Exp# 4: AM Demodulators

Experiment 4 AM Demodulators
4.1 Educational Objectives:
Understanding the principle of amplitude demodulation. Implementing an amplitude demodulator with diode. Implementing an amplitude demodulator with a product detector.

4.2 Reference Readings:

Kennedy G., Electronic Communication Systems, McGRW-Hill, Third Edition, 1994, D. Roddy and J. Coolen, Electronic Communications, Prentice Hall of India, 1995. Young Paul H., Electronic Communication Techniques, Merrill Publishing Company, Third Edition 1990. Haykin Simon, Communication Systems, John Wiley, 4th Edition, 2001.

4.3 Background Information:

A demodulation process is just the opposition of a modulation process. As noticed in Chapter 3, an AM signal is a modulated signal that is highfrequency carrier amplitude varied with low-frequency audio amplitude for transmission. To recover the audio signal in receiver, it is necessary to extract the audio signal from an AM signal. The process of extracting a modulating signal from a modulated signal is called demodulation or detection. It is shown in Fig. 4-1.
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In general, detectors can be categorized into two types: synchronous and asynchronous detectors. We will discuss these two types of AM detectors in the rest of this chapter.

Fig.4-1 illustration of an amplitude demodulation

Diode Detector
Since an AM modulated signal is the signal that the carrier amplitude varies with the modulating amplitude, a demodulator is used to extract the original modulating signal from the AM signal.

Fig.4-2 Block diagram of a rectified demodulator

The block diagram of diode detector, shown in Fig. 4-2, is a typical asynchronous detector. The AM modulated signal including both positivehalf and negative-half envelope waves is applied to the input of the rectifier. The rectified output signal is the positive half envelope plus a dc level and is fed into a low-pass filter whose output is the original modulating signal with dc level. Then the modulating signal will be recovered by removing the dc voltage. Fig. 4-3 shows a practical diode detector circuit. The components R1, R2, R3, R4, U1 and U2 constitute two inverting amplifiers connected in cascading to
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offer a proper gain for the AM signal. The amplified AM signal is rectified by D1 diode and then fed into the input of the low-pass filter constructed by C2, C3 and R5. The output signal of low-pass filter is the positive-half envelope with a dc level. The capacitor C4 is used to pass the ac components while blocking the dc component.

Fig.4-3 Diode detector circuit

Product Detector
Demodulation for AM signal can be also accomplished with the balanced modulator discussed before. Such demodulator is called synchronous detector or product detector. Fig. 4-4 provides the internal circuit of MC1496 balanced modulator. See the discussion in Chapter 3 for details. If xAM(t) represents the AM signal and xc(t) is the carrier, and are expressed by

(4-1)

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(4-2) If these two signals are connected to the inputs of balance demodulator, then the output of balance demodulator will be

(4-3)

Where k is the gain of balanced modulator. The first term on the right side of Eq.(4-3) represents dc level, the second term is the modulating signal, and the third term is the second-order harmonic signal. To recover the modulating signal, the intelligence must be extracted from the AM signal xout(t).

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Fig. 4-4 MC 1496 internal circuit

Fig. 4-5 shows the product detector circuit. The VR1 controls the input level of the carrier signal. The output signal from the MC1496 pin 12 is expressed by Eq. (4-3). The low-pass filter constructed by C7, C9 and R9 is used to remove the third term, which is the second-order harmonic signal in the AM modulated signal. The first term of Eq. (4-3) is the dc level that can be blocked by the capacitor C10. The amplitude demodulated output signal can be given by

(4-4)

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Eq. (4-4) represents the audio signal. In other words, the product detector has extracted the audio signal from the AM signal. From the discussion above, we can conclude that the diode detector is an asynchronous detector whose circuit is simple but quality is bad. The product detector is a synchronous detector whose quality is excellent but the circuit is more complicated and the carrier signal must exactly synchronize with the AM signal.

Fig. 4-5 Product detector circuit

4.4 EQUIPMENT REQUIRED

1. Module KL-92001 2. Module KL-93002 3. Oscilloscope 4. RF Generator

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4.5 Tasks to Study

Experiment 4-1 Diode Detector

1. The AM signal source in this experiment is from the AM modulator

output accomplished in Chapter 3 (the circuit of Fig. 3-4).

2. Set the input signals of AM modulator for the carrier of 250mVp-p,

200 kHz sine wave, and the audio signal of 150mVp-p, 3 kHz sine wave.

3. Adjust the VR1 of AM modulator to get maximum amplitude of AM

signal output.

4. Connect the AM signal output to the input (I/P) of diode detector. 5. Switch the vertical input of scope to DC coupling and observe the
output waveforms of the amplifier and the diode detector, and record the results in Table 4-1.

6. Change the audio frequencies for 2 kHz and 1 kHz, and repeat step 5. 7. Adjust the carrier to a 250mVp-p, 300 kHz sine wave, and the audio to
a 250mVp-p, 3 kHz sine wave.

8. Adjust the VR1 of AM modulator to get maximum amplitude of AM

signal output.

9. Set the vertical input of scope to DC coupling and observe the

output waveforms of the amplifier and the diode detector, and record the results in Table 4-2.

10. Change the audio frequencies for 2 kHz and 1 kHz, and repeat step 9.

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Experiment 4-2

P r o d u c t Detector

1. The AM signal source in this experiment is from the AM modulator

output accomplished in Chapter 3 (the circuit of Fig. 3-4).

2. Set the input signals of AM modulator for the carrier of 250mVp-p,

500 kHz sine wave, and the audio signal of 150mVp-p, 3 kHz sine wave.

3. Adjust the VR1 of AM modulator to ge the percent of modulation of

50%.

4. Connect the output of AM modulator to the input of AM signal

(I/P2) of the product detector located on the bottom of Module KL93002, and connect the same carrier to the carrier input (I/P1).

5. Switch the vertical input of scope to DC coupling and observe

the output waveform of the product detector, and record the result in Table 4-3

6. Change the audio frequencies for 2 kHz and 1 kHz, and repeat step 5. 7. Adjust the carrier to a 250 mVp-p, 1 MHz sine wave, and the audio to
a 150 mVp-p, 2 kHz sine wave.

8. Adjust the VR1 of AM modulator to get the percent of modulation of

50%.

9. Switch the vertical input of scope to DC coupling and observe the

output waveform of the product detector, and record the result in Table 4-4.

10. Change the carrier frequencies for 1.5MHz and 2MHz, and repeat
step 9.

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Table 4-1
(Vc=250mVp-p, Vm=150mVp-p, fc=200kHz)

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Table 4-2
(Vc=250mVp-p, Vm=250mVp-p, fc=300kHz)

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Table 4-3
(Vc=250mVp-p, Vm=150mVp-p, fc=500kHz, m=50%)

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Table 4-4
(Vc=250mVp-p, Vm=150mVp-p, fm=2 kHz, m=50%)

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4.5 QUESTIONS:
1. In the diode detector circuit of Fig. 4-3, if the operational amplifier
PA741 is neglected, what is the output signal?

2. In the product detector circuit of Fig. 4-5, if the carrier signal and the
AM signal are asynchronous, what is the output signal?

3. What is the function of R9, C 7 or C9 in Fig. 4-5? 4. What is the function of VR1 or VR2 in Fig. 4-5? 5. What is the function of R5 or R6 in Fig. 4-5?

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