Modulation

Modulation
• Modulation is a process of suppressing low frequency information
signal on a high frequency carrier signal.
OR
• Modulation is a process of modifying the any of the characteristics
(amplitude, frequency, phase) of high frequency carrier in
accordance with low frequency information signal.
• Modulation require two signals, high frequency carrier and low
frequency information signal (also called modulation signal).
• The resultant wave achieved known as “modulated signal”.
i.e. information (modulating signal) + carrier = modulated signal.
• There is no change in modulating signal, only the characteristics of
carrier signal are changed always. The carrier wave is usually sine
wave.
• Information signal may be of any type (either analog or digital). In
either type of modulation (analog or digital), carrier is of analog
format.
Need for Modulation:
•To transmit voice signal a large size antenna is required as antenna length is proportional to half of wavelength. The size of the antenna
will be more than the distance between transmitter and receiver.
• Again when more than one transmitter is involved all station will overlap in one frequency band.
• For those above reasons we choose a carrier, which is a high frequency radio wave, can travel long distance without attenuation and as
the frequency is high smaller antenna is required. Selecting different carrier frequency for different transmitting stations can eliminate
overlapping of frequency band.
AM Advantage:
AM is the simplest type of modulation. Hardware design of both transmitter and
receiver is very simple and less cost effective.
AM Disadvantage:
AM is very susceptible to noise.
Application:
AM radio broad cast is an example
FM Advantage:
Modulation and demodulation does not catch any channel noise.
FM Disadvantage:
Circuit needed for FM modulation and demodulation is bit complicated than AM
Application:
FM radio broad cast is an example
PM Advantage:
Modulation and demodulation does not catch any channel noise.
PM Disadvantage:
Circuit needed for PM modulation and demodulation is bit complicated than AM and FM
Application:
Satellite communication.
 Modulation
The carrier signal is usually just a simple, single-frequency sinusoid
(varies in time like a sine wave).

The basic sine wave :V(t) = Vo sin (2  f t + )

V(t) ->the voltage of the signal as a function of time.
Vo-> the amplitude of the signal (represents the maximum value achieved
each cycle)
f-> frequency of oscillation, the number of cycles per second

phase of the signal, representing the starting point of the cycle.

To modulate the signal just means to systematically vary one of the three
parameters of the signal: amplitude, frequency or phase.
 Amplitude modulation
Amplitude modulation is the simplest of the three to understand.
The transmitter just uses the information signal, Vm(t) to vary the
amplitude of the carrier, Vco to produce a modulated signal,
VAM(t).
Here are the three signals in mathematical form:
Information: Vm(t)
Carrier: Vc(t) = Vco sin (2  f t + )
AM: VAM(t) = { Vco + Vm(t) }sin (2  f t + )
Here, we see that the amplitude term has been replaced by the
combination of the original amplitude plus the information signal.
 Amplitude Modulation
The amount of modulation depends on the amplitude of the
information signal.
This is usually expressed as a ratio of the maximum information
signal to the amplitude of the carrier.
Modulation Index m = MAX(Vm(t) )/ Vco.
If the information signal is also a simple sine wave, the
modulation index will be m = Vmo/Vco.
The interpretation of the modulation index, m, may be
expressed as: The fraction (percentage if multiplied by 100) of
the carrier amplitude that it varies by.
If m =0.5, the carrier amplitude varies by 50 % above and below
its original value. If m= 1.0 then it varies by 100%.
Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK)

• The simplest digital modulation technique.

• A binary information signal directly modulates amplitude of an
analog carrier.
• Similar to amplitude modulation except there are two output
amplitude possible only.
• Mathematically can be expressed as
VASK(t) = [ 1 + Vm(t)] [ (Ac/2) cos(ωct) ]
Where
• VASK(t) = Amplitude Shift Keying Modulated wave
• Vm(t) = Amplitude of binary modulating (information) signal
• (Ac/2) = Amplitude of un-modulated high frequency carrier
• ωc = 2πfc = un-modulated high frequency carrier.
Conclusion:
• As information signal is of binary format, only two voltage levels occur at input (either +1V or -
1V)
• As a result, we get only two voltage levels at output (either [Ac cos(ωct) ] or OV)
• because of these two output voltage levels, the carrier is either in “ON” or “OFF” state.
• that’s the reason why ASK is also known as “ON-OFF Keying (OOK)”
Modulation: Frequency-Shift Keying (FSK)
Encodes digital data by modulating the carrier's frequency
between two or more values. For example, a binary 0 would be
one frequency (or group of frequencies) and a binary 1 would be
some other frequency (or group of frequencies). FSK is less
susceptible to corruption than ASK. Many modems use FSK to
convert digital data to analogue signals.
Frequency Shift Keying (FSK)
• Simple and low performance type of digital modulation.
• A binary information signal directly modulates frequency of
an analog carrier.
• Mathematically can be expressed as
VFSK(t) = Vc cos[ 2π (fc + Vm(t)Δf)t ]
Where
• VFSK(t) = Frequency Shift Keying Modulated wave
• fc = Analog carrier central frequency
• Vc = peak analog carrier amplitude
• Vm(t) = binary input (modulating) signal
• Δf = peak change (shift) in the analog carrier frequency
 Modulation: Phase-Shift Keying (PSK)
Phase-shift keying encodes digital data by shifting the phase
of the carrier. PSK-encoded data is highly resistant to
corruption.

• PSK is another form of angle modulated constant amplitude digital modulation.

• A binary information signal directly modulates phase of an analog carrier.
• Simplest form is “Binary phase shift keying” (BPSK)
• with BPSK, two phases are possible for carrier wave.
• one phase represents a logic 1 and other a logic 0.
• As the input digital signal changes state (i.e. from 1 to 0 or 0 to 1), the phase of the
output carrier shifts between two phases (that are separated by 180o ) .
CATEGORIES OF PHASE SHIFT KEYING
Phase Shift Keying follows M-ARY coding
•BPSK (Binary Phase Shift Keying)
• QPSK (Quadrature Phase Shift Keying)
• 8 PSK