MAJOR PROJECT REPORT

ON
TELEMETRY
SUBMITTED IN THE PARTIAL FULLFILLMENT OF THE
REQUIREMENT OF THE AWARD OF

THE DEGREE OF
BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY
ELECTRONICS & COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING
UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF
ER. ASHISH JASUJA(PROJECT INCHARGE)

SUBMITTED BY:-
GAURAV SINGH(1404226)
RAJAT KAUSHIK(1404263)
MANISH DESWAL(1404282)

DEPTT OF ELECTRONICS & COMMUNICATION

SHRI KRISHAN INSTITUTE OF ENGG. & TECH.
KURUKSHETRA(136118)
SESSION(2004-2008)
 DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION
SHRI KRISHAN INSTITUTE OF ENGG. & TECH.
KURUKSHETRA.
SESSION(2004-2008)

TO WHOM SO EVER IT MAY CONCERN

THIS IS TO CERTIFIED THAT PROJECT ENTITLED “TELEMETRY” MADE

BY GAURAV SINGH (1404226), RAJAT KAUSHIK(1404263),

MANISH DESWAL(1404282) FINAL YEAR STUDENTS IN ELECTRONICS AND

COMMUNICATION ENGG. IN THE PARTIAL FULLFILLMENT OF THE

REQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF

TECHNOLOGY IS A RECORD OF BONAFIDE WORK CARRIED OUT BY

THEM UNDER MY GUIDANCE AND SUPERVISION. THEY COMPLITED THE

WORK EFFICIENTLY AND SINCERELY. THEIR CONDUCT DURING THE

PROJECT WAS FOUND VERY GOOD.

ER. ASHISH JASUJA

(PROJECT INCHARGE.)
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

WHILE EXPERIENCING OUR GRATITUDE AND INDEBTEDNESS TO ALL

THOSE TEACHERS AND LAB TECHNICIANS OF SHRI KRISHAN INSTITUTE

OF ENGG. & TECH WHO HAVE GIVEN THEIR VALUABLE TIME, FOR

RENDERING US THEIR NEEDY SERVICES, GUIDELINES DURING THE

COURSE OF IMPARTING US IN MALOR PROJECT.

WE WOULD ALSO LIKE TO THANK OUR NOBLE AND BENEVOLENT

TEACHERS , ER. ASHISH JASUJA (Project Incharge) & MR. BALVINDER

WHO HAVE INSPIRED US FOR ACHIEVING OUR GOAL BY GIVING THEIR

PROPER GUIDANCE & CO-OPERATION DURING THE MAJOR PROJECT.

ABOVE ALL WE LIKE TI THANK THE ALMIGHTY GOD WITH THOSE

BLESSING ONLY WE HAVE BEEN ABLE TO COMPLETE OUR PROJECT

SUCCESSFULLY.

PLACE : KURUKSHETRA

GAURAV SINGH(1404226)
RAJAT KAUSHIK(1404263)
MANISH DESWAL(1404282)
 CONTENTS

TOPICS PAGE NO .
1. Telemetry. 1-4
2. Project Intro & Theory. 5-10
3. PCB Fabrication. 11-17
4. Component Description.
a) Relay. 18-23
b) Resistor. 24-28
c) Transistor. 29-34
d) Capacitor. 35-37
e) Diode. 38-44
f) 7-Segment Display. 45-49
g) Transformer. 50-53

5. Soldering. 54-61
6. References. 62
7. Appendix 63
a) Photographs of circuit
b) Datasheets of IC’s
Telemetr y
Telemetry is a technology that allows the remote measurement
and reporting of information of interest to the system designer or
operator. The word is derived from Greek roots tele = remote, and
metron = measure. Systems that need instructions and data sent
to them in order to operate require the counterpart of telemetry,
telecommand.

Explanation
Telemetry typically refers to wireless communications (i.e. using
a radio system to implement the data link), but can also refer to
data transferred over other media, such as a telephone or
computer network or via an optical link.

Applications
Agriculture
Growing crops has become high-tech business. Most activities
related to healthy crops and good yields depend on the timely
availability of weather and soil data. Therefore wireless weather
stations play a major role in disease prevention and precision
irrigation. These stations transmit back to a base station the
major parameters needed for good decisions: air temperature and
relative humidity, precipitation and leaf wetness data
(needed for disease prediction models), solar radiation and wind
speed (needed to calculate evapotranspiration), and sometimes
also soil moisture, crucial for proper irrigation decisions in order
to understand the progress of water into the soil and towards the
roots.

Because local micro-climates can vary significantly, such data

needs to come from right within the crop. Monitoring stations
usually transmit data back by terrestrial radio though occasionally
satellite systems are used. Solar power is often employed to make
the station independent from local infrastructure.

Water Management
Telemetry has become indispensable for water management
applications, including water quality and stream gauging
functions. Major applications include AMR (Automatic Meter
Reading), groundwater monitoring, leak detection in distribution
pipelines and equipment surveillance. Having data available in
almost real time allows quick reactions to occurrences in the
field.

Defense, space and resource

exploration systems
Telemetry is an enabling technology for large complex systems
such as missiles, RPVs, spacecraft, oil rigs and chemical plants
because it allows automatic monitoring, alerting, and record-
keeping necessary for safe, efficient operations.

Space agencies such as NASA, ESA, and other agencies use

telemetry/telecommand systems to collect data from operating
spacecraft and satellites.

Telemetry is vital in the development phase of missiles, satellites

and aircraft because the system might be destroyed after/during
the test. Engineers need critical system parameters in order to
analyze (and improve) the performance of the system. Without
telemetry, these data would often be unavailable.

Enemy intelligence
Telemetry was a vital source of intelligence for the US and UK
when Soviet missiles were tested. For this purpose, the US
operated a listening post in Iran. Eventually, the Soviets
discovered this kind of US intelligence gathering and encrypted
their telemetry signals of missile tests. Telemetry was a vital
source for the Soviets who would operate listening ships in
Cardigan Bay to eavesdrop on the UK missile tests carried out
there.

Motor racing
Telemetry has been a key factor in modern motor racing.
Engineers are able to interpret the vast amount of data collected
during a test or race, and use that to properly tune the car for
optimum performance.
Systems used in some series, namely Formula One, have become
advanced to the point where the potential lap time of the car can
be calculated and this is what the driver is expected to meet.
Some examples of useful measurements on a race car include
accelerations (G forces) in 3 axes, temperature readings, wheel
speed, and the displacement of the suspension. In Formula 1, the
driver inputs are also recorded so that the team can assess driver
performance and, in the case of an accident, the FIA can
determine or rule out driver error as a possible cause.

In addition, there exist some series where "two way" telemetry is

allowed. Two way telemetry suggests that engineers have the
ability to update calibrations on the car in real time, possibly
while it is out on the track. In Formula 1, two-way telemetry
surfaced in the early nineties from TAG electronics, and consisted
of a message display on the dashboard which the team could
update. Its development continued until May 2001, at which point
it was first allowed on the cars. By 2002 the teams were able to
change engine mapping and deactivate particular engine sensors
from the pits while the car was on track. For the 2003 season, the
FIA banned two-way telemetry from Formula 1, however the
technology still exists and could eventually find its way into other
forms of racing or road cars.

In addition to that telemetry has also been applied to the use of

Yacht racing. The technology was applied to the Oracle's USA-76.
INTRODUCTION
TEMPERATURE can be measured with the help of
a commercially available like AD590 and LM337.
Here’s a simple temperature sensor built around a
transistor (used as a diode) and a single chip
analog -to- digital converter ADC cum 3 ½-digit LED
driver IC7107. Apart from displaying the temperature
with a resolution of 0.1 degree C , this circuit
provides for temperature based relay activation for
controlling heaters, coolers etc. The trip-point
temperature, set for activating the relay, can also
be displayed with simple flick of a switch. The
circuit can be calibrated to have an accuracy of +
2 degree C with an operating range of -25 degree C
to 125 degree C.

CIRCUIT OPERATION :
Fig. 1 shows the circuit diagram of the temperature
measurement system –using transistor T2 as a sensor.
The base and collector of T2 have been shorted so that
it is reduced to a diode. The forward voltage drop of the
diode changes with temperatures. The rate of change in
voltage drop is around -2mV/0C. Thus, the forward
voltage of the diode changes with temperature. This
principle is used in this circuit to measure temperature
with reasonable accuracy.

A small signal transistor provides the best

characteristics suitable for use as a temperature
sensor. As a matter of fact, any small signal transistor
can be used in place of the BC 547 in the circuit with
similar results. The base-emitter diode is used as the
sensing element in this circuit. This diode ahs a
nominal forward voltage drop of around 0.6V at room
temperature. The diode is forward biased with a current
of 100µA, derived from the internal reference of ADC
ICL 7107. The Voltage drop of around 2mV for every
0
Crise in temperature.

This voltage is connected to the IN LO input of the

ICL 7104CPL. (ICL7107CPL is an LSI ADC chip with
necessary circuitry built into it, so a simple 3½ digit
ADC can be implemented with just a handful of
components . ICL 7107 CPL is the LED –driver of popular
ICL 7106 , which is commonly used in low cost LCD
digital multimeters )The IN HI Signal is connected to a
trimpot , which is set such that at 00C the potential
difference between in HI and IN LO is 0V.

With increase in temperature, the voltage drop in the

base emitter diode of transistor reduces and hence the
potential difference between in HI and 1N LO increase.
The ADC, as per following relationship, converts this
potentials difference into a digital value :
(IN HI-IN LO) / (REF HI –REF LO) * 1000 counts
Where REF HI and REF LO are the voltage levels as pins
36 and 35 of ICI , respectively.
A reference voltage is critical in all analogue to digital
conversions. The ICL 7107 CPL has an internal band gap
reference that provides as stable output of around
2.8V , as measured from the positive voltage rail (+5V).
The analog common (AC) is used for all the analog
circuitry. Thus, at nay point of time , the potential
between the AC and the +5V rail is maintained at a
constant 2.8V by the internal reference . Trimpot VR1 is
connected between the AC and +5V sets the reference
voltage for the analogue –to-digital convesion (REF H1-
REF LO).

ADC PARAMETERS :
The ADC requires a fairly stable clock, which is
generated by using a simple RC combination. With the
components shown across pins 38 and 39 ICI in the
circuit, a clock frequency of about 48kHZ. is obtained .
For all ranges of the frequency, a 100 K resistor is
recommended and the capacitor value is calculated
from the equation f= 0.45 /RC. This gives a conversion
rate of 3 readings per second. Since this is an
integrating type ADC, an integrating capacitor (C4,
0.22µF) is used here. As the accuracy of the ADC
greatly depends on the type of the capacitor, the
capacitor must be low dielectric.

Absorption, such as polypropylene, polystyrene,

polyester capacitor will provide erroneous results. The
47K resistor (R4) sets the integrating current. The auto-
zero capacitor has some influence on the noise of the
system. For 200m V full scale, where low noise is very
important, a 0.47µF polyester capacitor (C3) is
recommended. A 0.1 µF polyester capacitor (C1) is used
for the internal reference circuitry. Since the ADC
output section switches large currents, a 0.1 µF
ceramic disk decoupling capacitor is connected close
to lC1.
The ADC has 23 outputs that directly interface with
LTS 542 common anode 7-segment displays (DIS1 to
DIS 3) and ½ digit common anode display (DIS4). You
can use LTS 542 by using its segment b,c and g in place
of ½ digit display with a b and POL (MINUS) segments,
respectively . The result of the conversion along with
polarity is displayed on these four 7 segment displays.

CALIBRATION :
After assembling the circuit, dip sensor transistor
T2 in ice-cold water at 00C , taking care not to short the
base and emitter leads of the transistor, and adjust
trimpot VR2 until the display reads 00.0 . After this dip
sensor transistor T2 in boiling water (1000c) and adjust
trimpot VR1 such that the display reads 100.00
Since the sensor diode takes some time to settle
to the final temperature, the sensor should be kept in
ice or boiling water for at least 10 to 20 seconds before
adjusting VR1 or VR2 . Once calibration is done the
circuit is ready to measure the temperature of the
desired medium.

RELAY CONTROLLER :
This circuit can be used to control a heater (shown
as load) using the relay contacts , The simple voltage
comparator circuit built around LM 311 (IC2) compares
the temperature measured by sensor transistor T2 and
trip-point voltage set by VR3 . if the actual
temperatures measured by the sensor is less than the
trip point, the relay remains energized . On reaching the
trip point, the comparator switches off the relay, which,
in turn, switches off the heater. To monitor the trip
point temperature on display, press push –to-
changeover switch S. This shifts switch S connection
from position A to position B and connects the ADC
input pin 30 of ICI (INLO) to the trip point voltage set by
VR3. The trip point temperature is now displayed on the
four 7 segment displays (DI-SI to DIS4) . On releasing
switch S, the ADC input pin 30 (INLO) returns to
position A, and now the ADC normally displays the
sensor temperature. A positive feedback is used in the
comparator to produce clean transitions at the output.

BUZZER SYSTEM
A Buzzer system in also employed with the CKT, as
soon as the temp reaches the max pt.& relay is
operated & cut the heater supply a Buzzer system get
activated on the Panel using IC Um 3561,which is used
to produce different type of sound, simple SPDT switch
is also employed to switch off the Buzzer, this buzzer in
placed outside the heating chamber but we want to
activate the Buzzer at the control room also there for
we send the IC Um 3561 signal through Radio wave
with the help of a transmitter which operate at 96MHz..
These signal are received by the Radio receiver (KIT)
which has IC CX A1619 & IC CTC 810, IC CXA, 1619 BS
is used here as an receiver which demodulate the
sound signal . The signal received here are very weak
so it is to amplified which is done with the help of IC
CTC 810.
The O/P is obtained on the speaker hence we get the
same O/P at both side with the help of radio waves.

CAUTION :
1 To ensure correct and accurate operation, select
appropriate capacitors for the ADC.
2 Trimpots VR1 and VR2 must be of low –drift type.
VR3 can be wire-wound type which will greatly
improve the stability of the circuit.
3 Take care while handling ICL 7107 CPL, as it is
susceptible to electrostatic charge. Always use
a shielded cable from the sensor to the PCB.
4 Analog common (AC) and digital ground (GND)
should not be connected together.
5 The load currents should be within the relay
contact ratings.
6 The sensors must never be kept floating in air if
the air temperature is to be measured .
Otherwise the sensor will not give a stable
output, leading to excessive rolling of ADC
outputs. To achieve a sable ouput attach the
sensor to a metallic device, which in turn, may
be exposed to the medium whose temperature is
to be measured.
Printed cir cuit boar d

PCB Layout Program

A printed circuit board, or PCB, is used to mechanically support
and electrically connect electronic components using conductive
pathways, or traces, etched from copper sheets laminated onto a
non-conductive substrate. Alternative names are printed wiring
board (PWB),and etched wiring board. A PCB populated with
electronic components is a printed circuit assembly (PCA), also
known as a printed circuit board assembly (PCBA).

PCBs are rugged, inexpensive, and can be highly reliable. They

require much more layout effort and higher initial cost than either
wire-wrapped or point-to-point constructed circuits, but are much
cheaper and faster for high-volume production.

Much of the electronics industry's PCB design, assembly, and

quality control needs are set by standards that are published by the
IPC organization.
Manufacturing
Materials
Conducting layers are typically made of thin copper foil. Insulating
materials have a wider scale: phenolic paper, glass fibre and
different plastics are commonly used. Usually PCB factories use
prepregs (short for preimpregnated), which are a combination of
glass fibre mat, nonwoven material and resin. Copper foil and
prepreg are typically laminated together with epoxy resin. Well
known prepreg materials used in the PCB industry are FR-2
(Phenolic cotton paper), FR-3 (Cotton paper and epoxy), FR-4
(Woven glass and epoxy), FR-5 (Woven glass and epoxy), FR-6
(Matte glass and polyester), G-10 (Woven glass and epoxy), CEM-1
(Cotton paper and epoxy), CEM-2 (Cotton paper and epoxy), CEM-3
(Woven glass and epoxy), CEM-4 (Woven glass and epoxy), CEM-5
(Woven glass and polyester). Other widely used materials are
polyimide, teflon and some ceramics.

A PCB as a design on a computer (left) and realized as a board

assembly with populated components (right). The board is double
sided, with through-hole plating, green solder resist, and white
silkscreen printing. Both surface mount and through-hole
components have been used.
Patterning (etching)
The vast majority of printed circuit boards are made by bonding a
layer of copper over the entire substrate, sometimes on both sides,
(creating a "blank PCB") then removing unwanted copper after
applying a temporary mask (eg. by etching), leaving only the
desired copper traces. A few PCBs are made by adding traces to
the bare substrate (or a substrate with a very thin layer of copper)
usually by a complex process of multiple electroplating steps.

There are three common "subtractive" methods (methods that

remove copper) used for the production of printed circuit boards:

1. Silk screen printing uses etch-resistant inks to protect the

copper foil. Subsequent etching removes the unwanted copper.
Alternatively, the ink may be conductive, printed on a blank
(non-conductive) board. The latter technique is also used in
the manufacture of hybrid circuits.
2. Photoengraving uses a photomask and chemical etching to
remove the copper foil from the substrate. The photomask is
usually prepared with a photoplotter from data produced by a
technician using CAM, or computer-aided manufacturing
software. Laser-printed transparencies are typically employed
for phototools; however, direct laser imaging techniques are
being employed to replace phototools for high-resolution
requirements.
3. PCB milling uses a two or three-axis mechanical milling
system to mill away the copper foil from the substrate. A PCB
milling machine (referred to as a 'PCB Prototyper') operates in
a similar way to a plotter, receiving commands from the host
software that control the position of the milling head in the x,
 y, and (if relevant) z axis.

Data to drive the Prototyper is extracted from files generated in

PCB design software and stored in HPGL or Gerber file format.

"Additive" processes also exist. The most common is the "semi-

additive" process. In this version, the unpatterned board has a thin
layer of copper already on it. A reverse mask is then applied.
(Unlike a subtractive process mask, this mask exposes those parts
of the substrate that will eventually become the traces.) Additional
copper is then plated onto the board in the unmasked areas; copper
may be plated to any desired weight. Tin-lead or other surface
platings are then applied. The mask is stripped away and a brief
etching step removes the now-exposed original copper laminate
from the board, isolating the individual traces.

The additive process is commonly used for multi-layer boards as it

facilitates the plating-through of the holes (to produce conductive
vias) in the circuit board.

Lamination
Some PCBs have trace layers inside the PCB and are called multi-
layer PCBs. These are formed by bonding together separately
etched thin boards.

Drilling
Holes, or vias, through a PCB are typically drilled with tiny drill bits
made of solid tungsten carbide. The drilling is performed by
automated drilling machines with placement controlled by a drill
tape or drill file. These computer-generated files are also called
numerically controlled drill (NCD) files or "Excellon files".

The drill file describes the location and size of each drilled hole.

When very small vias are required, drilling with mechanical bits is
costly because of high rates of wear and breakage. In this case, the
vias may be evaporated by lasers. Laser-drilled vias typically have
an inferior surface finish inside the hole. These holes are called
micro vias.

It is also possible with controlled-depth drilling, laser drilling, or by

pre-drilling the individual sheets of the PCB before lamination, to
produce holes that connect only some of the copper layers, rather
than passing through the entire board. These holes are called blind
vias when they connect an internal copper layer to an outer layer,
or buried vias when they connect two or more internal copper
layers and no outer layers.

The walls of the holes, for boards with 2 or more layers, are plated
with copper to form plated-through holes that electrically connect
the conducting layers of the PCB. For multilayer boards, those with
4 layers or more, drilling typically produces a smear comprised of
the bonding agent in the laminate system. Before the holes can be
plated through, this smear must be removed by a chemical de-
smear process, or by plasma-etch.

Exposed conductor plating and

coating
The places to which components will be mounted are typically
Resistor
A resistor is a two-terminal electrical or electronic component
that opposes an electric current by producing a voltage drop
between its terminals in accordance with Ohm's law: The
electrical resistance is equal to the voltage drop across the
resistor divided by the current through the resistor while the
temperature remains the same. Resistors are used as part of
electrical networks and electronic circuits.

Identifying resistors
Most axial resistors use a pattern of colored stripes to indicate
resistance. Surface-mount resistors are marked numerically.
Cases are usually brown, blue, or green, though other colors are
occasionally found such as dark red or dark grey.

One can also use a multimeter or ohmmeter to test the values of a

resistor.

Four-band axial resistors

Electronic color code

Four-band identification is the most commonly used color coding

scheme on all resistors. It consists of four colored bands that are
painted around the body of the resistor. The scheme is simple:
The first two numbers are the first two significant digits of the
resistance value, the third is a multiplier, and the fourth is the
tolerance of the value.
(e.g. green-blue-yellow red : 56 x (10^4) ohms = 56 x 10000 ohms =
560 kohms ±2%). Each color corresponds to a certain number,
shown in the chart below. The tolerance for a 4-band resistor will
be 1%, 5%, or 10%.

1 st 2 nd 3 rd band 4 th band Temp.

Color
band band (multiplier) (tolerance) Coefficient
Black 0 0 ×100
Brown 1 1 ×101 ±1% (F) 100 ppm
Red 2 2 ×102 ±2% (G) 50 ppm
Orange 3 3 ×103 15 ppm
Yellow 4 4 ×104 25 ppm
Green 5 5 ×105 ±0.5% (D)
Blue 6 6 ×106 ±0.25% (C)
Violet 7 7 ×107 ±0.1% (B)
Gray 8 8 ×108 ±0.05% (A)
White 9 9 ×109
Gold ×10-1 ±5% (J)
Silver ×10-2 ±10% (K)
None ±20% (M)
5-band axial resistors
5-band identification is used for higher precision (lower tolerance)
resistors (1%, 0.5%, 0.25%, 0.1%), to notate the extra digit. The
first three bands represent the significant digits, the fourth is the
multiplier, and the fifth is the tolerance. 5-band standard
tolerance resistors are sometimes encountered, generally on
older or specialized resistors. They can be identified by noting a
standard tolerance color in the 4th band. The 5th band in this
case is the temperature coefficient

Surface mounted resistors are printed with numerical values in a

code related to that used on axial resistors. Standard-tolerance
Surface Mount Technology (SMT) resistors are marked with a
three-digit code, in which the first two digits are the first two
significant digits of the value and the third digit is the power of
ten (the number of zeroes). For example:

"334" = 33 × 10,000 ohms = 330 kiloohms

"222" = 22 × 100 ohms = 2.2 kiloohms
"473" = 47 × 1,000 ohms = 47 kiloohms
"105" = 10 × 100,000 ohms = 1 megaohm

Resistances less than 100 ohms are written: 100, 220, 470. The
final zero represents ten to the power zero, which is 1.
For example:

"100" = 10 × 1 ohm = 10 ohms

"220" = 22 × 1 ohm = 22 ohms

Sometimes these values are marked as "10" or "22" to prevent a

mistake.

Resistances less than 10 ohms have 'R' to indicate the position of

the decimal point (radix point). For example:

"4R7" = 4.7 ohms

"0R22" = 0.22 ohms
"0R01" = 0.01 ohms

Precision resistors are marked with a four-digit code, in which the

first three digits are the significant figures and the fourth is the
power of ten. For example:

"1001" = 100 × 10 ohms = 1 kiloohm

"4992" = 499 × 100 ohms = 49.9 kiloohm
"1000" = 100 × 1 ohm = 100 ohms

"000" and "0000" sometimes appear as values on surface-mount

zero-ohm links, since these have (approximately) zero resistance.
Power dissipation
The power dissipated by a resistor is the voltage across the
resistor multiplied by the current through the resistor:

All three equations are equivalent. The first is derived from

Joule's law, and other two are derived from that by Ohm's Law.

Carbon composition
Carbon composition resistors consist of a solid cylindrical
resistive element with embedded wire leadouts or metal end caps
to which the leadout wires are attached, which is protected with
paint or plastic.

The resistive element is made from a mixture of finely ground

(powdered) carbon and an insulating material (usually ceramic).
The mixture is held together by a resin. The resistance is
determined by the ratio of the fill material (the powdered ceramic)
and the carbon. Higher concentrations of carbon, a weak
conductor, result in lower resistance. Carbon composition
resistors were commonly used in the 1960s and earlier, but are
not so popular for general use now as other types have better
specifications, such as tolerance, voltage dependence, and stress
(carbon composition resistors will change value when stressed
with over-voltages).
Tr ansistor
A transistor is a semiconductor device, commonly used to
amplify or switch electronic signals. The transistor is the
fundamental building block of computers, and all other modern
electronic devices. Some transistors are packaged individually
but most are found in integrated circuits.

Introduction

An electrical signal can be amplified by using a device that allows

a small current or voltage to control the flow of a much larger
current. Transistors are the basic devices providing control of this
kind. Modern transistors are divided into two main categories:
bipolar junction transistors (BJTs) and field effect transistors
(FETs). Applying current in BJTs and voltage in FETs between the
input and common terminals increases the conductivity between
the common and output terminals, thereby controlling current
flow between them. The characteristics of a transistor depend on
its type.

The term "transistor" originally referred to the point contact type,

which saw very limited commercial application, being replaced by
the much more practical bipolar junction types in the early 1950s.
Today's most widely used schematic symbol, like the term
"transistor", originally referred to these long-obsolete devices.[1]

In analog circuits, transistors are used in amplifiers, (direct

current amplifiers, audio amplifiers, radio frequency amplifiers),
and linear regulated power supplies.
Transistors are also used in digital circuits where they function as
electronic switches, but rarely as discrete devices, almost always
being incorporated in monolithic Integrated Circuits. Digital
circuits include logic gates, random access memory (RAM),
microprocessors, and digital signal processors (DSPs).

Advantages
The key advantages that have allowed transistors to replace their
vacuum tube predecessors in most applications are:

• Small size and minimal weight, allowing the development of

miniaturized electronic devices.
• Highly automated manufacturing processes, resulting in low
per-unit cost.
• Lower possible operating voltages, making transistors
suitable for small, battery-powered applications.
• No warm-up period for cathode heaters required after power
application.
• Lower power dissipation and generally greater energy
efficiency.
• Higher reliability and greater physical ruggedness.
• Extremely long life. Some transistorized devices produced
more than 30 years ago are still in service.
• Complementary devices available, facilitating the design of
complementary-symmetry circuits, something not possible
with vacuum tubes.
• Though in most transistors the junctions have different
doping levels and geometry, some allow bidirectional current
 • Ability to control very large currents, as much as several
hundred amperes.
• Insensitivity to mechanical shock and vibration, thus
avoiding the problem of microphonics in audio applications.
• More sensitive than the hot and macroscopic tubes

Disadvantages
• Silicon transistors do not operate at voltages higher than
about 1 kV, SiC go to 3 kV.
• The electron mobility is higher in a vacuum, so that high
power, high frequency operation is easier in tubes.

Types

PNP P-channel

NPN N-channel

BJT JFET

BJT and JFET symbols

Bipolar junction transistor
The bipolar junction transistor (BJT) was the first type of
transistor to be mass-produced. Bipolar transistors are so named
because they conduct by using both majority and minority
carriers. The three terminals of the BJT are named emitter, base
and collector. Two p-n junctions exist inside a BJT: the
base/emitter junction and base/collector junction. "The [BJT] is
useful in amplifiers because the currents at the emitter and
collector are controllable by the relatively small base current." In
an NPN transistor operating in the active region, the emitter-base
junction is forward biased, and electrons are injected into the
base region. Because the base is narrow, most of these electrons
will diffuse into the reverse-biased base-collector junction and be
swept into the collector; perhaps one-hundredth of the electrons
will recombine in the base, which is the dominant mechanism in
the base current. By controlling the number of electrons that can
leave the base, the number of electrons entering the collector can
be controlled.

Unlike the FET, the BJT is a low–input-impedance device. Also, as

the base–emitter voltage (Vbe) is increased the base–emitter
current and hence the collector–emitter current (Ice) increase
exponentially according to the Shockley diode model and the
Ebers-Moll model. Because of this exponential relationship, the
BJT has a higher transconductance than the FET.

Bipolar transistors can be made to conduct by exposure to light,

since absorption of photons in the base region generates a
photocurrent that acts as a base current; the collector current is

approximately beta times the photocurrent.

Devices designed for this purpose have a transparent window in

the package and are called phototransistors.

Semiconductor material
The first BJTs were made from germanium (Ge) and some high
power types still are. Silicon (Si) types currently predominate but
certain advanced microwave and high performance versions now
employ the compound semiconductor material gallium arsenide
(GaAs) and the semiconductor alloy silicon germanium (SiGe).
Single element semiconductor material (Ge and Si) is described as
elemental.
Capacitor
A capacitor is an electrical/electronic device that can store
energy in the electric field between a pair of conductors (called
"plates"). The process of storing energy in the capacitor is
known as "charging", and involves electric charges of equal
magnitude, but opposite polarity, building up on each plate.

Capacitors are often used in electric and electronic circuits as

energy-storage devices. They can also be used to differentiate
between high-frequency and low-frequency signals. This property
makes them useful in electronic filters.

Capacitors are occasionally referred to as condensers. This is

considered an antiquated term in English, but most other
languages use an equivalent, like "Kondensator" in German,
"Condensador" in Spanish, or "Kondensa" in Japanese.