Chapter 4
Electromagnetic
Radio Receivers
Waves and its
Behavior
Prepared by: Josiah James Q. Tiburcio
Activities
Tune in to an AM radio station
using a radio receiver. Imagine how
the signal is processed from your
receiver antenna to the audio
output.
Intended Learning Outcomes
1. To describe the functions and parameters of a
radio receiver
2. To be able to discuss the functions of the TRF
and Superheterodyne Receivers. 3. To be able to
calculate the frequencies in each of the block
diagrams of receivers.
PROCESSING
Basic Functions of a Receiver
• The receiver should be capable of changing the range of frequencies to be received
• The receiver should be able to detect and convert the received RF signal to the original source
information
• The receiver should be able to provide sufficient amplification
Selectivity
A measure of the ability of a receiver to accept a given band of frequencies and
Receiver Parameters to reject all others
A measure of the extent to which a receiver can differentiate between the
desired information signals and the disturbances or information signal at other
frequencies
Can be expressed as a bandwidth and as the ratio of the bandwidth at the
receiver at some predetermined attenuation factor (commonly -60dB) to the
bandwidth at the -3dB (half-power) points
Bandwidth Improvement
FORMULA
The noise reduction ratio achieved by reducing the
bandwidth
Noise Figure Improvement
NFImprovement = 10logBI
Sensitivity
The minimum RF signal level that can be detected at the input to the receiver and still
produce a usable demodulated information signal Dynamic Range
The difference in decibels between the minimum input level necessary to discern a
signal and the input level that will overdrive the receiver and produce distortion
The range of input power over which the receiver is useful
DR = 10 log (Pmax/Pmin)
Fidelity
A measure of the ability of a communications system to produce, at
the output of the receiver, an exact replica of the original source
information
Insertion Loss
The ratio of the power transferred to the load to the power at the
source
IL = 10 log (Pin/Pout)
Types of Radio Receivers
TUNED RADIO FREQUENCY RECEIVER SUPERHETERODYNE RECEIVER
Tuned Radio Frequency Receiver
Advantages
• Enhanced sensitivity
• Simple circuitry
Disadvantages
• Poor selectivity
• Instability
• Requires multistage tuning
Superheterodyne Receiver
Heterodyning means mixing two frequencies
together in a non-linear device.
Advantages
• Good selectivity
•Sufficient image frequency rejection
Disadvantages
• Moderate sensitivity (relatively poor compared to the TRF)
• Complex circuitry
Sections of a Superheterodyne Receiver
RF Section RF Amplifier
Determines the sensitivity of the
Generally consists of a preselector
receiver
and an amplifier stage
Preselector
Provides enough initial bandlimiting to
prevent a specific unwanted radio
frequency (image frequency) from
entering the receiver
Advantages of including RF
amplifiers in a Receiver
• Greater gain, thus better sensitivity
• Improved image-frequency rejection
• Better signal-to-noise ratio
• Better selectivity
Mixer/Converter Section
Includes a local oscillator and a radio-frequency oscillator stage. Heterodyning
takes place in the mixer stage and the radiofrequencies are down converted to
intermediate frequencies (IF).
Image Frequency, fsi
• The frequency other than the desired which when mixed with the local
oscillator will produce the same intermediate frequency
Where:
fs = desired signal frequency (Hz)
fi = intermediate frequency (Hz)
fsi = image frequency (Hz)
fo = oscillator frequency (Hz)
Image Frequency Rejection Ratio
• The ratio of the gain at the signal frequency to
the gain at the image frequency
Where:
Q = quality factor of the tuned circuit.
IF SECTION DETECTOR AUDIO SECTION
Consists of a series of IF
amplifiers and bandpass filters Comprises several
and is often called Converts the IF signal back to the
cascaded audio
the IF strip. Most of the receiver original source information
gain and selectivity is achieved in amplifiers and one or
this more speakers
section
Single Sideband Receivers
Beat Frequency Oscillator (BFO)
• Produces a frequency input to beat (mix) with the IF signal and results in
• a difference and sum frequencies with the result being the original audio
• Should have at least the tuning range of 1.5 kHz above and below the center of the IF
passband
Non- Coherent BFO SSB Receiver
Coherent BFO SSB Receiver
Practice Problems
Practice Problems
