Essentials of Modern Communications (eBook)

Djafar K. Mynbaev, Lowell L. Scheiner (Autoren)

eBook Download: EPUB

2020
John Wiley & Sons (Verlag)
978-1-119-52145-7 (ISBN)

Infos

Explore Modern Communications and Understand Principles of Operations, Appropriate Technologies, and Elements of Design of Communication Systems

Modern society requires a different set of communication systems than has any previous generation. To maintain and improve the contemporary communication systems that meet ever-changing requirements, engineers need to know how to recognize and solve cardinal problems. In Essentials of Modern Communications, readers will learn how modern communication has expanded and will discover where it is likely to go in the future. By discussing the fundamental principles, methods, and techniques used in various communication systems, this book helps engineers assess, troubleshoot, and fix problems that are likely to occur.

In this reference, readers will learn about topics like:

• How communication systems respond in time and frequency domains
• Principles of analog and digital modulations
• Application of spectral analysis to modern communication systems based on the Fourier series and Fourier transform
• Specific examples and problems, with discussions around their optimal solutions, limitations, and applications
• Approaches to solving the concrete engineering problems of modern communications based on critical, logical, creative, and out-of-box thinking

For readers looking for a resource on the fundamentals of modern communications and the possible issues they face, Essentials of Modern Communications is instrumental in educating on real-life problems that engineering students and professionals are likely to encounter.

DJAFAR K. MYNBAEV, PHD, is a professor at the New York City College of Technology (CUNY) Electrical and Telecommunications Engineering Technology Department. He has spent a significant part of his career working at telecommunications in general and optical communications in particular fields and has published more than 100 papers on these subjects. He currently holds over two dozen patents and is a well-known speaker at conferences worldwide. In 2001, he, with Lowell L. Scheiner, published a book entitled Fiber-Optic Communications Technology.

LOWELL L. SCHEINER was an acclaimed writer and editor in the engineering and technology industries. He worked for numerous publications concerning technology and design in his main capacity and at major corporations as a public relations consultant. Lately, he was a professor at NYU Tandon School of Engineering.

Inhalt

About the Author

Preface

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1 Modern communications: what it is

Chapter 2 Analog Signals and Analog Transmission

Chapter 3 Digital Signals and Digital Transmission

Chapter 4 Analog-to-Digital Conversion (ADC) and Digital-to-Analog Conversion (DAC)

Chapter 5 Filters

Chapter 6 Spectral analysis 1 - The Fourier Series in Modern Communications

Chapter 7 Spectral Analysis 2 - The Fourier Transform in Modern Communications

Chapter 8 Analog Modulation

Chapter 9 Digital Modulation 1 - Digital Transmission and Binary Modulation

Chapter 10Digital Modulation 2 - Multilevel Modulation

Textauszug

Preface

Rationale (Modern Communications)

This book is about modern communications, which is the exchange of information among people that is facilitated by advanced electronic technology. Human society cannot exist without communications, and history shows that the progress of humankind is very much associated with improvement in communication technology. Writing, printing, telegraph, and especially telephone, television, computers, and the Internet – all these means of communications have greatly contributed to the development of our civilization.

Today, we continuously need to deliver information in any forms from one point to another, and this is what modern communications do. So since our society produces ever‐increasing reams of information, communications is of necessity its lifeblood.

It is safe to predict that in the years to come, communications will become even more ubiquitous, and more people will have access to the modern forms of communications. This is because all aspects of our life – economic, political, and health care (to cite just a few) – depend increasingly on access to the global communications infrastructure. In short, access to modern communications allows people to improve all aspects of their lives.

Advances in communications depend largely on advances in all sectors of science and technology. On the other hand, continuously increasing demands of modern communications stimulate further progress in science and technology by setting out new challenges for these fields.

Many areas of communication technology, however, are approaching their limit. Electronic industry works today at the scale of atomic distances (about 0.3 nm), and it is hard to imagine how it can progress to smaller scales. Optical communications faces the limit dictated by information theory, which does not depend on technological improvements. Wireless communications faces the spectral restrictions, and we cannot get more spectrum than Mother Nature gave us. Communication satellite systems are limited by satellite transmitter power on the downlinks and receiver sensitivity on the uplinks, and these technological issues restrict further progress. We firmly believe, however, that solutions to all these problems will be found, because the seeds of the growth of emerging breakthroughs have already been planted in the world's R&D labs, where scientists and engineers are busily engaged in efforts that promise accomplishments in communication technologies as remarkable as what we have witnessed till date.

All in all, modern communications technology is developing so rapidly that even our youngest readers can point to significant improvements they remember. How, then, such a traditional teaching tool as a textbook can help its readers to enter this dynamic field and equip them with the knowledge that would not become obsolete in a few years? The immediate answer is almost palpable: Since modern communications technology relies on fundamental principles that change very little and – if they do – very slowly, we need to teach fundamentals. But teaching pure theory on fundamentals in an engineering course does not work either because many students may lose interest quickly. Thus, finding the right balance between teaching the theoretical fundamentals of modern communications and their practical applications is the primary objective of this book. Hopefully, our many years of industry, research, and teaching experience have helped in achieving this objective.

Our Approach

Traditionally, a textbook serves as a source of information by introducing physical laws, deriving equations, and explaining how devices and systems work. This function is still valuable, but in the Internet era, when all information is just a click away, its importance is diminishing, which calls for changing the approach to writing textbooks. Our book, while still providing necessary information, teaches the reader why real‐life engineering problems surface and how they are solved.

To achieve this goal, we first show the readers that laws, equations, circuitry, algorithms, and virtually all engineering and scientific advancements are the results of the continuous process of exploration and discovery primarily driven by the desire to find specific solutions to real‐world problems. Historical notes and short biographies of key scientists and engineers also help to show the students that the problems discussed in this text stemmed from real‐life situations and that solving them required tremendous efforts by people who created the technology that we enjoy today. Hence, the readers (students) should perceive this new knowledge not just as information to be memorized but mainly as the result of hard work of our predecessors and as inspiration for what they could achieve through intellectual striving.

Second, as we review specific challenges, we explain the circumstances in which they arise, show possible approaches to addressing them, discuss available methods of resolution, and consider their realizable implementation. In other words, we do not merely present an equation, a system, or a device but encourage our readers to participate in finding and applying solutions. The objective is to teach our readers to problem‐solving approaches, skills that remain with a professional throughout his or her career regardless of changes in technology.

In solving a problem or designing a device or a system, an engineer must ask: What could go wrong? What are the boundary conditions for this approach (or equation), beyond which it would not work? Is this the best solution? By asking these types of questions, the engineer will ensure that the device or system that he or she is designing will function in all possible situations. The ability to ask these questions is critical for an engineer or a technologist and so nurturing this ability is one of our objectives. We typically start every new topic by asking questions about the need for discussing that topic. Furthermore, questions appear through the course of a discussion of them; the questions are also included in each “Questions and Problems” section. We encourage readers to see what real‐life problems are posted there and how to solve them.

The book fosters the approach mentioned previously by concentrating on the fundamentals of the subject and relates these fundamentals to professional responsibilities through discussions, case studies, and – mainly – examples. Such an approach is hardly innovative, but what makes our book unique is its consistent application throughout the text. In particular, our examples are not merely the exercises in plugging given numbers into equations, but the presentation of real‐world problems similar to those that students will meet in their professional careers. Besides, each example is accompanied by a thorough discussion that pinpoints the advantages, drawbacks, limitations, and implications of the obtained solution. Thus, our examples serve as essential teaching tools.

As a result, the reader will not merely learn the theoretical framework for a topic in communications but will also probe into the sources of real‐world engineering problems discussed in a given topic, the steps taken for a possible solution, and the limitations of solutions considered. What is more, the reader will acquire the habit of asking questions about possible reasons for problems and feasible solutions. Most important, the reader will develop a professional approach to analyzing and solving technical problems through curiosity and critical and logical thinking.

Pedagogical Features

The book follows a system approach in presenting the material. This is why block diagrams rather than specific circuits are used for illustrating the discussion of devices. When considering a particular device, we always highlight its function as part of a system, thus helping to place each component into the broader view of the overall system.

In this book, mathematics is used only as a tool enabling us to achieve specific goals, which is exactly how engineering utilizes mathematics. At the same time, using mathematics fosters the habit of thinking logically in solving a problem or finding the answer to a question. This approach necessarily constrains the complexity of mathematics used in the book, which does not, however, limit the level and depth of explanations and discussions.

As mentioned previously, the extensive discussion of examples helps to put the obtained solutions and answers in perspective; it forces students to always carefully evaluate the correctness, limitations, and implications of obtained results. This methodology encourages students to think outside the box.

The shaded sidebars, dispersed throughout the book, provide additional explanations of hard‐to‐tackle issues. Some of these sidebars present rigorous mathematical investigations of specific problems, whereas others introduce real‐life examples of communication systems.

Several sections include appendixes that complement the main material of the sections.

To help the reader, we have highlighted major points by shading the text and using italics.

Objectives and outcomes precede each chapter and each section. The objectives highlight the main focus points of a unit, and outcomes present in a concise form of what you are expected to learn from this segment.

Every section is accompanied by questions and problems that are intended to be assigned as homework. They are based on real‐life...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 14.7.2020
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Technik ► Elektrotechnik / Energietechnik
• Themenwelt: Technik ► Nachrichtentechnik
• Schlagworte: Aspects • communications • Communication technology • Domain • Drahtlose Kommunikation • Electrical & Electronics Engineering • Elektrotechnik u. Elektronik • Frequency • Kommunikationstechnik • Mobile & Wireless Communications • Modern • Signal Processing • Signalverarbeitung • System • Time • transmissions
• ISBN-10: 1-119-52145-9 / 1119521459
• ISBN-13: 978-1-119-52145-7 / 9781119521457