Basic Definitions in Electronic Communication System

BASIC DEFINITIONS IN ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

For better understanding of the communication systems, it is essential to know about the following terms.

i) Range

It is the maximum distance between the source and the destination up to which the signal is received with sufficient strength.

ii) Noise

It is the undesirable electrical signal that interferes with the transmitted signal. Noise attenuates or reduces the quality of the transmitted signal. It may be man made (automobiles, welding machines, electric motors etc.) or natural (lightning, environmental effects, radiation from sun and stars). Noise cannot be completely eliminated. However, it can be reduced using various techniques.

iii) Attenuation

The loss of strength of a signal while propagating through a medium is known as attenuation.

iv) Bandwidth

The frequency range over which the baseband signals or the information signals such as voice, music, picture etc are transmitted is known as bandwidth. If v₁ and are the lower and upper-frequency limits of a signal, then the bandwidth, BW = V₂ - V₁.

v) Bandwidth of transmission system

The range of frequencies required to transmit a piece of specified information in a particular channel is called channel bandwidth or the bandwidth of the transmission system.