Passband Data Transmission

In baseband data transmission, a data stream represented

in the form of a discrete pulse-amplitude modulated (PAM)
signal is transmitted over a low-pass channel.
Example: Nyquist channel H(f),G(f),C(f)
W
OR

G(f) H(f) C(f)

PB.1

Passband Data Transmission

In passband data transmission, the incoming data stream is
modulated onto a carrier with fixed frequency and then
transmitted over a band-pass channel.
Example:
H(f),G(f),C(f)
2W

101
modulator G(f) H(f) C(f)

cos 2πft
PB.2

1
 Example
Passband data transmission allows more efficient use of the
allocated RF bandwidth, and flexibility in accommodating
different baseband signal formats.

Example
– Mobile Telephone Systems
• GSM: Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying (GMSK) is
used (a variation of FSK)
• IS-54: π/4-Differential Quaternary Phase Shift Keying
(DQPSK) is used (a variation of PSK)

PB.3

Types
The modulation process making the transmission possible
involves switching (keying) the amplitude, frequency, or
phase of a sinusoidal carrier in accordance with the
incoming data.

There are three basic signaling schemes:

Amplitude-shift keying (ASK)
Frequency-shift keying (FSK)
Phase-shift keying (PSK)

PB.4

2
ASK

Two waveforms
PSK

FSK

PB.5

ASK, PSK and FSK

Unlike ASK signals, both PSK and FSK signals have a
constant envelope.

PSK and FSK are preferred to ASK signals for passband

data transmission over nonlinear channel (amplitude
nonlinearities) such as microwave link and satellite
channels.

PB.6

3
 Classification of digital modulation techniques

Coherent and Noncoherent

Digital modulation techniques are classified into coherent

and noncoherent techniques, depending on whether the
receiver is equipped with a phase-recovery circuit or not.

The phase-recovery circuit ensures that the local oscillator

in the receiver is synchronized to the incoming carrier wave
(in both frequency and phase).

PB.7

Phase Recovery (Carrier Synchronization)

Two ways in which a local oscillator can be synchronized with
an incoming carrier wave

Transmit a pilot carrier (similar to the DSB-LC

modulation in analog communication)
Pilot carrier

Use a carrier-recovery circuit such as a phase-locked

loop (PPL)
PB.8

4
 M-ary signaling
In an M-ary signaling scheme, there are M possible signals
during each signaling interval of duration T.

Usually, M = 2 n and T = nTb where Tb is the bit duration.

T = nTb
10101··01 modulator
M bits
T

PB.9

M-ary signaling
In passband transmission, we have
M-ary ASK
M-ary PSK
M-ary FSK

We can also combine different methods:

M-ary quadrature-amplitude modulation (QAM)

(In baseband data transmission, we have M-ary PAM)

PB.10

5
 M-ary signaling
M-ary signaling schemes are preferred over binary signaling
schemes for transmitting digital information over band-pass
channels when the requirement is to conserve bandwidth at
the expense of increased power.

The use of M-ary signaling enables a reduction in

transmission bandwidth by the factor n = log 2 M over
binary signaling.
Bandwidth ∝ T
T = nTb
10101··01 modulator
M bits
T PB.11

Coherent PSK
The functional model of passband data transmission system
is
Signal si si (t ) x(t ) x Signal
mi transmission Modulator Channel Detector transmission
encoder decoder m̂

Carrier signal

• mi is a sequence of symbol emitted from a message

source.
• The channel is linear, with a bandwidth that is wide
enough to transmit the modulated signal and the
channel noise is Gaussian distributed with zero
mean and power spectral density N o / 2 .
PB.12

6
 Coherent PSK
The following parameters are considered for a signaling
scheme:

Probability of error
A major goal of passband data transmission systems is the
optimum design of the receiver so as to minimize the
average probability of symbol error in the presence of
additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN)

PB.13

Coherent PSK
Power spectra
Use to determine the signal bandwidth and co-channel
interference in multiplexed systems.
interference

Multiplexer

In practice, the signalings are linear operation, therefore, it is

sufficient to evaluate the baseband power spectral density.
B 2B

PB.14

7
 Coherent PSK
Bandwidth Efficiency
Rb
– Bandwidth efficiency ρ= bits/s/Hz
B

where Rb is the data rate and B is the used channel

bandwidth.

Example: Nyquist channel for baseband data transmission

Bandwidth B = W = 1/2Tb. W
Rb 1 / Tb
∴ρ = = = 2 bits/s/Hz
B 1 / 2Tb
PB.15

Coherent PSK
In a coherent binary PSK system, the pair of signals s1 (t ) and
s 2 (t ) used to represent binary symbols 1 and 0, respectively,
is defined by

2 Eb
s1 (t ) = cos( 2πf c t )
Tb Tb

2 Eb 2 Eb
s 2 (t ) = cos(2πf c t + π ) = − cos(2πf c t )
Tb Tb

where 0 ≤ t ≤ Tb , and Eb is the transmitted signal energy

per bit
PB.16

8
 Coherent PSK
Example:
2 Eb 2 Eb Tb
E = ∫ [s1 (t )] dt =
Tb Tb
∫ cos 2 (2πf c t )dt =
2
⋅ = Eb
0 Tb 0 Tb 2

To ensure that each transmitted bit contains an integral

number of cycles of the carrier wave, the carrier frequency
f c is chosen equal to n / Tb for some fixed integer n.

Tb = 2 / f c
PB.17

Coherent PSK
The transmitted signal can be written as

s1 (t ) = Eb φ (t ) and

s 2 (t ) = − Eb φ (t )

2
where φ (t ) = cos(2πf c t ) 0 ≤ t < Tb
Tb

2
Tb  2 
Note : φ 2 (t ) = ∫  cos(2πf c t )  dt = 1
 Tb
0

PB.18

9
 Generation of coherent binary PSK signals
To generate a binary PSK signal, the first step is
representing the input binary sequence in polar form with
symbols 1 and 0 represented by constant amplitude levels of
and , respectively.
This signal transmission encoder is performed by a polar
nonreturn-to-zero (NRZ) encoder.
 + Eb input symbol is 1
si = 
 − Eb input symbol is 0

101011 Signal si 101011

transmission
encoder PB.19

Generation of coherent binary PSK signals

The second step is multiplying the carrier encoder output
with the carrier
 2 Eb
 s1 (t ) = cos(2πf c t ) if s i = Eb
 Tb
s i (t ) = 
s (t ) = − 2 Eb cos(2πf t ) if s = − E
 2 Tb
c i b
 si (t )
si Product
Modulator
f c = n / Tb

2
φ (t ) = cos(2πf ct )
Tb PB.20

10
 Detection of coherent binary PSK signals
To detect the original binary sequence of 1s and 0s, we
apply the noisy PSK signal to a correlator. The correlator
output is compared with a threshold of zero volts.

Tb x1 Decision 1 if x1 > 0
x(t ) X ∫
0 device 0 if x1 < 0

φ (t ) 0

Correlator

PB.21

Detection of coherent binary PSK signals

Example
2 Eb
If the transmitted symbol is 1, x(t ) = cos(2πf c t )
Tb
and the correlator output is
Tb
x1 = ∫ x(t )φ (t )dt
0

Tb 2 Eb 2
=∫ cos(2πf c t ) ⋅ cos(2πf c t )dt
0 Tb Tb
2 Tb
= Eb ⋅
Tb ∫
0
cos 2 (2πf c t )dt

= Eb

Similarly, if the transmitted symbol is 0, x1 = − E b .PB.22

11
 Error probability of binary PSK
We can represent a coherent binary system with a signal
constellation consisting of two message points.
• The coordinates of the message points are all the
possible correlator output under a noiseless
condition.
• The coordinates for BPSK are Eb and − Eb .
Decision
boundary

φ (t )
− Eb Eb
PB.23

Error probability of binary PSK

There are two possible kinds of erroneous decision:
– Signal s 2 (t ) is transmitted, but the noise is such that the
received signal point inside region with x1 > 0 and so
the receiver decides in favor of signal s1 (t ) .
– Signal s1 (t ) is transmitted, but the noise is such that the
received signal point inside region with x1 < 0 and so
the receiver decides in favor of signal s 2 (t ) .

Tb x1 Decision 1 if x1 > 0
si (t ) + w(t )
X ∫
0 device 0 if x1 < 0

φ (t ) 0 PB.24

12
 Error probability of binary PSK
For the first case, the observable element x1 is related to
the received signal x(t ) by
Tb
x1 = ∫ x(t )φ (t )dt
0

= ∫ [si (t ) + w(t )]φ (t )dt

Tb

0
Tb
= − Eb + ∫ w(t )φ (t )dt
0

xi = E[ xi ]
x1 is a Gaussian process with mean : Tb
= E[− Eb + ∫ w(t )φ (t )dt ]
0

= − Eb
PB.25

Error probability of binary PSK

σ = E[( xi − xi ) 2 ]
2
Variance is
 Tb 
2

= E  ∫ w(t )φ (t )dt  
 0  

= E ∫ w(t ) w(u )φ (t )φ (u )dtdu 

Tb Tb

 0 ∫0 
Tb Tb
=∫ ∫ E[ w(t ) w(u )]φ (t )φ (u )dtdu
0 0

Tb Tb No
=∫ ∫ δ (t − u )φ (t )φ (u )dtdu
0 0 2
No Tb
=
2 ∫ 0
φ 2 (t )dt
N
= o
2 PB.26

13
 Error probability of binary PSK
Therefore, the conditional probability density function of
x1 , given that symbol 0 was transmitted is
1  ( x1 − x1 ) 2 
f ( x1 | 0) = exp − 
2π σ  2σ 2 
 ( x1 + Eb ) 2 
1
= exp − 
πN o  N o 

PB.27

Error probability of binary PSK

and the probability of error is
∞
p10 = ∫ f ( x | 0)dx
0
1 1

1 ∞  ( x1 + Eb ) 2 
=
πN o ∫
0
exp −
 No
 dx1

1
Putting z = ( x + Eb ) , we have
No

p10 =
1
π∫
∞

Eb / N o 0
[ ]
exp − z 2 dz

1  Eb 
= erfc 

2  N o 
PB.28

14
 Error probability of binary PSK
Similarly, the error of the second kind
1  Eb 
p01 = p10 = erfc  and hence

2  N o 
1  Eb 
pe = erfc 

2  N o 

PB.29

Quadriphase-shift keying (QPSK)

QPSK has twice the bandwith efficiency of BPSK, since 2
bits are transmitted in a single modulation symbol. The data
input d k (t ) is divided into an in-phase stream d I (t ) , and a
quadrature stream d Q (t ) .

d k (t ) :1001

d I (t ) :10

d Q (t ) :01

PB.30

15
 QPSK

d k (t ) 1 0 0 1

Tb t

1 0
d I (t )

0 1
d Q (t )

T = 2Tb t

PB.31

QPSK
The phase of the carrier takes on one of four equally
spaced values, such as π/4, 3π/4, 5π/4, and 7π/4.
 2E

si (t ) =  T cos[2πf c t + (2i − 1)π / 4] 0 ≤ t ≤ T
 0 elsewhere
where i = 1,2,3,4.
E is the transmitted signal energy per symbol;
T is the symbol duration;
fc = n / T ;

(Note : T = 2Tb )
PB.32

16
 QPSK
Each possible value of the phase corresponds to a
unique dibit.

For example, 10 for i=1, 00 for i=2, 01 for i=3

and 11 for i=4.
(only a single bit is change from one dibit to the
next)
00 10

01 11

PB.33

QPSK
The transmitted signal can be written as
2E
si (t ) = cos[2πf ct + (2i − 1)π / 4]
T
2E
= cos[2πf ct ] cos[(2i − 1)π / 4]
T
2E
− sin[ 2πf ct ] sin[(2i − 1)π / 4]
T
= si1φ1 (t ) + si 2φ2 (t )
where
2 2
φ1 (t ) = cos[2πf c t ]; φ 2 (t ) = sin[ 2πf c t ]
T T
PB.34

17
 QPSK
Input dibit Phase of QPSK si1 si 2
10 π/4 E/2 − E/2
00 3π/4 − E/2 − E/2
01 5π/4 − E/2 E/2
11 7π/4 E/2 E/2
φ 2 (t )
00 10
E/2
E/2
φ1 (t )
01 11

PB.35

PB.36

18
 Generation of coherent QPSK signals

The incoming binary data sequence is first transformed into

polar form by a nonreturn-to-zero level encoder. The binary
wave is next divided by means of a demultiplexer into two
separate binary sequences.

The result can be regarded as a pair of binary PSK

signals, which may be detected independently due to
the orthogonality of φ1 (t ) and φ 2 (t ) .

PB.37

2
φ1 (t ) = cos(2πf ct )
Tb

X
s1i

10101 si Demulti-
Polar NRZ
plexer +
s (t )

s2i
X

2
φ1 (t ) = sin( 2πf ct )
Tb PB.38

19
 Detection of coherent QPSK signals
T x1 Decision 1 if x1 > 0
x(t ) X ∫ 0 device 0 if x1 < 0

φ1 (t ) 0
In-phase channel

multiplexer

Quadrature channel

T x2 Decision 1 if x2 > 0
X ∫ 0 device 0 if x2 < 0

φ2 (t ) 0
PB.39

Error probability of QPSK

The received signal is
x(t ) = si (t ) + w(t )

and the observation elements are

T
x1 = ∫ x(t )φ1 (t )dt
0
T
= ± E / 2 + ∫ w(t )φ1 (t )dt
0

T
x 2 = ∫ x(t )φ 2 (t )dt
0
T
= ± E / 2 + ∫ w(t )φ 2 (t )dt
0
PB.40

20
As a coherent QPSK is equivalent to two coherent binary
PSK systems working in parallel and using two carriers that
are in phase quadrature.

Hence, the average probability of bit error in each channel

of the coherent QPSK system is
1  E/2 1  
p = erfc  = erfc E 
2   2N 
 No  2  o 

PB.41

Error probability of QPSK

As the bit error in the in-phase and quadrature channels of

the coherent QPSK system are statistically independent, the
average probability of a correct decision resulting from the
combined action of the two channels is
pc = (1 − p ) 2
2
 1  E 
= 1 − erfc 

 2  2No 
 E  1  E 
= 1 − erfc  + erfc 2 
 4  2N


 2No   o 

PB.42

21
The average probability of symbol error for coherent QPSK
is therefore
pe = 1 − pc
 E  1  
= erfc  − erfc 2  E 
 4  2N 
 2N o   o 
 E 
≈ erfc 
 if E / 2 N o >> 1
 2N o 

PB.43

In a QPSK system, since there are two bits per symbol, the
transmitted signal energy per symbol is twice the signal
energy per bit,
E = 2 Eb
and then d k (t ) 1 0 0 1
 Eb 
pe ≈ erfc 
 2 N o 
t

1 0
d I (t )

0 1
d Q (t )

PB.44

22
With Gray encoding, the bit error rate of QPSK is

1  Eb 
BER = erfc 
2  2 N o 

Therefore, a coherent QPSK system achieves the same

average probability of bit error as a coherent binary PSK
system for the same bit rate and the same Eb / N o but uses
only half the channel bandwidth.

PB.45

M-ary PSK

During each signaling interval of duration T, one of

the M possible signals
2E  2π 
si (t ) = cos 2πf c t + (i − 1)  i = 1,2,...,
T  M 

is sent.

PB.46

23
 M-ary PSK
The signal constellation of M-ary PSK consists of M
message points which are equally spaced on a circle of
radius E . For example, the constellation of
octaphase-shift keying is

 E  π 
Pe ≈ erfc sin    M ≥4
 No  M 
PB.47

Power spectra of M-ary PSK signals

The symbol function is
 2E
 0≤t ≤T
g (t ) =  T
 0 otherwise
where T = Tb log 2 M and Tb is the bit duration.

As the energy spectral density is the magnitude of the

signal’s Fourier transform, the baseband power
spectral density is
sin 2 (πTf )
S ( f ) = 2E
(πTf ) 2
= 2 Eb log 2 M sinc 2 (Tb f log 2 M )
PB.48

24
 (Normalized to fTb )
PB.49

Bandwidth efficiency
The bandwidth required to pass M-ary signal (main
lobe) is given by
2
B= Q sinc(2) = 0
T
2
=
Tb log 2 M
2 Rb
=
log 2 M

Therefore, the bandwidth efficiency is

R
ρ= b
B
log 2 M
=
2 PB.50

25