Note-18

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DATA TRANSMISSION & TELEMETRY
Cont.

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 Carrier Telemetry
The measurement signal is transmitted by laying it on a higher frequency
carrier signal.

This is achieved by modulation of the carrier by the measurement signal.

Either amplitude, frequency or phase modulation (AM, FM, PM)

The modulated signal can be transmitted via wired or wireless link.

Can be simplex or multiplex system

Example: Simplex AM Analog Telemetry

Conditioned
Signal modulated
(modulating signal
signal)
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Multiplexd Telemetry:

Multiple measurement signals (channels) can be transmitted over the same link by
separating the channels in frequency or in time. This is called multiplexing.

If baseband telemetry is used, a separate system is required for each measurement

signal

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 Two basic multiplexing techniques:
1. FDM
2. TDM

1. FDM: Different measurement signals (channels) are assigned to different

spectral bands and the composite signal is transmitted through the
communication link. All the channels send information through the
communication link simultaneously.
2. TDM: Different measurement signals (channels) are transmitted sequentially
through the same communication link. So, at an instant of time, a single
measurement channel sends information through the communication link.

Fig: Basic Characteristics of FDM Fig: Basic Characteristics of TDM

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 FDM Steps
Remote site/Airborne system:

1. Subcarrier Modulation: Each of the properly conditioned measurement

signals (channels) modulates a sinusoidal signal of different frequency. These
sinusoidal signals are called sub-carriers.

2. Mixing or Summation: All the modulated signals are fed into a summing
block producing a composite signal whose spectrum is shown in the next slide.
The guard bands limit the closeness of contiguous channels to avoid inter-
modulation and cross talk 6
3. Carrier Modulation: The composite signal finally modulates a carrier signal
of much higher frequency. The carrier frequency depends on the transmission
medium utilized.

4. Transmission: Carrier-modulated signal is then fed into a transmission wire

(for wire telemetry) or an antenna (for wireless telemetry). 7
 We can see, there are two modulation processes involved in the FDM:

Modulation of the measurement channel signals (Sub-carrier modulation)

Modulation of the composite signal (carrier modulation)

There are three (3) alternative methods available for each of these modulation:

Amplitude modulation (AM)

Frequency modulation (FM), and
Phase modulation (PM)

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 Base Station/Ground Station:

After the reception of the modulated signal at the receiver end (either through wire
or by antenna):

1. Front-End Conditioner: Reception, LNA amplification etc.

2. Carrier Demodulation: after the initial signal conditioning (usually by a

LNA), the carrier demodulator detects and recovers the composite sub-carriers
modulated signal.

3. Channel Separation: the composite signal is fed into a bank of parallel band-
pass filters to separate each of the sub-carrier modulated channels.

4. Sub-carrier Demodulation: Each channel is further demodulated, recovering

the information from the transducers.

Draw the Base Station/Ground Station block diagram showing signal sketches
at each stage.

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 The main practical problem of FDM systems is the cross-talk between channels.

Cross-talk originates when the spectra for two adjacent channels overlap.

To avoid this effect, the subcarriers have to be chosen so that there is a separation
(guard band) between the spectra of two contiguous channels.

By increasing the guard band, the possibility of cross talk decreases, but the
effective bandwidth also increases.

The effective bandwidth equals the sum of the bandwidth of all channels, plus the
sum of all the guard bands.

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 TDM
This technique divides the time into different slots, and assigns one slot to each
measurement channel.

The whole of the transmission bandwidth is assigned entirely to each

measurement channel during its assigned time.

A conceptual diagram is shown below:

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Steps: TDM Transmission

1. Sampling/Time-multiplexing: The conditioned signals from the measurement

channels are sequentially sampled by a digital switch/ commutator/multiplexer that
samples all the measurement channels in a period of time (T) that complies with
the Nyquist criteria of all channels.

2. Pulse Modulation/Encoding: The time-multiplexed samples are converted into

pulses (Called pulse modulation or encoding).

3. Carrier Modulation: The composite pulses modulates a high-frequency carrier

signal (RF carrier for wireless transmission).

4. Transmission: Carrier-modulated composite pulses are then fed into a

transmission wire (for wire telemetry) or to an antenna (for wireless telemetry).

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Steps: TDM Reception:

1. Front-end Processing: Reception, LNA amplification etc.

2. Carrier Demodulation: The carrier demodulator detects and recovers the time-
multiplexed composite signal pulses.

3. Decoding/Pulse demodulation: The pulses are decoded or demodulated to obtain

the original time-multiplexed composite samples.

4. Demultiplexing: Time-multiplexed composite samples are separated into their

own different channels by a synchronized demultiplexer/decommutator.

5. Low-pass filtering: the signal samples of each measurement channel are passed
through a low-pass filter to recover the original signal

In TDM, the synchronism between transmitter and receiver is critical to recovery

of the original signals

While each type of multiplexing has its own advantages and disadvantages, the
TDM is most commonly used in telemetry. 13
Pulse Modulation Techniques:

1) PAM: Output from a TDM multiplexer is pulse-

amplitude modulated (PAM).

That is, the height of each pulse represents the

instantaneous amplitude of the sampled waveform.

A smooth curve drawn through the tops of the

pulses would reconstruct the original waveform (LP
filtering)

It is the simplest modulation technique for use with

TDM.

Disadvantages: any noise riding on the signal can

change the pulse height, thus introducing distortion.

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2) PDM: made of unipolar, rectangular pulses of equal
height whose widths depend on the values of the
samples. Thats why the name pulse duration modulation.

The information is carried by the width of the

pulses, not by the height. So, somewhat less
susceptible to noise than PAM.

The period between two consecutive pulses is

constant.

Original signal can be reconstructed by low-pass

filtering of the PDM pulses.

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3) PCM: it is a digital modulation in which each sample is
quantized and represented by a coded arrangement of
binary digits or bits.

This results in a series of pulses and spaces.

All pulses are of same height and same width.

The information is carried by the code, not by the

height or width of the pulses.

The receiving equipment need only make a simple

"yes or no" decision as to the presence or absence of
a pulse at a particular time. A distorted pulse does
not degrade the signal as long as the pulse can still
be recognized. Thus, PCM is less sensitive to noise
than either PAM or PDM.

A PCM encoder can simply be constructed by using

an ADC.
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DISPLAY DEVICES

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 LED Displays

The visible LEDs are best known for their uses in displays and indicator lamps.

Different LED arrangements for displaying hexadecimal, numeric and

alphanumeric characters are shown below:

Figure: Segmental and dot matrices display units

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Advantages of Dot Matrices:

The dot matrix display provides the most desirable display font.

It gives more flexibility in shaping characters and has a lower

probability of being misinterpreted in case of a display failure.

However, these displays involve a large number of wires and increased

circuit complexity.

LED displays, in general, have an excellent viewing angle, long life,

and superior interface capability with electronics.

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LED Basics:

A light-emitting diode (LED) is a particular solid-state pn junction

diode that emits light upon forward bias.

Upon forward bias, carriers are injected into the depletion region in
large numbers.

Because of their physical proximity, the electronhole pairs undergo a

recombination that is associated with the emission of energy.

Depending on the semiconductor band-gap characteristics, this emitted

energy can be in the form of heat, sound, vibration (as phonons) or
light (as photons).

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What particular type of p-n junction diodes emits photon?

Direct band-gap semiconductor materials: In p-n junctions made of this type

of materials, direct recombination occurs (e.g. GaAs)

Always results in the emission of photon

Indirect band-gap semiconductor materials: In p-n junctions made of this type

of materials, indirect recombination occurs (e.g. Si and Ge)

Most of the emitted energy is expended in the form of

heat/sound/vibration (phonons)

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Materials suitable for LEDs

Binary materials:

Some binary semiconductor materials suitable for the fabrication of LEDs are
shown in the table.

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Ternary materials:

Ternary semiconductors are used because their energy gaps can be tuned to a
desired emission wavelength by picking appropriate composition.

Gallium ArsenidePhosphide (written as GaAs1-xPx) is an example that is

basically a combination of two binary semiconductors, namely, GaAs and GaP.
The band-gap energy can be varied by changing the value of x.

For example, when x= 0 (GaAs), Eg= 1.43 eV.

Eg increases with increasing x until x= 0.44, and then, Eg= 1.977 eV

For x >= 0.45, the band gap is indirect.

The most common composition of GaAs1-xPx used in LEDs has x = 0.44 and
Eg=1.977 eV. This band-gap energy corresponds to an emission of red light.
Calculators and watches often use this particular composition of GaAs1-xPx.

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Data Acquisition System (DAS)

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 DAS in general

DAS interfaces between the real world of physical parameters, which are
analog, and the artificial world of digital computation and control.

Applications:

o Data telemetry systems

o PCM communications
o Automatic test systems
o Computer display systems
o Video signal processing systems
o Data logging systems,
o Sampled data control systems, etc.

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Basic DAS:

Besides ADC, DAS may employ one or more of the following circuit
functions:

transducers, amplifiers, filters, nonlinear analog functions, analog

multiplexers, sample-hold

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 Basic Data Distribution System

Reverse of the data

acquisition system.

The computer, based on

the inputs of the DAS,
must close the loop on a
process and control it by
means of output control
functions.

These control outputs are in digital form and must be converted into analog
form in order to drive the process. The conversion is accomplished by a series
of D/A converters as shown.

The D/A converter outputs then drive actuators that directly control the various
process parameters such as temperature, pressure, and flow.
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