Angle Modulation – Frequency

Modulation

Consider again the general carrier vc t  = Vc cosωc t

+ φc 
ω t + φ
c c represents the angle of the carrier.


There are two ways of varying the angle of the carrier.

• By varying the frequency, c – Frequency Modulation.

• By varying the phase, c – Phase Modulation

1
 Frequency Modulation

In FM, the message signal m(t) controls the frequency fc of the carrier. Consider the carrier

vc t  = Vc cosωc t 

then for FM we may write:

FM signal vs t  =V c cos2π f c + frequency deviationt ,where the frequency deviation

will depend on m(t).
Given that the carrier frequency will change we may write for an instantaneous
carrier signal
Vc cosωi t  = Vc cos 2πf i t  = Vc
cosφi 
where i is the instantaneous angle = ωit = 2πf i t and fi is the instantaneous frequency.
2
 Frequency Modulation

dφi 1 dφ i
Since φi = 2πf i t then
dt = 2πf or fi
i
2π dt
=
i.e. frequency is proportional to the rate of change of angle.

If fc is the unmodulated carrier and fm is the modulating frequency, then we may deduce
that

f i = f c + Δf c cosωm t  1 dφ i
2π dt
=
fc is the peak deviation of the carrier.

dφi
1 dφ = f c + Δf c cosωm t ,i.e. = 2πf c + 2πΔf c cosωm t
i
Hence, we have
2π dt dt
 
3
 Frequency Modulation

After integration i.e.  ωc + 2πΔf c cosωm t dt

2πΔf c sin ωm t

φi = ωc t +
 ωm
Δf c
φi = ωc t + sin ωm t
fm

Hence for the FM signal, v s t  = Vc
cosφi 
 Δfc 
vs t  =cV cosω
 c t sin ωm t 
+  fm 
4
 Frequency Modulation

Δfc
The ratio is called the Modulation Index denoted by  i.e.
fm

Peak frequency deviation

β=
modulating frequency

Note – FM, as implicit in the above equation for vs(t), is a non-linear process – i.e. the
principle of superposition does not apply. The FM signal for a message m(t) as a band of
signals is very complex. Hence, m(t) is usually considered as a 'single tone modulating
signal' of the form

mt  = Vm cosωm t 
5
 Frequency Modulation

 Δfc 
The equation v s  t  =cV 
cos c ω sin  ωm t  may be expressed as Bessel
t+  fm

series (Bessel functions) 


v s t  = Vc  J  β cosω
n c + nωm t
n=

where Jn() are Bessel functions of the first kind. Expanding the equation for a few terms
we have:
vs (t)  Vc J 0 ( ) cos(c )t  Vc J1 ( ) cos(c   m )t  Vc J 1 ( ) cos(c 
m )t –– Amp ⏟fc
––Amp
 ––f  f
c m
––Amp
 ––f  f
c m

 Vc J 2 ( ) cos(c  2m )t  Vc J 2 ( ) cos(c  2m )t

–– –– –– ––
 Amp f 2 f
c m Amp f 2 f c m

6
 FM Signal Spectrum.

The amplitudes drawn are completely arbitrary, since we have not found any value for
Jn() – this sketch is only to illustrate the spectrum.

7
 FM Signal Waveforms.

If we plot fOUT as a function of VIN:

In general, m(t) will be a ‘band of signals’, i.e. it will contain amplitude and frequency
variations. Both amplitude and frequency change in m(t) at the input are translated to (just)
frequency changes in the FM output signal, i.e. the amplitude of the output FM signal is
constant.
Amplitude changes at the input are translated to deviation from the carrier at the
output. The larger the amplitude, the greater the deviation. 16
 FM Signal Waveforms.

Frequency changes at the input are translated to rate of change of frequency at the output.
An attempt to illustrate this is shown below:

17
 Significant Sidebands – Spectrum.

As shown, the bandwidth of the spectrum containing significant

components is 6fm, for  = 1.
23
 Carson’s Rule for FM Bandwidth.

An approximation for the bandwidth of an FM signal is given by

BW = 2(Maximum frequency deviation + highest modulated
frequency)

Bandwidth  2(fc  f m ) Carson’s Rule

25
 Narrowband and Wideband FM

Narrowband FM NBFM

From the graph/table of Bessel functions it may be seen that for small , (  0.3) there
is only the carrier and 2 significant sidebands, i.e. BW = 2fm.

FM with   0.3 is referred to as narrowband FM (NBFM) (Note, the bandwidth is the

same as DSBAM).

Wideband FM WBFM

For  > 0.3 there are more than 2 significant sidebands. As  increases the number of
sidebands increases. This is referred to as wideband FM (WBFM).

26
 Comments FM

• The FM spectrum contains a carrier component and an infinite number of sidebands at

frequencies fc  nfm (n = 0, 1, 2, …)


FM signal, v s (t)  Vc J n (  ) cos( c  n m )t

n

• In FM we refer to sideband pairs not upper and lower sidebands. Carrier or other
components may not be suppressed in FM.

• The relative amplitudes of components in FM depend on the values J (), where

Vm
n

 
thus the component at the carrier frequency depends on m(t), as do all the
fm
other components and none may be suppressed.
28