UCCN2043 Lecture Notes

1.0

Basics of Communication Systems

We begin the journey into the exciting field of telecommunications by studying the basic
building blocks of a telecommunication system. We will study the various types of
communication and how the electrical signal is impaired as it travels through the transmission
medium. With the advances in digital electronics, digital communication systems slowly are
replacing analog systems. We will discuss the differences between analog communication
and digital communication.
1.1

Basic Telecommunication System

A very simple telecom system is shown in Figure 1.1. At the transmitting end, there will be a
source that generates the data and a transducer that converts the data into an electrical signal.
The signal is sent over a transmission medium and, at the receiving end, the transducer again
converts the electrical signal into data and is given to the destination (sink). For example, if
two people want to talk to each other using this system, the transducer is the microphone that
converts the sound waves into equivalent electrical signals. At the receiving end, the speakers
convert the electrical signal into acoustic waves. Similarly, if video is to be transmitted, the
transducers required are a video camera at the transmitting side and a monitor at the receiving
side. The medium can be copper wire. The public address system used in an auditorium is an
example of such a simple communication system.

Source

Tranducer

Tranducer

Source

Transmission
Medium
Figure 1.1: Basic telecommunication system.
What is the problem with this system? As the electrical signal passes through the medium, the
signal gets attenuated. The attenuated signal may not be able to drive the transducer at the
receiving end at all if the distance between the sender and the receiver is large. We can, to
some extent, overcome this problem by using amplifiers between. The amplifier will ensure
that the electrical signals are of sufficient strength to drive the transducer.
But we still have a problem. The transmission medium introduces noise. The noise cannot be
eliminated at all. So, in the above case, we amplify the signal, but at the same time, we also
amplify the noise that is added to the actual signal containing the information. Amplification
alone does not solve the problem, particularly when the system has to cover large distances.
Note: As the electrical signal passes through the transmission medium, the signal gets
attenuated. In addition, the transmission medium introduces noise and, as a result, the
signal gets distorted.

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The objective of designing a communication system is for the electrical signal at the
transmitting end to be reproduced at the receiving end with minimal distortion. To achieve
this, different techniques are used, depending on issues such as type of data, type of
communication medium, distance to be covered, and so forth.

Figure 1.2 shows a communication system used to interconnect two computers. The
computers output electrical signals directly (through the serial port, for example), and hence
there is no need for a transducer. The data can be passed directly through the communication
medium to the other computer if the distance is small (less than 100 meters).

Figure 1.2: PC-to-PC communication.

Note: The serial ports of two computers can be connected directly using a copper cable.
However, due to the signal attenuation, the distance cannot be more than 100 meters.

Figure 1.3 shows a communication system in which two PCs communicate with each other
over a telephone network. In this system, we introduced a new device called a modem
(modulator-demodulator) at both ends. The PCs send digital signals, which the modem
converts into analog signals and transmits through the medium (copper wires). At the
receiving end, the modem converts the incoming analog signal into digital form and passes it
on to the PC.

Figure 1.3: PC-to-PC communication over telephone network.

Figure 1.4 shows a generic communication system. In this figure, a block "medium access
processing" is introduced. This block has various functions, depending on the requirement. In
some communication systems, the transmission medium needs to be shared by a number of
users. Sometimes the user is allowed to transmit only during certain time periods. Sometimes
the user may need to send the same data to multiple users. Additional processing needs to be
done to cater to all these requirements. At the transmitting side, the source generates
information that is converted into an electrical signal. This signal, called the baseband signal,
is processed and transmitted only when it is allowed. The signal is sent on to the transmission
medium through a transmitter. At the receiving end, the receiver amplifies the signal and does
the necessary operations to present the baseband signal to the user. Any telecommunication
system is a special form of this system. Consider the following examples:
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Figure 1.4: Generic communication system.

In the case of a radio communication system for broadcasting audio programs, the electrical
signal is transformed into a high-frequency signal and sent through the air (free space). A
radio transmitter is used to do this. A reverse of this transformation converting the highfrequency signal into an audio signal is performed at the receiving station. Since it is a
broadcasting system, many receivers can receive the information.
In a communication system on which two persons communicate with two other persons
located somewhere else, but only on one communication link, the voice signals need to be
combined. We cannot mix the two voice signals directly because it will not be possible to
separate them at the receiving end. We need to "multiplex" the two signals, using special
techniques.
In a mobile communication system, a radio channel has to be shared by a number of users.
Each user has to use the radio channel for a short time during which he has to transmit his
data and then wait for his next turn. This mechanism of sharing the channel is known as
multiple access.
Hence, depending on the type of communication, the distance to be covered, etc., a
communication system will consist of a number of elements, each element carrying out a
specific function. Some important elements are:

Multiplexer: Combines the signals from different sources to transmit on the channel.
At the receiving end, a demultiplexer is used to separate the signals.

Multiple access: When two or more users share the same channel, each user has to
transmit his signal only at a specified time or using a specific frequency band.

Error detection and correction: If the channel is noisy, the received data will have
errors. Detection, and if possible correction, of the errors has to be done at the
receiving end. This is done through a mechanism called channel coding.

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Source coding: If the channel has a lower bandwidth than the input signal bandwidth,
the input signal has to be processed to reduce its bandwidth so that it can be
accommodated on the channel.

Switching: If a large number of users has to be provided with communication

facilities, as in a telephone network, the users are to be connected based on the
numbers dialed. This is done through a mechanism called switching.

Signaling: In a telephone network, when you dial a particular telephone number, you
are telling the network whom you want to call. This is called signaling information.
The telephone switch (or exchange) will process the signaling information to carry out
the necessary operations for connecting to the called party.

Note: Two voice signals cannot be mixed directly because it will not be possible to separate
them at the receiving end. The two voice signals can be transformed into different
frequencies to combine them and send over the medium.

1.2

Types Of Communication

Based on the requirements, the communications can be of different types:

Point-to-point communication: In this type, communication takes place between two end
points. For instance, in the case of voice communication using telephones, there is one calling
party and one called party. Hence the communication is point-to-point.
Point-to-multipoint communication: In this type of communication, there is one sender and
multiple recipients. For example, in voice conferencing, one person will be talking but many
others can listen. The message from the sender has to be multicast to many others.
Broadcasting: In a broadcasting system, there is a central location from which information is
sent to many recipients, as in the case of audio or video broadcasting. In a broadcasting
system, the listeners are passive, and there is no reverse communication path.
Simplex communication: In simplex communication, communication is possible only in one
direction. There is one sender and one receiver; the sender and receiver cannot change roles.
Half-duplex communication: Half-duplex communication is possible in both directions
between two entities (computers or persons), but one at a time. A walkie-talkie uses this
approach. The person who wants to talk presses a talk button on his handset to start talking,
and the other person's handset will be in receive mode. When the sender finishes, he
terminates it with an over message. The other person can press the talk button and start
talking. These types of systems require limited channel bandwidth, so they are low cost
systems.
Full-duplex communication: In a full-duplex communication system, the two partiesthe
caller and the called can communicate simultaneously, as in a telephone system. However,
note that the communication system allows simultaneous transmission of data, but when two
persons talk simultaneously, there is no effective communication! The ability of the
communication system to transport data in both directions defines the system as full-duplex.

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Depending on the type of information transmitted, we have voice communication, data
communication, fax communication, and video communication systems. When various types
of information are clubbed together, we talk of multimedia communications. Even a few
years ago, different information media such as voice, data, video, etc. were transmitted
separately by using their own respective methods of transmission. With the advent of digital
communication and "convergence technologies," this distinction is slowly disappearing, and
multimedia communication is becoming the order of the day.
1.3

Transmission Impairments

While the electrical signal is traversing over the medium, the signal will be impaired due to
various factors. These transmission impairments can be classified into three types:
(a) Attenuation distortion
(b) Delay distortion
(c) Noise
1.3.1

Attenuation Distortion

The amplitude of the signal wave decreases as the signal travels through the medium. This
effect is known as attenuation distortion.
1.3.2

Delay Distortion

Delay distortion occurs as a result of different frequency components arriving at different

times in the guided media such as copper wire or coaxial cable.
1.3.3

Noise

Noise can be divided into the following categories:

Thermal noise
Intermodulation
Crosstalk
Impulse noise
Thermal noise: Thermal noise occurs due to the thermal agitation of electrons in a conductor.
This is distributed uniformly across the spectrum and hence called white noise. This noise
cannot be eliminated and hence, when designing telecom systems, we need to introduce some
method to overcome the ill effects of thermal noise. Thermal noise for a bandwidth of 1 Hz is
obtained from the formula:
N0 = kT
where
N0 is noise power density, in watts per Hz
k is Boltzmann's constant, with the value 1.3803 x 10-23 J/K
and T is temperature in Kelvin (K).
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Thermal noise for a bandwidth of B Hz is given by
N = kTB (watts)
If N is expressed in dB (decibels)
N
= 10 log k + 10 log T + 10log B dB watts
= -228.6 + 10 log T + 10 log B
Using this formula, thermal noise for a given bandwidth is calculated

Note: Thermal noise for a bandwidth of B Hz is given by N = kTB (watts) where k is

Boltzmann's constant and T is temperature. N is generally expressed in decibels.

Intermodulation noise: When two signals of different frequencies are sent through the
medium, due to nonlinearity of the transmitters, frequency components such as f1 + f2 and f1
f2 are produced, which are unwanted components and need to be filtered out.
Crosstalk: Unwanted coupling between signal paths is known as crosstalk. In the telephone
network, this coupling is quite common. As a result of this, we hear other conversations.
Crosstalk needs to be eliminated by using appropriate design techniques.
Impulse noise: This is caused by external electromagnetic disturbances such as lightning.
This noise is unpredictable. When the signal is traversing the medium, impulse noise may
cause sudden bursts of errors. This may cause a temporary disturbance in voice
communication. For data communication, appropriate methods need to be devised whereby
the lost data is retransmitted.
Note: Impulse noise occurs due to external electromagnetic disturbances such as lightning.
Impulse noise causes burst of errors.
Noise is the source of bread and butter for telecom engineers! If there were no noise, there
would be no need for telecom engineers for we can then design perfect communication
systems. Telecom engineering is all about overcoming the effects of noise.

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1.4

Analog versus Digital Transmission

The electrical signal output from a transducer such as microphone or a video camera is an
analog signal; that is, the amplitude of the signal varies continuously with time. Transmitting
this signal (with necessary transformations) to the receiving end results in analog
transmission. However, at the receiving end, it has to be ensured that the signal does not get
distorted at all due to transmission impairments, which is very difficult.
The output of a computer is a digital signal. The digital signal has a fixed number of
amplitude levels. For instance, binary 1 can be represented by one voltage level (say, 5 volts)
and binary 0 can be represented by another level (say, 0 volt). If this signal is transmitted
through the medium (of course with necessary transformations), the receiving end needs only
to detect these levels. Even if the signal is slightly impaired due to noise, still there is no
problem. For example, we can say that if the signal is above 2.5 volts, it is 1 and if it is below
2.5 volts, it is zero. Unless the signal is badly damaged, we can easily find out whether the
transmitted bit is a 1 or a 0.
The voice and video signals (output of the transducer) are always analog. To take advantage
of the digital transmission, we have to convert the analog signal into the digital format. This
is achieved through analog-to-digital conversion. At this point, let us assume only that it is
possible to convert an analog signal into its equivalent digital signal. We will study the details
of this conversion process in later chapters.
Digital transmission is much more advantageous than analog transmission because digital
systems are comparatively immune to noise. Due to advances in digital electronics, digital
systems have become cheaper, as well. The advantages of digital systems are:

More reliable transmission because only discrimination between ones and zeros is
required.
Less costly implementation because of the advances in digital logic chips.
Ease of combining various types of signals (voice, video, etc.).
Ease of developing secure communication systems.

Though a large number of analog communication systems are still in use, digital
communication systems are now being deployed. Also, the old analog systems are being
replaced by digital systems. In this course, we focus mainly on digital communication
systems.
Note: All the newly developed communication systems are digital systems. Only in
broadcasting applications, is analog communication used extensively.

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1.5

Digital Communications

So what is digital communication? Definitions vary, but the simplest one is that it is the
communication (or transmission) of a message using a finite alphabet (symbol set) during a
finite time interval (symbol interval). As such the raising of an eyebrow, a wink, the nod of
ones head or a shoulder shrug may be considered to be digital communications.
Some examples of primitive but meaningful digital communication systems:
The Roman army used shields and the sun to flash signals over line-of-sight distances;
North American natives used smoke signals;
Ancient Chinese soldiers use smoke and fire in the beacon towers of the Great Wall to
signal the approaches of enemy.
Modern communication systems started with the harnessing of electricity. This harnessing,
which began in the mid-eighteenth century, meant that communication at distances further
than one could see or hear became feasible.
Table 1.1 shows some of the principal events in the development of electronic
communications over the last century and a half. It all started by the ideas of sending a series
of electrostatic charges over appropriate wire to represent letters in the alphabet. The
subsequent introduction of Morse Code in the year 1837 marks the beginning of electronic
communication era (which happened to be digital).
Until 1875, all rapid long distance communication depended upon the telegraph, in essence
digital communication with only text messages being transmitted. But in 1877 the telephone
was invented by Alexander Graham Bell and this heralded the arrival of long distance analog
communications. Coupled with Hertzs discovery of the propagation of electromagnetic
waves and Marconis subsequent exploitation of this phenomenon to greatly increase
communication distances, analog communication was dominant for most of the twentieth
century.
However, the second half of the twentieth century, particularly the last two decades, saw a
resurgence in digital communications. In 1948 Claude Shannon published a landmark paper
in which he showed that by using digital communications it was possible even in the presence
of noise to achieve a vanishingly small error probability at a finite communication rate (or
finite bandwidth) and with finite signal power. At approximately the same time, R. W.
Hamming proposed the Hamming codes for error detection and correction of digital data. The
invention of the transistor, also in 1948, and subsequent development of integrated circuitry
provided the last component for a digital communications resurrection.
Initially digital communication systems were developed for deep space communications
where data reliability was paramount and cost of lesser consideration. Analog communication
was still dominant and the first mobile telephone system introduced in North America in the
1980s was analog based. But the ever increasing integrated chip densities follows by the
decrease in cost meant that the intensive signal processing required by digital
communications became feasible. The late 1980s and the last decade of the twentieth century
saw several digital communication systems developed. Ever since then, digital
communications dominant until now.
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Table 1.1: Important events in the history of electronic communications.

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1.6

Digital Communications System Design & Equipments

In the design of a communication system, the important objectives are often to minimize the
following:
Equipment cost
System complexity
Power consumption
Bandwidth occupied by the signal
Transmission time
Bandwidth is a measure of how rapidly the information-bearing part of a signal can change
and is therefore an important parameter for communication system design. Table 1.2
compares the nominal bandwidth of three common types of information signal. Efficient use
of bandwidth and transmission time ensures that as many subscribers as possible can be
accommodated within the constraints of these limited, and therefore valuable, resources.
Information Signal

Bnadwidth

Speech telephony

4 KHz

High quality radio (sound) broadcast

15 KHz

TV broadcast (video)

6 MHz

Table 1.2: Comparison of nominal bandwidths for several information signals.

The component parts of a hypothetical digital communications transceiver

(transmitter/receiver) are shown in Figure 1.5. The transceiver in the figure has been chosen
to include all the elements commonly encountered in digital communications systems. Not all
transceivers will employ all of these elements though.
1.6.1

CODEC

At its simplest, a transceiver CODEC (coder/decoder) consists of an analogue to digital

converter (ADC) in the transmitter, which converts a continuous analogue signal into a
sequence of codewords represented by binary voltage pulses, and a digital to analogue
converter (DAC) in the receiver, which converts these voltage pulses back into a continuous
analogue signal.

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Figure 1.3: Hypothetical digital communications transceiver

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The ADC consists of a sampling circuit, a quantiser and a pulse code modulator.
The sampling circuit provides discrete voltage samples taken, at regular intervals of
time, from the analogue signal.
The quantiser approximates these voltages by the nearest level from an allowed set of
voltage levels. (It is the quantisation process which converts the analogue signal to a
digital one).
The PCM encoder converts each quantised level to a binary codeword, digital ones and
zeros each being represented by one of two voltages.
An anti-aliasing filter is sometimes included prior to sampling in order to reduce
distortion that can occur as a result of the sampling process.
In the receivers DAC
The received binary voltage pulses are converted to quantised voltage levels by a PCM
decoder which is then smoothed by a low pass filter to reconstruct (at least a good
approximation to) the original analogue signal.

Digitisation of analogue signals usually increases the signals transmission bandwidth but it
permits reception at a lower signal-to-noise ratio than would otherwise be the case. This is an
example of how one resource (bandwidth) can be traded off against another resource
(transmitter power).
CODECs make widespread use of sophisticated digital signal processing techniques to
encode efficiently the signal prior to transmission and also to decode the received signals
when they are corrupted by noise, distortion and interference. This increases transceiver
complexity, but allows higher fidelity, repeatable, almost error-free transmission to be
achieved.
1.6.2

Source, Security and Error Control Coding

In addition to PCM encoding and decoding a CODEC may have up to three additional
functions.
Firstly (in the transmitter), it may reduce the number of binary digits (bits) required to
convey a given message. This is source coding and can be thought of as effectively
removing redundant digits.
Secondly, it may encrypt the source coded digits using a cipher for security. This can
yield both privacy (which assures the sender that only those entitled to the information
being transmitted can receive it) and authentication (which assures the receiver that the
sender is who they claim to be).
Finally, the CODEC may add extra digits to the (possibly source coded and/or
encrypted) PCM signal, which can be used at the receiver to detect, and possibly
correct, errors made during symbol detection. This is error control coding and has the
effect of incorporating binary digits at the transmitter which, from an information point
of view, are redundant.

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In some ways, error control coding, which adds redundancy to the bit stream, is the opposite
of source coding, which removes redundancy. Both processes may be employed in the same
system, however, since the type of redundancy which occurs naturally in the information
being transmitted is not necessarily the type best suited to detecting and correcting errors at
the receiver.
The source, security and error control decoding operations in the receiver, are the inverse of
those in the transmitter.
1.6.3

Multiplexers

In digital communications, multiplexing is often performed to accommodate several

simultaneous transmissions. One of the common multiplexing techniques is time division
multiplexing (TDM).
Time division multiplexers interleave either PCM codewords, or individual PCM binary
digits, to allow more than one information link to share the same physical transmission
medium (which can be cable, optical fibre or a radio frequency channel).
If communication is to occur in real time this implies that the bit rate of the multiplexed
signal is at least N times that of each of the N-tributary PCM signals, and this in turn implies
an increased bandwidth requirement. The requirement for an increase in bandwidth comes
from the fact that the transmitted signal now comprises shorter duration pulses, which have a
wider spectral response.
Demultiplexers split the received composite bit stream back into its component PCM signals.
1.6.4

MODEM

MODEMs (modulators/demodulators) condition binary pulse streams so that the information

they contain can be transmitted over a given physical medium, at a given rate, with an
acceptable degree of distortion, in a specified or allocated frequency band.
The modulator in the transmitter may change the voltage levels representing individual, or
groups of, binary digits. Typically, the modulator also performs the following:
Shapes, or otherwise filters, the resulting pulses to restrict their bandwidth
Shifts the entire transmission to a convenient allowed frequency band. The input to a
modulator is thus a baseband digital signal whilst the output is often a bandpass
waveform.
The demodulator in a receiver reconverts the received waveform into a baseband signal.
Equalisation corrects (as far as possible) signal distortion that may have occurred
during transmission.
Detection converts the demodulated baseband signal into a binary symbol stream.
The matched filter, shown as one component of the detector in Figure 1.3, represents
one type of signal processing that can be employed, prior to the final digital decision
process, in order to improve error performance.
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1.6.5

Multiple Access

Multiple access refers to those techniques, and/or rules, which allow more than one
transceiver pair to share a common transmission medium (e.g. one optical fibre, one satellite
transponder, one piece of coaxial cable or one radio frequency channel).
Several different types of multiple access techniques are currently in use, each type having its
own advantages and disadvantages. The multiple access problem is essentially one of
efficient and (in some sense) equitable sharing of the limited resource represented by the
transmission medium.
1.7

Advantages of Digital Communications

Digital communications systems usually represent an increase in complexity over the

equivalent analogue systems. Despite that, digital communications have become the preferred
option for most new systems and, in many instances, have replaced existing analogue systems.
Some of the reasons are listed below:
Increased demand for data transmission.
Increased scale of integration, sophistication and reliability of digital electronics for
signal processing, combined with decreased cost.
Facilitate source coding for data compression.
Possibility of channel coding (line, and error control coding) to minimise the effects of
noise and interference.
Ease with which bandwidth, power and time can be traded off in order to optimise the
use of these limited resources.
Standardisation of signals, irrespective of their type, origin or the services they support,
leading to an integrated services digital network (ISDN).

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