Module-5

Communication:
Communication is the process of transferring information meaningfully from one point to
another. In general, Electronic communication refers to the sending, receiving and processing of
information by electronic means. Meaning information may be in the form of voice, text, image
or video.
The different steps involved in the transmission of information may be outlined as follows:
 Origin of information in the mind of the person who wants to communicate
 Generation of message signal carrying the information
 Converting the message signal into electrical form using a suitable transducer
 Processing the message signal such that it will have the capability to travel for a long
distance
 Transmission of the processed message signal to the desired destination
 Reception of the processed message signal at the desired destination
 Processing the received message signal in such a way to recreate the original non-
electrical form
 Finally delivering the information from the message signal to the intended person

Elements of communication system

A communication system is an integration of various block needed for the process of
communication. Figure 1 shows the block diagram of a general communication system.

Figure 1. Block diagram of a communication system.

Information source: The main aim of communication system is to convey a message called
information. This message originates from an information source.
Transmitter: The objective of the transmitter is to collect the incoming message and modify it
in suitable fashion, such that, it can be transmitted via chosen channel to the receiving point.
Block diagram of a typical radio transmitter

Figure 2. Block diagram of a typical radio transmitter

The block diagram of typical radio transmitter is shown in Figure 2. This transmitter block
involves several operations like amplification, generation of high-frequency carrier signal,
modulation and then radiation of the modulated signal. The amplification process essentially
involves amplifying the signal amplitude values and also adding required power levels. The
high-frequency signal is essential for carrying out an important operation called modulation. This
high-frequency signal is more commonly termed carrier and is generated by a stable oscillator.
The carrier signal is characterized by the three parameters amplitude, frequency and phase. The
modulation process involves varying one of these three parameters in accordance with the
variation of the message signal. Accordingly, we have amplitude modulation, frequency
modulation and phase modulation.The modulated signal from the modulator is transmitted or
radiated into the atmosphere using an antenna as the transducer, which converts the signal energy
in guided wave form to free space.
Channel: channel is the physical medium which connects the transmitter with that of the
receiver. The physical medium includes copper wire, coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, wave guide
and free space or atmosphere. The choice of a particular channel depends on the feasibility and
also the purpose of communication system. The term channel is often is often used to refer to the
frequency range allocated to a particular service or transmission ,such as television channel
which refers to the allowable carrier bandwidth with modulation.
Noise: Noise is an unwanted signal that gets added to the message signal during transmission
over the channel. This alteration in the communication process, leads to the message getting
altered. It is most likely to be entered at the channel. It is random in nature and has its greatest
effect when the message signal is weakest.
Channel noise is any interference inside the mechanics of the medium used to send a message.
 The channel noise could distort the original user data signal.
 If the channel noise is too high, it will bring down the Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) of the
signal as a result of which the receiver might not be able to faithfully detect and decode
the signal.
 With a high channel noise, the signal might get buried under the noise.

Receiver: The receiver block receives the incoming modified version of the message signal from
the channel and processes it to recreate the original (non-electrical) form of the message signal.
There are a great variety of receivers in communication systems, depending on the processing
required to recreate the original message signal and also final presentation of the message to the
destination. Most of the receivers do conform broadly to the super heterodyne type, as does the
simple broadcast receiver whose block diagram is shown in Figure 3.
Block diagram of an AM superheterodyne receiver
 Figure 3. Block diagram of an AM superheterodyne receiver

The super heterodyne receiver includes processing steps like reception. Amplification, mixing,
demodulation and recreation of message signal. Among the different processing steps employed,
demodulation is the most important one which converts the message signal available in the
modified form to the original electrical version of the message. Thus demodulation is essentially
an inverse operation of modulation.
The purpose of receiver and form of output display influence its construction as much as the type
of modulation system used. Accordingly the receiver can be a very simple crystal receiver, with
headphones, to a far more complex radar receiver, with its involved antenna arrangements and
visual display system. The output of a receiver may be fed to a loud speaker, video display unit,
teletypewriter, various radar displays, television picture tube, pen recorder or computer.

Destination: The destination is the final block in the communication system which receives the
message signal and processes it to comprehend the information present in it. Usually, humans
will be the destination block.

Modulation:
Modulation is the process of superimposing a low-frequency message signal on a high-frequency
component carrier signal.

Modulation techniques are divided into two types:

 Analog modulation
 Digital modulation

Need for Modulation

1. Reduction in the height of antenna
For the transmission of radio signals, the antenna height must be multiple of λ/4, where λ is the
wavelength.
λ = c /f

Where c: is the velocity of light

f: is the frequency of the signal to be transmitted

The minimum antenna height required to transmit a baseband signal of f = 10 kHz is calculated
as follows:

The antenna of this height is practically impossible to install.

Now, let us consider a modulated signal at f = 1 MHz. The minimum antenna height is given by,

This antenna can be easily installed practically. Thus, modulation reduces the height of the
antenna.
2. Avoids mixing of signals
If the baseband sound signals are transmitted without using the modulation by more than one
transmitter, then all the signals will be in the same frequency range i.e. 0 to 20 kHz. Therefore,
all the signals get mixed together and a receiver cannot separate them from each other.

Hence, if each baseband sound signal is used to modulate a different carrier then they will
occupy different slots in the frequency domain (different channels). Thus, modulation avoids
mixing of signals.

3. Multiplexing is possible
Multiplexing is a process in which two or more signals can be transmitted over the same
communication channel simultaneously.

This is possible only with modulation.

The multiplexing allows the same channel to be used by many signals. Hence, many TV
channels can use the same frequency range, without getting mixed with each other or different
frequency signals can be transmitted at the same time.

4. Increase the Range of Communication

The frequency of baseband signal is low, and the low frequency signals cannot travel long
distance when they are transmitted. They get heavily attenuated.

The attenuation reduces with increase in frequency of the transmitted signal, and they travel
longer distance.

The modulation process increases the frequency of the signal to be transmitted. Therefore, it
increases the range of communication.
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