Introduction of Electronics and Communication Module 5

Important Questions of Module 5

1. Draw the block diagram of basic communication system and briefly explain
the individual blocks.
2. Define the following terms: (i) Modulation (ii) Carrier communication system
(iii) Baseband communication system with neat and suitable waveforms.
3. Explain the types of communication system.
4. Describe the classification of RF (Radio Frequency) spectrum with
applications in communications systems.
5. Define noise. Derive the expression for Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) in
decibels (dB).
6. Write a note on different types of modulation and briefly describe each in
detail.
7. Write a note on digital modulation techniques.
8. List out the advantages of digital communication over analog communication.
9. Explain with a neat diagram, the concept of radio wave propagation and its
different types.
10. What are the different types of radio wave propagation? Describe each type in
detail.
11. Present the architecture of a wireless communication transmitter and its
modulation scheme QPSK with waveforms and constellation diagrams.
12. Discuss the various multiple access techniques used in cellular network.

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1. Draw the block diagram of basic communication system and briefly

explain the individual blocks.
Answer: There are many types of communication systems, e.g. analog, digital,
radio, and line communication systems. Below figure shows a block schematic
diagram of a basic communication system. The main constituents of basic
communication system are:
a) Information source and input transducer
b) Transmitter
c) Channel or medium
d) Noise
e) Receiver
f) Output transducer and final destination.

a) Information source and input transducer:

 The physical form of information is represented by a message that is originated
by aninformation source.
 For example, a sentence or paragraph spoken by a person is a message that
contains some information. The person, in this case, acts as information source.
 If the information produced by the source is not in an electrical form, it has to be
converted into an electrical form using a transducer. Eg. Microphone.
 The electrical signal produced by transducer is called the baseband signal. It is
also called a message signal, an information signal and is usually designated by
s(t).
 There are two types of signals: Analog signal and Digital signal.

b) Transmitter:
 Transmitter processes the base band signal received from transducer prior
transmission
 There are two following options for processing signals prior transmission:
 The baseband signal, which lies in the low frequency spectrum, is translated to a
higher frequency spectrum (Carrier communication system).

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 The baseband signal is transmitted without translating it to a higher frequency

spectrum (Baseband communication system).
 The carrier communication system is based on the principle of translating a low
frequency baseband signal to high frequency spectrum. This process is
modulation.

c) Channel or medium:
 After the required processing, the transmitter section passes the signal to the
transmission medium. The signal propagates through the transmission medium
and is received at the other side by the receiver section.
 The transmission medium between the transmitter and the receiver is called a
channel.
 Most of the noise is added to the signal during its transmission through the
channel.
 Depending on physical implementations, channels can be classified into two
groups:
 Hardware Channels: These channels are man made structure. The three possible
implementations of the hardware channels are: Transmission lines, Waveguides,
 and Optical Fiber Cables (OFC)
 Software Channels: These are certain natural resources. The natural resources
that can be used as software channels are: air or open space and sea water.

d) Noise:
 Noise is defined as unwanted electrical energy of random and unpredictable
nature.
 Noise is an electrical disturbance, which does not contain any useful information.
 Noise is a highly undesirable part of a communication system, and has to be
minimized.
 When noise is mixed with transmitted signal, it rides over it & deteriorates it
waveform.
 This results in alteration of original information so that wrong information is
received.
 The designer provides adequate signal strength at the time of transmission so that
a high SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio) is available at the receiver

e) Receiver:
 The function of the receiver section is to separate the noise from the received
signal, and then recover the original baseband signal by performing demodulation
process.
 A voltage amplifier first amplifies the received signal so that it becomes strong
enough for further processing, and then recovers the original information.

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 The demodulation process removes the high frequency carrier from the received
signal and retrieves the original baseband.

f) Output transducer and final destination:

 The recovered baseband signal is handed over to the final destination, which uses
a transducer to convert this electrical signal to its original form.
 Prior to handing over the recovered baseband signal to its final destination, the
voltage and power are amplified by the amplifier stages.

2. Define the following terms: (i) Modulation (ii) Carrier communication system
(iii) Baseband communication system with neat and suitable waveforms.

3. Explain the types of communication system.

Answer:

Two types of communication systems based on the physical infrastructure are:

1. Line Communication System:
 There is a physical link, called the hardware channel, between the transmitter and
the receiver in the line communication systems. E.g.: Landline telephony.
 In a radio communication system, there is no such link and natural resources,
such as space and water are used as software channels. E.g.: Radio broad cast
 A communication system can be simplex (one way transmission) or a duplex
(two way transmission. Some communication system can be half duplex (two-
way transmission is carried out, but not simultaneously) as well.
 Thus communication system can be grouped as:
a) Line/radio communication
b) Simplex/duplex communication

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 TV communication system is a combination of the radio and simplex

communication system & landline telephony is a combination of line & duplex
communication systems.
2. Communication Systems Based on Signal Specifications:
 The signal specifications used to decide the type of communication include:
a) Nature of baseband or informal signal
b) Nature of the transmitted signal.
 Based on the nature of baseband signal, there are two types of communication
systems:
a) Analog communication systems
b) Digital communication systems.
 Based on the nature of the transmitted signal, the baseband signal can either be
transmitted as it is, without modulation, or through a carrier signal with
modulation.

a) Baseband communication system
b) Carrier communication system
 Thus, four types of communication system categories based on signal
specification are:
a) Analog communication system
b) Digital communication system
c) Baseband communication system
d) Carrier communication system
 Of the four, two groups consisting each of two types can be formed as:
a) Analog/digital communication system
b) Baseband/carrier communication system
 A particular communication system can be either an analog communication
system or a digital communication system at a time. E.g.: TV transmission is an
analog communication system while high definition television (HDTV) is a
digital communication system.
 Similarly, a particular communication system can be either a baseband
communication system or a carrier communication system.

 on system: TV transmission, Radio broadcast &
Cable TV.

4. Define noise and noise figure (F). Derive the expression for Signal to Noise
Ratio (SNR) in decibels (dB).
Answer: In electronics and communication engineering, noise is defined as
unwanted electrical energy of random and unpredictable nature present in the
system due to any cause. Obviously, noise is an electrical disturbance, which does
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not contain any useful information. Thus, noise is a highly undesirable part of a
communication system, and have to be minimized.
The Noise figure (F) is the measure of the noise introduced by the circuit. It is
defined as the ratio of the signal-to-noise power at the input of the circuit and the
signal-to-noise power at the output of the circuit. Noise figure (r) can be expressed
as

One can define the SNR as the ratio of the signal power to the noise power at a
point in the circuit. Now, if Ps, is signal power and Pn, is noise power, then SNR
expressed as S/N, is given as

If and then

where Vs, is signal voltage and Vn is noise voltage.

In addition, it is assumed that both the signal and noise powers are dissipated in
the same resistor R. Therefore, SNR can be expressed in terms of decibels (dB) as
( )

5. Write a note on different types of modulation and briefly describe each in

detail.
Answer: Modulation is the process in which any one of the parameters
(amplitude, frequency or phase) of the high frequency carrier signal is varied
according to the instantaneous values of the low frequency message signal,
keeping other parameters constant.
1. Amplitude Modulation (AM):
 AM is defined as the modulation technique in which the amplitude of carrier
signal is varied in accordance with the amplitude of analog modulating signal to
be transmitted.
 The modulating signal is the analog baseband signal which is random and has
low frequency while the carrier signal is always a sinusoidal wave with high
frequency.
 The variations in the amplitude of carrier signal represent the information carried.
 Below figure shows the high frequency carrier, modulating and the modulated
signal.

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 As shown, the amplitude of the carrier signal is varies in accordance with the
modulating signal while the frequency & phase of the carrier signal remain
unchanged.
 It can be observed that the modulating signal is superimposed on the carrier
signal.
 The amplitude variations in the peak values of the carrier signal exactly replicate
the modulating signal at different points in time which is known as an envelope.

2. Frequency Modulation (FM):

 The frequency modulation is the process of changing the frequency of the carrier
voltage in accordance with the instantaneous value of the modulating voltage.
 Original frequency of carrier signal is called centre or resting frequency, denoted
as fc.
 The amount by which the frequency of the carrier wave changes or shifts above
or below the resting frequency is termed as frequency deviation (Δf).
 The total variation is frequency of FM wave from the lowest to the highest is
termed as carrier saving (CS), i.e. CS= 2 x frequency deviation in centre
frequency or CS = 2Δf
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 Modulation index in F.M. is the ratio of frequency deviation to the modulating

frequency,

3. Phase modulation (PM):

 Phase modulation is another form of angle modulation.
 Phase modulation is the process in which the instantaneous phase of the carrier
signal is varied in accordance with the instantaneous amplitude of the modulating
signal.
 In this type of modulation, the amplitude and frequency of the carrier signal
remains unaltered after pulse modulation.
 The modulating signal is mapped to the carrier signal in the form of variations in
the instantaneous phase of the carrier signal.
 Pulse modulation may be used to transmit analog information, such as continuous
speech or data.
 It is system in which continuous waveforms are sampled at regular intervals.
 Pulse modulation may be subdivided into two categories, analog and digital.
 Pulse-amplitude and pulse-time modulation are both analog, while the pulse code
and delta modulation systems are both digital.

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4. Phase-amplitude modulation (PAM):

 PAM is a pulse modulation system in which the signal is sampled at regular
intervals, & each sample is made proportional to amplitude of the signal at the
instant of sampling.
 In PAM, the amplitudes of regularly spaced rectangular pulses vary according to
the instantaneous value of the modulating signal.
 Any three types of sampling: flat top, natural and ideal type can be applied in
PAM.
 A sample and hold circuit is used to produce flat top sampled PAM.

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5. Pulse width or pulse-duration modulation (PWM or PDM):

 In this system, the starting time and amplitude of each pulse are constant but
width or duration of each pulse is made proportional to the instantaneous value of
analog signal.
 Three formats of PWM are possible which are states as follows:
a) In one variation, the leading edge of the pulse is held constant and change in
pulse width with signal is measured with respect to the leading edge (fig. 4.8 (a)).
b) In second type of format, the tail edge is held constant and with respect to it,
pulse width is measured(fig. 4.8 (b)).
c) In third type of variation, the centre of the pulse is held constant and pulse width
changes on either side of the centre of the pulse(

6. Pulse position-modulation (PPM):

 In this system, the amplitude and width of the pulses is kept constant, while the
position of each pulse, in relation to the position of a recurrent reference pulse is
varied by instantaneous sampled value of the modulatin
 As compared to PWM, PPM has the advantage of requiring constant transmitter
power output, but the disadvantage of depending on transmitter receiver
synchronization.

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 In this system, the position of pulse relative to its unmodulated time of

occurrence is varied in accordance with the instantaneous value of the message
signal.

7. Pulse-code modulation (PCM):

 PCM is a digital process in which the message signal is sampled is rounded off to
the nearest value of a finite set of allowable values and rounded values are coded.
 PCM generator produces a series of numbers or digits. Each one of these digits,
represents the approximate amplitude of the signal sample at that instant.
 Obviously, signals are transmitted as binary code.

6. Write a note on digital modulation techniques.

Answer:
1. Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK):


carrier are applied to a product modulator as inputs.

2. Frequency Shift Keying (FSK):

 Digital signal is transmitted by switching between low frequency and high
 frequency in order to represent 0’s and 1’s.
 The simplest FSK is Binary FSK (BFSK).
 It uses a pair of discrete frequencies to transmit binary (0s and 1s) information.

3. Phase Shift Keying (PSK):

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 The carrier Phase is shifted between two different phases (typically 00 to 1800 )
depending on whether 0-bit or 1-bit is being transmitted.
 The simplest form of PSK is Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK).

7. List out the advantages of digital communication over analog

communication.
Answer:
1. Immunity to Noise (possibility of regenerating the original digital signal if signal
power to noise power ratio (SNR) is relatively high by using of devices called
repeaters along the path of transmission).
2. Efficient use of communication bandwidth (through use of techniques like
compression).
3. Digital communication provides higher security (data encryption)
4. The ability to detect errors and correct them if necessary.
5. Design and manufacturing of electronics for digital communication systems is
much easier and much cheaper than the design and manufacturing of electronics
for analog communication systems.

8. Explain with a neat diagram, the concept of radio wave propagation and
its different types.
Answer:
 In space communication electromagnetic waves of different frequencies are used
to carry information through the physical space acting as the transmission
medium.
 Electromagnetic waves with frequencies extending from about 10 kHz to 300
GHz are classed as radio waves.
 Depending primarily on the frequency a radio wave travels from the transmitting
to the receiving antenna in several ways.
 On the basis of the mode of propagation, radio waves can be broadly classified
as:
a) ground or surface wave.
b) space or stratospheric wave.
c) sky way.

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a) Ground wave propagation:

 In ground wave propagation, radio waves are guided by the earth and move along
its curved surface from the transmitter to the receiver.
 As the waves moves over the ground, they are strongly influenced by the
electrical properties of the ground. As high frequency waves are strongly
absorbed by ground; ground wave propagation is useful only at low frequencies.
 Below 500 kHz, ground waves can be used for communication within distances
of about 1500 km from the transmitter.
 AM radio broadcast in the medium frequency band cover local areas and take
place primarily by the ground wave. Ground wave transmission is very reliable
whatever the atmospheric conditions be.

b) Space or tropospheric wave propagation:

 When a radio wave transmitted from an antenna, travelling in a straight line
directly reaches the receiving antenna, it is termed as space or tropospheric wave.
 In space wave or line of sight propagation, radio waves move in the earth's
troposphere within about 15 km over the surface of the earth.
 The space wave is made up of two components:
(i) a direct or line-of- sight MGVE form the transmitting to the receiving antenna.
(ii) the ground-reflected urine traversing forms the transmitting antenna to ground and
reflected to the receiving antenna.
 Television frequencies in the range 100-220 MHz are transmitted through this
mode.

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c) Sky wave propagation:

 In this mode of propagation, radio waves transmitted from the transmitting
antenna reach the receiving antenna after reflection form the ionosphere, i.e., the
ionized layers lying in the earth's upper atmosphere.
 Short wave transmission around the globe is possible through sky wave via
successive reflections at the ionosphere and the earth's surface.

9. Present the architecture of a wireless communication transmitter and its

modulation scheme QPSK with waveforms and constellation diagrams.
Answer:
 Below figure shows the architecture of a wireless communication transmitter. In
the figure, the transmitter usually processes the information in two stages. In the
first stage, a modulator accepts the incoming bits, and computes symbols that
represent the amplitude and phase of the outgoing wave. It then passes these to
the analogue transmitter, which generates the radio wave itself.
 The modulation scheme used in the figure is known as quadrature phase shift
keying (QPSK).
 A QPSK modulator takes the incoming bits two at a time and transmits them
using a radio wave that can have four different states. These have phases of 45°,
135°, 225° and 315°.

 Fig. (a), which correspond to bit combinations of 00, 10, 11 and 01 respectively.
 We can represent the four states of QPSK using the constellation diagram shown
in Fig. (b).

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 In this diagram, the distance of each state from the origin represents the
amplitude of the transmitted wave, while the angle (measured anti-clockwise
from the x-axis) represents its phase. Usually, it is more convenient to represent
each symbol using two other numbers, which are known as the in-phase (I) and
quadrature (Q) components. These are computed as follows:

I = a cos ɸ

Q = a sin ɸ
where a is the amplitude of the transmitted wave and ɸ is its phase.
 Mathematicians will recognize the in-phase and quadrature components as the
real and imaginary parts of a complex number.
 As shown in below, LTE uses four modulation schemes altogether. Binary phase
shift keying (BPSK) sends bits one at a time, using two states that can be
interpreted as starting phases of 0° and 180°, or as signal amplitudes of +1 and -1.
 LTE uses this scheme for a limited number of control streams, but does not use it
for normal data transmissions.
 16 quadrature amplitude modulation (16-QAM) sends bits four at a time, using 16
states that have different amplitudes and phases.
 Similarly, 64-QAM sends bits six at a time using 64 different states, so it has a
data rate six times greater than that of BPSK.

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10. Discuss the various multiple access techniques used in cellular network.
Answer: In cellular network, the base station has to transmit to many different
mobiles at once by sharing the resources of air interface using a technique known
as multiple access. Different multiple access techniques used are:Frequency
1. Division Multiple Access (FDMA):
 FDMA was used by first generation (1G) analog systems.
 Each mobile receives signal on its own carrier frequency, which it distinguishes
from the others using analogue filter.
 Carriers are separated by unused guard bands to minimize interference between
them.
2. Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA):
 Mobiles receive signals on the same carrier but at different times.
 GSM uses the TDMA technique.
 TDMA requires time synchronization.
3. Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA):
 CDMA technique was used by third generation (3G) communication systems.
 Mobiles receive signals on the same carrier frequency and at the same time but
the signals are labeled by the use of codes, which allows a mobile to separate its
own signal from the others.

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