Detailed Lesson Plan in ELX 114

Prepared by: Zembre A. Tero Jr.

I. Objectives
At the end of the lesson, the learners should be able to:
 Calculate voltage, current, gain, and attenuation in decibels and
apply these formulas in applications involving cascaded circuits.

II. Subject Matter

Topic: Gain, Attenuation and Decibels
Reference: (Principles of Electronic Communication Systems by: Louis E.
Frenzel Jr.)
Materials: Laptop, Google Site and Pictures

III. Procedure
A. Preliminary Activity
Teacher’s Activity Students’ Activity

“Good morning class” “Good morning, Sir”

“Okay, before anything else let’s have first (Miss A will lead the prayer and
a prayer. Miss A, kindly lead the prayer” everyone prays)

“What are your feelings today?” “We’re fine, Sir”

“Okay, let us check your attendance

before we proceed. Say "present" if your
name was called.”

(The teacher will call on every student.)

“Okay, it seems like almost all of you is

here today in our virtual class. Good job.”

“And since we have our class virtually, let

me just remind you of our virtual rules.
First, mute yourself except when you have
the virtual floor. Second, use the raise
hand button for permission to speak. Third,
open your camera only if you have strong
internet connection and lastly, I encourage
everyone to participate. If you are not
audible due to poor internet connection,
you can use emojis to response or react
and the chat box if you have something to
say and share.”
“Yes Sir”
“Do you agree with our virtual rules?”

B. Activity
“Before jumping into our proper
discussion, let us have first an activity and
this activity is called the jumbled word. So,
are you ready?” “Yes Sir”

“Okay, all you have to do is to guess what

is/are the word/s behind those jumbled
letters. For instance, we have these
jumbled letters L V O E, what do you think “It’s L O V E po Sir”
is the answer?”

“Yes, basically the word behind those

jumbled letters L V O E is LOVE.
Anyways, you will be given 10 seconds for
each item. I will be calling names to
answer the jumbled word. Now, let us start
our activity”

“First jumbled letters: G I A N. Mister B, “GAIN po Sir”

what do you think is the answer?”

“Okay. Very Good, it’s GAIN. Second, we

have A P M F I L I E R. Mister C, what is “It’s AMPLIFIER po Sir”
the word behind that jumbled letters?”

“Great. Next, we have these jumbled

“Sir, it’s quite hard po”
letters A T E N U T A T O I N. Miss Q,
what do you think is the answer?”
“Sir, it’s ATTENUATION po”
“Okay, let’s call a friend to help. Miss X,
kindly help Miss Q”

“Thank you, Miss X. Another jumbled word “VOLTAGE Sir”

is V L O A T G E. Miss D, what is the
answer?”
“I think it’s DECIBELS Sir”
“Very Good, another is D E B I C L E S.
Mister W, what is the answer?”

“Great, you are right. Last jumbled word is “Sir, I can see that it’s CIRCUITS po”
C R I U C I T S, Miss Z what is the answer
for the final jumbled word?”

“Great Miss Z, it’s circuits.”

“Thank you everyone for participating with

our activity, you all did a great job. Let us
give everyone a virtual applause.”

C. Analysis
“I have here a few questions for you”

“First, what are your thoughts about the

activity we have earlier? What it is all “Sir I guess it is all about electronics
about? Is there anyone who wants to po since we’ve mentioned earlier the
share their thoughts?” voltage, amplifier, circuits and so on”

“Okay, thank you for sharing your

thoughts. Is there anyone who wants to “Sir, maybe those are our topics today
add up? Mister Y, what are your thoughts po in which we can learn about what
about our activity and what is it all about?” is gain, attenuation and decibels”

“Thank you, Mister Y. So, let us find out

everything in our topic today”

D. Abstraction
“Now, I want you to listen and lend me
your ear because we are about to start our
discussion for today’s lesson. Of course, I
encourage everyone to participate and
take notes all the important information
being discussed. Is that clear?” “Yes Sir”

“So, let us start. The majority of electrical

circuits in communication are used to
process signals, that is, to alter signals in
order to achieve a desired outcome. Gain
or attenuation is used in all signal
processing circuits.”

“Now, let us discuss first what is gain.

Gain means amplification. If a signal is
applied to a circuit such as the amplifier
shown in Fig. 2-1 and the output of the
circuit has a greater amplitude than the
input signal, the circuit has gain. Gain is
simply the ratio of the output to the input.

For input (Vin)and output (Vout) voltages,

voltage gain AV is expressed as follows:

The number obtained by dividing the

output by the input shows how much
larger the output is than the input. For
example, if the input is 150 μV and the
output is 75 mV, the gain is Av= (75 x 10˄-
3)/ (150 x 10˄-6) = 500

The formula can be rearranged to obtain

the input or the output, given the other two
variables:
Vout= Vin x Av and Vin= Vout/Av

If the output is 0.6 V and the gain is 240,

the input is Vin= 0.6/240= 2.5 x 10˄-3=
2.5mV”

“I want you to get your calculator because

we will be having some example
calculation, make sure to take down notes. “Yes Sir”
Later on, you will be the one to answer. Is
that clear?”

“Okay, we have here examples”

“None so far, Sir”

“Do you have any questions or

clarifications?”

“Okay, we will proceed”

“When two or more stages of amplification

or other forms of signal processing are
cascaded, the overall gain of the
combination is the product of the individual
circuit gains. Fig. 2-2 shows three
amplifiers connected one after the other so
that the output of one is the input to the
next. The voltage gains of the individual
circuits are marked.
To find the total gain of this circuit, simply
multiply the individual circuit gains:
AT= A1 x A2 x A3= 5 x 3 x 4= 60
If an input signal of 1 mV is applied to the
first amplifier, the output of the third
amplifier will be 60 mV. The outputs of the
individual amplifiers depend upon their
individual gains. The output voltage from
each amplifier is shown in Fig. 2-2.”

“Okay, let us have an example problem,

again do take down notes, listen and be
attentive because later on you will be the
one to answer. So, here’s the examples”

“Okay Sir”

(Answer of the students Varied)

“Those are the examples, any questions

and clarifications?”

“Since you don’t have any questions, let

us have some example problems but this
time you will be the one to solve it.”

Activity: Try to Solve It! “Yes Sir”

“Two sets of problem will be given; you will

be given 3 minutes for each item. Are we
clear?”

“First problem is, what is the voltage gain

of an amplifier that produces an output of
650 mV for a 20-μV input?”

“And this is the second problem, three

cascaded amplifiers have power gains of
7, 5, and 19. The input power is 50 mW.
What is the output power?” (Miter Q and Miss Z will share their
answer)
“Okay, I guess your time is up. Mister Q,
kindly share with us your answer in
problem 1, and Miss Z share with us your
answer in problem 2”

“Very Good. Thank you for sharing with us

your answer. Now, let’s see what are the
answers for the problems given”

“For problem number one let us identify

first what is given. So, we have the output
or Vout= 650mV and input or Vin= 20-μV.
We have to find for the voltage gain of an
amplifier. We will use this equation
Av= Vout / Vin. Then we will substitute the
value for Vout and Vin
Av= 650 x 10˄-3/ 20 x 10˄-6= 32500. So,
the voltage gain of an amplifier is 32500”

“For problem 2, AP= A1 x A2 x A3= 7 x 5 x

19= 665, and the input power or Pin=
50mW. We have to find for the output
power or the Pout. We will use the equation
AP= APPin then let us substitute the value (Answer of the students may Varied)
so it will become
AP= 665(50x10˄-3), therefore AP is equals
to 33. 25”

“Did you get the same answer?”

“Okay, I guess we don’t have much time to

proceed with Attenuation and Decibels, we
will just continue it on our next meeting. I
want you to study attenuation and decibels “Yes Sir”
in advance for you to have knowledge or
background with it and maybe we will be “Goodbye Sir”
having some more quizzes and problems
to answers. Are we clear?”

“I think that’s all for today, goodbye class” “Good morning, Sir”

(Everyone prays)
CONTINUATION TOPIC

“Good morning, students”

“Okay, let us have our prayer first. Miss O,

kindly lead the prayer”
“So, last meeting we have discussed all
about gain. We have some example
problems and calculations. Based on our
discussion, what you have learn about
gain?”
“Sir gain po means amplification or it
is simply the ratio of the output to the
input.”

“Mister L, kindly share with us what you

have learn about gain.”

“Great mister L, if a signal is applied to a

circuit such as the amplifier and the output
of the circuit has a greater amplitude than
the input signal, the circuit has gain.” “Sir it is the loss of signal strength in
networking cables or connections”
“Now, we will continue our topic and we
will be proceeding with Attenuation”

“Is there anyone who has an idea what is

attenuation? Miss P, do you have any
idea”

“Great idea Miss P. Attenuation refers to a

loss introduced by a circuit or component.
Many electronic circuits, sometimes called
stages, reduce the amplitude of a signal
rather than increase it. If the output signal
is lower in amplitude than the input, the
circuit has loss, or attenuation. Like gain,
attenuation is simply the ratio of the output
to the input. The letter A is used to
represent attenuation as well as gain”

output Vout
Attenuation A= =
input Vin

Circuits that introduce attenuation have a

gain that is less than 1. In other words,
the output is some fraction of the input.
An example of a simple circuit with
attenuation is a voltage divider such as
that shown in Fig. 2-3. The output voltage
is the input voltage multiplied by a ratio
based on the resistor values. With the
resistor values shown, the gain or
attenuation factor of the circuit is A= R2/
(R1 + R2) = 100/ (200 + 100)= 100/300=
0.3333. If a signal of 10 V is applied to the
attenuator, the output is Vout= VinA=
10(0.3333) = 3.333 V. When several
circuits with attenuation are cascaded, the
total attenuation is, again,
the product of the individual attenuations.
The circuit in Fig. 2-4 is an example. The
attenuation factors for each circuit are
shown. The overall attenuation is
AT = A 1 X A 2 X A 3
With the values shown in Fig. 2-4, the
overall attenuation is
AT= 0.2 ˣ 0.9 ˣ 0.06= 0.0108
Given an input of 3 V, the output voltage is
Vout= ATVin= 0.0108(3)= 0.0324= 32.4mV

“Yes Sir”
“Okay, Am I going too fast class? Just
please do not hesitate to click the raise
hand button if you have questions or
clarifications or unmute yourself if you
have questions. Is that okay with you?”

“Let us have more example problems and

calculations, and make sure to take notes
because we will be having exercises later”

“None so far Sir”

“Any questions or clarifications with the

calculations in attenuation, is there any?”

“Okay, if there’s none let us have a sample (Students will start answering)
problem. This time you will be the one to
answer this one item problem”

“You will be given 3 minutes to answer this

problem. An amplifier has a gain of
45,000, which is too much for the
application. With an input voltage of 20
μV, what attenuation factor is needed to
keep the output voltage from exceeding
(Answer Varied)
100 mV? Let A1= amplifier gain= 45,000;
A2= attenuation factor; AT= total gain.”

“You can start answering now”

“Okay time is up, let us check your
answer. Check your own paper.”

Vout 100 x 10 ˄−3 (Students might have questions)

AT = + =5000
Vin 20 x 10 ˄−6

AT= A1A2 therefore A2= AT/A1=

5000/45000= 0.1111
“The answer is 0. 1111, did you get the
same answer?”

“Those students who’s not able to get the

answer, you’re free to ask questions so
that I can help you figure it out”

“Any questions with regards to

attenuation? You can ask me now so that
we can proceed to Decibels”

(The teacher will entertain the questions of

the students. After that, the teacher will
continue the next topic)

“Okay, I think we will proceed now to our

next topic which is the Decibels. So, what
is decibels, and what is the role or job of it
in electronics? Let us find out!”

“A circuit's gain or loss is commonly stated

in decibels (dB), a unit of measurement
that was initially intended to express the
human ear's hearing response to varying
sound levels. One-tenth of a bel equals a
decibel. When gain and attenuation are
both converted to decibels, the overall
gain or attenuation of an electronic circuit
can be computed by simply adding the
individual gains or attenuations, expressed
in decibels. It is common for electronic
circuits and systems to have extremely
high gains or attenuations, often in excess
of 1 million. Converting these factors to
decibels and using logarithms result in
smaller gain and attenuation figures, which
are easier to use.”
“Let us have an example, and again be
attentive and take down notes for you to
be able to understand its calculation.”

“Now, to calculate the overall gain or

attenuation of a circuit or system, you
simply add the decibel gain and
attenuation factors of each circuit. An
example is shown in Fig. 2-7, where there
are two gain stages and an attenuation
block. The overall gain of this circuit is:”
AT= A1+A2+A3= 15-20+35= 30 dB
“In communication circuits, decibels are
commonly employed to represent gain and
attenuation. The table on the next page
lists several typical gain and attenuation
factors, as well as their decibel values.
Negative decibel levels indicate
attenuation when the ratio is less than
one. A 2:1 ratio represents a 3-dB power
gain or a 6-dB voltage gain, respectively.”

“Antilogs. The antilog is used to determine

the input or output voltage or power given
the decibel gain or attenuation and the
output or input. When the base is
increased to the logarithm, which is the
exponent, the antilog is obtained:”
 (Students will answer the problem and
they maybe have some questions or
concerns to raise)

(Students’ answer maybe varied, so

the teacher will show to them the
equation or the solution)

“Now, it’s your time to practice yourself in

calculating decibels with this problem. You
have 3 minutes to answer this problem.
This is a one problem only, if you have
questions just unmute yourself and I will
surely recognize your concerns”

“Here’s the problem. An amplifier has a

gain of 60 dB. If the input voltage is 50 μV,
what is the output voltage?”

“I guess your 3 minutes is over. Now, I

want you to type on the chatbox your
answer, just do not include the formula (Answer Varied)
and solution just your answer if what is the
(Students might have questions and
Vout”
concerns)
“So, I can see your answers. Now, let us
solve the problem. Look into your paper if
you’ll have the same answer”
“So, as you can see on the solution Vout is
equals to 50mV. Look at yours, did you get
the same answer?”

“Before we will continue, maybe you have

some questions. You are very much free
to ask me if you have confusions or
concerns”

(The teacher will entertain the questions

and concerns of the students)

“Thank you everyone, I hope I’ve

answered your concerns. Now, we will
continue with dBm. So, when the gain or
attenuation of a circuit is expressed in
decibels, implicit is a comparison between
two values, the output and the input. When
the ratio is computed, the units of voltage
or power are canceled, making the ratio a
dimensionless, or relative, figure. When
you see a decibel value, you really do not
know the actual voltage or power values.
In some cases, this is not a problem; in
others, it is useful or necessary to know
the actual values involved. When an
absolute value is needed, you can use a
reference value to compare any other
value. An often used reference level in
communication is 1 mW. When a decibel
value is computed by comparing a power
value to 1 mW, the result is a value called
the dBm. It is computed with the standard
power decibel formula with 1 mW as the
denominator of the ratio:”
“Now, let us have dBc. This is a decibel
gain attenuation figure where the
reference is the carrier. The carrier is the
base communication signal, a sine wave
that is modulated. Often the amplitude’s
sidebands, spurious or interfering signals,
are referenced to the carrier. For example,
if the spurious signal is 1 mW compared to
the 10-W carrier, the dBc is:”

(Students might raise their concerns)

“Let us have some more examples”

“I guess that would be all for our topics
about gain, attenuation and decibels. Is
there any questions, clarifications, violent
reactions and concerns? Kindly raise it so
that on you quiz you can understand and
answer it. You can access our site, and
you can refer and study our topic there”

(The teacher will entertain students’

concern)

E. Application
Direction: Answer the following questions
on a sheet of paper. You have 10 minutes
to answer.

1. Reduction or loss of signal.

2. Refers to as amplification.

3. Why do we need to convert gain

and attenuation in decibels?

4-5. An amplifier has an input of 5 mV

and an output of 7 V. What is the
gain in decibels?

“Take a picture of your paper, which

includes your answer. You can submit
your it on the link provided for our google
drive. Name your file as
Surname_ELX114”

F. Generalization
“Okay, we are now done discussing gain,
attenuation and decibels. So, based on
our discussion what have you learned “Sir gain is simply the ratio of the
about gain? Mister F, kindly share with us output to the input, or it is amplification”
your learnings about gain?”

“Great answer Mister F. Gain means

amplification and it is the ratio of the
output to the input”
“Attenuation po is when signal power is
“How about attenuation? Miss L, kindly reduced or loss.”
share with us your learnings about
attenuation?”

“Very Good. While gain simply means

amplification, attenuation is the loss of
signal power. All signal processing circuits
involve gain and attenuation.”

“While the decibel (dB) is use to express

gain and attenuation figures.”
“So, why do we need to convert gain, as
well as attenuation in decibels? Miss N, do
you have any idea?”
“We measure gain or attenuation in
decibels for high voltage assets
because measuring really high
voltage/power values is difficult. The
decibel scale is logarithmic, meaning
that bigger values are compressed into
a smaller scale. As a result, the decibel
scale makes measuring high voltage
practically easy”

“Very Good idea, Miss N. We need to

convert gain and attenuation to decibels
because when both gain and attenuation
are converted to decibels, the total gain or
attenuation of an electrical circuit may be
calculated by simply summing the
individual decibel-based gains or
attenuations. Electronic circuits and
systems frequently have extraordinarily
high gains or attenuations, sometimes
exceeding one million. When these
parameters are converted to decibels and
logarithms are used, the gain and
attenuation values are smaller and easier
to use.”
“Those are our topic for today, the gain,
attenuation and decibels. Thank you
everyone for listening and participating
with our discussions.”

“Now, I want you to solve the following

problems, this involves calculating gain,
attenuation or decibels. This is a three-
item only. You can refer to your notes or to
our site.”

G. Assessment
Direction: Solve the following problems.

1. What is the voltage gain of an

amplifier that produces an output of
143 mV for a 45-µV input?
2. The total gain is the product of the
individual stage gains and
attenuations. Total gain of 1, 4, 3.
3. An amplifier has an input of 4 mV
and an output of 8 V. What is the
gain in decibels?

“Since we don’t have enough time. So, we

can make this as your assignment.
Continue answering this on a sheet of
paper. After that, take a picture of your
paper that contains your answer and
submit it to our Group Chat.
Name your file as:
Surname_Calculation_ELX114”