Lect.

Wireless Communication Techniques

Msc. Information Networks
Lecturer: Dr. Rasim Azeez Kadhim

Lecture 4
Modulation Techniques

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Modulation
Modulation is the process of converting digital or analog information to a waveform
suitable for transmission over a given medium. It involves translating a baseband message signal to
a bandpass signal at frequencies that are very high compared to the baseband frequency.
- Baseband signal is called modulating signal
- Bandpass signal is called modulated signal
- The sinusoidal carrier signal

Figure : Block Diagram of Modulator

The carrier signal is always a sinusoidal signal as :

Modulation can be done by varying the

- Amplitude
- Phase, or
- Frequency
of a high frequency carrier in accordance with the amplitude of the message signal

We can identify the three benefits of modulation in wireless communication system.

1. Modulation is used to move the shadowy content of a message signal so that it lies inside the
operating frequency band of the wireless communication channel.
2. Modulation provides a mechanism for placing the information content of a message signal into a
form that may be less visible for noise or interferences.
3. It permits the use of multiple-access techniques.

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Wireless Modulation Techniques

Basically there are two types of modulation techniques:
1. Analog modulation technique
2. Digital modulation technique
Different types of analog and digital modulation techniques are shown in the figure.

Figure. Types of modulation Techniques

Analog Modulation Technique

The analog signal is used as a carrier signal, that modulate the message signal, mainly they
are in the form of sinusoidal waveform. So, we can alter their frequency, amplitude and phase. We
can further divide analog modulation in to three parts.
1) Amplitude modulation (AM). In AM transmission, the carrier signal is modulated so that its
amplitude varies with the changing amplitudes of the modulating signal. The frequency and phase
of the carrier remain the same; only the amplitude changes to follow variations in the information.
AM is normally implemented by using a simple multiplier.

Figure. Amplitude Modulation (AM)

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The important points in AM modulation are:

- All info is carried in the amplitude of the carrier
- There is a linear relationship between the received signal quality and received signal
power.
- AM systems usually occupy less bandwidth than FM systems.
- AM carrier signal has time-varying envelope

2- Frequency modulation (FM): The carrier signal is modulated so that its frequency varies
with the changing amplitudes of the modulating signal. The amplitude and phase of the carrier
remain the same; only the frequency changes to follow variations in the information.

Figure. Frequency Modulation (FM)

The important points in FM modulation are:

- Most popular analog modulation technique
- The information is carried in the frequency of the carrier.
- It has better noise immunity
- It performs better in multipath environment
- It occupied more bandwidth
- The relationship between received power and quality is non-linear

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3- Phase modulation (PM) is a form of angle modulation in which the phase of a carrier wave
is varied in order to transmit the information contained in the signal. It is a form of modulation that
represents information as variations in the instantaneous phase of a carrier wave. PM is not very
widely used. This is because it tends to require more complex receiving hardware and there can be
ambiguity problems with determining whether.

Figure. Phase Modulation (PM)

Digital Modulation Techniques

Digital modulation is the process to convert an information-bearing discrete time symbol
sequence into a continuous-time waveform. The purpose of digital modulation is to transfer a digital
bit stream over an analog band pass channel. In the case where the modulating signal may vary its
amplitude only between a finite number of values and the change may occur only at discrete
moments in time, the modulating signal is said to be a digital signal and the modulation is referred
to as digital modulation.

The Advantages of Digital Modulation are:

• Higher data rate (given a fixed bandwidth)

• More robust to channel impairment
• Suitable to multiple access
• Better security and privacy

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A constellation diagram is a representation of a signal modulated by a digital modulation scheme

such as quadrature amplitude modulation or phase-shift keying. It displays the signal as a two-
dimensional xy-plane scatter diagram in the complex plane at symbol sampling instants.

Bit Rate and Baud Rate

Bit rate, R, is the number of bits per second (bps). Baud rate S, is the number of signal
elements per second (bauds).
In the analog transmission of digital data, the signal or baud rate is less than or equal to the bit rate.

Where n is the number of data bits per signal element.

1) Amplitude-shift keying (ASK)

In ASK, the amplitude of the carrier is changed in response to information and all else is
kept fixed. Bit 1 is transmitted by a carrier of one particular amplitude. When we want to transmit 0,
we change the amplitude keeping the frequency constant. On-Off keying (OOK) is a special form of
ASK, where one of the amplitudes is zero as shown below. In the modulated signal, logic 0 is
represented by the absence of a carrier, thus giving OFF/ON keying operation. Here is a diagram
showing the ideal model for a transmission system using an ASK modulation. Mathematically ASK
can be expressed in equation

Figure : Amplitude Shift Keying ( ASK ) ( on-off keying OOK)

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advantages
⎻ Easy to implement
⎻ Energy efficient
⎻ Low bandwidth requirement
disadvantages
⎻ Low data rate bit-rate = baud rate
⎻ High error probability Hard to pick a right threshold

The Bandwidth for ASK. Although the carrier signal is only one simple sine wave, the process of
modulation produces a nonperiodic composite signal. This signal has a continuous set of
frequencies. As we expect, the bandwidth is proportional to the signal rate (baud rate). However,
there is normally another factor involved, called d, which depends on the modulation and filtering
process. The value of d is between 0 and 1. This means that the bandwidth (B) can be expressed as

( ) ( )

Example: We have an available bandwidth of 100 kHz which spans from 200 to 300 kHz. What
are the carrier frequency and the bit rate if we modulated our data by using ASK with d = 1?
Solution
The middle of the bandwidth is located at 250 kHz. This means that our carrier frequency can be at
fc = 250 kHz. We can use the formula for bandwidth to find the bit rate (with d = 1 and n = 1).
( )
R =100000/2=50000 bps = 50 kbps

2) Frequency-shift keying (FSK)

FSK is a frequency modulation scheme in which digital information is transmitted through
discrete frequency changes of a carrier wave. The simplest FSK is binary FSK (BFSK). BFSK
literally implies using a couple of discrete frequencies f1 and f2 to transmit binary (0s and 1s)
information. With this scheme, the "1" is called the mark frequency and the "0" is called the space
frequency. Mathematically FSK can be expressed in equation

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Figure : Frequency Shift Keying ( FSK )

Advantages
⎻ Easy to implement
⎻ Better noise immunity than ASK
Disadvantages
⎻ Low data rate Bit-rate = baud rate
⎻ Require higher bandwidth

The bandwidth of FSK can be expressed by this formula:

( )
Where
is the difference between f1 and f2

Example: We have an available bandwidth of 100 kHz which spans from 200 to 300 kHz. What
should be the carrier frequency and the bit rate if we modulated our data by using FSK with d =1?
Solution: This problem is similar to the last example, but we are modulating by using FSK. The
midpoint of the band is at 250 kHz. We choose to be 50 kHz; this means
( )
2S=50000
S= 25000
R= S/n = 25000 bps= 25 kbps

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3) Phase-shift keying (PSK)

PSK is a digital modulation technique that sends data by changing, the phase of a reference
signal. PSK uses a finite number of phases; each assigned a unique pattern of binary bits. Usually,
each phase encodes an equal number of bits. Each pattern of bits forms the symbol that is
represented by the particular phase. BPSK (Binary phase-shift keying or 2PSK) is the simplest form
of phase shift keying (PSK). It uses two phases (0 and 1) which are separated by 180° and so can
also be termed 2-PSK. Mathematically PSK can be expressed in equation

Figure : Phase Shift Keying ( PSK )

This modulation is the most robust of all the PSKs since it takes the highest level of noise or
distortion to make the demodulator reach an incorrect decision. It is, however, only able to
modulate at n =1 bit/symbol and so is unsuitable for high data-rate applications when bandwidth is
limited. The constellation diagram of BPSK

This means that the bandwidth (B) can be expressed as

( ) ( )

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Quadrature Phase-shift keying ( QPSK)

 To increase the bit rate, we can code 2 or more bits onto one signal element.
 In QPSK, we parallelize the bit stream so that every two incoming bits (n=2) are split up and
PSK a carrier frequency. One carrier frequency is phase shifted 90o from the other - in
quadrature.
 The two PSK signals are then added to produce one of 4 signal elements. M = 4 here.

Example: Find the bandwidth for a signal transmitting at 12 Mbps for QPSK. The value of d = 0.
Solution
For QPSK, 2 bits is carried by one signal element. This means that n = 2. So the signal rate (baud
rate) is S = R / n = 6 Mbaud. With a value of d = 0, we have B = S = 6 MHz.

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M-ary Modulation: M-ary is a term derived from the word binary.

M simply represents a digit that corresponds to the number of conditions, levels, or combinations
possible for a given number of binary variables
The number of bits (n) necessary to produce a given number of conditions (M) is expressed
mathematically as:

To increase the bit rate, we can code 2 or more bits onto one signal element. The constellation
diagram for QPSK ( n=2, M=4), 8-PSK (n=3, M=8) and 16-PSK (n=4, M=16 ) are shown in the
figure. The increasing of number of bits per symbol will increase the bit rate but the difference
between the neighbor states will decrease that will increase the probability of error.

Figure. The constellation diagram of M-PSK

Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM )

QAM is another way to increase the number of bits per symbol by changing both amplitude
and phase of the carrier signal at the same time.

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Figure. The constellation diagram of 16-QAM (n=4, M=16)

Figure. The constellation diagram of 64-QAM (n=6, M=64)

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Why high-order QAM particularly bandwidth efficient? and what is penalty paid?

Power Efficiency of Modulation

- Power efficiency is the ability of the modulation technique to preserve fidelity of the
message at low power levels.
- Usually in order to obtain good fidelity, the signal power needs to be increased.
- Power efficiency describes how efficient this tradeoff is made

Eb: signal energy per bit

N0: noise power spectral density
PER: probability of error

Bandwidth Efficiency of Modulation

- Ability of a modulation scheme to accommodate data within a limited bandwidth.
- Bandwidth efficiency reflect how efficiently the allocated bandwidth is utilized

Bandwidth Efficiency : bps/Hz

R: the data rate (bps)

B: bandwidth occupied by the modulated RF signal (Hz)

Tradeoff between BW Efficiency and Power Efficiency

There is a tradeoff between bandwidth efficiency and power efficiency

l- Adding error control codes
- Improves the power efficiency
- Reduces the requires received power for a particular bit error rate
- Decreases the bandwidth efficiency
- Increases the bandwidth occupancy
2- M-ary keying modulation
- Increases the bandwidth efficiency
- Decreases the power efficiency
- More power is requires at the receiver

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