Communication Channels

• Communication systems convert information into a format appropriate for

the transmission medium
• The channel is central to operation of a communication system
– Linear (e.g., mobile radio) or nonlinear (e.g., satellite)
– Time invariant (e.g., fiber) or time varying (e.g., mobile radio)
• The information-carrying capacity of a communication system is
proportional to the channel bandwidth
• Pursuit for wider bandwidth
– Copper wire: 1 MHz
– Coaxial cable: 100 MHz
– Microwave: GHz
– Optical fiber: THz
• The process of creating a signal suitable for transmission is called
‘modulation’
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AM and FM Modulation

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 Multiplexing

• To combine multiple signals (analog or digital) for transmission over a

single line or media.
• A common type of multiplexing combines several low-speed signals for
transmission over a single high-speed connection.
• The following are several examples of different multiplexing methods:

– Space Division Multiplexing (SDM): each signal is assigned a different physical link
– Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM) : each signal is assigned a different frequency
– Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) : each signal is assigned a fixed time slot in a fixed
rotation . A variant of it is the Statistical Time Division Multiplexing (STDM) where time
slots are assigned to signals dynamically to make better use of bandwidth
– Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) : each signal is assigned a particular
wavelength; used on optical fiber.
– Code Division Multiplexing (CDM) :The signals can be transmitted at the same time and
frequency band , but they can be made orthogonal by using special coding.

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 Noise in Communications

• Unavoidable presence of noise in the channel

– Noise refers to unwanted waves that disturb communications
– Signal is contaminated by noise along the path

• External noise: interference from nearby channels, human-made noise,

natural noise

• Internal noise: thermal noise, random emission in electronic devices

• Noise is one of the basic factors that set limits on communications

• A widely used metric is the signal-to-noise (power) ratio (SNR)

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 Signal to Noise Ratio

• Signal-to-noise ratio is an engineering term for the power ratio between a

signal (meaningful information) and the background noise

• Because many signals have a very wide dynamic range, SNRs are usually
expressed in terms of the logarithmic decibel scale.

• In decibels, the SNR is 20 times the base-10 logarithm of the amplitude

ratio, or 10 times the logarithm of the power ratio

• where is average power and is RMS amplitude.

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