Assignment Report Modulation

Amplitude Modulation (AM) Frequency Modulation (FM) Phase Modulation (PM) Pulse-Amplitude Modulation (PAM) Pulse-Code Modulation (PCM)

Arshdeep Singh 100905012 EIC-1

MODULATION

Modulation is the addition of information (or the signal) to an electronic or optical signal carrier. Modulation can be applied to direct current (mainly by turning it on and off), to alternating current, and to optical signals. One can think of blanket waving as a form of modulation used in smoke signal transmission (the carrier being a steady stream of smoke). Morse code, invented for telegraphy and still used in amateur radio, uses a binary (two-state) digital code similar to the code used by modern computers. For most of radio and telecommunication today, the carrier is alternating current (AC) in a given range of frequencies. Common modulation methods include:

Amplitude modulation (AM), in which the voltage applied to the carrier is varied over time Frequency modulation (FM), in which the frequency of the carrier waveform is varied in small but meaningful amounts Phase modulation (PM), in which the natural flow of the alternating current waveform is delayed temporarily

In electronics and telecommunications, modulation is the process of varying one or more properties of a high-frequency periodic waveform, called the carrier signal, with a modulating signal which typically contains information to be transmitted. This is done in a similar fashion to a musician modulating a tone (a periodic waveform) from a musical instrument by varying its volume, timing and pitch. The three key parameters of a periodic waveform are its amplitude ("volume"), its phase ("timing") and its frequency ("pitch"). Any of these properties can be modified in accordance with a low frequency signal to obtain the modulated signal. Typically a high-frequency sinusoid waveform is used as carrier signal, but a square wave pulse train may also be used. In telecommunications, modulation is the process of conveying a message signal, for example a digital bit stream or an analog audio signal, inside another signal that can be physically transmitted. Modulation of a sine waveform is used to transform a baseband message signal into a passband signal, for example low-frequency audio signal into a radio-frequency signal (RF signal). In radio communications,

cable TV systems or the public switched telephone network for instance, electrical signals can only be transferred over a limited passband frequency spectrum, with specific (non-zero) lower and upper cutoff frequencies. Modulating a sine-wave carrier makes it possible to keep the frequency content of the transferred signal as close as possible to the centre frequency (typically the carrier frequency) of the passband. A device that performs modulation is known as a modulator and a device that performs the inverse operation of modulation is known as a demodulator (sometimes detector or demod). A device that can do both operations is a modem (from "modulatordemodulator").

Digital & Analog Modulation

The aim of digital modulation is to transfer a digital bit stream over an analog bandpass channel, for example over the public switched telephone network (where a bandpass filter limits the frequency range to between 300 and 3400 Hz), or over a limited radio frequency band. The aim of analog modulation is to transfer an analog baseband (or lowpass) signal, for example an audio signal or TV signal, over an analog bandpass channel at a different frequency, for example over a limited radio frequency band or a cable TV network channel. Analog and digital modulation facilitate frequency division multiplexing (FDM), where several low pass information signals are transferred simultaneously over the same shared physical medium, using separate passband channels (several different carrier frequencies). The aim of digital baseband modulation methods, also known as line coding, is to transfer a digital bit stream over a baseband channel, typically a non-filtered copper wire such as a serial bus or a wired local area network.

The aim of pulse modulation methods is to transfer a narrowband analog signal, for example a phone call over a wideband baseband channel or, in some of the schemes, as a bit stream over another digital transmission system. In music synthesizers, modulation may be used to synthesize waveforms with an extensive overtone spectrum using a small number of oscillators. In this case the carrier frequency is typically in the same order or much lower than the modulating waveform. See for example frequency modulation synthesis or ring modulation synthesis.

Amplitude Modulation (AM)

Amplitude modulation (AM) is a technique used in electronic communication, most commonly for transmitting information via a radio carrier wave. AM works by varying the strength of the transmitted signal in relation to the information being sent. For example, changes in the signal strength can be used to specify the sounds to be reproduced by a loudspeaker, or the light intensity of television pixels. (Contrast this with frequency modulation, also commonly used for sound transmissions, in which the frequency is varied; and phase modulation, often used in remote controls, in which the phase is varied) In the mid-1870s, a form of amplitude modulationinitially called "undulatory currents"was the first method to successfully produce quality audio over telephone lines. Beginning with Reginald Fessenden's audio demonstrations in 1906, it was also the original method used for audio radio transmissions, and remains in use today by many forms of communication"AM" is often used to refer to the medium wave broadcast band (see AM radio).

An audio signal (top) may be carried by an AM or FM radio wave.

Forms of amplitude modulation

In radio communication, a continuous wave radio-frequency signal (a sinusoidal carrier wave) has its amplitude modulated by an audio waveform before being transmitted. In the frequency domain, amplitude modulation produces a signal with power concentrated at the carrier frequency and in two adjacent sidebands. Each sideband is equal in bandwidth to that of the modulating signal and is a mirror image of the other. Amplitude modulation that results in two sidebands and a carrier is often called double-sideband amplitude modulation (DSB-AM). Amplitude modulation is inefficient in terms of power usage. At least two-thirds of the power is concentrated in the carrier signal, which carries no useful information (beyond the fact that a signal is present). To increase transmitter efficiency, the carrier can be removed (suppressed) from the AM signal. This produces a reduced-carrier transmission or double-sideband suppressed-carrier (DSBSC) signal. A suppressed-carrier amplitude modulation scheme is three times more power-efficient than traditional DSB-AM. If the carrier is only partially suppressed, a double-sideband reduced-carrier (DSBRC) signal results. DSBSC and DSBRC signals need their carrier to be regenerated (by a beat frequency oscillator, for instance) to be demodulated using conventional techniques. Improved bandwidth efficiency is achievedat the expense of increased transmitter and receiver complexityby completely suppressing both the carrier

and one of the sidebands. This is single-sideband modulation, widely used in amateur radio due to its efficient use of both power and bandwidth. A simple form of AM often used for digital communications is on-off keying, a type of amplitude-shift keying by which binary data is represented as the presence or absence of a carrier wave. This is commonly used at radio frequencies to transmit Morse code, referred to as continuous wave (CW) operation.

Modulation index

It can be defined as the measure of extent of amplitude variation about an unmodulated maximum carrier. As with other modulation indices, in AM, this quantity, also called modulation depth, indicates by how much the modulated variable varies around its 'original' level. For AM, it relates to the variations in the carrier amplitude and is defined as:

where

and

were introduced above.

So if h = 0.5, the carrier amplitude varies by 50% above and below its unmodulated level, and for h = 1.0 it varies by 100%. To avoid distortion in the A3E transmission mode, modulation depth greater than 100% must be avoided. Practical transmitter systems will usually incorporate some kind of limiter circuit, such as a VOGAD, to ensure this. However, AM demodulators can be designed to detect the inversion (or 180 degree phase reversal) that occurs when modulation exceeds 100% and automatically correct for this effect.[citation needed]

Variations of modulated signal with percentage modulation are shown below. In each image, the maximum amplitude is higher than in the previous image. Note that the scale changes from one image to the next.

Modulation depth

Amplitude Modulation Block Diagram

Angle Modulation
Variation of the angle of carrier signal with time results in angle modulation. It is of two types; a) Frequency Modulation b) Phase Modulation

Frequency Modulation (FM)

The type of modulation in which the instantaneous frequency of the carrier is varied according to amplitude of modulating signal is called frequency modulation.

Frequency modulation is widely used in VHF communication systems e.g. FM broadcasting, transmission of sound signal in TV, Satellite Communication etc.

A signal modifies the frequency of a carrier in FM

Frequency Modulated wave

Theory

Suppose the baseband data signal (the message) to be transmitted is xm(t) and the sinusoidal carrier is , where fc is the carrier's base frequency and Ac is the carrier's amplitude. The modulator combines the carrier with the baseband data signal to get the transmitted signal:

In this equation, is the instantaneous frequency of the oscillator and is the frequency deviation, which represents the maximum shift away from fc in one direction, assuming xm(t) is limited to the range 1.

Although it may seem that this limits the frequencies in use to fc f, this neglects the distinction between instantaneous frequency and spectral frequency. The frequency spectrum of an actual FM signal has components extending out to infinite frequency, although they become negligibly small beyond a point.

Modulation index

As with other modulation indices, this quantity indicates by how much the modulated variable varies around its unmodulated level. It relates to the variations in the frequency of the carrier signal:

where is the highest frequency component present in the modulating signal xm(t), and is the Peak frequency-deviation, i.e. the maximum deviation of the instantaneous frequency from the carrier frequency. If , the modulation is called narrowband FM, and its bandwidth is approximately .

If , the modulation is called wideband FM and its bandwidth is approximately . While wideband FM uses more bandwidth, it can improve signal-to-noise ratio significantly. For example, doubling the value of while keeping fm constant, results in an eight-fold improvement in the signal to noise ratio.[1] Compare with Chirp spread spectrum, which uses extremely wide frequency deviations to achieve processing gains comparable to more traditional, better-known spread spectrum modes.

With a tone-modulated FM wave, if the modulation frequency is held constant and the modulation index is increased, the (non-negligible) bandwidth of the FM signal increases, but the spacing between spectra stays the same; some spectral

components decrease in strength as others increase. If the frequency deviation is held constant and the modulation frequency increased, the spacing between spectra increases.

Frequency modulation can be classified as narrow band if the change in the carrier frequency is about the same as the signal frequency, or as wide-band if the change in the carrier frequency is much higher (modulation index >1) than the signal frequency. [2] For example, narrowband FM is used for two way radio systems such as Family Radio Service where the carrier is allowed to deviate only 2.5 kHz above and below the center frequency, carrying speech signals of no more than 3.5 kHz bandwidth. Wide-band FM is used for FM broadcasting where music and speech is transmitted with up to 75 kHz deviation from the center frequency, carrying audio with up to 20 kHz bandwidth

Frequency Modulation Block Diagram

Phase Modulation (PM)

Phase modulation (PM) is a form of modulation that represents information as variations in the instantaneous phase of a carrier wave. Unlike its more popular counterpart, frequency modulation (FM), PM is not very widely used for radio transmissions. This is because it tends to require more complex receiving hardware and there can be ambiguity problems in determining whether, for example, the signal has changed phase by +180 or -180. PM is used, however, in digital music synthesizers such as the Yamaha DX7, even though these instruments are usually referred to as "FM" synthesizers (both modulation types sound very similar, but PM is usually easier to implement in this area).

Theory

An example of phase modulation. The top diagram shows the modulating signal superimposed on the carrier wave. The bottom diagram shows the resulting phasemodulated signal.

PM changes the phase angle of the complex envelope in direct proportion to the message signal. Suppose that the signal to be sent (called the modulating or message signal) is m(t) and the carrier onto which the signal is to be modulated is

Annotated: carrier(time) = (carrier amplitude)*sin(carrier frequency*time + phase shift) This makes the modulated signal

This shows how m(t) modulates the phase - the greater m(t) is at a point in time, the greater the phase shift of the modulated signal at that point. It can also be viewed as a change of the frequency of the carrier signal, and phase modulation can thus be considered a special case of FM in which the carrier frequency modulation is given by the time derivative of the phase modulation. The mathematics of the spectral behavior reveals that there are two regions of particular interest:

For small amplitude signals, PM is similar to amplitude modulation (AM) and exhibits its unfortunate doubling of baseband bandwidth and poor efficiency. For a single large sinusoidal signal, PM is similar to FM, and its bandwidth is approximately ,

where fM = m / 2 and h is the modulation index defined below. This is also known as Carson's Rule for PM.

Modulation index

As with other modulation indices, this quantity indicates by how much the modulated variable varies around its unmodulated level. It relates to the variations in the phase of the carrier signal: , where is the peak phase deviation.

Phase Modulation Block Diagram

Pulse-amplitude modulation (PAM)

Pulse-amplitude modulation, acronym PAM, is a form of signal modulation where the message information is encoded in the amplitude of a series of signal pulses. Example: A two-bit modulator (PAM-4) will take two bits at a time and will map the signal amplitude to one of four possible levels, for example 3 volts, 1 volt, 1 volt, and 3 volts. Demodulation is performed by detecting the amplitude level of the carrier at every symbol period. Pulse-amplitude modulation is widely used in baseband transmission of digital data, with non-baseband applications having been largely replaced by pulse-code modulation, and, more recently, by pulse-position modulation. In particular, all telephone modems faster than 300 bit/s use quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM). (QAM uses a two-dimensional constellation).

The disadvantage of PAM is that any noise "riding" on the signal changes the pulse height, thereby introducing distortion. One solution to this problem is to use pulseduration modulation or PDM, in which the PAM signal goes to a keyer which produces new pulses of uniform height but varying length. The information is then carried by the pulse length, or duration, rather than by the pulse height as in PAM. PDM is somewhat less susceptible to noise than PAM. However, any distortion of the pulse shape may change the apparent pulse duration, thereby producing a distorted output signal.

Pulse Code Modulation or PCM offers a method of overcoming some of the disadvantages of other types of pulse modulation. In PCM, the instantaneous amplitude of the sampled signal is represented by a coded arrangement of binary digits or bits resulting in a series of pulses and spaces. All pulses are the same height and the same shape. Therefore, it is only necessary for the receiving equipment to detect the presence or absence of a pulse. A distorted pulse does not degrade the signal as long as the pulse can still be recognized. Thus, PCM is less sensitive to noise than either PAM or PDM and is easily implemented using modern electronic technology.

Pulse Code Modulation (PCM)

The Basics of PCM

Considerable immunity to noise and other transmission difficulties can be achieved if Pulse Code Modulation or PCM techniques are used in telemetry systems. The multiplexed signal is coded as a series of identical pulses and spaces. The receiving equipment need only make a simple "yes or no" decision as to the presence or absence of a pulse at a particular time. Before it is coded for transmission, the analog signal is sampled just as in other forms of pulse modulation. The range of possible pulse heights, from zero to full scale, is then divided into discrete steps so that each step can be represented by a particular arrangement of binary pulses and spaces, as shown in the figure

"Converting an Analog Signal to a Digital Signal". This coded arrangement of binary pulses is the PCM signal.

A Basic PCM Encoder

This figure shows a simplified block diagram of a PCM encoder. A number of transducer signals are applied to the input of a multiplexer switch. Signals are sampled in any order and at any rate as defined by the user of the system. Many systems provide programmability in order to select channel sampling conditions. The output of the multiplexer switch is a PAM signal which carries time-division multiplexed samples of each input channel. The ADC samples this PAM signal and executes an analog-to-digital conversion on each sample. The output from the

ADC is serialized and formatted into a PCM wavetrain in accordance with the applicable telemetry standards (IRIG-106).