The Principle of Television

电子科技大学 格拉斯哥学院 2017级 沈博海

1. Abstract

Television (abbreviated as TV) is an invention developed in the 20th century that deeply altered our lives, firstly known as the device to receive and re-perform images and sound. The basic idea of a TV is to visualize a radio signal, that is, spreading motion pictures additionally, rather than only sound.
Television consists of three parts to function:
The TV camera collects the data (the pictures and sounds) and converts them into signals. A TV camera needs to capture multiple pictures in an interval of time, so that motion is generated due to the eyes.
The TV transmitter transmits the signal to a distant terminal, this can be achieved via several methods, either in cabled ways or wirelessly.
The TV receiver captures the signal and converts the signal back into its primitive state (the pictures and sounds), so that the audience can see the videos and sounds.

2. The TV camera

I wish to demonstrate the principle of filmed cameras, digital cameras, and sound recording.
The old-style camera captures the image via a film. A film is a long spool of flexible plastic coated with special chemicals (based on compounds of silver) that are sensitive to light.
To prevent the light spoiling the film, it is wrapped up inside a tough, light-proof plastic cylinder—the film roll you put in your camera. The component of the film is usually a compound of AgNO3 or other light-sensitive material which is very sensitive to the light and can change its transparency depending on how long your film is exposed to the light and the intensity of the light (so it is not good to expose your film for too long that the film will eventually become transparent and the image will be vague).
It is best to take a picture with a short exposure time and high intensity, so the intensity difference is amplified, but the image will not be vague. That is why the old-fashioned cameras have a dazzling spark flash when taking a picture. In fact, this kind of augmentation is still used in digital camera photo shooting, in case of professional pictures.
After taking the picture, you have to take it to a drugstore (chemist’s) to have it developed. Usually, this involves placing the film into a huge automated developing machine. The machine opens up the film container, pulls out the film, and dips it in various other chemicals to make your photos appear. This process turns the film into a series of “negative” pictures—ghostly reverse versions of what you actually saw.
Digital cameras look very much like ordinary film cameras, but the difference is using a light-sensitive semiconductor chip instead of a film, such as a charge-coupled device (CCD) or a CMOS image sensor… The chip consists of many units, each unit being a light-sensitive semiconductor. The semiconductor is circuited with a voltage source, but will change its resistance when exposed to light, and the change will be different when the light is different. According to Ohm’s Law, such changes will cause the change in current. By processing the change in current, we can obtain the data of the light, and store it as the light data of that unit. In this case, each unit contributes a pixel to the picture, and the picture is eventually converted to a series of data.
The human eye has a persistence of vision that will hold each image seen for an interval of time. Therefore, by observing deriving pictures (pictures of similar contents) in quick succession, the human brain will create a “moving” image. But it is still a series of deriving pictures that requires the camera to capture a number of pictures in a period of time.
To achieve multiple image taking in one second, the traditional movie camera takes a photograph on to plastic film every time the shutter opens and closes, and the digital camera simply changes the frequency it updates and receives the image data.
The sound is a kind of longitudinal wave, and can be recorded by recording the intensity of the sound wave as a function of time.

3. The TV transmitter

   The intensity (magnitude of the electric field) of an EM wave is conventionally measured as the magnitude of the induced electric field of that wave.
   The intensity of an EM wave propagating through free space is calculated as follows:
   E=(7√P)/d
   Where E is the magnitude of the electric field(V/m), P is the valid emission power(Watt), and d is the distance between the receiving position from the emission source(meters).
   So, for a TV station emitting significant power at 10kW, at the place that is 7km away form the TV station, the intensity level in decibels (assuming E_0=1μV/m to be zero dB) should be
   E(dB)=20 log_10⁡〖E_1/E_0 〗
   Where
   E_1=(7√P)/d=0.1V/m
   So,
   E(dB)=20 log_10⁡〖E_1/E_0 〗=100dB
   When the TV signal is emitted very high frequency signals (EM waves with frequency 〖10〗^8 Hz, also known as waves with wavelengths at about a meter) is emitted and received by antennas.
   When antennas are emitting and receiving directly (no blockings considered), the equation calculating the received intensity of the EM wave is
   E=(7√P)/d 2 sin⁡〖(2πh_1 h_2)/λd〗
   Where h_1 is the height of the emission antenna,and h_2 is the height of the receiving antenna, and 2 sin⁡〖(2πh_1 h_2)/λd〗 is the coefficient that we use to correct the intensity due to the phasor interference caused by ground

In general cases, h_1=200-500m, h_2=5-8m. Thus, when the distance is larger than 10km (which we normally see in television engineering), (2πh_1 h_2)/λd is sufficiently small. By approximation
sin⁡θ=θ
We obtain

Or

4. The TV receiver

This here is an example of how CRT television works.
a) An antenna (aerial) on your roof picks up radio waves from the transmitter. With satellite TV, the signals come from a satellite dish mounted on your wall or roof. With cable TV, the signal comes to you via an underground fiber-optic cable.
b) The incoming signal feeds into the antenna socket on the back of the TV.
c) The incoming signal is carrying picture and sound for more than one station (program). An electronic circuit inside the TV selects only the station you want to watch and splits the signal for this station into separate audio (sound) and video (picture) information, passing each to a separate circuit for further processing.
d) The electron gun circuit splits the video part of the signal into separate red, blue, and green signals to drive the three electron guns.
e)
f) The circuit fires three electron guns (one red, one blue, and one green) down a cathode-ray tube.
g) The electron beams pass through a ring of electromagnets. Electrons can be steered by magnets because they have a negative electrical charge. The electromagnets steer the electron beams so they sweep back and forth across the screen, line by line.
h) The electron beams pass through a grid of holes called a mask, which directs them so they hit exact places on the TV screen. Where the beams hit the phosphors (colored chemicals) on the screen, they make red, blue, or green dots. Elsewhere, the screen remains dark. The pattern of red, blue, and green dots builds up a colored picture very quickly.
i) Meanwhile, audio (sound) information from the incoming signal passes to a separate audio circuit.
j) The audio circuit drives the loudspeaker (or loudspeakers, since there are at least two in a stereo TV) so they recreate the sound exactly in time with the moving picture.

5. Conclusion
   The television is a typical example of the implementations of communications engineering. Subjects include antennas and microwave engineering, circuit analysis and design, semiconductor physics, signal processing is involved.

6. References.
   a) 300 Q&As on TV knowledge, Author: NHK, 出版社:国防工业出版社 出版时间:1982.
   b) https://www.explainthatstuff.com/digitalcameras.html
   c) https://www.explainthatstuff.com/camcorders.html
   d) https://www.explainthatstuff.com/television.html