Consumer Electronics
BEC654B
Introduction
Storage and reproduction of audio signal is one of
the important aspect of entertainment.
Magnetic recording involves storage in the form
of magnetism on tiny particles.
Digital recording means storage of audio signal in
the digital form.
The method most popular today are magnetic
recording and digital recording.
Introduction
Fig. a. Magnetic recording of the sound
Introduction
The electrical signals corresponding to audio
signals from microphone are amplified.
The amplified electrical signal are fed into the
coil of electromagnet known as head.
This electromagnet has small groove or cut as
shown.
Since the reluctance of air gap is high, magnetic
flux passing air gap is almost negligible.
A tape coated with particles of iron oxide runs
under the air gap.
The magnetic line of force magnetize iron particle
of the tape.
The iron particle are capable of retaining
magnetism over a long period of time.
The extent magnetism at any instant depends on
the strength of audio signal.
Introduction
Computers have entered almost every activity.
Audio systems has also gone digital.
A compact disc is a special disc in which the audio
signals are stored in digital form.
The recording and reproduction of sound on
Compact Disc (CD) is much more complex than on
cassettes.
However CD offer complete noise free recording
and reproduction.
Comparison of CD and Tape
Advantages
Recording and reproduction of audio signals on CD
offer a number of advantages
Complete elimination of noise and distortion.
Better frequency response in the complete audio
frequency range.
High signal to noise ratio
Surface of CD is not affected by dust, grease etc
Even if some bits are lost, error detecting codes can
restore the information.
High channel separation
More information can be stored over the same area
Disadvantages
High cost
Recording and reproduction process are more complex.
Optical recording
The audio signal from the microphone are
converted into digital signal (strings of 0 and 1)
by Pulse Code Modulation (PCM). The audio
signal is sampled and the sample is converted into
binary.
The record of digital audio signals is in the form
of pits shown in Fig. 1
Fig.1 shows the pits on a CD. Each pit is 1um
deep and 0.5um wide and with length of pits
varying from 0.9um to 3.3um
Fig. 1. Pits and track on CD
These pits are on circular concentric bands called
tracks.
The separation between the track is 1.6um.
Each sample has 16 bits so that number of
bits/second is 705600.
These are only audio bits.
These bits modulate the laser beam in ON and OFF
mode.
When laser beam is ON the output is 0.
When laser beam is OFF the output is 1
Fig. 2 Modulation of laser beam
The microphone convert the sound wave into
electrical signals.
After amplification these signals are sampled and
conditioned.
The next stage error detection and correction.
The sampling, conditioning , error correction and
detection are controlled by clock pulses.
The corrected signal modulate the laser beam.
The modulated laser beam produces the record on
to on a recording disc known as resist master disc.
The disc is fixed on to a turn table which is rotated
by a constant speed motor as shown in Fig.3.
Fig. 3 Optical recording on CD
Details of CD
Recorded CD has following dimensions and
features
Thickness of the disc=1.2 um
Diameter of the disc =12cm
Rotation is anticlockwise
Velocity of scanning =1.2m/2
Direction of pickup linear from center towards
circumference.
Speed 500RPM to 200 RPM
Storage capacity =540MB per side
Playing time = 60Sec
Sampling frequency = 44.1KHz
Track pitch =1.6um
Quantization =16bits
Bit rate =43218 M bits /sec
Transducer infra red photo diode
Pick up: Solid state laser using Aluminum
Details of recording process
The raw disc(master disc) is made of optically ground
glass.
After polishing and cleaning a layer of photo resistive
material is applied. This layer is 0.12um thick.
Then a modulated laser beam is focused on to the disc.
This beam reacts with photo resistive material.
The beam is driven from center towards the
circumference the radius is increasing.
To keep the velocity of laser beam along the disc
surface constant it is necessary to reduce the speed of
disc slowly.
Next step is developing hardness the unexposed
portion of the disc.
The next step is etching process which removes
the exposed areas to create pits on the surface of
the disc.
Coating of silver is given to make disc electrically
conducting.
The next step is nickel plating to give positive
master copy.
From positive master copy number of copies can
be obtained.
Finally a transparent protection layer is given and
put in plastic jacket.
Details of playback process
Fig. 4 Reflection of laser beam in a CD player
Fig. 4 shows the reflection of laser beam from CD
so as to generate binary signals.
The compact disc is scanned optically by a laser
beam in a CD player.
The laser beam is laser of alluminium gallium
arsenide.
The laser beam is made to fall on the compact disc
through half silvered mirror.
The half silvered mirror allows the beam to pass
through it but does not allow passage of reflected
beam.
The reflected beam passes through a lens falls on
photodiode.
If the beam is reflected from pit on the CD, the
extent of reflection is minute and it represent 0.
When the reflection is from flat of the disc full
reflection occurs and it represent digit 1.
The output from photodiode is the audio output in binary
form.
It is converted into analog from by digital to analog (D/A)
converted.
The block diagram of optical pick up process shown in Fig.
5.
Since the circumference of outer track is more than that of
track at center, the rotational speed of the disc is varied from
500 RPM at center to 200 RPM at the outermost edge.
This is done by varying the speed of the motor.
The disc is scanned at 1.2m/s. The total length of the track is
6KM.
Thus we have a playing time of 60 minute in addition to 20
minutes time for error correction.
Fig. 5 Block diagram of pick up system in CD player
Geometry of audio disc
Fig. shows the edge view of audio disc.
The disc is always played from inside to outside and
rotates counter clockwise.
Since inner tracks have lesser lengths as compared to outer
tracks, the angular velocity of disc must change
continuously during its operation.
The disc is read by laser beam focused on its signal surface
from the underside.
The laser beam passes through polycarbonate plastic base
and hits either pit or flat.
If ή=1.5, λ=0.52um, λ/4=0.13um.
If the pit were 0.13um deep the light reflected from pit
would be shifted by 180 degree as compared to light
reflected from flat.
Fig. 6 Edge view of CD
The reflected beam is summed with incident
beam.
The reflected beam from flats would be in phase
with incident beam and would interfere with the
incident beam constructively.
The reflected beam from the pits would be 180
degree out of phase with incident beam and
interfere with it destructively.
The photoconductor translates the variation in
light intensity into a digital pulse train.
The innermost track of CD has radius of 25mm
and the outermost track has radius of 58mm.
The nominal linear velocity of disc is 1.3m/s with
1.4 m/s and 1.2 m/s as the maximum and
minimum value.
Digital to analog converter
Fig.4 shows the a circuit known as a binary
ladder network for D/A conversion.
From node 1 the resistance to digital source is 2R
and resistance to ground is also 2R.
From node 2 the resistance to digital source is 2R
and resistance to ground is 2R.
Thus from each nodes 1, 2, 3, 4 the resistance to
source and ground is 2R.
Fig. 4 Digital to analog convertor
A digital input 0001means that D is connected to voltage
V and all the other inputs A, B, C are grounded.
The voltage is Vo=V/16.
A digital input 0010 means that C is connected to
voltage V and all the other inputs A, B, D are grounded.
The voltage is Vo=2V/16.
A digital input 0100 means that B is connected to voltage
V and all the other inputs A, C, D are grounded.
The voltage is Vo=3V/16.
Thus as input varies from 0000 to 1111 the out varies
from V/16 to V in steps of V/16.
A complete D/A convertor consists of a number of such
ladder network.
Handling of CD
CD requires care in handling. The following
precautions in handling are necessary
Do not expose the disc to direct sunlight, high
humidity, or high temperature.
Return the disc to case after use.
Do not write anything on disc surface.
Do not touch the playing the surface. Handle by
edges.
Wipe of dust etc with soft cloth.
Wipe in straight motion from center to edge.
Do not use any chemical or fluid for cleaning the
disc
