PRINCIPLES OF

COMMUNICATIONS
 The field of electronics is roughly divided
into three subfields
1. computers
- largest in terms of services
- youngest
2. communications
- second largest; oldest
3. control
- smallest field
 The basic process of exchanging
information
 It maybe verbal, nonverbal (body
language), print and electronic processes.
 Information is also exchanged by means of
the written word
 Two main barriers to communication:
- language
- distance
Milestones of human and
electronic communications
1440 Guttenberg invents the printing press
1844 Morse patents the telegraph
1866 First successful use of a transatlantic telegraph cable
1876 Bell invents and patents the telephone
1879 Eastman develops photographic film
1887 Hertz discovers radio waves
1895 Marconi demonstrates wireless telegraphy
1901 Marconi makes first transatlantic radio transmission
1903 The Fleming “valve” is invented
1906 De Forest invents the triode vacuum tube and the first
telephone broadcast
1923 Television is invented
1931 Radio astronomy is discovered
1940-45 Radar is perfected and helps win WW II
1948 The transistor is invented
1954 Color television broadcasting begins
1959 The integrated circuit is invented
1962 First communications satellite tested
 Basic elements of electronic
communications system:
- transmitter
- communications channel/ medium
- receiver
Human Message for
Message Transmitter Receiver human
mediun
Input (Tx) (Rx) application

noise
Transmitter
➢ a collection of electronic components and
circuits designed to convert the information into a
signal suitable for transmission over a given
communication medium
➢ is made up of oscillators, amplifiers, tuned
circuits and filters, modulators, frequency mixers,
frequency synthesizers and other circuits.
➢ it performs encoding and modulation.
Communication Channel
➢ is the medium by which the electronic signal is
sent from one place to another.
➢ attenuation occurs at this point.
➢ it can be wire conductors, fiber-optic cable or
free space.

 radio
➢ the broad general term applied to any wireless
communication from one point to another.
Receiver
➢ a collection of electronic components and
circuits that accept the transmitted message
from the channel and convert it back into a form
understandable by humans.
➢ is made up of amplifiers, oscillators, mixers,
tuned circuits and filter, and a demodulator that
recovers the original intelligence signal from the
modulated carrier.
➢ it performs decoding and demodulation.
➢random, undesirable electric energy that enters
the communications system via the
communications medium and interferes with the
transmitted message.
➢ noise comes from the atmosphere (e.g., from
lightning that produces static), from outers pace
where the sun and stars emit various kinds of
radiation that can interfere with communications,
and from electrical interference created by
manufactured equipment.
 Electronic
communications are classified
according to whether they are:
1. one-way or two-way
2. analog or digital
3. baseband or multiband
1. one-way communications
➢ referred to as simplex
➢information travels in one direction
➢examples are radio and television broadcasting,
telemetry system of satellite to earth
2.two-way communications
a. full-duplex - information travels in both directions
at the same time ( e.g., telephone)
b. half-duplex – a form of two-way communication in
which only one party transmits at a time (e.g., radio
communications used in military, fire, office, and
other services).
 SIMPLEX (One-way)
1. AM and FM radio Broadcasting 8. Telemetry
2. TV broadcasting 9. Radio astronomy
3. Cable television 10. Surveillance
4. Facsimile 11. Teletext and Viewdata
5. Wireless remote control 12. Music services
6. Paging systems
7. Navigation and direction-finding services

DUPLEX (Two-way)
1. Telephones 5. Amateur radio
2. Two-way radio 6. Citizens radio
3. Radar 7. Data communications
4. Sonar 8. Local Area Networks (LANs)
1. analog signal
➢ continuously varying voltage and current (e.g., sine
wave, voice and video voltages).

2. digital signal
➢ on/off code used in early wire and radio
communications(e.g., telegraph which uses Morse
Code; radio telegraphy uses dots and dashes)
➢ most commonly used digital code is the ASCII
( American Standard Code for Information Interchange)
1. baseband signals
➢ putting a signal directly into a medium, be it analog
or digital (original voice, video, or data voltage)
➢example is in intercom communications system
2. modulated signals
➢used for instances when baseband signal is
incompatible with the media
➢ the process of having a baseband voice, video, or
digital signal modify another, higher-frequency signal
called the carrier.
➢the carrier is usually a sine wave that is higher in
frequency.
“It is not sufficient to transmit a signal from
transmitter to receiver if the noise that
accompanies it is strong enough to prevent it
from being understood.”

 Noise– is any unwanted introduction of energy

tending to interfere with the proper reception and
reproduction of transmitted signals.
 Two types of noise:
➢ internal noise
➢ external noise
 atmospheric noise
➢often called “static noise”, is caused by lightning
discharges in thunderstorms and other natural
electrical disturbances occurring in the
atmosphere.
➢can propagate to long distances through space
➢ improve communications through noise blanking,
a technique used by disabling the receiver for the
duration of the burst
➢insignificant above 30 MHz
 Extraterrestrial Noise
a. Solar noise
➢ a constant noise radiation from the sun;
electrical disturbances due to solar cycle
activities.
➢solar noise can be a problem in satellite
reception
b. Cosmic Noise
➢RF noise radiated by distant stars.
 Industrial Noise
➢A man-made noise usually between 1 to 600
MHz usually most intense in industrial and
densely populated areas.
➢ generated by automobile and aircraft ignition,
electric mtors and switching equipment,
leakage from high-voltage lines, fluorescent
lights, and etc.
➢ more severe at lower frequencies
 Thermal Agitation Noise
➢ also called White, Johnson, or Gaussian noise
➢ is generated in a resistance or resistive component
due to the rapid and random motion of molecules
(atoms and electrons) inside the components itself.

 Shot Noise
➢ it is a random fluctuation that accompanies any direct
current crossing a potential barrier caused by random
variations in the arrival of electrons (or holes) at the
output electrode of an amplifying device and appears
as a randomly varying noise current superimposed at
the output
➢ due to random variations in current flow in active devices
such as tubes, transistors, and semiconductors
 Transit-time noise
- occurs when the time taken by charge
carriers to cross a junction is comparable
to the period of the signal.
 Partition noise
- occurs whenever current has to divide
between two or more electrodes and
results from the random fluctuations in the
division
❖ thermal noise power:

Pn = kTB
where:
PN = noise power in watts
k = Boltzmann’s constant
1.38 × 10−23 joules/kelvin (J/K)
T = temperature in kelvins
B = noise power bandwidth in hertz
Noise Power
Example:

A resistor at a temperature of 25 °C is
connected across the input of an amplifier
with a bandwidth of 50 kHz. How much
noise does the resistor supply
to the input of the amplifier?
➢ involves not only temperature and
bandwidth like that of noise power, but on
resistances as well.
VN = √(4kTBR)
Example:
Two resistors 20kΩ and 50kΩ are
connected in parallel are at ambient
temperature with bandwidth of 100kHz.
Calculate for the thermal noise voltage
❖ Vacuum Diode Shot Noise Current:
IN= √(2qIoB)
where:
IN = RMS noise current, in amperes
q = magnitude of the charge on an
electron, equal to 1.6x10^-19 coulomb
Io = dc bias current in the device, in
amperes
B = bandwidth over which the noise is
observed, in Hertz
Example:
A diode noise generator is required to
produce 10μV of noise in a receiver with
an input impedance of 75Ω, resistive, and
a noise power bandwidth of 200kHz. What
must the current through the diode be?
➢ for signals that are uncorrelated

➢ voltages (in series)

VNt = √[(VN1)^2 + (VN2)^2 + (VN3)^2 + …]

➢ current (in parallel)

INt = √[(IN1)^2 + (IN2)^2 + (IN3)^2 + …]
➢ The relative strength of the desired signal
power to the noise power measured at the
same point.
➢ the basis for a great deal of work that goes
into the design of a communications system
is keeping the ratio between signal and noise
sufficiently high
 two basic ways to improve S/N:
- increase the signal power
- reduce the noise power
• Signal to Noise Ratio
S Ps S Vs
= ; =( )2
N PN N VN

• In decibels
S Ps
(dB) =10log
N PN
S Vs 2 S Vs
(dB)=10log ( ) or (dB)=20log ( )
N VN N VN
Example:

1. Suppose the noise power at the input to a

receiver is 5nW in the bandwidth of interest.
What would be the required signal power for
a signal-to-noise ratio of 30 dB?
Example:

2. The signal voltage at at the input of an

amplifier is 65 𝜇𝑉, and the noise voltage is
15 𝜇𝑉. Find the signal-to-noise ratio in dB.
 Reactance Noise Effects
➢for reactive networks, the noise must be
considered beyond the 3-dB bandwidth
because the significance effect of reactive
circuits on noise is their limitation on frequency
response.

➢Noise Bandwidth & Noise Voltage:

1 𝑘𝑇
𝐵𝑁 = (Hz) ; 𝑉𝑁 = (V)
4𝑅𝐶 𝐶
➢Effective Noise Bandwidth:
𝜋 𝜋
𝐵𝑒𝑓𝑓 = 𝐵3𝑑𝐵 (Hz) or 𝐵𝑒𝑓𝑓 = 𝑓𝐶
2 2

1
where: 𝑓𝐶 =
2𝜋𝑅𝐶

Where:
k= Boltzmann’s Constant (J/K)
C= Capacitance (Farad)
T= Temperature (Kelvin)
Example:

A single measuring circuit having a resistor

of 10 kOhm is connected in series with a
0.5𝜇𝐹 capacitor. What is the effective
bandwidth?
➢ describes the way in which a device adds
noise to a signal and thereby degrades
S/N
➢ Noise Factor:
NF = (S/N)i
(S/N)o
where:
(S/N)i = signal-to-noise ratio at the input
(S/N)o = signal-to-noise ratio at the output
➢ for devices with multiple stages(cascaded
network):
NFT = NF1 + NF2 – 1 + NF3 – 1 + …
A1 A 1A 2
where:
NFT = total noise figure for the system
NF1 = noise figure of the first stage
NF2 = noise figure of the second stage
A1 = gain of the first stage
A2 = gain of the second stage
 noise figure:
NF(dB) = 10 log NF
 noise figure to noise temperature:
Teq = 290(NF − 1)
where:
Teq = equivalent noise temperature in
kelvins (K)
NF = noise factor
 power gain:
AT = the product of individual gains
AT (dB) = 10 log AT
Example 2
A three-stage amplifier has stages with the
following specifications. Gain
and noise figure are given as ratios.
Stage Power Gain Noise Figure
1 10 2
2 25 4
3 30 5

Calculate the power gain in decibels,

noise figure , and equivalent
noise temperature for the whole amplifier.
 noise power density:

No = kT

where:
No = noise power density in watts per
hertz (W/Hz)
k = Boltzmann’s constant
1.38 × 10−23 joules/kelvin (J/K)
T = temperature in kelvins (K)
Example:

A resistor has a noise temperature of

300K. Find the noise power density.
1. Suppose a noise power at the input to a
receiver is 5nW in the bandwidth of interest.
What would be the required signal power for
a signal-to-noise ratio of 30dB.
2. Two resistors, 10kOhm and 25kOhm, are at
25 °C. Calculate the thermal noise power
and noise voltage for a 10 kHz bandwidth.
a. for each resistor
b. for their series combination
c. for their parallel combination
3. Determine the overall noise figure in dB
for three cascaded amplifiers with the
following parameters:
A1=10dB, A2=10dB, A3= 10dB
NF1= 3dB, NF2= 3dB, NF3= 3dB
 Electromagnetic Signals/Waves
➢Radio frequency waves
➢Consists of both electric and magnetic fields
➢Signals that oscillate
 Frequency
➢Refers to the number of times a particular
phenomenon occurs in a given period of time.
➢It may be a number of voltage polarity
alterations that take place in a span of time.
➢Measured in cycle per second
 Wavelength
➢Is the distance travelled by an electromagnetic
wave during the time of one cycle.
➢Usually expressed in meters
 frequency and wavelength

λ = v/f
where:
λ = wavelength in meters
v = velocity of propagation of the wave
(meters/sec)
for free space:
v = speed of light = 3 x 10^8 m/s
f = frequency of the wave in hertz
Example

1. Find the wavelength of (a) a 150-Mhz, (b) a

430 MHz, (c) an 8 MHz and a 750- kHz
signal
2. A signal travels a distance of 75 ft. in the
time takes to complete 1 cycle. What is its
frequency?
3. The maximum peaks of an electromagnetic
wave are separated by a distance of 8 in.
What is the frequency in megahertz?
 Frequency Frequency Wavelength Wavelength
Designation Range Range Designation
Extremely Low 30 – 300Hz 10^7 – 10^5 m
Frequency (ELF)
Voice Frequency 300 – 3000 Hz 10^6 – 10^5 m
(VF)
Very Low 3 – 30 kHz 10^5 –10^4 m
Frequency (VLF)
Low Frequency 30 -300 kHz 10^4 -10^3 m
(LF)
Medium Frequency 300 kHz – 3 MHz 100m – 1km Medium Waves
(MF) m

High Frequency 3 – 30 MHz 10 – 100 m Short Waves

(HF)
 Frequency Frequency Wavelength Wavelength
Designation Range Range Designation
Very High 30 -300 MHz 1 -10 m
Frequency (VHF)
Ultra High 300MHz – 3 Ghz 10cm -1 m
Frequency (UHF)
Super High 3 – 30 GHz 1–100 cm Microwaves
Frequency (SHF) (microwaves region
conventionally starts
at 1 GHz)
Extremely High 30 – 300GHz 1 mm – 1 cm Millimeter Waves
Frequency (EHF)
Infrared -------- 0.7 – 10
micrometer
The visible -------- 0.4 – 0.8
spectrum micrometer
 Extremely Low Frequency (ELF)
➢ac power lines (50-60 Hz)
➢Low end of human hearing
 Voice Frequency (VF)
➢Normal range of human speech
➢Most intelligible sound occurs
 Very Low Frequency (VLF)
➢Higher end of human hearing
➢Musical instruments
➢Used in some government and military
communications
 Low Frequency (LF)
➢Used in aeronautical marine navigation
➢used as subcarriers
➢Sometimes called as Long Waves
➢LORAN-C (100kHz)
➢DECCA Navigator System (70kHz, 129 kHz)
 Medium Frequency (MF)
➢AM radio broadcasting ( 535 – 1605 kHz)
➢for Marine and Aeronautical Communication
Applications
 High Frequency (HF)
➢Short waves
➢All kinds of two-way radio communications
➢Used in some government and military
communications

 Very High Frequency (VHF)

➢FM radio broadcasting (88-108MHz)
➢TV channels from 2-13
➢Mobile Radio
➢Cordless Telephone (43-50 MHz)
 Ultra High Frequency (UHF)
➢ TV channels 14 – 83
➢ Cellular telephones
➢ Radar and navigation services
➢ GPS (Global Positioning SYSTEM)
➢ RFID (Radio Frequency Identification)

 Super High Frequency (SHF)

➢ Satellite communications and radar
➢ WLAN
➢ Wireless USB
➢ Specialized forms of two way radio communications
 Extremely High Frequency (EHF)
➢Referred as Millimeter waves
➢Satellite communications and specialized
radar
➢Radio Astronomy and Remote Sensing
 Infrared
➢Radiation associated with heat
➢Guidance in weapon system
➢TV remote control