CyganskiBook.pptVIP

Chapter 16 Cyganski Book Monica Stoica Smonica@cs.bu.edu BU Intro Wireless information transmission is the subject of this chapter. While commercial radio communications is over 75 years old, it has recently been experiencing explosive growth in new applications. We will learn about the following important principles and applications of radio: the fundamental design parameters for a wireless system, including signal bandwidth, transmission distance, transmitter frequency and power, and limitations on antenna location; limitations of ``line of sight in communications system design, including satellite systems; basics of antenna design; and the Global Positioning System as an example of a wireless information system. Wireless Radio communications has been in existence for over 75 years. In the period after World War II, its uses multiplied rapidly, with applications ranging from entertainment broadcast (AM and FM radio, television) to point-point application-specific communications (military, police, air traffic control, and space exploration) to long distance telephone links, to hobbyists (amateur and CB radio). The past few decades have seen another explosion of radio applications, driven by several related technical developments: Earth satellites, particularly geosynchronous satellites, and cheap high-performance, high-frequency electronics. AM frequency Prior to the emergence of the satellite, essentially all of the radio-frequency spectrum space was in use in populated areas. Satellites orbiting above the Earth provided a new direction to point microwave antennas: up. This new direction produced no interference with existing signals, and in addition enabled signals to propagate (via the satellite) almost halfway around the earth. Previously, high-frequency radio signals had been restricted to line-of-sight distances on Earth (about 40 miles maximum). Radio signals in the lower frequencies (such as AM broadcast) and somewhat higher can travel long dist