COMSATS Fall 2016 (Rev.1.

0)

Principles of Communication Systems (PCS)

EEE 351

Lecture # 15
Radio Transmitters and Receivers
COMSATS PCS

Types of Communication Systems

• There are three basic categories of the communication systems depending upon their
transmission and reception properties.
– Simplex.
– Half Duplex.
– Full Duplex.

• Simplex: A communication system capable of one way communication only. These

include FM Radios, Pagers, TV, AMR Systems.

http://www.ti.com/lit/ml/slap127/slap127.pdf
COMSATS PCS

Types of Communication Systems

• Half-Duplex: The communication • Full-Duplex: The communication
system in which each end can system in which both ends can
transmit and receive but not transmit and receive simultaneously.
simultaneously.
• Two frequencies are used where one
• Half duplex communication is bi- frequency is dedicated for
directional over the same frequency transmission and the other for
but unidirectional for the duration of reception.
the message.
• Examples are cellular phones and
• Examples are Walkie Talkie and satellite communications.
wireless keyboard and mouse.

http://www.ti.com/lit/ml/slap127/slap127.pdf
COMSATS PCS

Radio Transmitter
• A radio transmitter is an electronic
device/circuit which produces a
signal which is radiated through an
antenna for transmission through
some distance.
• Radio transmitters have to meet
certain operational requirements for
proper functionality.
• Generally, the radio transmitter
consists of the following stages
– Frequency Synthesizer.
– Frequency Multiplier.
– Modulator.
– Power Amplifier.
– Impedance matching Network.

• These requirements include

frequency of operation, type of
modulation, stability and purity of
the signal, power level and efficiency
requirement.
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Frequency Synthesizer
• The frequency synthesizer is a
circuit which generates the
oscillations (usually sinusoidal but
not necessary).
• For fixed frequency transmitters,
a resonant quartz crystal
oscillator can be used for
frequency synthesis.
• There are types of transmitters
which use variable frequencies.
PCS
• For variable frequency
transmitters, a crystal bank
capable of generating different
frequencies is used.
• Other methods/circuits used for
the variable frequency synthesis
are
– Variable Frequency Oscillator.
– Phase Locked Loop Frequency
Synthesizer.
– Direct Digital Synthesis.
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Frequency Multiplier
• Frequency multiplier is a circuit • For a system where the frequency
which multiplies/shifts the frequency synthesizer is stable and capable
of the signal generated by the of generating high frequencies,
frequency synthesizer. the frequency multiplier stage is
usually not required.
• Usually, the frequency synthesizers
are not operated to generate the
frequency of transmission because
of stability issues.

• Instead, a low frequency is

generated using frequency
synthesizer and then generate the
higher frequency by using frequency
multiplier.
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Modulator
• The modulator is a device that
modulates the information signal
onto the carrier signal.
• The modulation is a process in
which a parameter of the carrier
wave is changed according to the
information signal.
• The types of modulation include
– Amplitude Modulation.
– Frequency Modulation.
– Phase Modulation.
PCS
• The advantage of modulation is
that the signal can be transmitted
to a longer distance as the
baseband transmission cannot
cover large distances.
• Additionally, the modulation
enables the simultaneous
transmission of various signals.
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Power Amplifier
• An amplifier designed to • Power amplifiers are usually
amplify/maximize the power of optimized to have
the signal. – High Efficiency.
– High Output Power.
– Optimum Heat Dissipation.
• An RF power amplifier converts – Good Gain.
the low power RF signal to a high – Good Return Loss on Input and
powered RF signal for increasing Output.
the transmission distance.

• The radiating antenna acts as a

load to the power amplifier. An
important aspect for maximum
power transfer is impedance
matching.
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Antenna
• An antenna is a device which is
used to transmit and receive
electromagnetic waves.
• Most antennas are resonant
devices capable of efficiently
operating over a narrow
frequency band.
• A mismatched antenna impairs
the transmission/reception.
• The major factors which govern
antenna design are
– Wavelength.
– Impedance Matching.
– Reflected Power Bandwidth.
– Directivity & Gain.

• The antenna is designed to be

matched to the operating
frequency band of radio system
to which it is connected.
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Antenna Radiation Pattern

• Two major categories of antennas • Directional antennas are those
based upon the radiation patter which concentrate the
are energy/power in specific
direction.
– Omni-directional Antennas.
– Directional Antennas.
• Cellular systems and all the point
to point transmission links usually
• Omni-directional antennas are use the directional antennas.
those antenna which
radiate/transmit the
energy/power equally in all
directions. The referred directions
are usually in the horizontal
direction.
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Radio Receiver
• Device or circuit which pick up a • Low Noise Amplifier (LNA)
transmitted signal and process it – LNA is an amplifier used to amplify
very weak signal.
to recover the transmitted
information.
– Like all amplifiers, LNA injects noise
into the signal to be amplified.
• A typical receiver has the
following building blocks
– But contrary to the normal
– Low Noise Amplifier (LNA). amplifiers, LNA injects a very small
– Frequency Mixer amount of noise and thus named as
– LNA.
Demodulator.
– Amplifier.
– Image and Noise Removing – It implies that LNA has very small
Filters. value of Noise Figure (NF).
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Radio Receiver
• Frequency Mixer • Demodulator
– Frequency mixer is a device that takes two input
frequencies (f1 and f2) and generates two new – Demodulator is a device that
frequencies. extracts the original information
from the modulated carrier
– These frequencies are known as sum (f1+f2) and (f1-f2) wave.
difference frequencies .

– Other frequencies may also be produced in practical

mixers.
– The type of demodulator used in
the receiver is dependent upon
the type of modulation used at
– It allows the receiver to be tuned across a wide
band of interest, then translates the desired, the transmitter.
arbitrary received signal frequency to a known,
fixed frequency.

– This allows the signal of interest to be efficiently

processed, filtered, and demodulated.
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Homodyne Receiver
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Heterodyne Receiver
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References
http://www.digikey.com/en/articles/techzone/2013/dec/understanding-the-mixers-role-
in-an-rf-receiver-design