Basic block diagram of analog communication system

Introduction:-

Communications refer to sending, receiving and processing of information by electrical means, that is it means exchanging information between transmitter and receiver.

In early 1840’s the type of communication used was Wire telegraphy later on the forms are as telephony, Radio communication (possible with the invention of triode tube, Satellite communications and fibre optics(with the invention of transistors and IC’s and semi-conductor devices), that means communications become more advanced with increasing emphasis on computer and other data communications.

A modern communication system is concerned with

before transmission:- 

• sorting:- sorting for the right message.
• Processing:- processing is to make that message more suitable for transmission.
• storing:- storing that message before transmission.

then the actual transmission of that message takes place (processing and filtering  noise)

at the receiver:-

• decoding:-decoding the original message.
• storage:-storing a copy of that message.
• interpretation:-and analyzing for the correctness of that message.

the different forms of modern communication systems includes Mobile communications,Computer communications, Radio telemetry etc.

to become familiar with communication systems one needs to know about amplifiers and oscillators that means fundamentals of electronic circuits must be known, with these concepts as a background the every day communication concepts like noise, modulation and information theory as well as various types of systems may be studied.

The most general form of Communication system ( one or two blocks may differ) is shown in the figure basic terminology used in Communication systems is message signal /information/data,channel,noise,modulation, encoding and decoding. Communication system is meant for communicating messages between Transmitter and Receiver (or) source & destination.

source:-

source or information source is the primary block in communication system which generates original message / actual message. 

i.e, selecting one message (actual message) from a group of messages itself is called as sorting data (or) information. Source generates message which may be in any form like words, code , symbols, sound signal, images, videos etc.among these the desired message has been selected and conveyed.

A transducer is one which converts one form of energy into electrical energy because the message from information source may not be always in electrical form, a transducer is used in between source and transmitter as a separate block sometimes (or) may be a part of Tx ^r.

Transmitter:-

Tx^r is meant for the following tasks

• restriction of range of audio frequencies (i.e, limiting the bandwidth of the message signal).
• Amplification.
• Modulation. 

In general modulation is said to be the main function of the transmitter.

Channel:-

The medium that exists between transmitter and receiver is called as channel. The function of channel is to provide connection between transmitter  and receiver, two types of channels are  there wired/point to point  and wireless/broadcasting channels.

Point to point channels are generally wired channels(i.e, a physical medium exists) like Microwave links, optical fibre links etc. 

Microwave links:- these links are used in telephone transmission.In these type of links guided EM waves are used to transmit from Tx^r to Rx^r.

optical fibre links:- used in low-loss high speed data transmission and uses optical fibers as the medium .

Broadcast channels:- the medium or channel is wireless here, in broadcasting a single transmitter can send information to many receivers simultaneously, satellite broadcasting system is one such system.

during the process of transmission and reception, the signal gets distorted due to noise in the channel, noise may interfere with the signal at any point but noise in the channel has greatest effect on the signal.

Receiver:-

The main function of the receiver is to reproduce the message signal in electrical form from the distorted received signal. This reproduction process is called demodulation (or) detection , in general this demodulation may be assumed as the reverse process of modulation carried out in transmission. 

there are a great variety of receivers in communication systems, the type of receiver chosen depends on type of modulation, operating frequency ,its range  and type of destination required. Most common receiver is superheterodyne receiver .

so many types of receivers are available from a very simple crystal receiver with headphones to radar receiver etc.

Destination:- It is the final stage of any communication system. it would be a loud speaker / a display device/simply a load etc depending up on the requirement of the system.