ECET412a

Principles of Communications Course

Course information

Scope of the course

Principles of Communications

Resources

Lectures posted in Yahoo Group
<ecet412a_dlsu_2013_1@yahoogroups.com>

Course Syllabus

Reading Materials

Joel C. Delos Angeles B.S. ECE 2

 Resources

Course material

Course text book:

Carlson, B., Crilly P. (2010). Communications Systems: An
Introduction to Signals and Noise in Electrical
Communication. 5th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill.

Additional recommended books

Electronic Communications Systems W. Tomasi. Prentice Hall, 4th ed
2001 (or 5th edition, 2004)

Material accessible from course yahoo group:

Message Posts

Lecture slides (.ppt, pdf)

Assignments

Joel C. Delos Angeles B.S. ECE Lecture 1: Introduction 3

Scope of the course …

Course Outline (May change depending on period

time constraints)

Introduction - (Prelims)

Fourier Series, Fourier Transforms and Continuous
Spectra – (Prelims)

Signal Transmission and Filtering - (Midterms)

Linear CW Modulation - (Midterms )

Exponential CW Modulation (Finals)

4
Lecturer

Course responsible and lecturer and giving
tutorials:

Joel C. Delos Angeles

Office: CEAT – CTH 214

Tuesday/Thursday

(2 to 2:30 PM); Laboratory hours – 2:30 to 5:30 PM

Email: joeldelosangeles@yahoo.com;
jcdelosangeles@dlsud.edu.ph

5
Lecture 1

ECET412a
Data Communications Course
Lecture 1
Introduction

Primary Reference Book: Carlson Chapter 1

Tomasi Chapter 1
 In Lec 1, we are going to talk about:

Introduction

Elements of Communications Systems

Modulation and Coding

Historical Perspective and Societal Impact

Joel C. Delos Angeles B.S. ECE Lecture 1: Introduction 7

 Background and Objectives

Since information transfer is the same basic
function of all communication systems, we will:

Seek out and isolate the principles and problems of

conveying information in electrical form

Examine these principles in sufficient depth to develop
analysis and design methods suited to a wide range of
applications

Joel C. Delos Angeles B.S. ECE Lecture 1: Introduction 8

 Communication Link as Systems

What are transducers?

For our purposes, we will use the terms message and
signal interchangeably

Joel C. Delos Angeles B.S. ECE Lecture 1: Introduction 9

 Information, Messages and Signals

Message – the physical manifestation of
information as produced by the source

Analog message - a physical quantity that varies in a
smooth and continuous fashion.

Examples: acoustic pressure, angular position of a gyro, or the
light intensity at some point in a TV.

Requires a specified degree of fidelity

Digital message - an ordered sequence of symbols
selected from a finite set of discrete elements.

Examples of digital messages are the printed letters, a listing of
hourly temperature readings, or the keys you press on a
computer keyboard.

Requires a degree of accuracy in a specified amount of time.

Message type determines criterion for successful
communication
Joel C. Delos Angeles B.S. ECE Lecture 1: Introduction 10
 Elements of a Communication System

Transmitter signal processing involves modulation and

may also include coding.

Channel - Transmission loss or attenuation of signal
power

Receiver – operations include amplification,
demodulation, decoding, filtering
Joel C. Delos Angeles B.S. ECE Lecture 1: Introduction 11
 Elements of a Communication System

Distortion - waveform perturbation caused by imperfect

response of the system to the desired signal itself.

If the channel has a linear but distorting response, then distortion
may be corrected, or at least reduced, with the help of special
filters called equalizers.

Joel C. Delos Angeles B.S. ECE Lecture 1: Introduction 12

 Elements of a Communication System

Interference - is contamination by extraneous signals

from human sources, other transmitters, power lines and
machinery, switching circuits, and so on.

Addressed by filtering techniques

Joel C. Delos Angeles B.S. ECE Lecture 1: Introduction 13

 Elements of a Communication System

Transmission Types

Simplex

Full-duplex

Half-duplex

Joel C. Delos Angeles B.S. ECE Lecture 1: Introduction 14

 Fundamental Limitations

Technological Problems- can be solved in theory
even though perfect solutions may be impractical

Hardware availability

Economic Factors

Governmental Regulations

Physical Limitations

Subject to laws of nature – what can and cannot be
achieved

Bandwidth (C or I is the information capacity in bps)

Noise

Hartley-Shannon Law

Joel C. Delos Angeles B.S. ECE Lecture 1: Introduction 15

 Fundamental Limits

When a signal changes rapidly with time, its
frequency content, or spectrum, extends over a
wide range, and we say that the signal has a large
bandwidth.

Similarly, the ability of a system to follow signal
variations is reflected in its usable frequency
response, or transmission bandwidth. Now all
electrical systems contain energy-storage
elements, and stored energy cannot be changed
instantaneously. Consequently, every
communication system has a finite bandwidth B
that limits the rate of signal variations.

Joel C. Delos Angeles B.S. ECE Lecture 1: Introduction 16

 Modulation

Modulating Signal + Carrier Wave

Continuous-wave modulation – methods for

sinusoidal carrier modulation (e.g. speech)
 Modulation Benefits and Applications
1) For Efficient Transmission – antennas for line-of-
sight requires at least 1/10 of signal wavelength
2) To overcome hardware limitations – minimize cost
if fractional bandwidth (absolute bandwidth /
center frequency) is kept within 1 to 10%
3) To reduce noise and interference (wideband noise
reduction – using much greater transmission
bandwidth than the bandwidth of modulating
signal)
4) For frequency assignment
5) For multiplexing / multiple access

Joel C. Delos Angeles B.S. ECE Lecture 1: Introduction 18

 Coding Methods and Benefits
• Coding is a symbol-processing operation for
improved communication when the information is
digital or can be approximated in the form of
discrete symbols (e.g. binary codeword)

• Channel Coding – involves error detection or

correction

• Source Coding – involves encoding fewer bits

than the original message or its representation
(eg. Compression)

Joel C. Delos Angeles B.S. ECE Lecture 1: Introduction 19

 Electromagnetic Spectrum

Joel C. Delos Angeles B.S. ECE Lecture 1: Introduction 20

 Electromagnetic Wave Propagation

Joel C. Delos Angeles B.S. ECE Lecture 1: Introduction 21

 Electromagnetic Wave Propagation

Skywave propagation uses the ionosphere (reflection)

Joel C. Delos Angeles B.S. ECE Lecture 1: Introduction 22

 Electromagnetic Wave Propagation

Multipath interference can be an advantage or

disadvantage for signal propagation

Joel C. Delos Angeles B.S. ECE Lecture 1: Introduction 23

 Electromagnetic Wave Propagation
• Refraction – wave velocity changes when passing
from one medium to another

Joel C. Delos Angeles B.S. ECE Lecture 1: Introduction 24

 Electromagnetic Wave Propagation
• Refraction – wave velocity changes when passing
from one medium to another

Joel C. Delos Angeles B.S. ECE Lecture 1: Introduction 25

 “Engineers are the agents of social change”

Quote from : Daitch - “Introduction to College
Engineering”

Reading assignment : Societal Impact and

Historical perspective

Joel C. Delos Angeles B.S. ECE Lecture 1: Introduction

Lecture 2

ECET412a
Data Communications Course
Lecture 2
Signals and Continuous Spectra Fourier Analysis

Primary Reference Book: Carlson Chapter 2

Tomasi Chapter 1
Signal Analysis – Time and Frequency Domain

Amplitude versus time

Amplitude versus frequency
A
Vpeak ?

1/f
time
? freq

Time domain Freq domain

Signal Analysis – Phase spectrum

Phase versus frequency

A ?

? freq
Φ
?

Time domain ? freq

Exercise: Signal Analysis

Get one-sided/positive-frequency line spectra of:
Signal Analysis - Two-sided Spectrum

More valuable: From Euler’s Theorem
Signal Analysis - Exercise:
1) Get two-sided frequency line spectra of:

2) ) Get two-sided frequency line spectra of:

Signal Analysis – Phase spectrum

Phase versus frequency

A ?

? freq
Φ
?

Time domain ? freq

Signal Analysis – Fourier Series Concept

Decompose periodic signals into sum of sinusoids.
Let v(t) be a power signal (i.e. power is non-zero)
with period T0 = 1/f0

Where:
Signal Analysis – Alternative Fourier Expression

∞ ∞
f (t ) = a0 + ∑ an cos(nω0t ) + ∑ bn sin( nω0t )
n =1 n =1

NOTE: Read on Fourier Series Discussion in

Tomasi (Signal Analysis Section) especially
Fourier Series Summary table
Application: ECET412La
Signal Analysis – The Sinc Function

Incidentally, τ/T0 equals the

duty cycle

Over one period
Signal Analysis – The Sinc Function

Incidentally, τ/T0 is the duty cycle

Signal Analysis – Parseval’s Power Theorem

The average power can be found by squaring and

adding the heights c(nf0) of the amplitude lines
(superposition of average power)

Compute for signal power of the following:

Fourier Transforms and CONTINUOUS Spectra

Emphasized here is continuous in contrast to

discrete (in Signals and Spectra subject)

Difference between Fourier Transforms vs Fourier
Series? Or when to use one or the other?

What are non-periodic energy signals? What is the
period?

Fourier Transform

Inverse Fourier Transform

Fourier Transforms and CONTINUOUS Spectra

Rectangular Pulse (function defined below – also

known as rect() function

If

then
Fourier Transforms – Rayleigh’s Energy Theorem

Integrating the square of the amplitude spectrum
over all frequency yields the total energy

So |V(f)|2 is the energy spectral density. You may

choose between time and frequency domain when
solving for power (Parseval’s) or energy (Rayleigh’s)

While total pulse energy is
E = A2τ

We can band-limit the spectrum to
Fourier Transforms – Theorems

Theorems are useful in order to generate transform
pairs without going through the difficulty of
evaluating the Fourier integral

Duality Theorem, if

Then

PROVE below: (Note difficulty of perfect bandwidth limit

in the frequency domain)
Fourier Transforms – Theorems

Superposition theorem simply states that linear
combinations in the time domain become linear
combinations in the frequency domain.
Fourier Transforms – Theorems

FREQUENCY TRANSLATION AND
MODULATION

• Problem: Sketch the spectra of z(t)

Impulses and Transforms in the Limit

The unit impulse of Dirac delta function has unit
area (area = 1) concentrated at the discrete point
t=0

• Problem: What is the graphical representation of

Aδ(t - td)?
Impulses in Frequency Domain

A constant (DC) signal has no time variation and its
spectral content ought to be confined to f = 0

• How about application of duality theorem? What does it

imply?
Impulses in Time

An impulsive signal with “zero” duration has infinite
spectral width, whereas a constant signal with
infinite duration has “zero” spectral width.