Amplitude Modulation

Fundamentals
 AM Concepts
As the name suggests, in 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.
Fig. 3-1 shows a single frequency sine wave
intelligence signal modulating a higher-
frequency carrier. The carrier frequency
remains constant during the modulation
process, but its amplitude varies in
accordance with the modulating signal.
An increase in the amplitude of the
modulating signal causes the amplitude of
the carrier to increase. Both the positive
and the negative peaks of the carrier wave
vary with the modulating signal.
An imaginary line connecting the positive
peaks and negative peaks of the carrier
waveform (the dashed line in Fig. 3-1)
gives the exact shape of the modulating
information signal. This imaginary line on
the carrier waveform is known as the
envelope.
The signals illustrated in Figs. 3-1 and 3-2
show the variation of the carrier amplitude
with respect to time and are said to be in
the time domain. Time-domain signals—
voltage or current variations that occur
over time—are displayed on the screen of
an oscilloscope.
Using trigonometric functions, we can
express the sine wave carrier with the
simple expression
In Fig. 3-1, the modulating signal uses the
peak value of the carrier rather than zero
as its reference point. The envelope of the
modulating signal varies above and below
the peak carrier amplitude. That is, the
zero reference line of the modulating signal
coincides with the peak value of the un
modulated carrier.
Because of this, the relative amplitudes of
the carrier and modulating signal are
important. In general, the amplitude of the
modulating signal should be less than the
amplitude of the carrier.
When the amplitude of the modulating
signal is greater than the amplitude of the
carrier, distortion will occur, causing
incorrect information to be transmitted. In
amplitude modulation, it is particularly
important that the peak value of the
modulating signal be less than the peak
value of the carrier. Mathematically,
The instantaneous value of either the top
or the bottom voltage envelope 1 can be
computed by using the equation
The circuit used for producing AM is called a
modulator. Its two inputs, the carrier and the
modulating signal, and the resulting outputs are
shown in Fig. 3-3. Amplitude modulators
compute the product of the carrier and
modulating signals.
Circuits that compute the product of two analog
signals are also known as analog multipliers,
mixers, converters, product detectors, and phase
detectors. A circuit that changes a lower-
frequency baseband or intelligence signal to a
higher-frequency signal is usually called a
modulator.
A circuit used to recover the original intelligence
signal from an AM wave is known as a detector
or demodulator.
Modulation Index and Percentage
of Modulation
 Over modulation and
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 of the modulated waveform.
If the distortion is great enough, the
intelligence signal becomes unintelligible.
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.
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 over-modulation.
As you can see, the waveform is flattened at
the zero line. The received signal will produce
an output waveform in the shape of the
envelope, which in this case is a sine wave
whose negative peaks have been clipped off. If
the amplitude of the modulating signal is less
than the carrier amplitude, no distortion will
occur.
The ideal condition for AM is when
which gives 100 percent
modulation. This results in the greatest
output power at the transmitter and the
greatest output voltage at the receiver,
with no distortion.
Preventing over-modulation is tricky. For
example, at different times during voice
transmission voices will go from low
amplitude to high amplitude. Normally, the
amplitude of the modulating signal is
adjusted so that only the voice peaks
produce 100 percent modulation.
This prevents over-modulation and distortion.
Automatic circuits called compression circuits solve
this problem by amplifying the lower-level signals
and suppressing or compressing the higher-level
signals. The result is a higher average power
output level without over-modulation.
Distortion caused by over-modulation also
produces adjacent channel interference. Distortion
produces a non sinusoidal information signal.
According to Fourier theory, any non sinusoidal
signal can be treated as a fundamental sine wave
at the frequency of the information signal plus
harmonics. Obviously, these harmonics also
modulate the carrier and can cause interference
with other signals on channels adjacent to the
carrier.
 Percentage of Modulation
The modulation index can be determined
by measuring the actual values of the
modulation voltage and the carrier voltage
and computing the ratio. However, it is
more common to compute the modulation
index from measurements taken on the
composite modulated wave itself.
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.
 More specifically, the sidebands occur at
frequencies that are the sum and difference of
the carrier and modulating frequencies.
Sideband Calculations
Frequency-Domain Representation of
AM
 Another method of showing the sideband signals is
to plot the carrier and sideband amplitudes with
respect to frequency, as in Fig. 3-7.
 Here the horizontal axis represents frequency, and
the vertical axis represents the amplitudes of the
signals.
 The signals may be voltage, current, or power
amplitudes and may be given in peak or rms
values.
 A plot of signal amplitude versus frequency is
referred to as a frequency-domain display. A test
instrument known as a spectrum analyzer is used
to display the frequency domain of a signal.
Example
Pulse Modulation
 When complex signals such as pulses or
rectangular waves modulate a carrier, a broad
spectrum of sidebands are produced.
 According to Fourier theory, complex signals
such as square waves, triangular waves,
sawtooth waves, and distorted sine waves are
simply made up of a fundamental sine wave
and numerous harmonic signals at different
amplitudes.
 Assume that a carrier is amplitude-modulated
by a square wave that is made up of a
fundamental sine wave and all odd harmonics.
 Amplitude modulation by square waves or
rectangular binary pulses is referred to as
amplitude-shift keying (ASK). ASK is used in
some types of data communication when
binary information is to be transmitted.
 Another crude type of amplitude modulation
can be achieved by simply turning the carrier
off and on.
 An example is the transmitting of Morse code
by using dots and dashes.
 A dot is a short burst of carrier, and a dash is
a longer burst of carrier.
 Fig. 3-13 shows the transmission of the letter P,
which is dot-dash-dash-dot (pronounced “dit-dah-
dah-dit”).
 The time duration of a dash is three times the
length of a dot, and the spacing between dots
and dashes is one dot time.
 Code transmissions such as this are usually called
continuous-wave (CW) transmissions. This kind of
transmission is also referred to as ON/OFF keying
(OOK).
 Despite the fact that only the carrier is being
transmitted, sidebands are generated by such
ON/OFF signals. The sidebands result from the
frequency or repetition rate of the pulses
themselves plus their harmonics.
 As indicated earlier, the distortion of an
analog signal by over modulation also
generates harmonics.
 For example, the spectrum produced by a
500-Hz sine wave modulating a carrier of 1
MHz is shown in Fig. 3-14(a).
 The total bandwidth of the signal is 1 kHz.
However, if the modulating signal is distorted,
the second, third, fourth, and higher
harmonics are generated.
 These harmonics also modulate the carrier,
producing many more sidebands, as
illustrated in Fig. 3-14(b).
 Assume that the distortion is such that the
harmonic amplitudes beyond the fourth harmonic
are in signifi cant (usually less than 1 percent);
then the total bandwidth of the resulting signal is
about 4 kHz instead of the 1-kHz bandwidth that
would result without over modulation and
distortion.
 The harmonics can overlap into adjacent channels,
where other signals may be present and interfere
with them. Such harmonic sideband interference is
sometimes called splatter.
 Over modulation and splatter are easily eliminated
simply by reducing the level of the modulating
signal by using gain control or in some cases by
using amplitude-limiting or compression circuits.
Thanks……………