands are allowed to
be used only by the company who have license, whereas the unlicensed bands are used by anyone
who wants to use them. Licensed bands are paid while unlicensed are free.

Nyquist Shannon sampling theorem states that; “A signal can be reconstructed from its samples if
its original signal has no frequency above half of its sampling frequency”.Minimum Nyquist bitrate
for a binary (two level) system should be twice of bandwidth.

Hartley Shannon capacity theorem is used to find channel bandwidth and it states that: “Rate of
information transmission cannot exceed channel capacity.”
Ayesha Rizvi Section A EE-17086

Channel/Information capacity is a measure of how much info can be propagated through a CS and
is function of bandwidth and transmission time and is defined as maximum rate at which info can be
transmitted across channel without error.

M-ary encoding is a term derived from the word binary. M simply represents a digit that
corresponds to the number of conditions, levels, or combinations possible for a given number of
binary variables. Consider computer/digital source with more than two symbols. Channel capacity
can be modified by using multiple-level encoding schemes that permit more bits per symbol to be
transmitted and therefore multiple voltage levels can be used. Use the equation C = 2B log2N

Modem is short for "Modulator-Demodulator." It is a hardware component that allows a computer

or another device, such as a router or switch, to connect to the Internet. It converts or "modulates"
an analog signal from a telephone or cable wire to digital data (1s and 0s) that a computer can
recognize.

Multiplexing is the process of allowing two or more signals to share the same medium or channel,
either wired or wireless. Multiple access usually involves remote sharing of a resource such as in
satellite communication or mobile communication radio channel by large number of users in
dispersed locations.

Microwave frequencies are used for wireless communication as they penetrate ionosphere. They
get attenuated when used as ground waves as well as surface waves. Due to this reason microwave
communication is mainly LOS (Line of Sight) based communication. Microwave communication
systems are mainly classified into satellite systems and terrestrial systems. A terrestrial
communication system (earth/land-based) uses two stations and repeater module. Multiple
repeaters are used between source and destination stations.

There are 3 ways of propagating electromagnetic waves within earth’s atmosphere.

1. Ground wave: an earth guided electromagnetic wave that travels over the surface of
earth.

2. Sky wave: are radiated by the antenna into the upper atmosphere, where they are bent
back to earth. This bending of the signal is caused by refraction in a region of the upper atmosphere
known as the ionosphere.

3. Space wave: travels in a straight line directly from the transmitting antenna to the
receiving antenna. Direct wave radio signaling is often referred to as line-of-sight communication.
Direct or space waves are not refracted, nor do they follow the curvature of the earth.

Phasor representation of sinusoidal signal comes from Euler’s theorem:

e ±jΘ = cosΘ + j sinΘ

Θ=Ѡt + φ (Θ=arbitrary angle)

Ayesha Rizvi Section A EE-17086

Line spectrum has four conventions/rules:

1. We use f cyclic frequency rather than radian frequency ω.

2. Phase angles are measured w.r.t cosine waves. Hence sine waves need to be converted into
cosine using the identity

sin Ѡt = cos (Ѡt – 900)

3. Amplitude should always be a positive quantity. When negative sine appears it must be edit in the
phase using

A cos Ѡt= A cos (Ѡt + 180)

It does not matter whether you take plus or minus 180 since phasor ends in same place either way

4. Phase angles are expressed in degrees even though Ѡt are inherently in radians.

3) Discussing applications and working

Modulation

It is the process of varying one or more properties of a periodic waveform, called the carrier signal,
with a modulating signal that typically contains information to be transmitted. There are 3 basic
types of modulation: Amplitude modulation, Frequency modulation, and Phase modulation.

In amplitude modulation the amplitude of the carrier signal is modulated (changed) in

proportion to the message signal while the frequency and phase are kept constant. Amplitude
modulation (AM) can be used for:

 Broadcast transmissions: AM is still widely used for broadcasting on the long, medium and
short wave bands.
 Air band radio: VHF transmissions for many airborne applications use AM. It is used for
ground to air radio communications as well as two way radio links for ground staff as well.
 Single sideband: is still used for HF radio links.
 Quadrature amplitude modulation: for the transmission of data in everything from short
range wireless links such as Wi-Fi to cellular telecommunications and much more.

In frequency modulation the frequency of the carrier signal is modulated (changed) in

proportion to the message signal while the amplitude and phase are kept constant. Frequency
modulation (FM) can be used for:

 Broadcasting of FM radio. This helps in larger signal to noise ratio.

 Telemetry, radar and seismic prospecting
 EEG monitoring of newborns
Ayesha Rizvi Section A EE-17086

 Music synthesis
 Systems that use video-transmission
 Magnetic tape-recording systems.

In phase modulation the phase of the carrier signal is modulated (changed) in proportion to the
message signal while the amplitude and frequency are kept constant. Phase modulation (PM) is
very useful in:

 transmitting radio waves and is an integral element of many digital transmission coding
schemes that support an ample range of wireless technologies such as GSM, Satellite
television, and Wi-Fi
 for signal and waveform generation in digital synthesizers

Multiplexing

Muxing (or) multiplexing can be defined as; it is a way of transmitting various signals over a media or
single line. A common kind of multiplexing merges a number of low-speed signals to send over an
only high-speed link, or it is used to transmit a medium as well as its link with the number of devices.

Multiplexing techniques are mainly used in communication, and these are classified into three types.
The 3 types of multiplexing techniques include the following.

 Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM): useful when the link’s bandwidth is better than the
United bandwidth of the transmitted signals.
 Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM): for uniting various light sources into an only light
source, and this light can be changed into numerous light sources at the de-multiplexer.
 Time Division Multiplexing (TDM): for transmitting a signal over a channel of particular
communication with separating the time edge into slots.

The applications of multiplexing include the following:

 Analog Broadcasting
 Digital Broadcasting
 Telephony
 Video Processing
 Telegraphy

Multiple Access

Multiple Access is the use of multiplexing techniques to provide communication service to multiple
users over a single channel. It allows for many users at one time by sharing a finite amount of
spectrum. Following are 3 main multiple access techniques and their applications:
Ayesha Rizvi Section A EE-17086

 FDMA (Frequency Division Multiple Access)– the transmitter transmits simultaneously to all
the receivers, but each receiver is assigned different carrier frequency.  Early cellular
telephony mostly used FDMA analogue transmission. Walkie talkies and mobile networks
for closed user groups often use FDMA.
 TDMA(Time Division MA) – in this case all of receivers are using the same carrier frequency,
but in different timeslots. TDMA is used in the digital 2G cellular systems such as Global
System for Mobile Communications (GSM), IS-136, Personal Digital Cellular (PDC) and in the
Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT) standard for portable phones.
 CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) – in this case each of the receivers is assigned a
different spreading code and by multiplexing at the receiver with the same pseudo-random
sequence, gets all the data for itself and others are seen as noise. CDMA allows far greater
development and the use of broad band devices such as wireless laptop modems, GPS
system units and other innovative devices. Recently, CDMA has merged with the GSM
technology to give a high-speed 4G or LTE internet services.