Course: Fundamentals of Avionics

Unit-4
Elements of Communication Systems: Definition of Signal & System, Types of Signals, Classification of
Signals, Classification of Systems; Signals Gain, Attenuation & Decibels;

Filters and their classification; Noise & SNR comparison; Frequency Synthesizer, Phase lock loop,
Modulator/Demodulator, Block diagrams of Microwave Transmitter / Receiver.

Elements of Communication Systems:

Communication is the process of exchanging information. People communicate to convey their

thoughts, ideas, and feelings to others. Two of the main barriers to human communication are
language and distance. Language barriers arise between persons of different cultures or
nationalities. Communicating over long distances is another problem. Communication between
early human beings was limited to face-to-face encounters. Long-distance communication was
first accomplished by sending simple signals such as drumbeats, horn blasts, and smoke signals
and later by waving signal flags (semaphores). When messages were relayed from one location to
another, even greater distances could be covered.

Well-known forms of electronic communication, such as the telephone, radio, TV, and the
Internet, have increased our ability to share information. Ours is an information society, and a key
part of it is communication. Without electronic communication, we could not access and apply the
available information in a timely way.

All electronic communication systems have a transmitter, a communication channel or medium,

and a receiver. These basic components are shown in Fig. below. The process of communication
begins when a human being generates some kind of message, data, or other intelligence that must
be received by others. A message may also be generated by a computer or electronic current.

In electronic communication systems, the message is referred to as information, or an intelligence

signal. This message, in the form of an electronic signal, is fed to the transmitter, which then
transmits the message over the communication channel. The message is picked up by the receiver
and relayed to another human. Along the way, noise is added in the communication channel and
in the receiver. Noise is the general term applied to any phenomenon that degrades or interferes
with the transmitted information.

Transmitter: The first step in sending a message is to convert it into electronic form suitable for
transmission. For voice messages, a microphone is used to translate the sound into an electronic
audio signal. For TV, a camera converts the light information in the scene to a video signal.

In computer systems, the message is typed on a keyboard and converted to binary codes that can
be stored in memory or transmitted serially. Transducers convert physical characteristics
(temperature, pressure, light intensity, and so on) into electrical signals. The transmitter itself is a
collection of electronic components and circuits designed to convert the electrical signal to a
signal suitable for transmission over a given communication medium.
Transmitters are made up of oscillators, amplifiers, tuned circuits and filters, modulators,
frequency mixers, frequency synthesizers, and other circuits. The original intelligence signal
usually modulates a higher-frequency carrier sine wave generated by the transmitter, and the
combination is raised in amplitude by power amplifiers, resulting in a signal that is compatible
with the selected transmission medium.

Communication Channel: The communication channel is the medium by which the electronic
signal is sent from one place to another. Many different types of media are used in communication
systems, including wire conductors, fi ber-optic cable, and free space.

Electrical Conductors:. In its simplest form, the medium may simply be a pair of wires that carry
a voice signal from a microphone to a headset. It may be a coaxial cable such as that used to carry
cable TV signals. Or it may be a twisted-pair cable used in a local-area network (LAN).

Optical Media. The communication medium may also be a fiber-optic cable or “light pipe” that
carries the message on a light wave. These are widely used today to carry long-distance calls and
all Internet communications. The information is converted to digital form that can be used to turn
a laser diode off and on at high speeds. Alternatively, audio or video analog signals can be used to
vary the amplitude of the light.

Free Space. When free space is the medium, the resulting system is known as radio. Also known
as wireless, radio is the broad general term applied to any form of wireless communication from
one point to another. Radio makes use of the electromagnetic spectrum. Intelligence signals are
converted to electric and magnetic fields that propagate nearly instantaneously through space over
long distances. Communication by visible or infrared light also occurs in free space.

Receivers: A receiver is a collection of electronic components and circuits that accepts the
transmitted message from the channel and converts it back to 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. The output is the
original signal, which is then read out or displayed. It may be a voice signal sent to a speaker, a
video signal that is fed to an LCD screen for display, or binary data that is received by a computer
and then printed out or displayed on a video monitor

Transceivers: Most electronic communication is two-way, and so both parties must have both a
transmitter and a receiver. As a result, most communication equipment incorporates circuits that
both send and receive. These units are commonly referred to as transceivers. All the transmitter
and receiver circuits are packaged within a single housing and usually share some common
circuits such as the power supply. Telephones, handheld radios, cellular telephones, and computer
modems are examples of transceivers.

Attenuation: Signal attenuation, or degradation, is inevitable no matter what the medium of

transmission. Attenuation is proportional to the square of the distance between the transmitter and
receiver. Media are also frequency-selective, in that a given medium will act as a low-pass fi lter
to a transmitted signal, distorting digital pulses in addition to greatly reducing signal amplitude
over long distances. Thus considerable signal amplification, in both the transmitter and the
receiver, is required for successful transmission. Any medium also slows signal propagation to a
speed slower than the speed of light.

Noise: Noise is the bane of all electronic communications. Its effect is experienced in the receiver
part of any communications system. While some noise can be filtered out, the general way to
minimize noise is to use components that contribute less noise and to lower their temperatures.
The measure of noise is usually expressed in terms of the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio (SNR), which
is the signal power divided by the noise power and can be stated numerically or in terms of
decibels (dB). Obviously, a very high SNR is preferred for best performance.

Bandwidth (BW): It is the frequency range over which a receiver or other electronic circuit
operates. More specifically, bandwidth is the difference between the upper and lower frequency
limits of the signal or the equipment operation range. The bandwidth of the voice signal frequency
ranges from 300 to 3000 Hz. The upper frequency is f2 and the lower frequency is f1.

The bandwidth, then, is BW = (f2 - f1)

 Gain, Attenuation & Decibels
Most electronic circuits in communication are used to process signals, i.e., to manipulate signals
to produce a desired result. All signal processing circuits involve either gain or attenuation.

Gain: Gain means amplification. If a signal is applied to a circuit such as the amplifier shown
in Fig. below and the output of the circuit has greater amplitude than the input signal, the circuit
has gain.

Gain is simply the ratio of the output to the input. For input (Vin) and output (Vout) voltages,
voltage gain, AV is expressed as follows:

AV = output / input = Vout / Vin

The number obtained by dividing the output by input shows how much larger the output is than
the input. For example, if the input is 150 μV and the output is 30 mV, the gain is AV = 200.

Power Gain (Ap): Since most amplifiers are also power amplifiers, the same procedure can be
used to calculate power gain AP: AP = Pout / Pin
where Pin is the power input and Pout is the power output.

For example: The power output of an amplifier is 6 watts (W) if the input power is 75mW. Then,
the power gain is 80.

Cascaded Stages: When two or more stages of amplification or other forms of signal
processing are cascaded, the overall gain of the combination is the product of the individual
circuit gains.

Example:

Example: Three cascaded amplifiers have power gains of 5, 2, and 17. The input power is 40
mW. What is the output power?
Sol: Overall gain of the cascaded stage: Ap = A1*A2*A3 = 170 and
Overall Output power: Pout = Ap . Pin = 6.8W
Attenuation:
Attenuation refers to a loss introduced by a circuit or component. Many electronic circuits,
sometimes called stages, reduce the amplitude of a signal rather than increase it. If the output
signal is lower in amplitude than the input, the circuit has loss, or attenuation. Circuits that
introduce attenuation have a gain that is less than 1. In other words, the output is some fraction of
the input.

Note: Attenuation factor is the reciprocal of the Gain.

Example-1: Voltage Divider is a simple circuit with attenuation is shown below:

If a signal of 10 V is applied to the attenuator, the output is Vout = Vin A = 10(0.3333) = 3.333 V.

Note: When several circuits with attenuation are cascaded, the total attenuation is, again,
the product of the individual attenuations.

Note: It is common in communication systems and equipment to cascade circuits and

components that have gain and attenuation. For example, loss introduced by a circuit can be
compensated for by adding a stage of amplification that offsets it. An example of this is shown
below:

Example-2: Voltage Divider circuit with attenuation in cascade with an amplifier is shown below:
Here the voltage divider introduces a 4-to-1 voltage loss. To offset this, it is followed with an
amplifier whose gain is 4. The overall gain or attenuation of the circuit is simply the product of
the attenuation and gain factors. In this case, the overall gain is unity.
Exercise: Consider the voltage divider circuit in cascade with an amplifier shown below: Determine the
gain, A2 of the amplifier if R1= 10kΩ and R2 = 5kΩ.

Exercise: It is required to reduce an input voltage of 500mV to 75mV. Design a suitable voltage divider
circuit to achieve the same.

DECIBELS:
The gain or loss of a circuit is usually expressed in decibels (dB), a unit of measurement that was
originally created as a way of expressing the hearing response of the human ear to various sound
levels. A decibel is one-tenth of a bel.

When gain and attenuation are both converted to decibels, the overall gain or attenuation of an
electronic circuit can be computed by simply adding the individual gains or attenuations,
expressed in decibels.

It is common for electronic circuits and systems to have extremely high gains or attenuations,
often in excess of 1 million. Converting these high values to decibels and using logarithms result
in smaller gain and attenuation values which are easier to use.

Decibel Calculation: The formulas for computing the decibel gain or loss of a circuit are given
below. Formula (1) is used for expressing the voltage gain; formula (2), for current gain. The ratio
of the output voltage or current to the input voltage or current is determined as usual. The base-10
or common log of the input/output ratio is then obtained and multiplied by 20. The resulting
number is the gain in decibels. Formula (3) is used to compute power gain . The ratio of the power
output to the power input is computed, and then its logarithm is multiplied by 10.

𝑉
𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛 , 𝑖𝑛 𝑑𝐵 = 20 log − − − (1)
𝑉

𝐼
𝐶𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛 , 𝑖𝑛 𝑑𝐵 = 20 log − − − (2)
𝐼

𝑃
𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛 , 𝑖𝑛 𝑑𝐵 = 10 log − − − (3)
𝑃

Note that when the circuit has gain, the decibel figure is positive. If the gain is less than 1, which
means that there is attenuation in the circuit, the decibel figure is negative.
Example: An amplifier has an input of 3 mV and an output of 6 V. What is the gain in decibels?

Voltage gain = 20 log( 6 / 3m) = 20 log(2000) = 66.02 dB.

Example: A filter has a power input of 50 mW and an output of 2 mW. What is the gain in
decibels?

Power gain = 10 log( 2 / 50) = 20 log(1/25) = -13.98dB.

Cascaded Stages: To calculate the overall gain or attenuation of a circuit or system, simply add
the decibel gain and attenuation factors of each circuit.

Example: An example is shown in Fig. below, where there are two gain stages and an attenuation
block. The overall gain of this circuit is

AT = 15 – 20 + 35 = 30 dB.

Antilogs: To calculate the input or output voltage or power, given the decibel gain or attenuation
and the output or input, the antilog is used.

𝑃
𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛 , 𝑖𝑛 𝑑𝐵 = 10 log
𝑃

𝑃 𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑑𝐵
= 𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑜𝑔
𝑃 10

𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑑𝐵
𝑃 =𝑃 ∗ 𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑜𝑔
10

Exercise: A power amplifier with a 30-dB gain has an output power of 120 W. What is the input
power?

Exercise: An amplifier has a gain of 50 dB. If the input voltage is 200 μV, what is the output
voltage?