Fundamentals of Avionics

Sudhir Kumar Chaturvedi

Professor & Head
Aerospace Engineering
Alliance University

Commun
 Human Communication
• Methods of communication:
1.Face to face

2.Written word (letters)

3.Electrical innovations:
• Telegraph
• Telephone
• Radio
• Television
• Internet (computer)
Communication Systems
A Communications Model
Basic Communication System
 Basic Communication System

• Basic components:
– Transmitter
– Channel or medium
– Receiver

• Noise degrades or interferes with transmitted

information.
 Transmitter
• The transmitter is a collection of electronic
components and circuits that converts the electrical
signal into a signal suitable for transmission over a
given medium.

• Transmitters are made up of oscillators, amplifiers,

tuned circuits and filters, modulators, frequency mixers,
frequency synthesizers, and other circuits.
 Communication Channel
• The communication channel is the medium by
which the electronic signal is sent from one
place to another.

• Types of media include

• Electrical conductors
• Optical media
• Free space
• System-specific media (e.g., water is the medium for sonar).
Physical Transmission Media
Physical Transmission Media
 Receivers

• A receiver is a collection of electronic components and

circuits that accepts the transmitted message from the
channel and converts it back into a form understandable
by humans.

• Receivers contain amplifiers, oscillators, mixers, tuned

circuits and filters, and a demodulator or detector that
recovers the original intelligence signal from the
 Transceivers

• A transceiver is an electronic unit that

incorporates circuits that both send and receive
signals.
• Examples are:
• Telephones
• Fax machines
• Cell phones
• Computer modems
 Signal Attenuation

• Signal attenuation, or degradation, exists in all

media of wireless transmission.

• It is proportional to the square of the distance

between the transmitter and receiver.
 Noise

• Noise is random, undesirable electronic energy

that enters the communication system via the
communicating medium and interferes with
the transmitted message.
 Types of Electronic Communication

• Electronic communications are classified

according to whether they are

1. One-way (Simplex) or two-way (Full

duplex) transmissions.

2. Analog or digital signals.

 Simplex
• The simplest method of electronic
communication is referred to as simplex.

• This type of communication is one-way.

Examples are:
• Radio
• TV broadcasting
 Half Duplex
• The form of two-way communication in which
only one party transmits at a time is known as
half duplex.

• Examples are:
• Police, military, etc. radio transmissions
• Walky Talky
• HAM radio
• Morse Code
 Full Duplex
• Most electronic communication is two-
way and is referred to as duplex.

• When people can talk and listen

simultaneously, it is called full duplex.

• The telephone is an example of this type

of communication.
 Serial Transmission
Data is transmitted, on a single channel, one bit at a time
one after another
- Much faster than parallel because of way bits processed
(e.g. USB and SATA drives)

1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1
Sender transmitted Receiver received
 Parallel Transmission
-each bit has it’s own piece of wire along which it travels
- often used to send data to a printer
Sender transmitted

1
0

Receiver received
0
1
1
0
0
1

All bits are sent simultaneously

 Synchronous Vs
AsynchronousTransmissions

Synchronous Transmission
all data sent at once and no packet switching

Asynchronous Transmission
•Uses stop/ start bits
•most common type of serial data transfer
•Allows packet switching
•Allows sharing of bandwidth (i.e. talk on phone
while another person is using internet)
 ANALOG
COMMUNICATION

COMMUNICATION
SYSTEM

DIGITAL
COMMUNICATION
Analog Communication
Digital Communication
 Data

• Data can be analog or digital.

• The term analog data refers to information
that is continuous.
• Digital data refers to information that has
discrete states.
• Analog data take on continuous values.
• Digital data take on discrete values.
Comparison of analog and digital signals
 Analog Signal

A typical
Signal sine wave
Amplitude

Time
Cycle

Frequency = Cycles/Second
 Analog Signal

3 Basic Parameters of analog signal

1. Amplitude
2. Frequency
3. Phase
Two signals with the same phase and
frequency, but different amplitudes
 Frequency

• Frequency is the rate of change of cycle (Positive

and Negative) with respect to time.

• Change in a short span of time means high

frequency.

• Change over a long span of time means low

frequency.
Note

If a signal does not change at all, its

frequency is zero.
If a signal changes instantaneously, its
frequency is infinite.
Two signals with the same amplitude and
phase, but different frequencies
3 Sine waves with frequencies 0, 8
& 16
 Phase

Note

Phase describes the position of the

waveform relative to time 0.
Three sine waves with the same amplitude
and frequency, but different phases
Units of period and frequency
Practical Case – Composite Signal
 Modulation and Multiplexing

Broadband Transmission
– A broadband transmission takes place when a
carrier signal is modulated, amplified, and sent to
the antenna for transmission.
– The two most common methods of modulation
are:
• Amplitude Modulation (AM)
• Frequency Modulation (FM)
– Another method is called phase modulation (PM),
in which the phase angle of the sine wave is
varied.
 Modulation and Multiplexing

Figure 1-7: Modulation at the transmitter.

 Modulation and Multiplexing

Figure 1-8: Types of modulation. (a) Amplitude modulation. (b) Frequency modulation.
 Modulation and Multiplexing

Multiplexing
– Multiplexing is the process of allowing two or
more signals to share the same medium or
channel.
– The three basic types of multiplexing are:
• Frequency division
• Time division
• Code division
 Modulation and Multiplexing

Figure 1-11: Multiplexing at the transmitter.

 The Electromagnetic Spectrum
Frequency and Wavelength: Wavelength
Wavelength (λ) = speed of light ÷ frequency
Speed of light = 3 × 108 meters/second
Therefore:
λ = 3 × 108 / f
Example:
What is the wavelength if the frequency is 4MHz?
λ = 3 × 108 / 4 MHz
= 75 meters (m)
 The Electromagnetic Spectrum

Frequency Ranges from 30 Hz to 300 GHz

– The electromagnetic spectrum is divided into segments:

Extremely Low Frequencies (ELF) 30–300 Hz.

Voice Frequencies (VF) 300–3000 Hz.
Very Low Frequencies (VLF) include the higher end of the
human hearing range up to
about 20 kHz.
Low Frequencies (LF) 30–300 kHz.

Medium Frequencies (MF) 300–3000 kHz

AM radio 535–1605 kHz.
 The Electromagnetic Spectrum

Frequency Ranges from 30 Hz to 300 GHz

High Frequencies (HF) 3–30 MHz
(short waves; VOA, BBC
broadcasts; government and
military two-way communication;
amateur radio, CB.
Very High Frequencies (VHF) 30–300 MHz
FM radio broadcasting (88–108
MHz), television channels 2–13.
Ultra High Frequencies (UHF) 300–3000 MHz
TV channels 14–67, cellular
phones, military communication.
 The Electromagnetic Spectrum

Frequency Ranges from 30 Hz to 300 GHz

Microwaves and Super High 1–30 GHz
Frequencies (SHF)
Satellite communication, radar,
wireless LANs, microwave ovens

Extremely High Frequencies (EHF) 30–300 GHz

Satellite communication, computer
data, radar
 Frequency Spectrum Defined
• Available range of frequencies for communication

• Starts from low frequency communication such as

voice and progresses to high frequency
communication such as satellite communication

• The spectrum spans the entire bandwidth of

communicable frequencies
 Frequency Spectrum

Low Frequency High Frequency

Radio Satellite
Voice Frequency
KHz Transmission
MHz
GHz

Coaxial Cable Microwave

 Bandwidth Definition

• Bandwidth, in general, represents a range

of frequencies

Bandwidth is 400 MHz

300 MHz 700 MHz

 Bandwidth and Signal Frequency

• The bandwidth of a composite signal is

the difference between the highest and
the lowest frequencies contained in that
signal.
 Communication Capacity
• Bandwidth is indicative of the
communication capacity

• Communication speed is proportional to

bandwidth

• Units used to represent bandwidth are

Hz, bps etc.
The Electromagnetic Spectrum
 The Electromagnetic Spectrum

Figure 1-13: The electromagnetic spectrum.

 A Survey of
Communications Applications
• Simplex
– AM andservices
Paging FM broadcasting
– Digital
Navigation
radioand direction-finding services
– Telemetry
TV broadcasting
– Radio television
Digital astronomy(DTV)
– Surveillance
Cable television
– Music services
Facsimile
– Internet remote
Wireless radio and video
control
 A Survey of
Communications Applications
• Duplex
– Telephones – Family Radio service
– Two-way radio – The Internet
– Radar – Wide-area networks
– Sonar (WANs)
– Amateur radio
– – Metropolitan-area
Citizens radio
networks (MANs)
– Local area networks
(LANs)