Tutorial Sheet

Principle of Communication Engineering (EL 242)

1. Four messages band limited to W, W, 2W AND 3W respectively are to be multiplexed using TDM
(time division multiplexing). What is the minimum bandwidth required for transmission of this
TDM signal?
2. A super heterodyne radio receiver is to operate in the frequency range 550 kHz-1650 khz, with
the intermediate frequency of 450 kHz. Let R = Cmax/Cmin denote the required capacitance ratio
of the local oscillator and I denote the image frequency (in kHz) of the incoming signal. If the
receiver is tuned to 700 kHz, compute R and I.
3. Consider the DSB-SC signal
s(t) = Ac cos(2fct)m(t)
where Ac cos(2fct)m(t) is the carrier wave and m(t) is the message signal. This modulated signal
is applied to a square-law device characterized by
y(t) = s2(t)
the output y(t) is next applied to a narrowband filter with a passband magnitude response of
one, mid-band frequency 2fc , and bandwidth f. Assume that f is small enough to treat the
spectrum of y(t) as essentially constant inside the passband of the filter.
(a) Determine the spectrum of the square-law device output y(t).
(b) Show that the filter output v(t) is approximately sinusoidal, given by
V(t) = (Ac2)/2 E f cos(4fct)
Where E is the energy of the message signal m(t).
4. A particular version of AM stereo uses quadrature multiplexing. Specifically, the carrier
Accos(2fct) is used to modulate the sum signal
m1(t) = Vo + ml(t) +mr(t)
where Vo is a DC offset included for the purpose of transmitting the carrier component, ml(t) is
the left hand audio signal, and mr(t) is the right hand audio signal. The quadrature carrier
Accos(2fct) is used to modulate the difference signal
m2(t) = ml(t) mr(t)
a. Show that an envelope detector may be used to recover the sum
mr(t) + ml(t) from
the quadrature multiplexed signal. How would you minimize the signal distortion
produced by the envelope detector?
b. Show that a coherent detector may be used to recover the difference m2(t) = ml(t)
mr(t)
c. How are the desired ml(t) and mr(t) finally obtained?
5. Using the message signal
m(t) = 1/(1+t2) ,
determine and sketch the modulated waves for the following methods of modulation.
(a) Amplitude modulation with 50 percent modulation.
(b) Double sideband suppressed carrier modulation.

(c) Single sideband modulation with only the upper sideband transmitted.
(d) Single sideband modulation with only the lower sideband transmitted
6. Suppose that nonlinear devices are available for which the output current ic ,voltage Vi , are
related by
io=ai vi+ a3vi3
where ai and a3vi3 are constants. Explain how these devices may be used to provide a) a product
modulator and b) an amplitude modulator.
7. Fig. 1 shows the circuit diagram of square law modulator. The signal applied to the non-linear
device is relatively weak, such that it can be represented by a square law
V2(t)=a1 V1(t) + a2 V21(t)
Where a1 and a2 are constants, V1(t) is the input voltage and V2(t) is the output voltage. The input
voltage is defined by
V1(t)=Ac cos(2*pi*fc*t) + m(t)
a) Evaluate the output voltage V2(t).
b) Specify the frequency response that the tuned circuit in Fig. 1 must satisfy in order to
generate an AM signal with fc as the carrier frequency.
c) What is the amplitude sensitivity of this AM signal?

8.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2shows the circuit diagram of an envelope detector. It consists simply of a diode and RC filter. On
a positive half cycle of the input signal, the diode is forward biased and the capacitor C charges up
rapidly to the peak value of the input signal. When the input signal falls below this value the diode
becomes reverse biased and the capacitor C discharges slowly through the load resistor RL .The
discharging process continues until the next positive half cycle. Thereafter, the charging discharging
routine is continued.
a) Specify the condition that must be satisfied by the capacitor C for it to charge rapidly and thereby
follow the input voltage up to the positive peak when the diode is conducing
b) Specify the conditions which the load resistor RL must satisfy so that the capacitor C discharge
slowly between positive peaks of the carrier wave , but not so long that the capacitor voltage will
not discharge at the maximum rate of change of the modulating wave

9.

Fig. 2
Consider a square law detector, using a nonlinear device whose transfer characteristic is defined by
V2(t)=a1 V1(t) + a2 V21(t)
Where a1 and a2 are constants, V1(t) is the input voltage and V2(t) is the output voltage . the
input voltage is defined by
V1(t)=Ac [1+Kam(t)]cos(2*pi*fc*t)

a) Evaluate the output voltage V2(t).

b) Find the conditions for which the message signal m(t) may be recovered from V2(t).
10. Fig. 2 shows the block diagram of Weavers method for generating SSB modulated waves. The
message (modulating) signal m(t) is limited to the band fs <=|f|<=fb. The auxiliary carrier applied to
the first pair of product modulator has a frequency fo, which lies at the centre of this band, as shown
by
fo=(fa+fb)/2
the low pass filters in the in-phase and quadrature channels are identical, each with a cutoff frequency
equal to (fb-fa)/2. The carrier applied to the second pair of product modulators has a frequency fc
that is greater than (fb-fa)/2. Sketch the spectra at the various points in the modulator of fig 2.18 and
hence show that:
a) For the lower sideband, the contributions of the in-phase and quadrature channels are of opposite
polarity, and by adding them at the modulator output, the lower sideband is suppressed.
b) For the upper sideband, the contributions of the in-phase and quadrature channels are of the
same polarity, and by adding them, the upper sideband is transmitted.
c) How would you modify the modulator of Fig. 3 so that only the lower side-band is transmitted?

Fig. 3