Envelope detector

• The process of extracting an original message signal from the modulated wave is known as detection or demodulation.
• The circuit, which demodulates the modulated wave is known as the demodulator.
• The following demodulators (detectors) are used for demodulating AM wave.
➢ Square Law Demodulator

➢ Envelope Detector

Envelope Detector
• Envelope detector is used to detect (demodulate) high level AM wave.
• Following is the block diagram and circuit diagram of the envelope detector.
 • This envelope detector consists of a diode and low pass filter. Here, the diode is the main detecting element. Hence, the envelope detector
is also called as the diode detector.
• The low pass filter contains a parallel combination of the resistor and the capacitor.
• The AM wave s(t) is applied as an input to this detector.
• In the positive half cycle of AM wave, the diode conducts and the capacitor charges to the peak value of AM wave.
• When the value of AM wave is less than this value, the diode will be reverse biased.
• Thus, the capacitor will discharge through resistor R till the next positive half cycle of AM wave.
• When the value of AM wave is greater than the capacitor voltage, the diode conducts and the process will be repeated.
• We should select the component values in such a way that the capacitor charges very quickly and discharges very slowly.
• The charging time constant must be short compared
with the carrier period Tc =1/fc
• so that capacitor C charges rapidly and follows applied voltage up to the positive peak when the diode is conducting.
• On the other hand, the discharging time constant must be long enough to ensure that the capacitor discharges slowly through the
load resistor between positive peaks of the carrier wave
• As a result, we will get the capacitor voltage waveform same as that of the envelope of AM wave, which is almost similar to the
modulating signal.

Single Side Band (SSB)

In amplitude modulation, the carrier contains no information.
• The real information is contained within the sidebands.
• One way to improve the efficiency of amplitude modulation is to suppress the carrier and eliminate one sideband.

DSB Signals (Double Side Band Signals)

• 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 (DSB-SC or DSB) signal.
• The benefit is that no power is wasted on the carrier. Double-sideband suppressed carrier modulation is simply a special case of AM with
no carrier.
• A typical DSB signal is shown in Fig. 3-15. This signal, the algebraic sum of the two sinusoidal sidebands, is the signal produced when a
carrier is modulated by a single-tone sine wave information signal.
• The carrier is suppressed, and the time-domain DSB signal is a sine wave at the carrier frequency, varying in amplitude as shown.
• A unique characteristic of the DSB signal is the phase transitions that occur at the lower-amplitude portions of the wave.

• In Fig. 3-15, note that there are two adjacent positive-going half-cycles at the null points in the wave.
• A frequency-domain display of a DSB-SC signal is given in Fig. 3-16.
 • As shown, the spectrum space occupied by a DSB signal is the same as that for a conventional AM signal.
• The DSB-SC modulated wave has only two frequencies.
• So, the maximum and minimum frequencies are fc+fm and fc−fm respectively.
BW=fc+fm−(fc−fm)
BW=fc+fm−(fc−fm)
⇒BW=2fm
• Thus, the bandwidth of DSB-SC wave is same as that of AM wave and it is equal to twice the frequency of the modulating signal.
• Double-sideband suppressed carrier signals are generated by a circuit called a balanced modulator.
• DSB is not widely used because the signal is difficult to demodulate (recover) at the receiver.
• One important application for DSB, is the transmission of the color information in a TV signal.
• We know that the power of DSB-FC wave is equal to the sum of powers of carrier, upper sideband and lower sideband frequency
components.
• So the power of DSB-SC wave is equal to the sum of powers of upper sideband and lower sideband frequency components.

Single Side Band Signals (SSB)

• In DSB transmission, since the sidebands are the sum and difference of the carrier and modulating signals, the information is contained
in both sidebands.
• So it is not necessary to transmit both sidebands in order to convey the same information. One sideband can be suppressed; the
remaining sideband is called a single- sideband suppressed carrier (SSB-SC or SSB) signal.
• Fig. below shows the frequency displays of an SSB signal
• SSB signals offer four major benefits.
1. The primary benefit of an SSB signal is that the spectrum space it occupies is only one-half that of AM and DSB signals.
2. Stronger signal, more reliably received at greater distances.
3.SSB transmitters can be made smaller and lighter than an equivalent AM or DSB transmitter because less circuitry and power are
used.
4. Because SSB signals occupy a narrower bandwidth, the amount of noise in the signal is reduced
• The main disadvantage of DSB and SSB signals is that they are harder to recover, or demodulate, at the receiver
Ring Modulator for DSB-SC
• Fig.1 shows the circuit diagram of a diode ring modulator .

• It consists of four diodes, an audio frequency transformer T1 and an RF transformer T2 .

• The carrier signal is assumed to be a square wave with frequency fc and it is connected between the centre taps of the two transformers
• The DSB-SC output is obtained at the secondary of the RF transformer T2 .
Working Operation
• The operation of the ring modulator is explained with the assumptions that the diodes act as perfect switches and that they are switched
ON and OFF by the RF carrier signal . This is because the amplitude and frequency of the carrier is higher than that of the modulating
signal .
• The operation can be divided into different modes without the modulating signal and with the modulating signal as follows :
Mode 1 : Carrier Suppression
To understand how carrier suppression takes place, let us assume that the modulating signal is absent and only the carrier signal is applied.
Hence x(t) = 0
(i) Operation in the Positive half-cycle of Carrier
The equivalent circuit for this mode of operation is shown in fig.2 .

As shown in the fig.2 , the diodes D1 and D2 are forward biased and the diodes D3 and D4 are reverse biased .
We can observe that the direction of currents flowing through the primary windings of output transformer T2 are equal and opposite to each
other .
Therefore, the magnetic fields produced by these currents are equal and opposite and cancel each other .
Hence, the induced voltage in secondary winding is zero .
Thus, the carrier is suppressed in the positive half-cycle .
(ii) Operation in the Negative half-cycle of Carrier
In this mode also let us assume that the modulating signal is zero .
In the negative half-cycle of the carrier, the diodes D3 and D4 are forward biased and the diodes D1 and D2 are reverse biased .

In fig.3 , the currents flowing in the upper and lower halves of the primary winding of T2 are again equal and in opposite directions and cancels
each other.
Thus, the output voltage in this mode is also zero .
Thus, the carrier is suppressed in the negative half-cycle as well .
It is important to note that the perfect cancellation of the carrier will take place if and only if the characteristics of the diodes are perfectly
matched and the centre tap is placed exactly at the centre of the primary transformer T2 .
Mode 2 : Operation in Presence of Modulating Signal
Now, let us discuss the operation when RF carrier and modulating signal both are applied .
(i) Operation in the positive half-cycle of Modulating Signal
As we apply the low frequency modulating signal through the input audio transformer T1 , there are many cycles of the carrier signal, in the
positive half cycle of the modulating signal .
In the positive half-cycle of the carrier, D1 and D2 are ON and secondary of T1 is applied as it is across the primary of T2. Hence, during the
positive half cycle of carrier, the output of T2 is positive as shown in fig.4 (a) .

Fig 4 (a)
(ii) Operation in the Negative half-cycle of Modulating Signal
When modulating signal reverses the polarities (when carrier is negative), the operation of the circuit is same as that in the positive half-cycle
discussed earlier but the conduction will be through D3 and D4.
In the positive half cycle of the carrier, the message signal x(t) is multiplied by +1 and in the negative half-cycle of the carrier, x(t) is
multiplied by -1 .
So, if the carrier is positive and message signal is positive D1, D2 conducts and the output at the secondary of T2 will be positive.
If the carrier is negative and message signal is negative D3, D4 conducts and the output at the secondary of T2 will be positive.
If the carrier is positive and message signal is negative D3, D4 conducts and the output at the secondary of T2 will be negative.
If the carrier is negative and message signal is positive D3,D4 conducts and the output at the secondary of T2 will be negative.
DSB-SC output (Output of transformer T2 )
Thus, the ring modulator is an ideal form of product modulator and hence it produces the desired DSB-SC output .
The square-wave carrier signal can be represented by the Fourier series as under :

hence, the Ring-modulator output is given by :

Coherent detection of DSB-SC
The process of extracting an original message signal from DSBSC wave is known as detection or demodulation of DSBSC.
Coherent detection is one of the method used for demodulating DSBSC wave.
In coherent detection, the same carrier signal (which is used for generating DSBSC signal) is used to detect the message signal. Hence, this
process of detection is called as coherent or synchronous detection. Following is the block diagram of the coherent detector.

In this process, the message signal can be extracted from DSBSC wave by multiplying it with a carrier, having the same frequency and the phase
of the carrier used in DSBSC modulation. The resulting signal is then passed through a Low Pass Filter. Output of this filter is the desired
message signal.
Let the DSBSC wave be

The output of the local oscillator is

Where, ϕ is the phase difference between the local oscillator signal and the carrier signal, which is used for DSB-SC modulation.
From the figure, we can write the output of product modulator as

Substitute, s(t) and c(t) values in the above equation and applying the trigonometric formula

.
We get,

In the above equation, the first term is the scaled version of the message signal. It can be extracted by passing the above signal through a low
pass filter.
Therefore, the output of low pass filter is
The demodulated signal amplitude will be maximum, when ϕ=00. That’s why the local oscillator signal and the carrier signal should be in phase,
i.e., there should not be any phase difference between these two signals.
The demodulated signal amplitude will be zero, when ϕ=±900. This effect is called as quadrature null effect.

SSB MODULATION TECHNIQUES:

We can generate SSBSC wave using the following two methods.
• Frequency discrimination method
• Phase discrimination method
Frequency Discrimination Method
The following figure shows the block diagram of SSB-SC modulator using frequency discrimination method.
In this method, first we will generate DSBSC wave with the help of the product modulator. Then, apply this DSBSC wave as an input of band
pass filter. This band pass filter produces an output, which is SSBSC wave.
Select the frequency range of band pass filter as the spectrum of the desired SSB-SC wave. This means the band pass filter can be tuned to either
upper sideband or lower sideband frequencies to get the respective SSB-SC wave having upper sideband or lower sideband.

Phase Discrimination Method

The following figure shows the block diagram of SSBSC modulator using phase discrimination method.
 • This block diagram consists of two product modulators, two −900 phase shifters, one local oscillator and one summer block.
• The product modulator produces an output, which is the product of two inputs.
• The −900 phase shifter produces an output, which has a phase lag of −900 with respect to the input.
• The local oscillator is used to generate the carrier signal.
• Summer block produces an output, which is either the sum of two inputs or the difference of two inputs based on the polarity of inputs.
• The modulating signal Amcos(2πfmt) and the carrier signal Accos(2πfct) are directly applied as inputs to the upper product modulator.
• So, the upper product modulator produces an output, which is the product of these two inputs.
• The output of upper product modulator is

The modulating signal Amcos(2πfmt) and the carrier signal Accos(2πfct) are phase shifted by −900 before applying as inputs to the lower product
modulator.
So, the lower product modulator produces an output, which is the product of these two inputs.
The output of lower product modulator is

Using formula
We get,
By applying formula

Add s1(t) and s2(t) in order to get the SSBSC modulated wave s(t) having a lower sideband.

Subtract s2(t) from s1(t) in order to get the SSBSC modulated wave s(t) having a upper sideband.

Hence, by properly choosing the polarities of inputs at summer block, we will get SSBSC wave having a upper sideband or a lower sideband.
DEMODULATION OF SSB:
COHERENT DETECTION (SSB)
The process of extracting an original message signal from SSBSC wave is known as detection or demodulation of SSBSC. Coherent detector is
used for demodulating SSBSC wave.
Coherent Detector
Here, the same carrier signal (which is used for generating SSBSC wave) is used to detect the message signal. Hence, this process of detection is
called as coherent or synchronous detection. Following is the block diagram of coherent detector.

In this process, the message signal can be extracted from SSBSC wave by multiplying it with a carrier, having the same frequency and the phase
of the carrier used in SSBSC modulation. The resulting signal is then passed through a Low Pass Filter. The output of this filter is the desired
message signal.
Consider the following SSBSC wave having a lower sideband.
The output of the local oscillator is

From the figure, we can write the output of product modulator as

v(t)=s(t)c(t)
Substitute s(t) and c(t) values in the above equation.

In the above equation, the first term is the scaled version of the message signal. It can be extracted by passing the above signal through a low
pass filter.
Therefore, the output of low pass filter is
Here, the scaling factor is (Ac)2/4.
We can use the same block diagram for demodulating SSBSC wave having an upper sideband. Consider the following SSBSC wave having
an upper sideband.

The output of the local oscillator is

We can write the output of the product modulator as

Substitute s(t)s(t) and c(t)c(t) values in the above equation.

In the above equation, the first term is the scaled version of the message signal. It can be extracted by passing the above signal through a low
pass filter.
Therefore, the output of the low pass filter is

Here too the scaling factor is (Ac)2/4.

Therefore, we get the same demodulated output in both the cases by using coherent detector.

Vestigial Sideband Modulation (VSB)

• If the carrier is suppressed and the power saved is distributed to the two sidebands, such a process is called as Double Side Band
Suppressed Carrier system, or simply DSB-SC.
• The process of suppressing one of the sidebands, along with the carrier and transmitting a single sideband is called as Single Side Band
Suppressed Carrier system, or simply SSB-SC or SSB. In the case of Single Sideband modulation, when a sideband is passed through the
filters, the bandpass filter may not work perfectly in practice. As a result of which, some of the information may get lost. But in DSBSC
two of the sidebands that are transmitted carry the same information, which is a waste.
• Hence to avoid this loss, a technique is chosen, which is a comprise between Double Sideband single carrier modulation and Single
Sideband modulation, called Vestigial Sideband technique. The word vestige which means “apart” from which the name is derived.
• Vestigial Sideband Modulation or VSB Modulation is the process where a part of the signal called as vestige is modulated, along with one
sideband.
 • Along with the upper sideband, a part of the lower sideband is also being transmitted in this technique. A guard band of very small width
is laid on either side of VSB in order to avoid the interferences. This VSB modulation is mostly used in television transmissions.
• The transmission bandwidth of VSB modulated wave will be the total of message bandwidth and the width of vestigial sideband. Two
guard bands are laid on both the sides of this VSB signal so as to avoid the interference of signals.
Advantages of VSB
• Reduction in bandwidth.
• Filter design is easy as high accuracy is not needed.
• The transmission of low-frequency components is possible, without difficulties.
Disadvantages of VSB
• Bandwidth, when compared to SSB, is greater.
• Demodulation is complex.
Applications of VSB
• The most prominent and standard application of VSB is for the transmission of television signals. Also, this is most convenient and
efficient technique when bandwidth usage is considered.
 MODULE 1 COMPLETED………..
STUDY WELL……..

MODULE 1 Class test on : 3 Feb 2025

Prepared by:
REMYA JEEVAN
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR IN ELECTRONICS
SOE, CUSAT