Transceiver
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In radio communication, a transceiver is a device that is able to both receive and transmit information through a medium, usually via radio waves. It is a combination of a receiver and a transmitter; this allows for greater flexibility and use from one consolidated device.
Radio frequency (RF) transceivers are widely used within cell phones (for connection to cellular networks) and other wireless devices. Transmission can also be accomplished via satellite or wired connections or even with optical fiber systems.
Radio technology
In radio terminology, a transceiver means a unit which contains both a receiver and a transmitter. From the beginning days of radio the receiver and transmitter were separate units and remained so until around 1920. Amateur radio or "ham" radio operators can build their own equipment and it is now easier to design and build a simple unit containing both of the functions: transmitting and receiving. Almost all modern amateur radio equipment is now a transceiver but there is an active market for pure radio receivers, mainly for shortwave listening (SWL) operators. An example of a transceiver would be a walkie-talkie or a CB radio.
In RF technology we see the many different uses and the extremely dependent role transceivers play in wireless devices. From smart watches to CB radios, transceivers of many different sizes are in use. Although, wireless communication devices may need a transceiver to operate correctly but some function drastically different than others due to the advancement of technology. Typically seen in much older styles of devices like HAM or CB radios are analog transceivers that broadcast with Frequency modulation which simply put is the traditional radio wave signal that has been around for Decades. This more traditional technology is much simpler when compared to its digital equivalents but also operates quite reliably. This simplicity helps the manufacturing price point and has proven reliable time and time again, the technology is used less today but still finds great use in the CB and HAM communities as well as many emergency communication systems. But with many developments to technology since the invention of the transceiver, many wireless devices today operate on digital transmissions. Instead of the traditional wave style Digital Transceivers can transmit “1’s” and “0’s” over radio waves just like any other wireless transceiver but with much greater detail. Because the binary system can be interpreted as a code, the type of data that can be transferred is opened up. Just looking at a Digital two-way radio we can see that the transmissions sent can also carry additional information to encode the transmission, this is common in the Radios of Police and Fire departments. The digital transmission is also a lot clearer as its different method allows for much clearer data. But since the binary system is used for Digital transceivers, they are no different than a computer and the data transferred can now be extremely complicated, even to the extent of sending video. As the transmission and receptions aspects have been improved over the years, these capabilities have only been improved.
The Transceiver is something that is integral to almost all wireless devices, however there is one very common system that does not use them at all. This is the FM radio in your car or house, these radios use receivers to pick up analog radio wave signals and can interpret them, thus giving you music as you drive or are at home. But these receivers cannot send any signal, that is the job of the Transmitter of each respective radio station. This makes the system rather unique and really isolates what is put out on air. It should also be noted that many stations nowadays have brought in digital signals that only improve the quality and are quite effective with radios that are capable of receiving these signals. With so many options and possibilities for information to be sent out into the air there has to be some form of regulation. For the U.S. the FCC takes this responsibility. In the case of a radio station they go as far as to monitor the content transmitted but also control the frequency, and other specifics, by which the radio station has to operate. On personal devices, you do not notice the impact of the FCC as much; but in manufacturing, every transceiver has to meet certain standards and capabilities and not exceed them, this can get very specific and depends on the application. The same is present in the amateur radio world as users are required to have a license and talk on specific channels. This also goes for emergency services that use radios, they are assigned a specific channel to operate on and no one else but them is allowed to speak. The range of impact the FCC has on the radio world is huge but really boils down to monitoring who and what is on the air along with the kind of device they are using. Transceivers can be modified by manufactures or even their users to alter frequencies, depending on the scenario this could be a problem and therefore is the reason the FCC monitors these devices not only in production but also use.
Telephony
On a wired telephone, the handset contains the transmitter and receiver for the audio which in the 20th century was usually wired to the base unit by a tinsel wire. The whole unit is colloquially referred to as a "receiver". On a mobile telephone or other radiotelephone, the entire unit is a transceiver, for both audio and radio.
A cordless telephone uses an audio and radio transceiver for the handset, and a radio transceiver for the base station. If a speakerphone is included in a wired telephone base or in a cordless base station, the base also becomes an audio transceiver in addition to the handset.
A modem is similar to a transceiver, in that it sends and receives a signal, but a modem uses modulation and demodulation. It modulates a signal being transmitted and demodulates a signal being received.
Ethernet
Transceivers are called Medium Attachment Units (MAUs) in IEEE 802.3 documents and were widely used in 10BASE2 and 10BASE5 Ethernet networks. Fiber-optic gigabit, 10 Gigabit Ethernet, 40 Gigabit Ethernet, and 100 Gigabit Ethernet utilize transceivers known as GBIC, SFP, SFP+, QSFP, XFP, XAUI, CXP, and CFP.
See also
- 4P4C, de facto standard connector for telephone handsets
- Duplex, two-Way communications capability
- Radar beacon
- Transponder § Optical communications
References
· Rutledge, D. (1999). The electronics of radio. Cambridge [England]; New York: Cambridge University Press.
· Radio transceiver—An overview | sciencedirect topics. (n.d.). Retrieved February 29, 2020, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/computer-science/radio-transceiver
· Reinhart, R. C. K. (2004). Reconfigurable transceiver and software-defined radio architecture and technology evaluated for NASA space communications. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20050215177
· Govinfo. (n.d.). Retrieved February 29, 2020, from https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CFR-2010-title47-vol1/CFR-2010-title47-vol1-sec2-926
· Haring, K. (2007). Ham radio's technical culture (Inside technology). Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
This article incorporates public domain material from Federal Standard 1037C. General Services Administration. Archived from the original on 2022-01-22. (in support of MIL-STD-188).
External articles
- U.S. patent 0,716,136, John Stone Stone, "Apparatus for simultaneously transmitting and receiving space telegraph signals"
- 7 MHz SSB transceiver
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