COMM 704: Communication Systems

Lecture 1:
Introduction
Associate Prof. Dr. Soliman Mahmoud
Faculty of Information Engineering and Technology
Electrical and Electronic Department
Soliman.awad@guc.edu.eg
Winter 2008

Course Team
Instructor
Office
Office Hours
TA

: Associate Prof. Dr. Soliman Mahmoud

: C3-320
:Tuesday, 9:00- 12:00
: Eng. Eman Azab and Eng. Ahmed Bahaa

Course Component
1 lectures per week and 1 tutorials per week

Course Assessment

Project

10%

Associate Prof. Dr. Soliman Mahmoud

Electronics and Electrical Engineering Department

COMM 704, Communication Systems

Winter 2008
2

Motivation for Communication System Course

Many courses in communications traditionally focus on
classical communication theory with little attention given to
actual implementation aspects of analog or digital systems.
For the most part, the hardware implementation is
predisposed to the electronics curriculum.
The
communication systems course (COMM 704) is a new
course for communication students in the faculty of IET. In
this course the theoretical aspects of communications
systems
are
combined
with
integrated
circuit
implementation, make the theory of communications
systems come to real life using a design, build, and test
process.

Associate Prof. Dr. Soliman Mahmoud

Electronics and Electrical Engineering Department

COMM 704, Communication Systems

Winter 2008
3

Course Description

This course introduces the fundamentals of electronic

communication systems. Topics include AM/FM/TV radio
systems, digital and spread spectrum communication
systems, with strong emphasis on electronic circuits used
in these communications systems. Upon completion,
students should be able to interpret analog and digital
communication circuit diagrams, analyze transmitter and
receiver circuits, and use appropriate communication test
equipment.

Associate Prof. Dr. Soliman Mahmoud

Electronics and Electrical Engineering Department

COMM 704, Communication Systems

Winter 2008
4

Course Outline
Electronic Communication Systems:
I.

Electronic Communication Circuits:

AM Radio Systems

I. Multipliers, Phase detectors

and
AM modulators

II. FM Radio Systems

II. Oscillators

III. TV Radio Systems

III. Filters and Tuned Circuits

IV. Digital Modulation systems

IV. Phase Locked Loop (PLL),

Frequency synthesizers,
Frequency dividers

V. Spread Spectrum
Communication systems

V. Power Amplifiers

Associate Prof. Dr. Soliman Mahmoud

Electronics and Electrical Engineering Department

COMM 704, Communication Systems

Winter 2008
5

Course Outline
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Associate Prof. Dr. Soliman Mahmoud

Electronics and Electrical Engineering Department

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COMM 704, Communication Systems

Winter 2008
6

Textbook and References

References

1. Frank R. Dungan, Electronic Communications Systems, ISBN 0-534-07698-X,

PWS Publishers.
2. William Schweber, Electronic Communications Systems: A complete Course,
Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, ISBN 0135900921.
3. Robert Dixon, Radio Receiver Design, Marcel Dekker, Inc., ISBN 0-8247-144480161-5.
4. Ramesh Harjani, Design of High-Speed Communication Circuits (Selected
topics in Electronics and Systems), ISBN: 9812565906.
5. Robert Kellejan, Applied electronic communication : circuits, systems,
transmission ISBN: 0574215352 : 9780574215352.
6. J.R. Smith, Modern Communication Circuits, 2nd Edition, McGraw-Hill, New
York, 1986.
7. Ray Black Comprehensive Electronic Communication, West Publishing
(1997)

Prerequisites

Communication Microelectronics (ELCT 508), Linear time-invariant Signals

and Systems (COMM 401), Modulation I (COMM 601) and Modulation II
(702).
Associate Prof. Dr. Soliman Mahmoud
Electronics and Electrical Engineering Department

COMM 704, Communication Systems

Winter 2008
7

COMM 704: Communication Systems

Lecture 1:
Revisions of AM/FM Radio Systems
Associate Prof. Dr. Soliman Mahmoud
Faculty of Information Engineering and Technology
Electrical and Electronic Department
Soliman.awad@guc.edu.eg
Winter 2008

AM/FM Radio Systems

Objectives and outline:
1. Principles of radio transmission
2. AM Transmitter
3. FM Transmitter
4. AM and FM radio frequencies
5. AM Superhetrodyne Radio Receiver
6. FM Superhetrodyne Radio Receiver
7. 3 band, GSM/GPRS Transceiver
Associate Prof. Dr. Soliman Mahmoud
Electronics and Electrical Engineering Department

COMM 704, Communication Systems

Winter 2008
9

1. Principles of radio transmission

Transfer of information (speech, music, image, computer data etc.) by
radio can be presented in its simplest form with block - diagram as shown
in Fig.1.

Fig.1 Radio Transmission Block diagram

Associate Prof. Dr. Soliman Mahmoud

Electronics and Electrical Engineering Department

COMM 704, Communication Systems

Winter 2008
10

2. AM Transmitter

Block diagram of a simple AM signal transmitter is shown in Fig.2. The

amplitude modulation is being performed in the modulator. Two signals
are entering it: HF signal called the carrier (or the signal carrier), being
created into the HF oscillator and amplified in the HF amplifier to the
required signal level, and the LF (modulating) signal coming from the
microphone or some other LF signal source (cassette player, record
player, CD player etc.), being amplified in the LF amplifier. On
modulator's output the amplitude modulated signal xAM (t) is acquired.
This signal is then amplified in the power amplifier, and then led to the
emission antenna.

To implement this simple AM

transmitter; we need to the
following electronic circuits:
1.

Small Signal Amplifiers (LF

and HF Amplifiers)

2.

Large
Signal
Amplifiers
(Power Amplifiers)

3.

Oscillators
(SquareTriangular- Sinusoidal)

4.

AM Modulator ( Multiplier and

adder)

Fig.2 AM Transmitter Block diagram

Associate Prof. Dr. Soliman Mahmoud

Electronics and Electrical Engineering Department

COMM 704, Communication Systems

Winter 2008
11

3. FM Transmitter
Block diagram of an FM transmitter is shown in Fig.3. The modulating signal, is a signal from some LF source.
it is being amplified in LF amplifier and then led into the HF voltage controlled oscillator, where the carrier
signal is being created. The carrier is a HF voltage of constant amplitude, whose frequency is, in the absence
of modulating signal, equal to the transmitter's carrier frequency fC. In the oscillatory circuit of the HF VCO a
varicap (capacitive) diode is located. It is a diode whose capacitance depends upon the voltage between its
ends, so when being exposed to LF voltage, its capacitance is changing in accordance with this voltage. Due
to that frequency of the oscillator is also changing, i.e. the frequency modulation is being obtained. The FM
signal from the HF oscillator is being proceeded to the power amplifier that provides the necessary output
power of the transmission signal.
To implement this simple
FM
transmitter; we need to the
following electronic circuits:
1.

Small Signal Amplifiers (LF

and HF Amplifiers)

2.

Large
Signal
Amplifiers
(Power Amplifiers)

3.

Voltage controlled Oscillator

Fig.3 FM Transmitter Block diagram

Associate Prof. Dr. Soliman Mahmoud
Electronics and Electrical Engineering Department

COMM 704, Communication Systems

Winter 2008
12

4. AM and FM radio frequencies

The AM radio carrier frequencies are in the frequency
range 535-1605 kHz. Carrier frequencies of 540 to 1600
kHz are assigned at 10 kHz intervals.

The different radio stations share

the frequency spectrum over the air
through AM and FM modulation.
Sharing the AM/FM radio spectrum
is achieved through Frequency
Division Multiplexing (FDM).
The FM radio band is from 88 to
108 MHz between VHF television
Channels 6 and 7. The FM stations
are assigned center frequencies at
200 kHz separation starting at 88.1
MHz, for a maximum of 100
stations. These FM stations have a
75 kHz maximum deviation from the
center frequency, which leaves 25
kHz upper and lower "gaurd bands"
to minimize interaction with the
adjacent frequency band.

Different audio sources have different bandwidth W: Speech- 4kHz, High quality music15kHz. AM radio limits baseband bandwidth W=5kHz. FM radio uses baseband bandwidth
W=15kHz.
Transmission bandwidth BT is the bandwidth occupied by a message signal in the radio
frequency spectrum. For AM : BT=2W , for FM BT 2W (1+ ); Carson Rule.
Associate Prof. Dr. Soliman Mahmoud
Electronics and Electrical Engineering Department

COMM 704, Communication Systems

Winter 2008
13

AM Radio Spectrum

FM Radio Spectrum

Associate Prof. Dr. Soliman Mahmoud

Electronics and Electrical Engineering Department

COMM 704, Communication Systems

Winter 2008
14

5. AM Superhetrodyne Receiver
Requirements from Radio
receivers:
Tune to and amplify
desired radio station
Filter out all other stations
Demodulator has to work
with all radio stations
regardless
of
carrier
frequency.
For the demodulator to
work with any radio signal,
we convert the carrier
frequency of any radio
signal fC to Intermediate
Frequency (fIF).
Radio receiver design can
be optimized for that
frequency
Superhetrodyne RX

fC

f IF

fm

fm

fm

f LO = f C + f IF

f IF = 455 KHz
Fig.4 AM Superhetrodyne
Rx.

RF Filter: Radio Frequency filter select the desired channel (fC) and reject the image channel
(fC+2fIF).
2W < BW RF <2fIF
Mixer and IF filter: convert carrier frequency fC to fIF.
Associate Prof. Dr. Soliman Mahmoud
Electronics and Electrical Engineering Department

COMM 704, Communication Systems

Winter 2008
15

6. FM Superhetrodyne Receiver

f IF = 10.7 MHz

Tuner
Realized using PLL

Phase Locked Loop (PLL)

Fig.5 Monophonic FM Superhetrodyne Rx.

Associate Prof. Dr. Soliman Mahmoud
Electronics and Electrical Engineering Department

COMM 704, Communication Systems

Winter 2008
16

7. 3 band, GSM/GPRS Transceiver

Global System for Mobile communications (GSM)

General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)

Associate Prof. Dr. Soliman Mahmoud

Electronics and Electrical Engineering Department

COMM 704, Communication Systems

Winter 2008
17