MODULE 3 (18 hours)

BASIC INSTRUMENTATION AND CONSUMER ELECTRONICS

ELECTRONIC INSTRUMENTATION:

Transducers: Basic principles of Strain guage, LVDT, Thermistor, Photodiode, Typical

moving coil microphones and Loud speaker. Block diagram of Digital Multimeter .[8hrs].

CONSUMER ELECTRONICS:

Basic principles of TV: Interlaced Scanning-Block Diagram of PAL TV receiver (color).

Basic principles of DTH, brief descriptions of MP3, multichannel audio 5.1,7.1.

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Question Bank

PART A & B

1) Give the basic principle of a photo diode.

2) Give the principle of thermistor?

3) Explain strain guage with its guage factor and its uses.

4) Briefly describe the CRT scanning principle in a TV.

5) What is a thermistor? Why it is well suited to precision measurement, control and

compensation.

6) Briefly explain interlaced scanning used in a TV receiver.

7) What are the advantages of a thermistor compared to other temperature sensors.

8) What is a transducer? Differentiate between active and passive transducers.

9) Briefly explain the basic principles of scanning?

PART C

1) What is a transducer? Explain different types and their operation.

2) With a block diagram, explain the basic principles of DTH.

3) Write short notes on (1) LVDT (2) Thermistor?

4) Describe the block schematic of PAL TV receiver.

5) With neat sketches describe the working principle and important properties of

(1) carbon microphone (2) moving coil microphone ?

6) Sketch a neat block diagram of monochrome TV receiver and explain each block in it.

7) With neat diagrams, explain the working principle of (1) Photodiode (2) Loudspeaker.

8) Explain with diagrams the principle of operation of LVDT. Discuss some of its

applications.

9) Briefly explain the principle, operation and application of thermistor.

10) Briefly explain the principle, operation and application of microphone.

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TRANSDUCERS

A transducer is a device that is used to convert a physical quantity into its corresponding

electrical signal.

In most of the electrical systems, the input signal will not be an electrical signal, but a

non-electrical signal. This will have to be converted into its corresponding electrical

signal if its value is to be measured using electrical methods. Transducers are widely used

in measuring instruments.

The block diagram of a transducer is given below.

A transducer will have basically two main components. They are

1. Sensing Element

The physical quantity or its rate of change is sensed and responded to by this part of the

transducer.

2. Transduction Element

The output of the sensing element is passed on to the transduction element. This element

is responsible for converting the non-electrical signal into its proportional electrical

signal.

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There may be cases when the transduction element performs the action of both

transduction and sensing. The best example of such a transducer is a thermocouple. A

thermocouple is used to generate a voltage corresponding to the heat that is generated at

the junction of two dissimilar metals.

Selection of Transducer

Selection of a transducer is one of the most important factors which help in obtaining

accurate results. Some of the main parameters are given below.

Selection depends on the physical quantity to be measured.

Depends on the best transducer principle for the given physical input.

Depends on the order of accuracy to be obtained.

Transducer Classification

Some of the common methods of classifying transducers are given below.

Based on their application.

Based on the method of converting the non-electric signal into electric signal.

Based on the output electrical quantity to be produced.

Based on the electrical phenomenon or parameter that may be changed due to the

whole process. Some of the most commonly electrical quantities in a transducer are

resistance, capacitance, voltage, current or inductance. Thus, during transduction,

there may be changes in resistance, capacitance and induction, which in turn

change the output voltage or current.

Based on whether the transducer is active or passive.

Types of Transducers:

There are two types of transducers, they are:

Active transducers

Passive transducers

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Active transducers:

Active transducer is a device which converts the given non-electrical energy into

electrical energy by itself. Self generating type - do not require an external power, 

and produce an analog voltage or current when stimulated by some physical form of

energy. Thermocouple, Photovoltaic cell and more are the best examples of the

transducers.

Passive transducers:

Passive transducer is a device which converts the given non-electrical energy into

electrical energy by external force. require an external power to operate, and the 

output is a measure of some variation in passive components (e.g. resistance or 

capacitance). Strain gauge, Differential Transformer are the examples for the Passive

transducers.

STRAIN GUAGE

Strain is the amount of deformation of a body due to an applied force. More specifically,

strain (ε) is defined as the fractional change in length. Strain can be positive (tensile) or

negative (compressive).

A strain gauge is a sensor whose resistance varies with applied force. It converts force, pressure,

tension, weight, etc., into a change in electrical resistance which can then be measured.. When

external forces are applied to a stationary object, stress and strain are the result. Stress is defined

as the object's internal resisting forces, and strain is defined as the displacement and deformation

that occur.

The strain of a body is always caused by an external influence or an internal effect. Strain might

be caused by forces, pressures, moments, heat, structural changes of the material and the like. If

certain conditions are fulfilled, the amount or the value of the influencing quantity can be

derived from the measured strain value. Special transducers can be designed for the

measurement of forces or other derived quantities, e.g., moments, pressures, accelerations,

displacements, vibrations and others. The transducer generally contains a pressure sensitive

diaphragm with strain gages bonded to it.

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If a strip of conductive metal is stretched, it will become skinnier and longer, both

changes resulting in an increase of electrical resistance end-to-end. Conversely, if a strip

of conductive metal is placed under compressive force, it will broaden and shorten. If

these stresses are kept within the elastic limit of the metal strip (so

that the strip does not permanently deform), the strip can be used as a measuring element

for physical force, the amount of applied force inferred from measuring its resistance.

Guage Factor:

The gauge factor    is defined as:

where

 is the change in resistance caused by strain,

 is the resistance of the undeformed gauge, and

 is strain.

Types of Strain Guages:

Unbonded strain gauges consist of a wire stretched between two points as shown in

Figure. Force acting on the wire (area = A, length = L, resistivity = r) will cause the wire

to elongate or shorten, which will cause the resistance to increase or decrease

proportionally according to:

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R = ρL/A

and ∆R/R = GF·∆L/L,

where GF = Gauge factor

Bonded strain gauges consist of a thin wire or conducting film arranged in a coplanar

pattern and cemented to a base or carrier. The gauge is normally mounted so that as much

as possible of the length of the conductor is aligned in the direction of the stress that is

being measured. Lead wires are attached to the base and brought out for interconnection.

Bonded devices are considerably more practical and are in much wider use than

unbonded devices

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Semiconductor strain Guage. The use of semiconductor material, notably silicon, for

strain gauge (SG) application has increased over the past few years. As in the case of the

metal SGs, the basic effect is a change of resistance with strain. In the case of a

semiconductor, the resistivity also changes with strain, along with the physical

dimensions. This is due to changes in electron and hole mobility with changes in crystal

structure as strain is applied. The net result is a much larger gauge factor than is possible

with metal gauges.

Semiconductor strain gages make use of the piezoresistive effect in certain

semiconductor materials such as silicon and germanium in order to obtain greater

sensitivity and higher-level output. Semiconductor gauges can be produced to have either

positive or negative changes when strained. They can be made physically small while still

maintaining a high nominal resistance. Semiconductor strain gauge bridges may have 30

times the sensitivity of bridges employing metal films, but are temperature sensitive and

difficult to compensate. Their change in resistance with strain is also nonlinear. They are

not in as widespread use as the more stable metal film devices for precision work;

however, where sensitivity is important and temperature variations are small, they may

have some advantage.

The semiconductor strain gauge physically appears as a band or strip of material with

electrical connection, as shown in Figure. The gauge is either bonded directly onto the

test element or, if encapsulated, is attached by the encapsulation material. These SGs also

appear as 1C assemblies in configurations used for other measurements.

Strain Guage

Measurements

To measure such small

changes in resistance,

strain gages are almost

always used in a bridge configuration with a voltage excitation source. The general

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Wheatstone bridge, illustrated in Figure, consists of four resistive arms with an excitation

voltage, VEX, that is applied across the bridge.

The output voltage of the bridge, VO, is equal to:

From this equation, it is apparent that when R1/R2 = R4/R3, the voltage output VO is zero.

Under these conditions, the bridge is said to be balanced. Any change in resistance in any

arm of the bridge will result in a non zero voltage. Therefore, if you replace R4 in the

above Figure with an active strain gauge, any changes in the strain gauge resistance will

unbalance the bridge and produce a nonzero output voltage. If the nominal resistance of

the strain gage is designated as RG, then the strain-induced change in resistance, ∆R, can

be expressed as ∆R = RG·GF·Є, where GF is the Gauge Factor. Assuming that R1 =

R2 and R3 = RG, the bridge equation above can be rewritten to express VO/VEX as a

function of strain as in Figure below. Note the presence of the 1/(1+GF·e/2) term,

indicates the nonlinearity of the quarter-bridge output with respect to strain.

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. LVDT

LVDT are an acronym for Linear Variable Differential Transformer, a common type of

electromechanical transducer that can convert the rectilinear motion of an object to which

it is coupled mechanically into a corresponding electrical signal.

Figure shows the components of a typical LVDT. The transformer's internal structure

consists of a primary winding centered between a pair of identically wound secondary

windings, symmetrically spaced about the primary. The coils are wound on a one-piece

hollow form of thermally stable glass reinforced polymer, encapsulated against moisture,

wrapped in a high permeability magnetic shield, and then secured in a cylindrical

Stainless steel housing. This coil assembly is usually the stationary element of the

Position sensor.

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The moving element of an LVDT is a separate tubular armature of magnetically

Permeable material called the core, which is free to move axially within the coil's hollow

bore, and mechanically coupled to the object whose position is being measured. This bore

is typically large enough to provide substantial radial clearance between the core and

bore, with no physical contact between it and the coil.

In operation, the LVDT's primary winding is energized by alternating current of

appropriate amplitude and frequency, known as the primary excitation. The LVDT's

electrical output signal is the differential AC voltage between the two secondary

windings, which varies with the axial position of the core within the LVDT coil. Usually

this AC output voltage is converted by suitable electronic circuitry to high level DC

voltage or current that is more convenient to use.

How Does An LVDT Work?

Figure illustrates what happens when the LVDT's core is in different axial positions. The

LVDT's primary winding, P, is energized by a constant amplitude AC source. The

magnetic flux thus developed is coupled by the core to the adjacent secondary windings,

S1 and S2. If the core is located midway between S1 and S2, equal flux is coupled to

each secondary so the voltages, E1 and E2, induced in windings S1 and S2 respectively,

are equal. At this reference midway core position, known as the null point, the

differential voltage output, (E1 - E2), is essentially zero.

As shown in Figure, if the core is moved closer to S1 than to S2, more flux is coupled to

S1 and less to S2, so the induced voltage E1 is increased while E2 is decreased, resulting

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in the differential voltage (E1 - E2). Conversely, if the core is moved closer to S2, more

flux is coupled to S2 and less to S1, so E2 is increased as E1 is decreased, resulting in the

differential voltage (E2 - E1).

Figure shows how the magnitude of the differential output voltage, EOUT, varies with

core position. The value of EOUT at maximum core displacement from null depends

upon the amplitude of the primary excitation voltage and the sensitivity factor of the

particular LVDT.

Why Use An LVDT?

Friction free operation

Infinite resolution

Unlimited mechanical life

Environmentally robust

Absolute output

Limitations

Sensitive to stray magnetic field

AC to DC conversion required at output

Affected by temperature change

The vibration of the transducer may affect the movement of the core

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Thermistor

A thermistor is a type of resistor used to measure temperature changes, relying on the

change in its resistance with changing temperature. It is the combination of the two words

thermal and resistor.

Thermistor is a temperature sensitive resistor. Thermistors are generally composed of

semiconductor materials (metallic compounds including oxides such as manganese,

copper, cobalt, and nickel, as well as single-crystal semiconductors silicon and

germanium).

Although positive temperature coefficient units are available, most thermistors have a

negative temperature coefficient (TC); that is, their resistance decreases with increasing

temperature. The negative T.C. can be as large as several percent per degree Celsius,

allowing the thermistor circuit to detect minute changes in temperature.

High value of temperature sensitivity, a reasonably wide temperature range that can be

covered and small size are the important advantages of thermistors in the field of

tempearature measurement.

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The resistors are in the form of beads, rods and discs of different sizes. The beads are

available with glass envelope encapsulation. The beads may be as small as 0.15 to 1.25

mm in diameter and may have resistance as high as 10 Kilo ohm.

Disadvantages

(1) Because they are semiconductors, thermistors are more susceptible to permanent

decalibration at high temperatures. The use of thermistors is generally limited to a few

hundred degrees Celsius and manufacturers warn that extended exposures even well

below maximum operating limits will cause the thermistor to drift out of its specified

tolerance.

(2) Thermistors can be made very small which means they will respond quickly to

temperature changes. It also means that their small thermal mass makes them especially

susceptible to self-heating errors.

(3) Thermistors are a good deal more fragile and they must be carefully mounted to avoid

crushing or bond separation.

The resistance temperature characteristics shows that the thermistor has a very high

negative temperature co efficient of resistance making it an ideal temperature transducer.

Thermistor finds important application in surface temperature studies like that of power

transistor or heat sinks.

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PHOTODIODES

A photodiode is a type of photodetector capable of converting light into either current or

voltage, depending upon the mode of operation. The common, traditional solar cell used

to generate electric solar power is a large area photodiode.

Photodiodes are similar to regular semiconductor diodes except that they may be either

exposed (to detect vacuum UV or X-rays) or packaged with a window or optical fiber

connection to allow light to reach the sensitive part of the device.

Silicon photodiodes are semiconductor devices responsive to high energy particles and

photons. Photodiodes operate by absorption of photons or charged particles and generate

a flow of current in an external circuit, proportional to the incident power. Photodiodes

can be used to detect the presence or absence of minute quantities of light and can be

calibrated for extremely accurate measurements from intensities below 1 pW/cm2 to

intensities above 100 mW/cm2.

Silicon photodiodes are utilized in such diverse applications as spectroscopy,

photography, analytical instrumentation, optical position sensors, beam alignment,

surface characterization, laser range finders, optical communications, and medical

imaging instruments.

PLANAR DIFFUSED SILICON PHOTODIODE CONSTRUCTION

Planar diffused silicon photodiodes are simply P-N junction diodes. A P-N junction can

be formed by diffusing either a P-type impurity (anode), such as Boron, into a N-type

bulk silicon wafer, or a N-type impurity, such as Phosphorous, into a P-type bulk silicon

wafer. The diffused area defines the photodiode active area.

To form an ohmic contact another impurity diffusion into the backside of the wafer is

necessary. The impurity is an N-type for P-type active area and P-type for an N-type

active area. The contact pads are deposited on the front active area on defined areas, and

on the backside, completely covering the device. The active area is then deposited on

with an anti-reflection coating to reduce the reflection of the light for a specific

predefined wavelength. The non-active area on the top is covered with a thick layer of

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silicon oxide. By controlling the thickness of bulk substrate, the speed and responsivity of

the photodiode can be controlled.

Note that the photodiodes, when biased, must be operated in the reverse bias mode, i.e. a

negative voltage applied to anode and positive voltage to cathode.

PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION

Silicon is a semiconductor with a band gap energy of 1.12 eV at room temperature. This

is the gap between the valence band and the conduction band. At absolute zero

temperature the valence band is completely filled and the conduction band is vacant. As

the temperature increases, the electrons become excited and escalate from the valence

band to the conduction band by thermal energy. The electrons can also be escalated to the

conduction band by particles or photons with energies greater than 1.12eV, which

corresponds to wavelengths shorter than 1100 nm. The resulting electrons in the

conduction band are free to conduct current.

Due to concentration gradient, the diffusion of electrons from the N type region to the P-

type region and the diffusion of holes from the P type region to the N-type region,

develops a built-in voltage across the junction. The inter-diffusion of electrons and holes

between the N and P regions across the junction results in a region with no free carriers.

This is the depletion region. The built-in voltage across the depletion region results in an

electric field with maximum at the junction and no field outside of the depletion region.

Any applied reverse bias adds to the built in voltage and results in a wider depletion

region.

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The electron-hole pairs generated by light are swept away by drift in the depletion region

and are collected by diffusion from the undepleted region. The current generated is

proportional to the incident light or radiation power. The light is absorbed exponentially

with distance and is proportional to the absorption coefficient. The absorption coefficient

is very high for shorter wavelengths in the UV region and is small for longer wavelengths

(Figure). Hence, short wavelength photons such as UV, are absorbed in a thin top surface

layer while silicon becomes transparent to light wavelengths longer than 1200 nm.

Moreover, photons with energies smaller than the band gap are not absorbed at all.

MICROPHONE

Microphone is a sound transducer that produces an electrical output signal proportional

to the sound wave acting upon its flexible diaphragm.. It is widely used in audio

recording, communication systems and also in instruments that measure sound and noise.

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Types Of Microphone

Carbon Microphone

Moving Coil Microphone

Carbon Microphone

The simplest type is carbon microphone, which is used in telephones. The microphone

consists of a metallic cup filled with carbon granules. A movable metallic diaphragm

mounted in contact with the granules covers the open end of the cup. Wires attached to

the cup and the diaphragm are connected to an electrical circuit so that a current flows

through the carbon granules. Sound waves vibrate the diaphragm, varying the pressure on

the carbon granules. The electrical resistance of the carbon granules, changes with

varying pressure, causing the current in the circuit to change according to the vibrations

of the diaphragm. The varying current may either actuate a telephone

receiver or may be amplified and transmitted to a distant receiver. If

the current variation is suitably amplified, it may also be used to

modulate a radio transmitter.

Moving Coil Microphone

A moving coil microphone functions on the basic principle of Electromagnetic induction.

It has a copper wire coil, suspended within the magnetic field of a permanent magnet and

a diaphragm, which is exposed to sound waves.

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An incoming sound hits the flexible diaphragm , it moves back and forth in response to

the sound pressure acting upon it. The attached coil of wire also moves within the

magnetic field of the magnet. As a copper wire coil moves in the magnetic field a voltage

is generated as given by…

where V is resulting voltage from B is magnetic field, l is the length of the copper wire

and u is the velocity at which it passes thought the field. Hence V is proportional to the

pressure of the sound wave acting upon the diaphragm. ie. Louder the sound, larger will

be the output signal.

Moving coil microphones are cheap and robust making them good for the rigors of live

performance and touring. They are especially suited for the close miking of Bass and

Guitar speaker cabinets and Drum kits. They are also good for live vocals as their

resonance peak of around 5kHz provides an inbuilt presence boost that improves

speech/singing intelligibility.

However the inertia of the coil reduces high frequency response. Hence they are NOT

best suited to studio applications where quality and subtlety are important such as high

quality vocal recording or acoustic instrument micking.

LOUDSPEAKER

Loudspeakers are sound transducers that convert complex electrical analogue signal into

sound waves .They are available in all shapes, sizes and frequency ranges with moving

coil, piezo electric, electrostatic etc as the common types.

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Loudspeaker produces sound by converting electrical signals from an audio amplifier into

mechanical motion. Sound is created from the forward and backward motion of the

loudspeaker cone, which is a concave plastic or paper disc. The cone is mounted and

centered on a concave metal frame by a ring of flexible rubber. Glued to the centre of the

cone is a hollow cylinder of thin, lightweight aluminum. A length of thin, insulated wire

is wound upon the bobbin to form the voice coil; both ends of the voice coil wire are

connected to the voice coil terminals on the frame. The voice coil is positioned inside a

narrow cylindrical groove or air gap in the centre of a magnet. The coil is suspended in

the air gap by a flexible fabric disc. An audio amplifier is connected to the voice coil

terminals. The coil emits a magnetic field as audio signals from the amplifier travel

through the voice coil wire. The voice coil field alternately pulls and pushes the coil,

bobbin and cone assembly towards and against the magnetic field from the magnet,

which causes the forward and backward cone motion.

Moving Coil Loudspeaker

A coil of fine wire, called the "speech or voice coil", is suspended within a very strong

magnetic field, and is attached to a paper or Mylar cone, called a "diaphragm" which

itself is suspended at its edges to a metal frame or chassis. Then unlike the microphone

which is pressure sensitive, this type of sound transducer is a pressure generating device

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When an analogue signal passes through the voice coil of the speaker, an electro- magnetic field is produced whose strength is determined by the current flowing through the "voice" coil, which inturn is determined by the volume control setting of the driving amplifier. The electro-magnetic force produced by this field opposes the main permanent magnetic field around it and tries to push the coil in one direction or the other depending upon the interaction between the north and south poles. As the voice coil is permanently attached to the cone/diaphragm this also moves in tandem and its movement causes a disturbance in the air around it thus producing a sound or note. If the input signal is a continuous sine wave then the cone will move in and out acting like a piston pushing and pulling the air as it moves and a continuous single tone will be heard representing the frequency of the signal. The strength and therefore its velocity, by which the cone moves and pushes the surrounding air produces the loudness of the sound.

The human ear can generally hear sounds from between 20Hz to 20kHz, and the frequency response of modern loudspeakers called general purpose speakers are tailored to operate within this frequency range as well as headphones, earphones and other types of commercially available headsets used as sound transducers

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CONSUMER ELECTRONICS

TELEVISION

Television means viewing at a distance. TV broadcasting or telecasting involves the

transmission of both sound and picture at the same time.In TV, light signals from the

object being televised are converted into electrical signals by a TV camera and

transmitted to distant points by radio carrier waves. The TV receiver separates the signals

from the carrier waves and converts them into light signals which form a picture of the

televised object on the screen of the picture tube.

Separate carrier waves are used for the transmission of picture and sound signals but

they are radiated by the same transmitting antenna. At the receiving end the same

receiving antenna receives both carrier waves, but the TV receiver converts these signals

separately into sound waves which drive a loudspeaker and light waves which produce a

picture on the screen of the picture tube. For proper display of the picture and the

reproduction of the accompanying sound, several control signals have also to be

transmitted.

TV Broadcasting System

A block diagram of a complete TV system for transmission and reception of picture and

sound signals is given in figure below.

Block Diagram of Monochrome TV Transmitter

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Block Diagram of Monochrome TV Receiver

At the TV studio, the TV camera focuses an optical image of the screen on a

photosensitive plate in the camera and picture elements of varying light intensity are

converted into correspondingly varying electrical signals by the process of electronic

scanning. The electrical signals so formed by the scanning of the picture image by an

electric beam are called video signals. At this stage, certain synchronizing signals meant

to keep the reassembly of the picture at the receiver in step with the scanning at the

studios are also added to the video information. The composite video signal so formed is

amplified by the video amplifiers and is made sufficiently strong to amplitude modulate a

picture carrier wave which is transmitted by the transmitting antenna.

The sound picked up by the microphone is converted to electrical currents at audio

frequencies (AF) and is strengthened by the audio amplifier which frequently modulates a

separate RF carrier whose frequency is 5.5 MHz above the frequency of the video carrier.

The FM sound carrier is radiated by the same transmitting antenna as used for the

transmission of video or picture carrier. Thus at TV transmitting station , two RF carriers,

one for transmission of picture signals and the other for sound signals are radiated by a

common transmitting antenna. The picture / video signal is amplitude modulated and the

sound is frequency modulated.

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At the receiving end both picture and the sound are intercepted by the same receiving

antenna and passed into wideband circuit called the tuner. In the tuner two separate IF’s

for picture and sound are formed by heterodyning (mixing) with a local oscillator. The

picture and sound IF are amplified in a common IF amplifier and then detected by the

video detector. At this stage sound IF of 5.5 MHz is separated and is fed into the sound

channel where it is detected by the method of FM detection and IF is amplified and fed

into the speaker to produce the sound.

The video signal from the video detector stage is amplified by a video amplifier and is

used to modulate the electron beam in the picture tube to produce a picture of the TV

screen. A portion of the composite signal is also fed to a synchronizing separator where

the synchronizing signals are separated from the video signals and is applied to the

deflection circuits to keep the electronic scanning beam in the picture tube in step with

the electronic scanning beam at the transmitter.

SCANNING

Scanning is the process by which the optical image of the televised object formed on the

photosensitive plate of the TV camera is broken into a series of horizontal lines by an

electron beam. There are two types of scanning approaches: progressive (also called

sequential) and interlaced.

Progressive Scanning

In progressive scanning, the television scene is first sampled in time to create frames, and

within each frame all the raster lines are scanned from top to bottom. Therefore, all the

vertically adjacent scan lines are also temporally adjacent and are highly correlated even

in the presence of rapid motion in the scene. The electron beam sweeps across each line

at a uniform rate, then flies back to scan another line directly below the earlier one and so

on till all the horizontal lines have been scanned in the desired sequence .After this the

electron beam flies back to the original position and starts the scanning sequence again.

As the electron beam scans across a line, it falls over portions of different intensities and

is accordingly converted into electrical currents of different amplitudes. The higher the

illumination of a particular spot on a picture, the greater is the amplitude of the

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corresponding electrical currents produced by the TV camera. This electrical signal

which corresponds to variations of illuminations in the TV scene is the video signal

which is used to modulate the picture carrier for transmission to distant places.

At the receiving end also, a similar electronic beam traces out horizontal lines on the

fluorescent screen of the picture tube and horizontal and vertical scanning produces a

uniformly lit rectangular area called the raster. When the scanning electron beam is

modulated by video signals from the transmitter, the raster is converted into picture.

In order that the picture formed at the picture tube, corresponds to the televised scene, it

is necessary that the scanning at the transmitter is completely in step or in

synchronization with the scanning at the TV receiver.

Persistence of vision

It is the property of the retina of the human eye that any impression produced in he retina

by the light ray will persist for a fraction of a second even after the light source is

removed. If within this short interval of persistence of vision, which is generally one by

sixteenth of a second, a series of images are presented to the eye, the eye will see all the

images without any break and will get the impression of continuity.

When the electron beam strikes the face of the picture tube at a particular point, this point

continues to glow for a short period, even after the beam has moved to the next point and

persistence of vision makes it possible to televise the picture element by element and

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when these elements are scanned rapidly enough, they appear to the eye as one complete

picture.The picture repletion rate used in TV in India is 25 per second.

When one picture does not completely blend into another, ficker effect is produced. This

can be avoided by interlaced scanning.

Interlaced Scanning

In interlaced scanning, all the odd-numbered lines in the entire frame are scanned first,

and then the even numbered lines. This process produces two distinct images per frame,

representing two distinct samples of the image sequence at different points in time. The

set of odd-numbered lines constitute the odd field, and the even-numbered lines make up

the even field. All current television systems use interlaced scanning. One principal

benefit of interlaced scanning is to reduce the scan rate (or the bandwidth). This is done

with a relatively high field rate (a lower field rate would cause flicker), while maintaining

a high total number of scan lines in a frame (lower number of lines per frame would

reduce resolution on static images). Interlace cleverly preserves the high-detail visual

information and, at the same time, avoids visible large-area flicker at the display due to

temporal post filtering by the human eye.

.

Here odd lines are coloured green and even

ones yellow. When the colour is removed the two images merge to form the picture.

In interlaced scanning followed in India, the total number of lines per picture is 625 and

that scanned per second is 625*25=115625 lines. These lines are not scanned at a stretch,

but the process is divided into two stages called fields. Each field hence will contain only

312 ½ lines in one frame. The scanning beam will scan alternate odd numbered lines at

double the rate and starting at “A” and ending at “B”. It then flyback to “C” to scan the

even numbered lines to finish scanning at “D”. Thus flicker effect is overcome by making

the picture repletion rate double the frame repetition rate.

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Blanking

The process to make retrace invisible is called blanking. (Retrace is the pah followed by

the returning electron beam).

Colour Receiver

A colour receiver is similar to the black and white receiver as shown in Fig. The main

difference between the two is the need of a colour or chroma subsystem. It accepts only

the colour signal and processes it to recover (B-Y) and (R-Y) signals. These are

combined with the Y signal to obtain VR, VG and VB signals as developed by the

camera at the transmitting end. VG becomes available as it is contained in the Y signal.

The three colour signals are fed after sufficient amplification to the colour picture tube to

produce a colour picture on its screen.

As shown in Fig. the colour picture tube has three guns corresponding to the three pick-

up tubes in the colour camera. The screen of this tube has red, green and blue phosphors

arranged in alternate stripes. Each gun produces an electron beam to illuminate

corresponding colour phosphor separately on the fluorescent screen. The eye then

integrates the red, green and blue colour informations and their luminance to perceive

actual colour and brightness of the picture being televised. The sound signal is decoded in

the same way as in a monochrome receiver

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.

DIRECT TO HOME TELEVISION (DTH)

Direct to home (DTH) television is a wireless system for delivering television programs

directly to the viewer's house. In DTH television, the broadcast signals are transmitted

from satellites orbiting the Earth to the viewer's house. Each satellite is located

approximately 35,700 km above the Earth in geosynchronous orbit. These satellites

receive the signals from the broadcast stations located on Earth and rebroadcast them to

Earth.

Digital broadcast satellite transmits programming in the Ku frequency range (10 GHz to

14 GHz ). There are five major components involved in a direct to home (DTH) satellite

system: the programming source, the broadcast center, the satellite, the satellite dish and

the receiver.

THE COMPONENTS

Programming sources are simply the channels that provide programming for broadcast.

The provider (the DTH platform) doesn’t create original programming itself; it pays other

companies (HBO, for example, or ESPN or STAR TV or Sahara etc.) for the right to

broadcast their content via satellite. In this way, the provider is kind of like a broker

between the viewer and the actual programming sources. (Cable television networks also

work on the same principle.) The broadcast center is the central hub of the system. At the

broadcast center or the Playout & Uplink location, the television provider receives signals

from various programming sources, compreses I using digital compression, if necessary

scrambles it and beams a broadcast signal to the satellite being used by it. The satellites

receive the signals from the broadcast station and rebroadcast them to the ground. The

viewer’s dish picks up the signal from the satellite (or multiple satellites in the same part

of the sky) and passes it on to the receiver in the viewer’s house. The receiver processes

the signal and passes it on to a standard television. Lets look at each step in the process in

greater detail.

The Programming

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Satellite TV providers get programming from two major sources: International

turnaround channels (such as HBO, ESPN and CNN, STAR TV, SET, B4U etc) and

various local channels (SaBe TV, Sahara TV, Doordarshan, etc). Most of the turnaround

channels also provide programming for cable television, so sometimes some of the DTH

platforms will ad in some special channels exclusive to itself to attract more

subscriptions.

Turnaround channels usually have a distribution center that beams their programming to

a geostationary satellite. The broadcast center uses large satellite dishes to pick up these

analog and digital signals from several sources.

The Broadcast Center

The broadcast center converts all of this programming into a high-quality, uncompressed

digital stream. At this point, the stream contains a vast quantity of data — about 270

2megabits per second (Mbps) for each channel. In order to transmit the signal from there,

the broadcast center has to compress it. Otherwise, it would be too big for the satellite to

handle. The providers use the MPEG-2 compressed video format — the same format

used to store movies on DVDs. With MPEG-2 compression, the provider can reduce the

270-Mbps stream to about 3 or 10 Mbps (depending on the type of programming). This is

the crucial step that has made DTH service a success. With digital compression, a typical

satellite can transmit about 200 channels. Without digital compression, it can transmit

about 30 channels. At the broadcast center, the high-quality digital stream of video goes

through an MPEG-2 encoder, which converts the programming to MPEG-2 video of the

correct size and format for the satellite receiver in your house.

Encryption & Transmision

After the video is compressed, the provider needs to encrypt it in order to keep people

from accessing it for free. Encryption scrambles the digital data in such a way that it can

only be decrypted (converted back into usable data) if the receiver has the correct

decoding satellite receiver with decryption algorithm and security keys. Once the signal

is compressed and encrypted, the broadcast center beams it directly to one of its

satellites. The satellite picks up the signal, amplifies it and beams it back to Earth, where

viewers can pick it up.

The Dish

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A satellite dish is just a special kind of antenna designed to focus on a specific broadcast

source. The standard dish consists of a parabolic (bowl-shaped) surface and a central feed

horn. To transmit a signal, a controller sends it through the horn, and the dish focuses the

signal into a relatively narrow beam. The dish on the receiving end can’t transmit

information; it can only receive it. The receiving dish works in the exact opposite way of

the transmitter. When a beam hits the curved dish, the parabola shape reflects the radio

signal inward onto a particular point, just like a concave mirror focuses light onto a

particular point.

The curved dish focuses incoming radio waves onto the feed horn. In this case, the point

is the dish’s feed horn, which passes the signal onto the receiving equipment. In an ideal

setup, there aren’t any major obstacles between the satellite and the dish, so the dish

receives a clear signal. In some systems, the dish needs to pick up signals from two or

more satellites at the same time. The satellites may be close enough together that a

regular dish with a single horn can pick up signals from both. This compromises quality

somewhat, because the dish isn’t aimed directly at one or more of the satellites. A new

dish design uses two or more horns to pick up different satellite signals. As the beams

from different satellites hit the curved dish, they reflect at different angles so that one

beam hits one of the horns and another beam hits a different horn.The central element in

the feed horn is the low noise blockdown converter, or LNB. The LNB amplifies the

signal bouncing off the dish and filters out the noise (signals not carrying programming).

The LNB passes the amplified, filtered signal to the satellite receiver inside the viewer’s

house.

The Receiver

The end component in the entire satellite TV system is the receiver. The receiver has four

essential jobs: It de-scrambles the encrypted signal. In order to unlock the signal, the

receiver needs the proper decoder chip for that programming package. The provider can

communicate with the chip, via the satellite signal, to make necessary adjustments to its

decoding programs. The provider may occasionally send signals that disrupt illegal

descramblers, as an electronic counter measure (ECM) against illegal users.

It takes the digital MPEG-2 signal and converts it into an analog format that a standard

television can recognize. Since the receiver spits out only one channel at a time, you can’t

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tape one program and watch another. You also can’t watch two different programs on

two TVs hooked up to the same receiver. In order to do these things, which are standard

on conventional cable, you need to buy an additional receiver. Some receivers have a

number of other features as well. They pick up a programming schedule signal from the

provider and present this information in an onscreen programming guide. Many receivers

have parental lock-out options, and some have built-in Digital Video Recorders (DVRs),

which let you pause live television or record it on a hard drive. While digital broadcast

satellite service is still lacking some of the basic features of conventional cable (the

ability to easily split signals between different TVs and VCRs, for example), its high

quality picture, varied programming selection and extended service areas make it a good

alternative for some. With the rise of digital cable, which also has improved picture

quality and extended channel selection, the TV war is really heating up. Just about

anything could happen in the next 10 years as all of these television providers battle it

out

MP3Introduction

Common audio format for consumer audio recording or storage Also a de-facto standard encoding for transfer and play back of music on digital

audio player Designed by Motion Pictures Expert Group

MPEG audio compression MP3 is a digital audio codec Uses a lossy compression algorithm that greatly reduces the amount of data

required to represent the audio in recordingo Compress the source file by removing the portions of signal which are

inaudibleo Algorithm take advantage of limitation of human hearing called audio

masking Uses several complicated mathematical algorithms, that will lose

only that part of sound that are hard to be heard even in the orginal form

o Perceptual coding Compression works by reducing accuracy of certain parts of sound

beyond the capacity of ear

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Hence some frequencies are lost in the compression process & cant be restored when converted to orginal format

The loss is hardly noticed bcoz the compression method tries to control it

MP3 file structure Standard format which is a frame consisting of 384, 5760r 1152 samples Has sequence of frames called elementary system

o All the frames have associated header (32 bits) & size info (9,17 or 32 bytes)

Help the decoder to decode the assopciated huffmann encoded data.

o Frames are not independent items & cannot be extracted on arbitrary boundaries

o Data block has audio info in terms of frequencies & amplitudeso Header consist of a sync word, which identifies the beginning of a valid

frame Followed by a bit 1 indicating MPEG standard and 2 that of Layer-

3

MP3 bit rates While doing audio encoding ie creating an MP3 file, there is a trade off between

amount of space and sound quality. Lower bit rates produce lower audio quality & produce smaller file size & vice

versa. CBR (Constant Bit Rate) encoding uses one rate for the entire file VBR (Variable bit Rate) uses bit rate that changes throughout the file 128 kbps is the most common as it offer adequate audio quality and smaller file

size

Note: In addition to bit rates of an encoded audio, the quality of an MP3 file also depends on the quality of encoder itself. As MP3 allows a bit of freedom for encoder algorithms, quality of audio encoding is also dependent on choice of encoders and encoding parameters.

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