ANALOG MODULATION SYSTEMS

October 2013
Lectured by
Assoc Prof. Thuong Le-Tien

Slides with references from HUT Finland, Mc. Graw Hill

Co., and A.B. Carlsons Communication Systems book

Analog Carrier Wave Systems

Carrier wave techniques form a bases for telecommunication

systems
Topics today in CW-applications:
Single conversion radio receiver
FM radio (analog) stereo multiplexing
Measurement equipment
Spectrum analyzer
Multiplexing techniques
Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM)
Quadrature-carrier multiplexing
Phase-locked loop (PLL)
FM-demodulator
frequency synthesis
Costas loop

Heterodyne
Single-conversion receiver

Assume reception of a bandpass signal

xc (t ) A(t ) cos ct (t )

Multiplication at the receiver with the local oscillator signal

having frequency of fLO yields signals at two CW-bands

xIF (t ) xLO (t ) xc (t )
A(t )cos( LO t ) cos ct (t )
A(t )cos LO c t (t ) / 2 A(t ) cos LO c t (t ) / 2

Therefore, IF can be selected as f IF f LO f c

or LO can be selected as f LO f c f IF

Mirror frequency

Select for IF for instance Am (t ) cos LO c t (t ) / 2

For the reason that cosine is even function there are two
frequency bands that convert to intermediate frequency namely

'
' ,
IF

LO

LO

LO

IF

LO

LO

IF

This means that both bandpass signals at the received

frequencies LO IF are converted to the intermediate
frequency.
Example: Assume we set

f LO 110 MHz, f IF 10 MHz

therefore receiver picks signals at the bands of

f c f LO f IF 110 MHz 10 MHz

= 120 MHz 100 MHz

However, this is usually not wanted, and the other band must be
filtered away by the first bandpass filter at the receiver

Filtering mirror frequencies (image rejection filtering)

2 f IF
BT BRF 2 f IF

f IF f LO f C
f C f LO f IF (selected)
f C ' f C 2 f IF (see the figure)
*

*Should pass the message

but not the mirror image

Single conversion - basic characteristics

SC can be used with all CW methods

The RF stage provides image rejection
The IF stage provides gain and interference rejection
note that the fractional BW= BT/fIF is selected by adjusting fIF
Remember from the second lecture that system design is easier
if the fractional bandwidth is kept relatively small: For analog FM
broadcasting:

BIF / f IF 200 kHz /10.6 MHz 0.02

0.01 B / f0 0.1
when it was required
Tuning of the receiver to a desired band is easy by adjusting the
local oscillator. (Often BRF is selected to be so wide and fLO so
high that the first bandpass filter (amplifier) center frequency
requires no tuning, as usually in FM radios)

Example of Frequency Conversion

Scanning spectrum analyzer

BRF

BIF

VCO, BRF and BIF filters form together a scanning bandpass filter
(SBF)
Ramp generator takes care of sweeping SBF
After the IF filter the envelope detector yields signal whose
power is comparable to the power that has passed the SBF
Sweep rate and BIF determine system resolution. High
resolution->small BIF and sweep rate as discussed soon
When larger sensitivity is desired sweep rate must be
decreased
Spectrum analyzer includes often integrator (or averaging
function) to improve SNR via inclusion of multiple sweep data

Frequency-division multiplexing (FDM)

FDM receiver
First the FDM wave is demodulated. Then each subcarrier
is detected by using separate bandpass filters and
detectors.

AT & T FDM hierarchy in PSTN

voice channel

Advanced FDM: xDSL with OFDM

Conventional FDM:
Each channel occupies accurately certain frequency band
Bandwidth efficiency increased by using SSB modulation
Usage of guard bands wastes resources
A lot of filtering functions (complex circuitry)
Modern FDM: OFDM (orthogonal frequency division
multiplexing) and DMT (discrete multitone modulation) yield
increased spectral adaptation. Applied in xDSL (digital
subscriber line techniques).

DMT with cable

attenuation only

rejected sub-band
DMT with cable
attenuation, interference
and cross-talk

FM stereo multiplexing (MPX-system)

The MPX encoder utilizes various linear modulation methods

L+R and L-R signals are transmitted on different channels
SCA (Subsidiary Communication Authorization) is used to
transmit background music for selected subscribers

FM stereo decoder

System is based on detecting both L+R and L-R signals from

which the R and L can be calculated
Compatibility to mono-phonic transmission is granted by using
the unmodulated L+R and DSB modulated L-R signal at 23-53
kHz that is automatically filtered out in mono-phonic reception

Quadrature-carrier multiplexing

Two signals x1 and x2 are transmitted via same channel

xC (t ) AC x1 (t )cos( C t ) x2 (t )sin( C t )

Signals can be analog or digital CW or baseband signals

(QPSK, DSB, SSB ...)

xC (t )

Task: show that the signals x1 and x2 can be detected

independently at the receiver!

Quadrature-carrier reception

In order to detect the x1 component multiply by the cos-wave:

cos( C t ) x1 (t )cos( C t ) x2 (t )sin( C t )

x1 (t ) 1 cos(2 C t ) / 2 x2 (t )sin(2 C t ) / 2

In order to detect the x2 component multiply by sin-wave:

sin( C t ) x1 (t ) cos( C t ) x2 (t )sin( C t )

x2 (t ) 1 cos(2 C t ) / 2 x1 (t )sin(2 C t ) / 2

Note
Second-order frequency must be filtered away
The local oscillator must be precisely in-phase to the
received signal, otherwise cross-talk will follows

Phase-locked loops (PLLs)

Phase-locked loop is a feedback arrangement capable to

synchronize itself to a noisy external reference
The output signals of the loop can be used to produce for
instance multitude of locked frequencies
PLL application areas include...
modulators
demodulators
frequency synthesis
multiplexers
signal processors

The PLL principle

The PLL circuit consists of

phase comparator (in the figure below the multiplier)
lowpass filter
feedback amplifier
VCO (voltage controlled oscillator), whose output
frequency is linearly proportional to input amplitude
Principle: phase difference of Xc(t) and v(t) adjusts VCO
Phase comparator output is
comparable to phase difference of input signals

PLL phase comparator realizations

Circuits: (a) analog and (b) digital phase comparator circuit

Note that for (a) output is proportional to
input signal phase difference
input signal amplitudes (unintended AM thus harmful)
In (b) AM effects are compensated and response is more linear

pulse ratio: 50/50

ideal

XOR-circuit

sin(a cos( ) 1 sin( ) 1 sin( )

2
2

FM detection by PLL

time domain

sin (t ) (t ) (t ) v (t )

phase domain

(t ) 2 K y (t ) dt
v

dv (t )

(t ) dt

t
v (t ) ( )d

v ( ) d

1
V ( f ) 1 V (0) ( f )
2
j 2 f

frequency domain

PLL FM-demodulator: the feedback analysis

Solve transfer function with feedback:
Y( f )

Y ( f ) X ( f ) H 2 ( f )Y ( f ) H1 ( f )
Y ( f ) H 1 ( f ) H 2 ( f )Y ( f ) X ( f ) H 1 ( f )

Y( f )

H1 ( f )
X(f )
1 H1 ( f ) H 2 ( f )

This is applied to the linearized PLL yielding relationship

between the input phase and output voltage:

Ka H ( f )
Y( f )
( f )
1 K a H ( f ) K v / jf
1 jfKH ( f )

( f )
K v jf KH ( f )
(K Ka Kv )

Applying the FM signal to

the linearized PLL model

Remember the FM wave:

d (t ) / dt 2 f x (t )
where the modulating signal is denoted by x(t). The input FM
phase to the system is thus

(t ) 2 f x( )d

This is in frequency domain: ( f ) 2 f X ( f ) /( j f )

assuming no DC component or V(0) = 0, or

v ( ) d
t

1
V ( f ) 1 V (0) ( f )
2
j 2 f

Applying FM signal to the detector... (cont.)

Thus the input is ( f ) f X ( f ) /( jf ) and the output is

1 jfKH ( f )
f X ( f )
Y( f )
( f )
HL( f )
K v jf KH ( f )
Kv
where the loop equivalent transfer function is
Y(f)

HL ( f )

H( f )
H ( f ) j( f / K )

K Ka Kv

Assume that the first order LP function is used or

HL ( f )

1
f
X(f )
f
W
Y( f )
X ( f ), 1
1 j( f / K )
Kv 1 j( f / K ) Kv
K
f
y (t ) x(t )
Kv

PLL based frequency synthesizer

Reference signal fin

is locked for instance
to the fundamental frequency
of a crystal oscillator

f in

Phase
Phase
detector
detector

Divide
Divideby
by
10
10
By adjusting the
divider different
frequencies can be produced
whose phase is locked into fin

Filt.
Filt.

VCO
VCO
f out 10 f in

Detecting DSB using PLL-principle

An important application for PLLs is in synchronization of receiver

local oscillator in synchronous detection
In the Costas PLL (below) two phase discriminators are used to:
cancel out DSB modulation x(t) in the driving signal
synchronize the output frequency to the center frequency of the
DSB spectra (the suppressed carrier)
to detect the DSB signal

Costas PLL detector

for DSB

PD: phase detector (=multiply+LPF)

Loop drives phase

error to zero

LPF yields constant (zero)

output when loop is locked
to carrier

sin ss cos ss 1 sin 2 ss sin 0 ss

2

Frequency synthesizer with fixed and

adjustable outputs

Linearized PLL models (a) time domain (b) phase

(c) frequency domain

Monochrome
TV transmitter

Monochrome TV receiver

The aspect ratio

Color subcarrier modulation system

The luminance signal

The chrominance signal

Color demodulation system

Color vector

Scene capabilities of conventional NTSC system and

HDTV

Viewing angles as a function of distance (a) conventional

NTSC (b) HDTV

HDTV transmitter

HDTV receiver