Laser based voice transmitter and receiver

CONTENTS
1. PROJECT METHODOLOGY 2. COMMUNICATION 3. DEFINITION OF PROJECT AND ABOUT LASER COMMUNICATION Various aspects of laser communication Other wireless communication methodologies 4. COMPONENTS Component list with required and actual values Component details 5. CIRCUIT AND WORKING DETAILS TRANSMITTER CIRCUIT AND EXPLANATION RECIEVER CIRCUIT AND EXPLANATION 6. CIRCUIT IMPLEMENTATION AND PROBLEMS FACED 7. EXISTING AND POSSIBLE FUTURE USES OF LASER COMMUNICATION 8. FINAL WORKING OBSERVATIONS OF THE PROJECT AND PERFORMANCE 9. PRECAUTIONS

PROJECT METHODOLOGY
The methodologies that we undergo to make our project successful are as follows: 1. First of all we started searching a suitable project in the internet. We also searched various books and magazines available on projects in the departments library. 2. We made the list of some interesting projects and consulted our teachers for their suggestions. 3. We made it sure that components used in the projects suggested by our teachers are available in the market. 4. We selected this project because of its advantages, availability of components and we find the project quite interesting. 5. We studied all the components thoroughly through books and material available in the internet.

6. We also find some testing circuits of various components like mic, speaker etc from our teacher and tested our components with the same. 7. We studied the different aspects of our project, its different parts and then finally implanted it on bread board.

DEFINITION OF PROJECT AND ABOUT LASER COMMUNICATION

The study consists of transmitter and receiver circuits. The circuit is based upon the principle of light modulation where instead of radio frequency signals; light from a laser torch is used as the carrier in the circuit. Using this circuit we can communicate with your neighbors wirelessly. The laser torch can transmit light up to a distance of about 500 meters. The phototransistor of the receiver must be accurately oriented towards the laser beam from the torch. If there is any obstruction in the path of the laser beam, no sound will be heard from the receiver. The block diagram of the circuit (transmitter and receiver) can be represented as

Laser communications
Laser communications systems are wireless connections through the atmosphere. They work similar to fiber optic links, except the beam is transmitted through free space. While the transmitter and receiver must require line-of-sight conditions, they have the benefit of eliminating the need for broadcast rights and buried cables. Laser communications systems can be easily deployed since they are inexpensive, small, low power and do not require any radio interference studies. The carrier used for the transmission signal is typically generated by a laser diode. Two parallel beams are needed, one for transmission and one for reception. Due to budget restrictions, the system implemented in this project is only one way. Laser communications have been a hot topic lately, as solutions for how to satisfy ever increasing bandwidth needs are in high demand. Some have suggested that bandwidth could be distributed in neighborhoods by putting laser communication systems on top of homes and pointing them towards a common transceiver. Other applications for this technology include temporary connectivity needs (e.g. sporting events, disaster scenes, or conventions), or space based communications.

VARIOUS ASPECTS OF THE LASR COMMUNICATION Brief history

Communications using light is not a new science. Old Roman records indicate that polished metal plates were sometimes used as mirrors to reflect sunlight for long range signaling. The U.S. military used similar sunlight powered devices to send telegraph information from mountain top to mountain top in the early 1800s. For centuries the navies of the world have been using and still use blinking lights to send messages from one ship to another. Back in 1880, Alexander Graham Bell experimented with his "Photo phone" that used sunlight reflected off a vibrating mirror and a selenium photo cell to send telephone like signals over a range of 600 feet. During both world wars some lightwave communications experiments were conducted, but radio and radar had more success and took more attention of people. It wasn't until the invention of the laser, some new semiconductor devices and optical fibers in the 1960s that optical communications finally began getting some real attention. During the last thirty years great progress has been made in electro-optics. Light beam communications devices are now finding their way into many common appliances, telephone equipment and computer systems. Today, with the recent drop in price of some critical components, practical through-the-air communications, systems are now within the reach of the average experimenter. You can now construct a system to transmit and receive audio, television or even high speed computer data over long distances using rather inexpensive components.

Why Optical Communications?

Since the invention of radio more and more of the electro-magnetic frequency spectrum has been used up for business, the military entertainment, broadcasting and telephone communications. Like some of our cities and highways, the airwaves are becoming severely overcrowded. Businesses looking for ways to improve their communications systems and hobbyist wishing to experiment are frustrated by all the restrictions and regulations governing the transmission of information by radio. There is simply little room left in the radio frequency spectrum to add more information transmitting channels. For this reason, many companies and individuals are looking toward light as a way to provide the needed room for communications expansion. By using modulated light as a carrier instead of radio, an almost limitless spectrum becomes available. Let us see an example of how much information an optical system could transmit. Imagine a single laser light source. Let's say it is a semiconductor laser that emits a narrow wavelength (colour) of light. Such devices have already been developed that can be modulated at a rate in excess of 60 gigahertz (60,000MHz). If modulated at a modest 10GHz rate, such a single laser source could transmit in one second: 900 high density floppy disks, 650,000 pages of text, 1000 novels, 30-volume encyclopedias, 200 minutes of high quality music or 10,000 TV pictures. In less than 12 hours, a single light source could transmit the entire contents of the library of congress. Such a modulation rate has the capacity to provide virtually all of the typical radio, TV and business communications needs of a large metropolitan area. However, with the addition of more

light sources, each at a different wavelength (colours), even more information channels could be added to the communications system without interference. Colour channels could be added until they numbered in the thousands. Such an enormous information capacity would be impossible to duplicate with radio.

Why through-the-air communications?

One of the first large scale users for optical communications were the telephone companies. They replaced less efficient copper cables with glass fibers (fiber optics) in some complex long distance systems. A single optical fiber could carry the equivalent information that would require tens of thousands of copper wires. The fibers could also carry the information over much longer distances than the copper cables they replaced. However, complex fiber optic networks that could bring such improvements directly to the small business or home are still many years away. The phone companies don't want to spend the money to connect each home with optical fibers. Until fiber optic networks become available, through-the-air communications could help bridge the gap. Although light can be efficiently injected into tiny glass fibers (fiber optics) and used like copper cables to route the light information where it might be needed, there are many applications where only the space between the light information transmitter and the receiver is needed. This "freespace" technique requires only a clear line-of-sight path between the transmitter and the distant receiver to form an information link. No cables need to be buried, no complex network of switches and amplifiers are needed and no right-of-way agreements need to be made with landowners. Also, like fiber optic communications, an optical communication through-the-air has a very large information handling capacity. Very high data rates are possible from multiple colour light sources. In addition, systems could be designed to provide wide area communications, stretching out to perhaps ten to twenty miles in all directions. Such systems could furnish a city with badly needed information broadcasting systems at a fraction of the cost of microwave or radio systems.

What are some of the limitations of through-the-air communications?

The main factor that can influence the ability of an optical communications system to send information through the air is weather. Fog, heavy rain and snow can be severe enough to block the light path and interrupt communications. Fortunately, our eyes are poor judges of how far a signal can go. Some infrared wavelengths, used by many of the light transmitters are able to penetrate poor weather much better than visible light. Also, if the distances are not too great (less than 5 miles), systems can be designed with sufficient power to punch through most weather conditions. But, this should not be a hindrance to the development of a through-the-air system, because there are many areas of the world where bad weather seldom occurs. In addition, it would be a shame to completely reject an optical communications system as a viable alternate to radio solely due to a few short interruptions each year. Even with present day systems, TV, radio and cable systems are frequently interrupted by electrical storms. How many times has your cable or TV service been interrupted due to bad weather? I think the advantages that through-the-air communications can provide outweigh the disadvantages from weather.

Another limitation of light beam communications is that since light can't penetrate trees, hills or buildings. A clear line-of-sight path must exist between the light transmitter and the receiver. This means that you will have to position some installations so that their light processing hardware is in more favorable line-of-sight locations. A third limitation, one that is often unnoticed, is the position of the sun relative to the light transmitter and receiver. Some systems may violate a "forbidden alignment" rule that places the light receiver or transmitter in a position that would allow sunlight to be focused directly onto the light detector or emitter during certain times of the year. Such a condition would certainly damage some components and must be avoided. Many installations try to maintain a north/south alignment to lessen the chance of such damage.

How can these light-beam techniques be used?

I believe that optical through-the-air communications will play a significant role in this century. Many of you are already using some of this new technology without even being aware of it. Most remote control devices for TVs, VCRs and stereo systems rely on pulses of light instead of radio. Many commercially available wireless stereo headphones are using optical techniques to send high quality audio within a room, giving the user freedom of movement. In addition, research is on going to test the feasibility of using optical communications in a variety of other applications. Some military research companies are examining ways to send data from one satellite to another using optical approach. One such experiment sent data between two satellites that were separated by over 18,000 miles. Space agencies are also exploring optical techniques to improve communications to very distant space probes. Some college campuses and large business complexes are experimenting with optical through-the-air techniques for high-speed computer networks that can form communications links between multiple buildings. Some military bases, banks and government centers are using point-to-point optical communications to provide high speed computer data links that are difficult to tap into or interfere with.

Other wireless communication methodologies: Radio Communications

Radio communication is the process by which radio signals are produced, processed, and then transmitted to a radio unit. Radio communication derives its roots from the telegraph machine, when in 1887 Heinrich Hertz discovered the process of transmitting electromagnetic signals through the atmosphere. The process was eventually patented by Guglielmo Marconi in 1895. In December 1901, Marconi performed his most prominent experiment, where he successfully transmitted Morse code from Cornwall, England, to St Johns, Canada.

Radio frequency (RF) is a rate of oscillation in the range of about 3 Hz to 300 GHz, which corresponds to the frequency of electrical signals used to produce and detect radio waves. In order to receive radio signals an antenna must be used. However, since the antenna will pick up thousands of radio signals at a time, a radio tuner is necessary to tune in to a particular frequency (or frequency range). This is typically done via a resonator (in its simplest form, a circuit with a capacitor and an inductor). The resonator is configured to resonate at a particular frequency (or frequency band), thus amplifying oscillations at that radio frequency, while ignoring oscillations at other frequencies. Usually, either the inductor or the capacitor of the resonator is adjustable, allowing the user to change the frequency at which it resonates. The resonant frequency of tuned circuit is given by the formula

where f0 is the frequency and C is capacitance in Farads.

in Hertz, L is inductance in Henries,

Microwave communication
Microwave radio is used in broadcasting and telecommunication transmissions because, due to their short wavelength, highly directional antennas are smaller and therefore more practical than they would be at longer wavelengths (lower frequencies). There is also more bandwidth in the microwave spectrum than in the rest of the radio spectrum; the usable bandwidth below 300 MHz is less than 300 MHz while many GHz can be used above 300 MHz. Typically, microwaves are used in television systems to transmit a signal from a remote location to a television station. Most satellite communications systems operate in the C, X, Ka, or Ku bands of the microwave spectrum. These frequencies allow large bandwidth while avoiding the crowded UHF frequencies. Radar uses microwave radiation to detect the range, speed, and other characteristics of remote objects.

IR Communications
Infrared radiation is popularly known as "heat" or sometimes known as "heat radiation", since many people attribute all radiant heating to infrared light and/or all infrared radiation to heating. This is a widespread misconception, since light and electromagnetic waves of any frequency will heat surfaces that absorb them. Infrared light from the Sun only accounts for 49% of the heating of the Earth, with the rest being caused by visible light that is absorbed then re-radiated at longer wavelengths. IR data transmission is also employed in short-range communication among computer peripherals and personal digital assistants. Remote controls and IrDA devices use infrared light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to emit infrared radiation which is focused by a plastic lens into a narrow beam. The beam is modulated, i.e. switched on and off, to

encode the data. The receiver uses a silicon photodiode to convert the infrared radiation to an electric current. It responds only to the rapidly pulsing signal created by the transmitter, and filters out slowly changing infrared radiation from ambient light. Infrared communications are useful for indoor use in areas of high population density. IR does not penetrate walls and so does not interfere with other devices in adjoining rooms. Infrared is the most common way for remote controls to command appliances. There is a fear that communication with electric devices in a car or crowded place might have an influence on the human body. Infrared Communication is safe for the human body as it's wildly used on TV remote controllers etc. In comparison with about 100Mbps maximum communication speed in wireless communications, there is a possibility of 1Gbps with infrared communications. Due to its much shorter wavelength than wireless communications, broadband communications are available. In this way, infrared communications are suitable for transmitting large amounts of data such as animations

Bluetooth
Bluetooth is an open wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances (using short length radio waves) from fixed and mobile devices. Bluetooth uses a radio technology called frequency-hopping spread spectrum, which chops up the data being sent and transmits chunks of it on up to 79 bands of 1 MHz width in the range 2402-2480 MHz. This is in the globally unlicensed Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) 2.4 GHz short-range radio frequency band. Bluetooth provides a secure way to connect and exchange information between devices such as faxes,mobile phones, telephones, laptops, personal computers, printers, Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers, digital cameras, and video game consoles

Component list SEMICONDUCTORS

IC1 IC2 T1 T2 T4, T5 UA741 OP-AMP LM386 AUDIO POWER AMPLIFIER BC548 NPN TRANSISTOR BD139 POWER TRANSISTOR (HEAT SINK) BC549 NPN AMPLIFIER TRANSISTOR

RESISTORS (All watt, 5% carbon, unless started otherwise)

R1, R3 R2 R4 R5, R6 R7 R8 8.2K 1.8M (2 M) 10K 15K 82 (86) 6.8K

R9 R10 R11, R12 R13 R14 VR1 VR2

4.7K 470K 2.2K 1K 10 1M 10K

CAPACITORS Electrolytic Capacitor:

C1, C8 C3, C11 C4 C9, C12 C10 C2, C13 C5, C7 C6 1, 16V 470, 16V 1000, 16V 100, 16V 10, 16V 0.1 0.01 47p

Ceramic Capacitors:

MISCELLANEOUS
CONDENSER MIC LASER TORCH OF 3 VOLT (4.5 VOLT) SPEAKER 0.5W, 8 Few values of the components used actually instead of the required values in the circuit are shown in parentheses.

DETAILS OF COMPONENTS LASER

LASER is stand for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation The process of particle transfer from normal state corresponding to minimum energy of the system to a higher energy state is termed as excitation and the particle itself is said to be excited. In this process the absorption of energy from the external field takes place. The time during which a particle can exist in the ground state is unlimited. On the other hand, the particle can remain in the excited state for a limited time known as lifetime.

Semiconductor (GaAs) laser:

Among the semiconductors there are direct band gap semiconductors and indirect band gap semiconductors (Germanium & Silicon). GaAs (Gallium Arsenide) is a direct band gap semiconductor and hence it is used to make light emitting diodes and lasers. The wavelength of the emitted light depends on the band gap of the material. Construction:A laser diode, like many other semiconductor devices, is formed by doping a very thin layer on the surface of a crystal wafer. The crystal is doped to produce an n-type region and a p-type region, one above the other, resulting in a p-n junctionIn. GaAs diode laser, the active medium is a P-N junction diode made from crystalline Gallium Arsenide. The P-N junction layer is very thin. Electric current is applied to the crystal platelet through a strip electrode fixed to its upper surface. At the junction, the sides through which emitted light is coming out are well polished. Working:A population inversion is obtained by injecting electrons across the junction from the ndoped region to the p-region by means of a forward bias voltage. Particularly when a relatively large current of the order of 104amp/cm2 is passed through the junction to provide excitation, the direct recombination process is taking place efficiently. Further the emitted photons increase the rate of recombination of injected electrons from the nregion by electric current and holes in p-region by inducing more recombination. Thus more no of photons are produced. The wavelength of the emitted radiation depends upon the concentration of donor and acceptor atoms in GaAs. The efficiency of laser emission increases when we cool the GaAs diode. When cooled to 20K, GaAs laser has delivered an output of more than 2 watts of continuous power.

The laser torch used in our circuit is a combination of the semiconductor chip that does the actual lasing along with a monitor photodiode chip (for used for feedback control of power output) housed in a package (usually with 3 leads) that looks like a metal can transistor with a window in the top. These are then mounted and may be combined with driver circuitry and optics in the common (red) laser pointer. Diode lasers use nearly microscopic chips of Gallium-Arsenide or other exotic semiconductors to generate coherent light in a very small package. The energy level differences between the conduction and valence band electrons in these semiconductors are what provide the mechanism for laser action. The laser diodes in older/cheaper laser pointers produced light at 670 nm (deep red). Characteristics of a laser: The light is coherent with all the waves exactly in phase with each other. Laser beam hardly diverges. i.e., the laser rays are almost parallel. The beam is nearly monochromatic. The laser beam is extremely intense.

i) ii) iii)

Operational amplifier
An operational amplifier, which is often called an op-amp, is a DC-coupled highgain electronic voltageamplifier with a differential input and, usually, a single-ended output. An op-amp produces an output voltage that is typically millions of times larger than the voltage difference between its input terminals. Typically the op-amp's very large gain is controlled by negative feedback, which largely determines the magnitude of its output. High input impedance at the input terminals (ideally infinite) and low output impedance at the output terminal(s) (ideally zero) are important typical characteristics. Fig 1 shows the equivalent circuit of an operational amplifier.

Ideal and real op-amps

An ideal op-amp is usually considered to have the following properties, and they are considered to hold for all input voltages: Infinite open-loop gain (when doing theoretical analysis, a limitmay be taken as open loop gain G goes to infinity) Infinite voltage range available at the output (vout) (in practice the voltages available from the output are limited by the supply voltages Vs+ and Vs- ) Infinite bandwidth (i.e., the frequency magnitude response is considered to be flat everywhere with zero). Infinite input impedance Zero input current (i.e., there is assumed to be no leakage or bias current into the device) Zero input offset voltage. Infinite slew rate (i.e., the rate of change of the output voltage is unbounded) and power bandwidth (full output voltage and current available at all frequencies). Zero output impedance (i.e., Rout = 0, so that output voltage does not vary with output current) Zero noise Infinite Common-mode rejection ratio (CMRR)

Infinite Power supply rejection ratio for both power supply rails. In practice, none of these ideals can be realized, and various shortcomings and compromises have to be accepted. Depending on the parameters of interest, a real opamp may be modeled to take account of some of the non-infinite or non-zero parameters using equivalent resistors and capacitors in the op-amp model. The designer can then include the effects of these undesirable, but real, effects into the overall performance of the final circuit. Some parameters may turn out to have negligible effect on the final design while others represent actual limitations of the final performance that must be evaluated.

Condenser Microphones
Microphones are a type of transducer - a device which converts energy from one form to another. Microphones convert acoustical energy (sound waves) into electrical energy (the audio signal). Different types of microphone have different ways of converting energy but they all share one thing in common- The diaphragm. This is a thin piece of material (such as paper, plastic or aluminum) which vibrates when it is struck by sound waves. When the diaphragm vibrates, it causes other components in the microphone to vibrate. These vibrations are converted into an electrical current which becomes the audio signal.

Types of Microphone
There are a number of different types of microphone in common use. The differences can be divided into two areas: (1) The type of conversion technology they use This refers to the technical method the mic uses to convert sound into electricity. The most common technologies are dynamic, condenser, ribbon and crystal. Each has advantages and disadvantages, and each is generally more suited to certain types of application. The following pages will provide details. (2) The type of application they are designed for Some mics are designed for general use and can be used effectively in many different situations. Others are very specialised and are only really useful for their intended purpose. Characteristics to look for include directional properties, frequency response and impedance

Mic Level & Line Level

The electrical current generated by a microphone is very small. Referred to as mic level, this signal is typically measured in millivolts. Before it can be used for anything serious, the signal needs to be amplified, usually to line level (typically 0.5 -2V). Being a stronger and more robust signal, line level is the standard signal strength used by audio processing equipment and common domestic equipment such as CD players, tape machines, VCRs, etc.

Condenser means capacitor, an electronic component which stores energy in the form of an electrostatic field. The term condenser is actually obsolete but has stuck as the name for this type of microphone, which uses a capacitor to convert acoustical energy into electrical energy. Condenser microphones require power from a battery or external source. Condensers tend to be more sensitive and responsive than dynamics, making them well-suited to capturing subtle nuances in a sound. They are not ideal for high-volume work, as their sensitivity makes them prone to distort.

How Condenser Microphones Work

A capacitor has two plates with a voltage between them. In the condenser mic, one of these plates is made of very light material and acts as the diaphragm. The diaphragm vibrates when struck by sound waves, changing the distance between the two plates and therefore changing the capacitance. Specifically, when the plates are closer together, capacitance increases and a charge current occurs. When the plates are further apart, capacitance decreases and a discharge current occurs. A voltage is required across the capacitor for this to work. This voltage is supplied either by a battery in the mic or by external phantom power.

Microphone Testing Circuit

It is very common that in most of the circuits employing condenser mic we may get problems with the working of mic. As such it is necessary to check your mic for its proper working before using it in your circuit. Here is a simple circuit which can be used to test the mic for its functionality and make sure that it is not defective. Here an electrets microphone is connected to an oscilloscope, allowing us to see sound waves. In order to set up this circuit, the following parts are needed: A power supply An oscilloscope An electrets microphone A 22k resistor A bread board

Various cables and connectors

Figure 2 Testing Circuit The power supply is connected across resistor and microphone in series, and the oscilloscope measures the voltage across the microphone. An electret is rated for maximum voltage of 10V. In this set up, about 4v should be dropped across the resistor. Use a power supply voltage of somewhere between 6 and 10 volts (8 is good). The polarity of the microphone matters. By convention, the negative lead is connected to the frame. The oscillations will be of the order of magnitude 60mV, so choose a vertical scale on the oscilloscope appropriately (20mV per division should do). Experiment with the horizontal scale so that the wave form looks good.

Loudspeaker
Loudspeakers are output transducers which convert an electrical signal to sound. Usually they are called 'speakers'. They require a driver circuit to provide a signal. There is a wide range available, but for many electronics projects a 300mW miniature loudspeaker is ideal. This type is about 70mm diameter and it is usually available with resistances of 8 and 64. If a project specifies a 64 speaker you must use this higher resistance to prevent damage to the driving circuit. Most circuits used to drive loudspeakers produce an audio (AC) signal which is combined with a constant DC signal. The DC will make a large current flow through the speaker due to its low resistance, possibly damaging both the speaker and the driving circuit. To prevent this happening a large value electrolytic capacitor is connected in series with the speaker, this blocks DC but passes audio (AC) signals.

Heat Sink Heat Sink Fundamental

In electronics, we often face problems related to the heat that is produced in semiconductor devices. For example, Waste heat is produced in transistors due to the current flowing through them. Heat sinks are needed for power transistors because they pass large currents. If you find that a transistor is becoming too hot to touch it certainly needs a heat sink! The heat sink helps to dissipate (remove) the heat by transferring it to the surrounding air. When a junction temperature of a semiconductor rises above its maximum allowable temperature, there is a need to dissipate this temperature or else the device will breakdown. One of the common methods used to dissipate the heat is using a heatsink. Heatsink is made of metal which is used to contact the hot surface of the electronic component.

HeatSink Material
Heat sink material is usually made of aluminium, cooper or a combination of aluminium and cooper. Aluminium is light and has a typical thermal conductivity of 200W/mK. Cooper has a thermal conductivity twice that of Aluminium and the typical value is 400W/mK. This makes cooper a better choice for use as heat sink. However, due to its weight, higher price and higher production cost, the Aluminium is a preferred choice. Aluminium is light, soft, and the production cost is lower as it can be extruded easily.

Heat Sink Basics:

The reason an amplifier has a heavy aluminum outer case (heat sink) is to help dissipate heat. The heat sink is needed because no electronic component is 100% efficient. This is especially true in most audio circuits because they require a voltage drop across the output transistors in order to reproduce the audio signal. if there is a voltage drop across a device and current flowing through that device, power will be dissipated (in the form of heat) in the device. All semiconductors (transistors, rectifiers, regulators...) which dissipate significant amounts of power are mounted tightly to the heat sink (to provide a thermal connection between the two). Since electronic components become more susceptible to failure as their temperature increases. This is the reason that amplifiers must have a heat sink. If there were no heat sink, the temperature of the electronic components would quickly reach unsafe levels and they would die a horrible painful death. Fig given below show a heat sink

TRANSISTORS
The transistor is the fundamental building block of modern electronic device. It is a semiconductor device used to amplify and switch electronic signals. It is made of a solid piece of semiconductor material, with three terminals for connection to an external circuit. A voltage or current applied to one pair of the transistor's terminals changes the current flowing through another pair of terminals. Because the controlled (output) power

can be much more than the controlling (input) power, the transistor provides amplification of a signal.

BIPOLAR JUNCTION TRANSISTORS

The design of a transistor allows it to function as an amplifier or a switch. This is accomplished by using a small amount of electricity to control a gate on a much larger supply of electricity, much like turning a valve to control a supply of water. A bipolar transistor consists of a three-layer sandwich of doped (extrinsic) semiconductor materials and hence are either P-N-P or N-P-N depending upon the type of layer sandwiched. Each layer forming the transistor has a specific name, and each layer is provided with a wire contact for connection to a circuit. The schematic symbols are shown in Figure A. Transistors are composed of three parts a base, a collector, and an emitter. One of the outside layers is called the emitter, and the other is known as the collector. The middle layer is the base. The places where the emitter joins the base and the base joins the collector are called junctions. The layers of an NPN transistor must have the proper voltage connected across them. The voltage of the base must be more positive than that of the emitter. The voltage of the collector, in turn, must be more positive than that of the base. The voltages are supplied by a battery. The emitter supplies electrons. The base pulls these electrons from the emitter because it has a more positive voltage than does the emitter. This movement of electrons creates a flow of electricity through the transistor. The current passes from the emitter to the collector through the base. Changes in the voltage connected to the base modify the flow of the current by changing the number of electrons in the base. In this way, small changes in the base voltage can cause large changes in the current flowing out of the collector. The base is the gate controller device for the larger electrical supply. The collector is the larger electrical supply, and the emitter is the outlet for that supply. By sending varying levels of current from the base, the amount of current flowing through the gate from the collector may be regulated. In this way, a very small amount of current may be used to control a large amount of current, as in an amplifier.

Introduction to Capacitors

Just like the Resistor, the Capacitor or sometimes referred to as a Condenser is a passive device, and one which stores energy in the form of an electrostatic field which produces a potential across its plates. In its basic form a capacitor consists of two parallel conductive plates that are not connected but are electrically separated either by air or by an insulating material called the Dielectric. When a voltage is applied to these plates, a current flows charging up the plates with electrons giving one plate a positive charge and the other plate an equal and opposite negative charge. This flow of electrons to the plates is known as the Charging Current and continues to flow until the voltage across the plates (and hence the capacitor) is equal to the applied voltage Vc. At this point the capacitor is said to be fully charged and this is illustrated below.

Types of Capacitors
There are a very large variety of different types of Capacitors available in the market place and each one has its own set of characteristics and applications from small delicate trimming capacitors up to large power metal can type capacitors used in high voltage power correction and smoothing circuits. Like resistors, there are also variable types of capacitors which allow us to vary their capacitance value for use in radio or "frequency tuning" type circuits. Either way, capacitors play an important part in electronic circuits so here are a few of the more "Common" types of capacitors available.

1. Dielectric
Dielectric Capacitors are usually of the variable type such as used for tuning transmitters, receivers and transistor radios. They have a set of fixed plates and a set of moving plates that mesh with the fixed plates and the position of the moving plates with respect to the fixed plates determines the overall capacitance. The capacitance is generally at maximum when the plates are fully meshed. High voltage type tuning

capacitors have relatively large spacing or air-gaps between the plates with breakdown voltages reaching many thousands of volts. 2. Film Capacitors

Film Capacitors are the most commonly available of all types of capacitors, consisting of a relatively large family of capacitors with the difference being in their dielectric properties. These include polyester (Mylar), polystyrene, polypropylene, polycarbonate, metalized paper, Teflon etc. Film type capacitors are available in capacitance ranges from 5pF to 100uF depending upon the actual type of capacitor and its voltage rating. Film capacitors also come in various shapes and case stylesThe film and foil types of capacitors are made from long thin strips of thin metal foil with the dielectric material sandwiched together which are wound into a tight roll and then sealed in paper or metal tubes. These film types require a much thicker dielectric film to reduce the risk of tears or puncture in the film, and are therefore more suited to lower capacitance values and larger case sizes. Metalized foil capacitors have the conductive film metalized sprayed directly onto each side of the dielectric which gives the capacitor self-healing properties and can therefore use much thinner dielectric films. This allows for higher capacitance values and smaller case sizes for a given capacitance. Film and foil capacitors are generally used for higher power and more precise applications.

3. Ceramic Capacitors
Ceramic Capacitors or Disc Capacitors as they are generally called are made by coating two sides of a small porcelain or ceramic disc with silver and are then stacked together to make a capacitor. For very low capacitance values a single ceramic disc of about 3-6mm is used. Ceramic capacitors have a high dielectric constant (High-K) and are available so that relatively high capacitances can be obtained in a small physical size. They exhibit large non-linear changes in capacitance against temperature and as a result are used as de-coupling or by-pass capacitors as they are also non-polarized devices. Ceramic capacitors have values ranging from a few picofarads to one or two microfarads but their voltage ratings are generally quite low. Ceramic types of capacitors generally have a 3-digit code printed onto their body to identify their capacitance value. For example, 103 would indicate 10 x 103pF which is equivalent to 10,000 pF or 0.01F. Likewise, 104 would indicate 10 x 104pF which is equivalent to 100,000 pF or 0.1F and so on. Letter codes are sometimes used to indicate their tolerance value such as: J = 5%, K = 10% or M = 20% etc.

4. Electrolytic Capacitors

Electrolytic Capacitors are generally used when very large capacitance values are required. Here instead of using a very thin metallic film layer for one of the electrodes, a semi-liquid electrolyte solution in the form of a jelly or paste is used which serves as the second electrode (usually the cathode). The dielectric is a very thin layer of oxide which is grown electro-chemically in production with the thickness of the film being less than ten microns. This insulating layer is so thin that it is possible to make large value capacitors of a small size. The majority of electrolytic types of capacitors are Polarized, that is the voltage applied to the capacitor terminals must be of the correct polarity as an incorrect polarization will break down the insulating oxide layer and permanent damage may result.

Electrolytic Capacitors are generally used in DC power supply circuits to help reduce the ripple voltage or for coupling and decoupling applications. Electrolytic capacitors generally come in two basic forms; Aluminum Electrolytic and Tantalum Electrolytic capacitors.

RESISTORS
Resistors (R), are the most commonly used of all electronic components, to the point where they are almost taken for granted. There are many different resistor types available with their principal job being to "resist" the flow of current through an electrical circuit, or to act as voltage droppers or voltage dividers. They are "Passive Devices", that is they contain no source of power or amplification but only attenuate or reduce the voltage signal passing through them. There are many different Resistor Types and they are produced in a variety of forms because their particular characteristics and accuracy suit certain areas of application, such as High Stability, High Voltage, High Current etc, or are used as general purpose resistors where their characteristics are less of a problem. Some of the common characteristics associated with the humble resistor are; Temperature Coefficient, Voltage Coefficient, Noise, Frequency Response, Power as well as Temperature Rating, Physical Size and Reliability.

Resistor Symbol All modern resistors can be classified into four broad groups; 1. Carbon Composition Resistor - Made of carbon dust or graphite paste, low wattage values 2. Film Resistor - Made from conductive metal oxide paste, very low wattage values 3. Wire-Wound Resistors. - Metallic bodies for heat sink mounting, very high wattage ratings 4. Semiconductor Resistors - High frequency/precision surface mount thin film technology

Composition Resistors

Carbon Resistors are the most common type of Composition Resistors as they are a cheap general purpose resistor. Their resistive element is manufactured from a mixture of finely ground carbon dust or graphite (similar to pencil lead) and a non-conducting ceramic (clay) powder to bind it all together. The ratio of carbon to ceramic determines the overall resistive value of the mixture and the higher this ratio is the lower the resistance. The mixture is then molded into a cylindrical shape and metal wires or leads are attached to each end to provide the electrical connection before being coated with an outer insulating material and colour coded markings.

Film Resistors

The generic term "Film Resistor" consist of Metal Film, Carbon Film and Metal Oxide Film resistor types, which are generally made by depositing pure metals, such as nickel, or an oxide film, such as tin-oxide, onto an insulating ceramic rod or substrate. The resistive value of the resistor is controlled by increasing the desired thickness of the film and then by laser cutting a spiral helix groove type pattern into this film. This has the effect of increasing the conductive or resistive path, a bit like taking a long length of straight wire and forming it into a coil.

Wirewound Resistors
Another type of resistor, called a Wire wound Resistor, is made by winding a thin metal alloy wire (Nichrome) or similar wire onto an insulating ceramic former in the form of a spiral helix similar to the Film Resistors. These types of resistors are generally only available in very low ohmic high precision values (from 0.01 to 100k) due to the gauge of the wire and number of turns possible on the former. These types of resistors are called "Chassis Mounted Resistors".

Below are some examples of existing and possible future uses for lightbeam communications

Industrial controls and monitors Garage door openers Lighting controls Weather monitors; fog, snow, rain using light back-scatter Traffic counting and monitoring Animal controls and monitors; cattle guards, electronic scarecrow Building to building computer data links and that to at very high data rates. Ship to ship communications with high data rates with complete security. Telemetry transmitters from remote monitors; weather, geophysical. Optical radar to determine the shape, speed, direction and range of the target. Remote telephone links (cheaper than microwave) Campus wide computer networks City-wide information broadcasting Inter-office data links Computer to printer links

CIRCUITS AND WORKING DETAILS TRANSMITER CIRCUIT

CIRCUIT EXPLANATION
The transmitter circuit (Fig.1) comprises condenser microphone which receives audio signal (or voice) of the non-sinusoidal waveform as input. It is of the order of few mV of amplitude. It is followed by transistor amplifier BC548 along with op-amp stage built around UA741. Transistor BC548 is connected in common emitter configuration. The gain of the op-amp can be controlled with the help of 1-mega-ohm pot-meter VR1. The AF output from IC1 is coupled to the base of transistor BD139 (T2), which, in turn, modulates the laser beam. The transmitter uses 9V power supply. However, the 3-volt laser torch (after removal of its battery) can be directly connected to the circuitwith the body of the torch connected to the emitter of BD139 and the spring-loaded lead extended from inside the torch to circuit ground. Resistor R1 is the source resistor, which is directly connected to the power-supply. Capacitor C1 is the coupling capacitor. Since audio input signal is having a nonsinusoidal waveform of different amplitude and frequency, coupling capacitor is used to reject some of the dc noise as well as level from audio input signal. R2, R3 are acting as self-biasing circuits, which is used for the biasing transistor. These circuit arrangements provide or establish a stable operating point. The biasing voltage is obtaining by R2 and R3 resistors network. Self-bias is used for obtaining entire audio signal as input. The self-biased circuit is connected with the BC548 in CE configuration. It is transistor amplifier stage, where the low amplitude audio signal is amplified to the desired voltage. The output is taken from the collector terminal; so inverted audio input signal is obtained. Transistor pre-amplifier stage is coupled with op-amp stage built by UA741. C2 is the blocking capacitor while R4 is the op-amp stage resistor. Op-amp ua741 is easily available general-purpose operational amplifier. Pin no. 1 and 5 are not connected in order to nullify input-offset voltage. Pin no. 7 and 4 are VCC as well as VEE supply voltage. Pin no. 3 is non-inverting input while pin no. 2

is inverting input. Between pin no. 2 and 6, 1 mega-ohm potmeter is connected as voltage series negative feedback, which controls the infinite gain of the op-amp. Resistors R5 and R6 acts as a voltage-divider network, thus it gives a fixed voltage at the non-inverting pin. Input inverted audio signal is applied to the inverting pin. Op-amp works on the differences into the applied two input voltage and provide a output at pin no. 6. Since, input is applied to the inverting pin the output is also an inverting one. Thus, again we get in phase high power and high amplitude level audio signal. Capacitors C3, C4 and resistor R7 are acting as diffusion capacitors and feedback resistor respectively. These diffusion capacitors stored the carriers like holes and electrons in the base and thus provide self-biasing of the transistor. Power dissipation rate of UA741 is very high, which is not practical for driving other electronics devices, so heat sink power transistor BD139 is used. Power transistor BD139 absorbs most of the power and supplies the suitable power to drive the laser torch. In the end the laser beam is modulated. Here laser torch acts like a modulator, where two signals one is message signal (audio signal) and carrier laser signal, are superimposed. So, laser beam modulates and transmits the signals to large distances.

THE RECIEVER CIRCUIT

CIRCUIT EXPLANATION
The receiver circuit (Fig. 2) uses an NPN phototransistor as the light sensor. It receives the audio signal of low power and amplitude and hence followed by a two-stage transistor preamplifier and LM386-based audio power amplifier. The receiver does not need any complicated alignment. Just keep the phototransistor oriented towards the remote transmitters laser point for a clear sound. In the pre-amplifier stage R8 is a source resistor, which is directly connected to the power supply. The pre amplifier stage is RC coupled amplifier in CE configuration. C5, C6 are the junction capacitances, which are taken in to the account when we consider high frequency response, which is limited by their presence. Resistors R9 and R12 are used to establish the biasing of the transistor BC549. R11 is self-bias resistor, which is used to avoid degeneration. C7 is a bypass capacitor, which acts as to prevent loss of amplification due to negative feedback arrangement. C8 is the blocking capacitor, which is connected to the variable resistor VR2. Pin no. 1 and 10 is followed by C10, which is an external capacitor, used to compensate internal error amplifier and thus avoid instability. Volume control can be adjusted from variable resistor VR2 of 10 kilo- ohms. LM386 provides suitable power output useful for drive the loudspeaker of 0.5W. R14 and C13 are bypass arrangement used to prevent loss of amplification. C12 capacitor is used for preventing the noise as well as the hum produced by the ac sources. From the loudspeaker, the audio output is heard.

IMPLEMENTATION AND PROBLEMS FACED

1. First of all we soldered wires with the terminals of components like loud speaker, condenser mic and battery so that they may be used or implanted on the bread board. 2. We opened the laser pen by unscrewing the end cap and removed all button cells. We made one lead connection to the laser case (which acts as positive terminal) and one to the spring loaded lead extended from inside (which acts as negative terminal). 3. We studied and understood the parts layout and tried to understand each and every section of the circuits. We also tested all the capacitors and resistors for their accurate values so that there may not occur any error in the proper functioning of the project because of using wrong valued components. However, at certain points we had to make compromise with the values of certain components because of their unavailability in the market. For instance, 3 volt laser torch was required but we employed a 4.5 volt laser. 4. We tested the microphone by implementing simple test circuit as discussed in the circuit detail section. The electrets microphone was connected to an oscilloscope, allowing us to see sound waves corresponding to a sound produced by the mobile.

5. Then we were ready to head towards the realization of the transmitter section. First of all we implanted micro phone and transistor amplifier BC548 section of the transmitter. We gave the sound signal to microphone and observed the output waveforms (obtained at the end of resistor R4) on CRO. In this way made sure that this is working properly and only then headed ahead. 6. Then we rooted op-amp stage built around UA741 and the associated circuitry. Here again we obtained the output on CRO corresponding to a sound signal given at the input (microphone). 7. Finally, we connected transistor BD139 (T2) as heat sink and laser torch as shown in the circuit diagram. But here one modification was done. It was to make use of voltage divider circuit for the laser torch. The reason was to provide proper voltage to the laser torch according to its requirement. Before in the absence of voltage divider circuit, the laser was getting entire 9V and as such we burned two or three lasers before this modification was done. In this way, checking and implementing each section of the circuit, we completed the transmitter section. Now came the turn of the receiver circuit. Here again we followed the same scheme of implementation and testing to implement the whole circuit. 1. Here the section containing NPN phototransistor as the light sensor and two-stage transistor preamplifier was implemented first and was checked for its output on CRO. 2. Then we implanted the section containing LM386-based audio power amplifier and the remaining circuitry. The receiver section was completed in this way. We must say that the CRO and electronic multimeter proved to be great tools in achieving the success in this project.

FINAL WORKING OBSERVATIONS OF THE PROJECT AND PERFORMANCE

If the laser is properly aimed at the phototransistor as earlier, the signal is received perfectly. As such voice transmission works flawlessly at our largest test distance. The speaker on one end is clearly audible on the other. However some noise still remained there at the output which may be due to light from other light sources such as the sun, tube lights etc. Some noise also gets introduced due to the circuit itself. Finally, we believe that we achieved what we initially started to do. Even though the sound quality was not as good as we may have liked but we still transmitted audio over the link and so we feel quite satisfied with what we have accomplished.

Precautions to be taken in the project:

1. The circuit should be kept away from all A.C light sources as it introduces humming noise at the output. The reflected sunlight, however, does not cause any problem. But the sensor should not directly face the sun. 2. There should be proper coupling between the laser and phototransistor. 3. The phototransistor should be kept away from light from other sources. 4. All the capacitors and resistors should be tested for their accurate values. 5. All the connections should be made neatly. 6. Input voltage should not exceed the specified values for different components so as to prevent their burnout.