EXPERIMENT (3)

Frequency Modulation

1 Objective
 To generate frequency modulated signal and determine the frequency deviation,
modulation index and bandwidth for various values of amplitude and frequency
of modulating signal.
 To study the Input-Output characteristic of the modulator.
 To analyze frequency spectrum of modulated signal.

2 Equipment
 Panel DL2501
 Signal Generators
 Cathode Ray Oscilloscope
 Power Supply
 Spectrum Analyzer
 Connecting Wires

3 Theory
A sinusoidal carrier C (t) =Ac cos (ωct+θ0) has three parameters according to an
information signal m (t)
I. Its amplitude Ac,
II. Its frequency ωc which leads us to class of system designed as frequency
modulating FM systems.
III. Its phase θ0, which leads us to class of system designed as phase modulation
PM systems. We can write that
C (t) =Ac cos(ωct+θ0) =Ac cos(θ(t)) (1)

Where θ (t) is often called the angle of the sinusoidal that’s why FM & PM are
referred to as angle modulating For eq.1
ω(t)=dθ/dt (2)
The instantaneous frequency ω (t) = ωc if we apply it to a pure carrier. By
integration eq.2 as follow we get instantaneous phase
θ(t) =∫ ( ) 0 (3)
Obviously if we start with ω(t) =ωc . We get
θ (t) =ωc (t) +θ0 (4)
Fig. (1) describes the concept of instantaneous frequency .

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 Fig. (1) Concept of instantaneous frequency

3.1 Frequency Modulation

Information signal m(t) inserted as a linear term into the instantaneous frequency
of the carrier. That is
ω(t)=ωc +kf m(t) (5)

 kf is the frequency deviation constant in Hz/volt


Maximum frequency deviation Δf= kf|m (t) |max

In this case the FM modulated signal is

mf(t)=Ac cos(ωct+kf∫ ( ) ) (6)
Where ωi(t)= ωc+ kf m(t) the instantaneous frequency of FM

And fi (t) =fc+ m(t)

The modulation index β of FM signal β=∆f/fm where ∆f is freq. deviation and fm is

information freq. this is shown in Fig. ( 2).

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 Fig. (2.1) FM Signal ‐ Time Domain

 For a pulse train baseband signal

Fig. (2.2) FM Signal ‐ Time Domain

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 • For a 1 KHz sinusoidal baseband signal (tone modulation) and 10 KHz carrier
Wider than an AM or DSB signal as shown in Fig. (3)

Fig. (3)

5 Experimental Procedure
5.1 Time Analysis
I. Refer to the circuit of the Fig. (4) and connect the panel DL2501 to the +15 V
power supply.
II. Connect with two short connecting wires the output of modulating signal
generating to the modulator input Vm and ground.
III. Connect CH1 of the oscilloscope to the upper terminal of TA identified by VFM
and the ground to the lower terminal of TA ( refer to figure 4 ).
IV. Switch on the power supply and set the amplitude of modulating signal to
minimum.
V. Synchronize the oscilloscope until displaying a clear image at the screen
( time axis, 1 µs/div ), This is the carrier signal at the FM modulator output ,
its amplitude 0.5 – 1 Vp-p and frequency between 550 and 750 KHz.
VI. Connect CRO CH2 to the modulating signal generator and trigger the CRO
with CH2.
VII. Gradually increase the amplitude of the frequency generator till modulated
signal VFM appears Cleary that will be of the kind shown in Fig. (5).

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``

Fig.(4) DL 2501

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 Fig. (5)

5.2 FM Modulator linearity

I. Connect an audio frequency square wave obtained from an external signal
generator, to the modulator’s input Vm .
II. Connect CH1 of CRO to the terminal VFM at the modulator output and CH2
to modulating signal Vm . Trigger the CRO with CH2.
III. Set the frequency of the square to about 500 Hz and the amplitude will be
adjusted from 0 to 8 Vp-p in steps of 1 Vp-p .
IV. Adjust the time scale of the CRO to ( 0.5 µs/div ) to display on the screen at
least 3 complete sinusoidal cycles of VFM .
V. Record the minimum and maximum periods of the 3 cycles from the
opening of the beam from the left of screen and divide each by 3. The
periods represent the minimum frequency and maximum frequency of the
FM signal. And the frequency deviation Δf can be easily calculated as :

Δf

VI. The value of modulation index mf is calculated by the relation :

β = Δf / fm

where fm is the frequency of the modulating signal.

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VII. Connect all measurements and calculations and tabulate it in table(1).

Vm Δf β
(Vp-p .) ( KHz)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Table (1)

VIII. Plot a graph of frequency deviation (vertical axis) versus modulating signal
(x -axis). You obtain a curve similar to the one of Fig. ( 6)

Note: A flattening in the curve may happen for the high amplitude of modulating
signal due to extreme bias of the variable diode.

Fig (6) – Input-Output characteristic of the modulator

Vm = Amplitude of the modulating signal

f- Frequency of the generated signal

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 5.3 Spectral analysis of FM signal
I. We will use spectrum analyzer to help in observing how a change in signal
parameters affects the frequency spectrum.
II. Set spectrum analyzer as follows; Scan width between (0.1-0.2) MHz/div;
bandwidth filter to 20 KHz (button pressed), attenuator will be selected
between +20 dbm to +40 dbm.
III. Set modulating signal amplitude to minimum (zero), observe and sketch
roughly the carrier frequency spectrum.
IV. Set and fix the frequency of modulating signal to 1 KHz; increase the
amplitude of the signal in three steps (1, 2, 4) Vp-p that corresponds to
increasing the frequency deviation Δf (signal frequency fixed). Sketch the
spectrum roughly and compare the observation obtained with Fig. (7)
V. Now set the amplitude of modulating signal to 2 Vp-p and increase the
frequency in steps of (1,2,4) KHz . Sketch the spectrum roughly and compare
the observation obtained with Fig. (7)

Fig (7) – Spectra of an FM signal for different values of modulation index

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6 Discussion:
1- What is the equation of FM?
2- Compare between FM & AM?
3- How many sidebands are there in FM?
4- Discuss the results and observation of step 4&step 5 in spectral analysis of FM
signal?
5- What is the relationship between the modulation index and the amplitude of
the modulating signal?