Chapter Five Modulator and Demodulator Circuits

Introduction

One of the principal techniques used in electronic communications is modulation. Modulation

is the process of having the information to be transmitted alter a higher-frequency signal for
the purpose of transmitting the information somewhere in the electromagnetic spectrum via
radio, wire, or fiber optic cable. Without modulation, electronic communications would not
exist as we know it today. Communications electronics is largely the study of various
modulation techniques and of the modulator and demodulator circuits that make modulation
possible. The three principal types of electronic communications are amplitude modulation
(AM), frequency modulation (FM), and phase modulation (PM). The oldest and simplest form
of modulation is AM. In this chapter we will cover AM with its amplitude modulator and
demodulator circuits, where an AM demodulator (detector) is a circuit that converts an
amplitude-modulated RF or IF signal to an audio, video, or pulse signal of the same form that
was originally used to modulate the transmitted signal.

5.1. Modulator Circuit

Modulation is the process of imposing information contained a lower frequency electronic signal
onto a higher frequency signal. The higher frequency signal is called the carrier and the lower
frequency signal is called the modulating signal. If the information is imposed on the carrier by
causing its amplitude to vary in accordance with the modulating signal, then it is called amplitude
modulation. In a modulator two signal frequencies are mixed with a nonlinear device, where the
amplitude of one signal will change the amplitude of the other signal through time.

Fig.1: Modulator Circuit

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Applied Electronics II – EEng-2202
Note: The Modulator circuit of figure 1 operates for carrier frequencies of at least 100 times larger than
the modulating signal frequency. To minimize this and other drawbacks a differential amplifier is used
to design this modulator circuit. This (Designing the modulator circuit using differential amplifier) is
left as an exercise for the students.

Operation

The carrier signal EC is the input to a CE amplifier. The circuit amplifies the carrier by a factor
of A, so that the output is AEC. The modulating signal is part of the biasing; therefore, it
produces low frequency variations in emitter current; in turn, this means variations in and A
(as stated in the following conditions). For this reason, the amplified carrier signal looks like
the AM waveform, as shown at the right side of figure 1; the peaks of the output vary
sinusoidally with the modulating signal.
If = 0 (no modulating signal), = where = = 25 . This
results into the quiescent state where we get only the amplification of the carrier signal.
If > 0( ), = where = but this time > , hence this
results into a lower gain. Which is the minimum state of the output.
If < 0(negative cycle), this makes the ≪ , therefore, the gain becomes very much
larger than the previous states. And this is the maximum state.

Analysis of the AM wave

The Am wave generated due to the combination of any two sine waves through a nonlinear
device produce a complex waveform consisting the following frequency components:

 A dc level
 The two fundamental sine wave frequencies
 The harmonics of the two fundamental frequencies
 The sum of the fundamental frequencies
 The difference between frequencies

Equation of the AM waveform due to the combination of and is given by:

=( + ) …………………1
Where:
= peak amplitude of carrier
= peak amplitude of modulating signal
ωit = radian frequency of modulating signal
ω ct = radian frequency of carrier
ω = 2πf

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Applied Electronics II – EEng-2202
From trigonometry we know that:

(cos )(cos ) = 0.5 ( − ) + 0.5 ( + )

Applying this rule for equation 1 we get,

= + 2 ( − ) + 2 ( + ) ……2

Where: = is known as modulation index or modulation factor

0≤ ≤1

 = 0 no modulation
 = 1 100% modulation

From equation 2 we see that there are three components:

1. The carrier frequency ω

2. The lower-side frequency (ω − ω ) ( − )
3. The upper-side frequency (ω + ω ) ( + )

And these components are shown below in the frequency spectrum graph, with the input signal

and the non linear device.

Fig.3: Frequency spectrum

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5.2. Demodulator Circuit
By demodulation we mean detection of signal wave from the modulated wave in the receiver.
Once the amplitude modulated wave is received in the receiver, the work of the carrier wave is
over. The signal wave must be separated from the AM wave. So the detector circuit is used to
separate down the modulated wave into its parts. It is the receiver’s circuit that does this job.
This detector changes the frequency of the signal down, and converts the signal from an RF to
the message frequencies. One important type of AM detector is the envelope detector circuit. A
simple form of that type of AM detector is shown in Figure 3.

Fig.2: Demodulator Circuit

The circuit involves a diode rectifier followed by a lowpass filter. The rectifier converts the full-
wave signal to a half-wave signal of either positive or negative polarity, depending on the
direction of the diode. The lowpass filter is simply a resistor and capacitor in parallel following
the rectifier. The combination makes the detector a peak-type detector, and the circuit output
follows the envelope of the modulated signal.

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