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Amplitude Modulation
Fundamentals

Courtesy by

Louis E. Frenzel, Jr.

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Topics Covered in Chapter 3

 3-1: AM Concepts
 3-2: Modulation Index and Percentage of Modulation
 3-3: Sidebands and the Frequency Domain
 3-4: AM Power
 3-5: Single-Sideband Modulation
 3-6: Classification of Radio Emissions

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3-1: AM Concepts
 In the modulation process, the voice, video, or digital
signal modifies another signal called the carrier.
 In amplitude modulation (AM) the information signal
varies the amplitude of the carrier sine wave.
 The instantaneous value of the carrier amplitude
changes in accordance with the amplitude and
frequency variations of the modulating signal.
 An imaginary line called the envelope connects the
positive and negative peaks of the carrier waveform.

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3-1: AM Concepts

υc = Vc sin 2πfct carrier signal

υm = Vc sin 2πfct Modulating signal or information signal

Figure 3-1: Amplitude modulation. (a) The modulating or information signal.

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3-1: AM Concepts
 In AM, it is particularly important that the peak value of
the modulating signal be less than the peak value of
the carrier.
Vm < Vc
 Distortion occurs when the amplitude of the
modulating signal is greater than the amplitude of the
carrier.
 A modulator is a circuit used to produce AM.
Amplitude modulators compute the product of the
carrier and modulating signals.

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3-1: AM Concepts

The instantaneous value of either the top or the bottom voltage envelope υ1 can
be computed by using the equation

Figure 3-1: Amplitude modulation. (b) The modulated carrier.

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which expresses the fact that the instantaneous value of the

modulating signal algebraically adds to the peak value of the
carrier. Thus, we can write the instantaneous value of the
complete modulated wave υ2 by substituting υ1 for the peak
value of carrier voltage Vc as follows:

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3-1: AM Concepts

Figure 3-3: Amplitude modulator showing input and output signals.

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3-2: Modulation Index and
Percentage of Modulation
 The modulation index (m) is a value that describes
the relationship between the amplitude of the
modulating signal and the amplitude of the carrier
signal.
m = Vm / Vc
 This index is also known as the modulating factor or
coefficient, or the degree of modulation.
 Multiplying the modulation index by 100 gives the
percentage of modulation.

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3-2: Modulation Index and
Percentage of Modulation
Distortion: The modulation index should be a number
between 0 and 1.If the amplitude of the modulating
voltage is higher than the carrier voltage, m will be
greater than 1, causing distortion. If the distortion is
great enough, the intelligence signal becomes
unintelligible.
Effects:
 Distortion of voice transmissions produces garbled, harsh, or
unnatural sounds in the speaker.
 Distortion of video signals produces a scrambled and inaccurate
picture on a TV screen.

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3-2: Modulation Index and
Percentage of Modulation
Overmodulation: Simple distortion is illustrated in Fig. 3-4.
Here a sine wave information signal is modulating a sine
wave carrier, but the modulating voltage is much greater than
the carrier voltage, resulting in a condition called
overmodulation

Fig:4.3 Distortion of the

envelope caused by
overmodulation where
the modulating signal
amplitude Vm is greater
than the carrier signal Vc.

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3-2: Modulation Index and
Percentage of Modulation
Percentage of Modulation
 The modulation index is commonly computed from measurements
taken on the composite modulated waveform.
 The peak value of the modulating signal Vm is one-half the difference
of the peak and trough values:
Vmax − Vmin
Vm =
2

 The peak value of the carrier signal Vc is the average of the Vmax
and Vmin values:
Vmax + Vmin
Vc =
2

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 The modulation index is

Vmax - Vmin
m=
Vmax + Vmin

 The values for Vmax( p-p) and Vmin( p-p) can be read
directly from an oscilloscope screen

 The amount, or depth, of AM is then expressed as the

percentage of modulation (100 × m) rather than as a
fraction.

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3-2: Modulation Index and
Percentage of Modulation

Figure 3-5: AM wave showing peaks (Vmax) and troughs (Vmin).

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3-3: Sidebands and
the Frequency Domain
Whenever a carrier is modulated by an information
signal, new signals at different frequencies are
generated as part of the process. These new
frequencies, which are called side frequencies, or
sidebands, occur in the frequency spectrum directly
above and directly below the carrier frequency

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3-3: Sidebands and
the Frequency Domain
Sideband Calculations: Single-frequency sine-wave modulation
generates two sidebands.Complex wave (e.g. voice or video) modulation
generates a range of sidebands.The upper sideband (fUSB) and the lower
sideband (fLSB) are calculated:
fUSB = fc + fm and fLSB = fc − fm
The existence of sidebands can be demonstrated mathematically,

By using the trigonometric identity, the instantaneous amplitude of the

signal becomes

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3-3: Sidebands and
the Frequency Domain

Figure 3-6: The AM wave is the

algebraic sum of the carrier and
upper and lower sideband sine
waves. (a) Intelligence or
modulating signal. (b) Lower
sideband. (c ) Carrier. (d ) Upper
sideband. (e ) Composite AM wave.
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3-3: Sidebands and
the Frequency Domain
Frequency-Domain Representation of AM
 Example:
A standard AM broadcast station is allowed to transmit
modulating frequencies up to 5 kHz. If the AM station is
transmitting on a frequency of 980 kHz, what are
sideband frequencies and total bandwidth?
fUSB = 980 + 5 = 985 kHz
fLSB = 980 – 5 = 975 kHz
BW = fUSB – fLSB = 985 – 975 = 10 kHz
BW = 2 (5 kHz) = 10 kHz

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3-3: Sidebands and
the Frequency Domain
Pulse Modulation
 When complex signals such as pulses or rectangular
waves modulate a carrier, a broad spectrum of
sidebands is produced.
 A modulating square wave will produce sidebands
based on the fundamental sine wave as well as the
third, fifth, seventh, etc. harmonics.
 Amplitude modulation by square waves or rectangular
pulses is referred to as amplitude shift keying (ASK).
 ASK is used in some types of data communications.

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3-3: Sidebands and
the Frequency Domain

Figure 3-12: Amplitude modulation of a sine wave carrier by a pulse or rectangular

wave is called amplitude-shift keying. (a) Fifty percent modulation. (b) One hundred
percent modulation.
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3-3: Sidebands and
the Frequency Domain
Pulse Modulation
 Continuous-wave (CW) transmission can be achieved
by turning the carrier off and on, as in Morse code
transmission.
 Continuous wave (CW) transmission is sometimes
referred to as On-Off keying (OOK).
 Splatter is a term used to describe harmonic sideband
interference.

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3-4: AM Power
In radio transmission, the AM signal is amplified by a power amplifier. A
radio antenna has a characteristic impedance that is ideally almost pure
resistance.The AM signal is a composite of the carrier and sideband signal
voltages. Each signal produces power in the antenna. Total transmitted
power (PT) is the sum of carrier power (Pc ) and power of the two sidebands
(PUSB and PLSB).
PT = Pc +PUSB + PLSB
The power in an AM signal is distributed and calculated by going
back to the original AM equation:

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AM Power
We can convert from peak to rms by dividing the peak value by
12 or multiplying by 0.707

The power in the carrier and sidebands can be calculated by using the power
formula P =V 2/R

the total power

becomes

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AM Power

The total power in an AM signal when the carrier power and the percentage
of modulation are known

For example
if the carrier of an AM transmitter is 1000 W and it is modulated 100
percent(m = 1), the total AM power is

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AM Power

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3-5: Single-Sideband Modulation

In amplitude modulation, two-thirds of the transmitted power is

in the carrier, which conveys no information.
Signal information is contained within the sidebands.
Single-sideband (SSB) is a form of AM where the carrier is
suppressed and one sideband is eliminated .

DSB: The first step in generating an SSB signal is to suppress the carrier,
leaving the upper and lower sidebands. This type of signal is referred to as
a double-sideband suppressed carrier (DSSC or DSB) signal. The benei t,
of course, is that no power is wasted on the carrier. Double-sideband
suppressed carrier modulation is simply a special case of AM with no
carrier.

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3-5: Single-Sideband Modulation

Figure 3-16: A frequency-domain display of DSB signal.

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3-5: Single-Sideband Modulation

SSB Signals
 One sideband is all that is necessary to convey
information in a signal.
 A single-sideband suppressed carrier (SSSC) signal
is generated by suppressing the carrier and one
sideband.

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3-5: Single-Sideband Modulation

SSB Signals
 SSB signals offer four major benefits:
1. Spectrum space is conserved and allows more
signals to be transmitted in the same frequency
range.
2. All power is channeled into a single sideband. This
produces a stronger signal that will carry farther
and will be more reliably received at greater
distances.
3. Occupied bandwidth space is narrower and noise in
the signal is reduced.
4. There is less selective fading over long distances.

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3-5: Single-Sideband Modulation

Disadvantages of DSB and SSB

 Single and double-sideband are not widely used
because the signals are difficult to recover (i.e.
demodulate) at the receiver.
 A low power, pilot carrier is sometimes transmitted
along with sidebands in order to more easily recover the
signal at the receiver.

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3-5: Single-Sideband Modulation

Signal Power Considerations

 In SSB, the transmitter output is expressed in terms of
peak envelope power (PEP), the maximum power
produced on voice amplitude peaks.

Applications of DSB and SSB

 A vestigial sideband signal (VSB) is produced by
partially suppressing the lower sideband. This kind of
signal is used in TV transmission.

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