(i) Transducer: Any device that converts one form of energy into another can be termed as a transducer. In electronic communication systems, we usually come across devices that have either their inputs or outputs in the electrical form. An electrical transducer may be defined as a device that converts some physical variable (pressure, displacement, force, temperature, etc) into corresponding variations in the electrical signal at its output.
(ii) Signal: Information converted in electrical form and suitable for transmission is called a signal. Signals can be either analog or digital. Analog signals are continuous variations of voltage or current. They are essentially single-valued functions of time. Sine wave is a fundamental analog signal. All other analog signals can be fully understood in terms of their sine wave components. Sound and picture signals in TV are analog in nature. Digital signals are those which can take only discrete stepwise values. Binary system that is extensively used in digital electronics employs just two levels of a signal. ‘0’ corresponds to a low level and ‘1’ corresponds to a high level of voltage/ current. There are several coding schemes useful for digital communication. They employ suitable combinations of number systems such as the binary coded decimal (BCD). American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) is a universally popular digital code to represent numbers, letters and certain characters.
(iii) Noise: Noise refers to the unwanted signals that tend to disturb the transmission and processing of message signals in a communication system. The source generating the noise may be located inside or outside the system.
(iv) Transmitter: A transmitter processes the incoming message signal so as to make it suitable for transmission through a channel and subsequent reception.
(v) Receiver: A receiver extracts the desired message signals from the received signals at the channel output.
(vi) Attenuation: The loss of strength of a signal while propagating through a medium is known as attenuation.
(vii) Amplification: It is the process of increasing the amplitude (andconsequently the strength) of a signal using an electronic circuit called the amplifier. Amplification is necessary to compensate for the attenuation of the signal in communication systems. The energy needed for additional signal strength is obtained from a DC power source. Amplification is done at a place between the source and the destination wherever signal strength becomes weaker than the required strength.
(viii) Range: It is the largest distance between a source and a destination up to which the signal is received with sufficient strength.
(ix) Bandwidth: Bandwidth refers to the frequency range over which an equipment operates or the portion of the spectrum occupied by the signal.
(x) Modulation: The original low frequency message/information signal cannot be transmitted to long distances. Therefore, at the transmitter, information contained in the low frequency message signal is superimposed on a high frequency wave, which acts as a carrier of the information. This process is known as modulation. As will be explained later, there are several types of modulation, abbreviated as AM, FM and PM.
(xi) Demodulation: The process of retrieval of information from the carrier wave at the receiver is termed demodulation. This is the reverse process of modulation.
(xii) Repeater: A repeater is a combination of a receiver and a transmitter. A repeater, picks up the signal from the transmitter, amplifies and retransmits it to the receiver sometimes with a change in carrier frequency. Repeaters are used to extend the range of a communication system as shown in Fig. 15.2. A communication satellite is essentially a repeater station in space.
