1

Modern Communication System Scheme, Information Source and Input Transducer,

Transmitter, Channel or Medium – Hardwired and Softwired, Noise, Receiver,
Multiplexing, Types of Communication Systems.
Types of Modulation (only concepts) – AM, FM.
Concept of Radio Wave Propagation (Ground, Space, Sky).

Advantages of digital communication over analog communication, ASK, FSK, PSK.

Radio Signal
Transmission Multiple
Access Techniques
0
3

2
S L Kakani and
Priyanka
Punglia New Age
International
Publisher
2017

3
Introduction

4
 What is
•Communication?
Communication is the science and practice of transmitting
information.
• Communication Engineering deals with the techniques of
transmitting information.
• In brief, Communication Engineering means Electrical
Communication, in which information is transmitted
through electrical signals.

5
 What is Communication?
•(continued)
Electrical Communication is a process by which the
information/message is transmitted from one point to
another, from one person to another, or from one place to
another in the form of electrical signals, through some
communication link.

6
Modern
Communication
System Scheme
7
 Modern Communication System
•Scheme
A basic communication system provides a link between the
information source and its destination.
• The process of electrical communication involves sending,
receiving, and processing information in electrical form.
• The information to be transmitted passes through a
number of stages of the communication system before it
reaches its destination.
• Fig. 1.1 shows a block schematic diagram of the most
general form of basic communication system.

8
Modern Communication System
Scheme (continued)

n(t)

9
Modern Communication System
Scheme (continued)
• The main constituents of basic communication system are:
i. Information source and input transducer
ii. Transmitter
iii. Channel or medium
iv. Noise
v. Receiver
vi. Output transducer and final destination.
10
 Information Source and Input
•Transducer
A communication system transmits information from an
information source to a destination.
• Hence the first stage of a communication system is the
information source.
• A communication system transmits information in the form
of electrical signals.
• If the information produced by the source is not in an
electrical form, one will have to use a transducer to convert
the information into electrical form.

11
Information Source and Input
Transducer (continued)
• A transducer is a device that converts a non-electrical energy
into its corresponding electrical energy called signal and vice
versa.
• An example of a transducer is a microphone.
• Microphone converts sound signals into the corresponding electrical
signals.
• Similarly, a television (TV) picture tube converts electrical signals
into its corresponding pictures.
• Some other examples of transducers are movie cameras, Video
Cassette Recorder (VCR) heads, tape recorder heads, and
loudspeakers.

12
Information Source and Input
Transducer (continued)
• The information produced by the information source is applied
to the next stage, termed the information or input transducer.
• This in turn, produces an electrical signal corresponding to the
information as output.
• This electrical signal is called the baseband signal.
• It is also called a message signal, an information signal, an intelligent
signal,
or an envelope.

designated by 𝑠(𝑡).
• In the communication theory, the baseband signal is usually

13
Information Source and Input
Transducer (continued)
• There are two types of signals:
a) Analog signal
b) Digital signal

14
Information Source and Input
Transducer (continued)
a) Analog signal
• An analog signal is a function of time,
and has a continuous range of
values.
• However, there is a definite function
value of the analog signal at each point
of time.
• Examples: a pure sine wave form, a
voice signal.
15
Information Source and Input
Transducer (continued)
b) Digital signal
• A digital signal does not have continuous
function values on a time scale.
• It is discrete in nature, i.e., it has some
values at discrete timings.
• In between two consecutive values, the
signal values is either zero, or different
value.
• Example: the sound signal produced by
drumbeats.
16
Information Source and Input
Transducer (continued)
• Digital signals correspond to a binary digital signal, where
the discrete amplitude of the signal is coded into binary
digits represented by ‘0' and '1’.
• The analog signal is converted to digital using Analog-to-
Digital Converters (ADC).
• ADC involves Sampling and Quantization.
• Sampling – converts analog time to discrete time
• Quantization – converts analog amplitude to discrete amplitude

17
 Transmit
•ter
The transmitter is a collection of electronic components
and circuits that converts the electrical signal into a signal
suitable for transmission over a given medium.
• Transmitters are made up of oscillators, amplifiers, tuned
circuits and filters, modulators, frequency mixers,
frequency synthesizers and other circuits.

18
Transmitter
(continued)
• The base band signal, which is the output of an input transducer, is
input to the transmitter.
• The transmitter section processes the signal prior to
transmission.
• The nature of processing depends on the type of communication
system.
• There are two options for processing signals prior to
transmission:
• Carrier communication system
• The baseband signal, which lies in the low frequency spectrum, is translated to a
higher frequency spectrum.
• Baseband communication system
• The baseband signal is transmitted without translating it to a higher frequency
spectrum.
19
 Transmitter
•(continued)
In baseband communication system, baseband signal is transmitted
without translating it to a higher frequency spectrum.
• However, some processing of the signal is required prior to its
transmission.
• e.g. a train of pulses that are to be transmitted can be replaced by a
series of two sine waves of different frequencies prior to transmission.
• One of these two frequencies represent a low and the other
represents a high value of the digital pulse.
• Therefore, the baseband signal is converted into a corresponding
series of sine waves of two different frequencies prior to transmission.
• Fig. 1.4 illustrates this processing.

20
Transmitter
(continued)

21
Transmitter
(continued)
• In carrier communication system, the baseband signal is carried by a
higher frequency signal, called the carrier signal.
• The carrier communication system is based on the principle of
translating a low frequency baseband signal to higher frequency
spectrum.
• This process is termed as modulation.
• Now, if the baseband signal is a digital signal, the carrier
communication system is called a digital communication system.
• The digital modulation methods are employed for this.
• If the baseband signal is an analog signal, the carrier communication
system is called as an analog communication system.
• The analog modulation techniques are used for processing this.

22
Transmitter
(continued)

23
Transmitter
• Figure 1.5 shows the baseband signal, 𝑠(𝑡) applied to the
(continued)
modulated stage.
• This stage translates the baseband signal from its low frequency
spectrum to high frequency spectrum.

𝑐(𝑡), which is generated by a high frequency carrier oscillator.

• This stage also receives another input called the carrier signal,

• Modulation takes place at this stage with the baseband and the carrier
signals as two inputs after modulation, the baseband signal is
translated to a high frequency spectrum and the carrier signal is said
to be modulated by the baseband signal.

is designated as 𝑥(𝑡).
• The output of the modulated stage is called the modulated signal, and

24
 Transmitter
•(continued)
Radio signals are transmitted through electromagnetic (EM)
waves, also referred as radio waves, in a radio communication
system.
• The radio waves have a wide frequency range starting from a
few ten kilo Hertz (Hz) to several thousand Mega Hertz (MHz).
• This wide range of frequencies is referred as the radio frequency
(RF) spectrum.
• The RF spectrum is classified according to the applications of
the spectrum in different service areas .
• Table 1.1 shows the classification of the RF spectrum along
with the associated applications in communication systems.

25
Transmitter
(continued)

Electromagnetic Spectrum
26
Transmitter
(continued)

Radio Frequency Spectrum

27
Transmitter
(continued)

28
 Channel or
•Medium
The transmission medium between the transmitter and the receiver is
called a channel.
• The channel is a very important part of a communication system.
• Its characteristics add many constraints to the design of the
communication system.
• The transmitted signal should have adequate power to withstand the
channel noise.
• The channel characteristics also impose constraints on the
bandwidth.
• The channel characteristics are also taken into consideration as a
design parameter while designing the transmitter and receiver.
29
 Channel or Medium
•(continued)
Depending on the physical implementations, channels are
classified into two groups:
• Hardwired channels
• Softwired channels

30
Channel or Medium
(continued)
Hardwired Channels (Hardware channels)
• These are manmade structures which can be used as transmission medium.
• There is always a physical link between the transmitter and receiver in
hardware channels.
• A communication system that makes use of a hardware channel is called as
a line communication system.
• e.g. landline telephony and cable TV network.
• There are following three possible implementations of the hardware
channels:
• Transmission lines
• Waveguides
• Optical Fiber Cables (OFC)

31
Channel or Medium
(continued)
• Transmission Lines
• e.g. Twisted-pair cables used in landline telephony and coaxial cables used for cable
TV transmission.
• Waveguides
• They are hollow, circular, or rectangular metallic structures.
• The signals enter the waveguide, are reflected at the metallic walls, and propagate
towards the other end of the waveguide.
• Waveguides are employed as medium to transmit signals at UHF range
• Optical Fiber Cables (OFC)
• They are highly sophisticated transmission media, in the form of extremely thin
circular pipes.
• Signals are transmitted in the form of light energy in optical fiber cables.
32
Channel or Medium
(continued)
Softwired Channels (Software channels)
• There are certain natural resources which can be used as the
transmission medium for signals.
• Such transmission media are called software channels.
• e.g. air or open space and sea water.
• There is no physical link between the transmitter and the
receiver.
• The signals are transmitted in the form of electromagnetic (EM)
waves, also called radio waves.
33
 Channel or Medium
•(continued)
(𝑐 = 3 × 10 𝑚𝑠 ).
Radio waves travel through open space at a speed equal to that of light
8 −1

• The transmitter section converts the electrical signal into EM waves or

radiation by using a transmitting antenna.
• These waves are radiated into the open space by the transmitting antenna.
• At the receiver side, the receiving antenna picks up these radio waves
and
converts them into corresponding electrical signals.
• Systems that use radio waves to transmit signals through open space
are called
radio communication systems.
• e.g. radio broad cast, television transmission, satellite communication, and cellular
34
 Nois
•e
Noise is defined as unwanted electrical energy of random and
unpredictable nature present in the system due to any cause.
• Noise is an electrical disturbance, which does not contain any
useful information.
• Thus, noise is a highly undesirable part of a communication system,
and have to be minimized.
• When noise is mixed with the transmitted signal, it rides over it and
deteriorates its waveform.
• This results in the alteration of the original information so that wrong
information is received.
35
 Noise
•(continued)
External noise or extraneous noise
• The noise introduced by the transmission medium
• Internal noise
• The thermal agitation of atoms and electrons of electronic components used
in the equipment

36
 Noise
(continued)
Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR)
• SNR is the ratio of the signal power to the noise power.
• It is the measure of the signal power delivered to the noise power at a
particular point in the circuit.
• If 𝑃𝑠 is the signal power and 𝑃𝑛 is the noise power, then SNR is given
as

𝑆 𝑃𝑠
=
𝑁 𝑃𝑛
37
Noise
• If 𝑃 = 𝑉 /𝑅 and 𝑃
2 =
𝑉 /𝑅, then
𝑠
2
(continued)
𝑠 𝑛 𝑛

𝑆
𝑉 𝑅𝑉
𝑠
=
2 2
𝑛
� 𝑅
�

� 𝑉𝑠
=
� 2𝑉𝑛
�
where 𝑉𝑠 is signal voltage and �
𝑉𝑛 is2 noise
voltage
38
 Noise
•(continued)
�
SNR can be expressed in terms of decibels (dB) as

= 10 𝑉�
1
log
2�
0 𝑉𝑛
�𝑑
�
��
2 2
�𝐵
𝑆 = 10 1
𝑉
log 0
�𝑑 ��

�𝐵
= 20
𝑛
�� 1
�
𝑉
𝑑 log 0
�𝐵
� �𝑠
𝑛

39
 Noise
(continued)
Example:
If, at a particular point in a circuit, the signal and noise voltages are
given as 3.5 mV and 0.75 mV respectively, calculate SNR in dB.
Solution:
• Given, 𝑉𝑠 = 3.5 𝑚𝑉 and 𝑉𝑛 = 0.75 𝑚𝑉

𝑆 �
SNR in dB is given by
= 20 1 �𝑠
𝑉
𝑑 log 0
�
� 𝐵 𝑛
40
Noise
(continued)� = 20
�
1 �𝑠
𝑉
log 0
�𝑑
�
�𝐵
𝑆 = 20 𝑛
0.7
3.
log10
�𝑑
5
5
�𝐵
�� = 20 4.6
𝑑 log10 7
�𝐵
�
𝑆𝑁𝑅 = 13.38
That is

𝑑𝐵
41
Noise
(continued)
Noise Figure (F)
• The noise figure is defined as ratio of the signal-to-noise power at the input of
the circuit and the signal-to-noise power at the output of the circuit.
• The noise figure (F) is the measure of the noise introduced by the circuit and
can be expressed as

𝑆
𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑠 𝑜𝑓
𝑁
𝐹 = 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑖𝑟𝑐𝑢𝑖𝑡
𝑆
𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑠
𝑜𝑓
if F 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑖𝑟𝑐𝑢𝑖𝑡
�
• We can see that� is unity, the noise power introduced by the circuit is zero,
as both the input and output S/N powers are the same.

42
 Receiv
•er
A receiver is a collection of electronic components and circuits
that accepts the transmitted message from the channel and
converts it back into its original form.
• The task of the receiver is to provide the original information to
the user.
• This information is altered due to the processing at the
transmitter side.
• The receiver system receives the transmitted signal and
performs some processing on it to recover the original
baseband signal.
43
 Receiver
•(continued)
The signal received by the receiver is r(t), which contains
both the transmitted signal x(t), and the noise n(t), added
to it during transmission.
• The function of the receiver section is to separate the noise
from the received signal, and then recover the original
baseband signal by performing some processing on it.
• The detailed block diagram of a typical receiver section is
shown in Fig. 1.7.

44
Receiver
(continued)

45
 Receiver
•(continued)
The received signal, r(t), is first amplified by the front-end voltage
amplifier.
• This is done to strengthen the received signal, which is weak and to
facilitate easy
processing.
• Next, this signal is given to the demodulator, which in turn, demodulates
the received signal to recover the original baseband signal.
• Demodulation is the process which brings the baseband signal from the higher
frequency spectrum to its original low-frequency spectrum.
• The type of demodulation is based on the type of modulation employed at the
transmitter.
• After recovering the original baseband signal, its voltage and power is
amplified prior to sending it to final destination block.
46
 Multiplexi
•ng
Multiplexing is a technique which allows more than one signal to be
transmitted through a single channel.
• Multiplexing facilitates the simultaneous transmission of multiple
messages over a single transmission channel.
• Multiplexing allows the maximum possible utilization of the available
bandwidth of the system.
• The use of multiplexing also makes the communication system
economical because more than one signal can be transmitted through a
single channel.
• Multiplexing is possible in communication system only through
modulation.

47
Multiplexing
(continued)

48
 Multiplexing
•(continued)
Each signal is translated to a different frequency spectrum, such
that every signal differs in its transmitted frequency.
• This is done through modulation.
• At the transmitter they can be mixed and transmitted.
• At the receiver, the different signals can be easily separated
because they are at different frequencies, and these can be
delivered to the next stages of the receiver for further processing.

49
 Types of Communication
•Systems
Communication systems can be categorised based on their physical
infrastructure and the specifications of the signals they transmit.
• The physical infrastructure pertains to the type of the channel used
and the hardware design of the transmitting and receiving equipment.
• The signal specifications signify the nature and type of the transmitted
signal.

50
Types of Communication
Systems (continued)
Communication Systems based on Physical Infrastructure
• There are two types of communication systems based on the
physical infrastructure:
i. Line Communication System
• There is a physical link, called the hardware channel, between the
transmitter and the receiver.
• e.g. landline telephony
[Link] communication system
• There is no physical link between the transmitter and the receiver and
natural resources, such as space and water are used as softwire channels.
• e.g. radio broadcast

51
Types of Communication
Systems (continued)
• There are two types of communication systems based on one-way
or two-way transmission feature:
i. Simplex Communication System
• The single can be transmitted only in one direction (one-way
transmission).
• e.g. TV transmission
[Link] communication system
• Signals can be sent and received from a point. (two-way transmission)
• Half-duplex – two-way transmission is carried out, but not simultaneously
• Full-duplex – two-way transmission is carried out simultaneously
• e.g. telephony
52
Types of Communication
Systems (continued)

53
Types of Communication
Systems (continued)
Communication Systems based on Signal Specifications
• There are two types of communication systems based on the
nature of baseband signal:
i. Analog Communication System
• e.g. TV transmission
[Link] communication system
• e.g. HDTV, Internet

54
Types of Communication
Systems (continued)
• There are two types of communication systems based on the
nature of transmitted signal:
i. Baseband Communication System
• e.g. landline telephony, fax
[Link] communication system
• e.g. TV transmission, radio broadcast, cable TV

55
Modulation

56
What is
Modulation?
• Modulation is a process in which some characteristic or property of a
high frequency signal called carrier signal is varied in accordance with
the instantaneous amplitude of the message signal.
• The carrier signal is a sinusoidal signal that can be represented as
𝒗𝒄 𝒕 =
𝑽𝒄 𝐬𝐢𝐧(𝑚𝒄𝒕 + 𝜽)
• The characteristic of the carrier wave that is modified may be
𝑉𝑐, frequency 𝑓𝑐 or phase angle 𝜃.
amplitude

• Accordingly, we have three types of modulation:

• Amplitude Modulation
• Frequency Modulation
• Phase Modulation 57
 Need for
•Modulation
Improves Quality of reception
• Reduces Height of antenna
• Allows Multiplexing
• Extends the Bandwidth
• Increases Range of Communication
• Reduces noise and interference

58
 Amplitude
•Modulation
Amplitude Modulation (AM) is a modulation technique in which the
instantaneous amplitude of the carrier signal is varied in
accordance with the instantaneous amplitude of the analog
modulating signal to be transmitted.
• The modulating signal is an analog baseband signal which is
random and has a low frequency, while the carrier signal is always a
sinusoidal wave with high frequency.
• The variations in amplitude of carrier signal represent the
information carried.

59
Amplitude Modulation
(continued) • The amplitude of the carrier wave is varied in
accordance with the modulating signal while
the frequency and phase of the carrier signal
remains unchanged.
• The modulating signal seems to be
superimposed on the carrier signal.
• The amplitude variations in the peak values
of the carrier signal exactly replicate the
modulating signal at different points of time
which is known as an envelope.
• Modulation Index is given by 𝜇 = 𝐴 𝑚 /𝐴 𝑐

60
Amplitude Modulation
(continued)

61
 Frequency
•Modulation
Frequency Modulation (FM) is a modulation technique in which the
frequency of the carrier signal is varied in accordance with the
instantaneous amplitude of the analog modulating signal to be
transmitted.
• Only the frequency of the carrier signal is varied while the
amplitude and phase of the carrier are kept constant.

resting frequency and denoted as 𝑓𝑐.

• The original frequency of the carrier signal is called the centre or

• The amount by which the frequency of the carrier wave changes or

deviation ∆f. This means ∆𝑓 𝖺 𝑚(𝑡).
shifts above or below the resting frequency is called frequency

62
 Frequency Modulation
•(continued)
The total variation of frequency
of FM wave from the lowest to
highest is termed as carrier

𝐶𝑆 = 2 ∆𝑓
swing (CS),

• Modulation Index
𝐹𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 𝑑𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
μ�
=�
∆f
𝑀𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔
=
𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦
𝑓𝑚
63
Amplitude and Frequency
Modulation

64
 Phase
•Modulation
Phase Modulation (PM) is a modulation technique in which the phase of
the carrier signal is varied in accordance with the instantaneous
amplitude of the analog modulating signal to be transmitted.
• After phase modulation, amplitude and frequency of the carrier signal
remain unaltered.
• The modulating signal is mapped to the carrier signal in the form of
variations in the instantaneous phase of the carrier signal.
• Phase modulation and frequency modulation are closely related to each

• In both the cases, the total phase angle 𝜙 of the modulated signal varies.
other.

65
Phase Modulation
(continued)

66
 Digital Modulation
•Schemes
In digital communications, the modulating signal consists of binary
data or M-ary version of it.
• When it is required to transmit digital signals, the amplitude,
frequency or phase of the sinusoidal carrier is varied in accordance
with the incoming digital data.
• Since, the digital data is in discrete steps, the modulation of the
bandpass sinusoidal carrier is also done in discrete steps.
• Due to this reason, this type of modulation is known as digital
modulation.

67
 Digital Modulation Schemes
•(continued)
Digital modulation schemes are classified as
• Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK)
• Frequency Shift Keying (FSK)
• Phase Shift Keying (PSK)

68
 Amplitude Shift
•Keying
Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK) represents digital data as variations in
the amplitude of a carrier wave.
• ASK signal may be generated by simply applying the incoming
binary data and the sinusoidal carrier to the two inputs of a product
modulator.

69
Amplitude Shift Keying
(continued)

70
Amplitude Shift Keying
(continued)

71
 Frequency Shift
•Keying
In Frequency Shift Keying (FSK), the digital information is
transmitted through discrete frequency changes of a carrier signal.
• The simplest FSK is binary FSK (BFSK).
• BFSK uses a pair of discrete frequencies to transmit binary
information (0s and 1s).

72
Frequency Shift Keying
(continued)

73
Frequency Shift Keying
(continued)

74
 Phase Shift
•Keying
Phase Shift Keying (PSK) conveys data by changing (modulating)
the phase of constant frequency carrier.
• Each symbol (pattern of bits) is represented by a particular
phase.

• It uses phases 0° and 180°.

• The simplest form of PSK is Binary PSK (BPSK).

• It is widely used for wireless LANs, RFID and Bluetooth

Communication.

75
Phase Shift Keying
(continued)

76
Phase Shift Keying
(continued)

77
Why FSK and PSK are
preferred over ASK?
• Because of the constant amplitude of FSK or PSK, the effect of non-
linearities, noise and interference is minimum on signal detection.
• These effects are more pronounced in ASK.

78
 Advantages of digital
communication over analog
•communication
Reduced noise
• Improved signal quality
• Greater efficiency
• More reliable
• Ease of storage and manipulation
• Improved security
• Lower cost
• Greater flexibility
79
Radio Wave
Propagation
80
 Radio Wave
•Propagation
Based on the nature of the communication channel, the
communication can be broadly classified the into following three
categories:
a) Line communication,
b) Optical communication and
c) Space communication
• In space communication, electromagnetic waves of different
frequencies are used to carry information through the physical space
acting as the transmission medium.
• Electromagnetic waves with frequencies extending from about 10 kHz
to 300 GHz are classified as radio waves.

81
 Radio Wave Propagation
•(continued)
Depending on the frequency, a radio wave travels from the
transmitting to the receiving antenna in several ways.
• On the basis of the mode of propagation, radio waves can
be broadly classified as:
i. ground or surface wave
ii. space or tropospheric wave
iii. sky wave
• Accordingly, we have three types of propagation.
82
Radio Wave Propagation
(continued)

83
 Ground Wave
•Propagation
Radio waves are guided by the earth and move along its curved
surface from the transmitter to the receiver.
• They are strongly influenced by the electrical properties of the
ground.
• This is useful only at low frequencies as high frequency waves are
strongly absorbed by ground.
• Below 500 kHz, ground waves can be used for communication within
distances of about 1500 km from the transmitter.
• AM radio broadcast in the medium frequency band cover local areas
and take place primarily by the ground wave.
• Ground wave transmission is very reliable whatever the atmospheric
conditions be. 84
 Space or Tropospheric Wave
•Propagation
Radio wave transmitted from an antenna, travels in a straight line and
directly reaches the receiving antenna.
• In space wave or line of sight propagation, radio waves move in the
earth’s troposphere within about 15 km over the surface of the earth.
• The space wave is made up of two components:
a) a direct or line-of- sight wave from the transmitting to the receiving
antenna
b) the ground-reflected wave traversing form the transmitting antenna
to ground and reflected to the receiving antenna
• Television frequencies in the range 100-220 MHz are transmitted
through this mode.
85
 Sky Wave
Propagation
• Radio waves transmitted from the transmitting antenna reach the receiving antenna
after reflection from the ionosphere, i.e. the ionized layers lying in the earth’s upper
atmosphere.
• Short wave transmission around the globe is possible through sky wave via
successive
reflections at the ionosphere and the earth’s surface.
• Ionosphere - The ionized region of the earth’s upper atmosphere extending from
about 40 km to the height of a few earth radii above the earth.
• The ionosphere is made up of electrons, and positive and negative ions in the
background of neutral particles of the atmosphere.
• The propagation of radio wave through the ionosphere is affected by the electrons
and ions in the ionosphere.
• The effect of the electrons on the propagation is much greater than that of the ions
since the electronic mass is much less than the ionic mass.
86
Radio Signal
Transmission
87
 Radio Signal
•Transmission
Figure 6A.1 shows the most important components of a
wireless transmission system.

φ = 45°, 135°, 225° and 315°

88
 Radio Signal Transmission
•(continued)
The transmitter accepts a stream of bits from the application
software.
• It then encodes these bits onto a radio wave, known as a
carrier, by adjusting parameters of the wave such as its
amplitude or phase.
• The transmitter usually processes the information in two
stages.
• Modulator – accepts the incoming bits, and computes symbols
that represent the amplitude and phase of the outgoing wave.
• Analogue transmitter – generates the radio wave

89
 Radio Signal Transmission
•(continued)
The modulation scheme used in Fig. 6A.1 is known as Quadrature
Phase Shift Keying (QPSK).
• A QPSK modulator takes the incoming bits two at a time and
transmits them using a radio wave that can have four different
states.
• These have phases of 45°, 135°, 225° and 315°, which correspond
to bit combinations of 00, 10, 11 and 01 respectively.
• We can represent the four states of QPSK using the constellation
diagram shown in Fig. 6A.2b.
90
Radio Signal Transmission
(continued)
a

91
 Radio Signal Transmission
•(continued)
In constellation diagram, the distance of each state from the origin
represents the amplitude of the transmitted wave, while the
angle (measured anti-clockwise from the x-axis) represents its
phase.
• Usually, each symbol is represented using two other numbers, which are

𝐼 = 𝑎 cos 𝜙
known as the in-phase (𝐼) and quadrature (𝑄) components:

𝑄 = 𝑎 sin 𝜙
where 𝑎 is the amplitude of the transmitted wave and 𝜙 is its phase.
• The in-phase and quadrature components are the real and imaginary
parts of a complex number respectively.
92
 Radio Signal Transmission
•(continued)
LTE (Long Term Evolution) uses four modulation schemes altogether.
• Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK) – sends bits one at a time, using two states

amplitudes of +1 and −1.

that can be interpreted as starting phases of 0° and 180°, or as signal

• Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) – sends bits two at a time, using four
states that can be interpreted as phases of 45°, 135°, 225° and 315° which
correspond to bit combinations of 00, 10, 11 and 01 respectively.
• 16-Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (16-QAM) – sends bits four at a time,
using 16 states that have different amplitudes and phases.
• 64-Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (64-QAM) – sends bits six at a time
using 64 different states, so it has a data rate six times greater than that of
BPSK.

93
Radio Signal Transmission
(continued)

94
Multiple Access
Techniques
95
 Multiple Access
•Techniques
In a cellular network, a base station has to transmit to many
different mobiles at once.
• This is done by sharing the resources of the air interface using a
technique known as multiple access.
• Mobile communication systems use different multiple access
techniques:
• Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA)
• Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)
• Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)

96
Frequency Division Multiple
Access (FDMA)
• Each mobile receives signal on its own carrier frequency, which it
distinguishes from the others using analogue filters.
• The carriers are separated by unused guard bands to minimize the
interference between them.

97
 Time Division Multiple Access
•(TDMA)
Mobiles receive signals on the same carrier frequency, but at
different times.

98
 Code Division Multiple Access
•(CDMA)
Mobiles receive signals on the same carrier frequency and at the
same time, but the signals are labelled by the use of codes, which
allow a mobile to separate its own signal from those of the others.

99
FDMA, TDMA &
CDMA

100
 Multiple Access Techniques
•(continued)
FDMA was used by the first generation analogue systems.
• GSM uses a mix of FDMA and TDMA, in which every cell has several
carrier frequencies that are each shared amongst eight different
mobiles.
• LTE uses another mixed technique known as Orthogonal Frequency
Division Multiple Access (OFDMA).
• CDMA is used by the third generation communication systems.
• LTE uses a few of the concepts from CDMA for some of its control
signals, but does not implement the technique otherwise.

101
 Multiplexing vs. Multiple
•Access
Multiple access is actually a generalization of a simpler technique
known as multiplexing.
• A multiple access system can dynamically change the allocation of
resources to different mobiles, whereas in a multiplexing system
the resource allocation is fixed.

102
 FDD and TDD
•Modes
By using the various multiple access techniques, a base station can
distinguish the transmissions to and from the individual mobiles in
the cell.
• To distinguish the mobiles’ transmissions from those of the base
stations, a mobile communication system can operate in different
transmission modes:
• Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) – the base station and mobile
transmit and receive at the same time, but using different carrier
frequencies.
• Time Division Duplex (TDD) – the base station and mobile transmit
and receive on the same carrier frequency but at different times.
103
 FDD and TDD Modes
(continued) Full Duplex FDD Half Duplex FDD TDD

fUL - uplink frequency

fDL - downlink frequency

104
 FDD and TDD Modes
•(continued)
In FDD mode,
• the bandwidths of the uplink and downlink are fixed and are usually
the same
• suitable for voice communications, in which the uplink and downlink
data rates are very similar.
• In TDD mode,
• the system can adjust how much time is allocated to the uplink and
downlink
• suitable for applications such as web browsing, in which the downlink
data rate can be much greater than the rate on the uplink.

105