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Communication systems Laboratory Report 1

AM receiver

Aishwarya Rajendran 393334

Chee Hao Jun 410659
Aim:
Aishwarya Rajendran, Chee Hao Jun

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The aim of this lab work is to investigate some of the fundamental characteristics
parameters of an AM radio receiver, and to introduce swept-frequency measurement
techniques.
Theory:
The modulation is simply a method of combining two different signals and is used
in the transmitter section of a communication system. The two signals that are used
are the information signal and the carrier signal.
Amplitude Modulation is the simplest form of signal processing in which the carrier
amplitude is simply changed according to the amplitude of the information signal
hence the name Amplitude modulation.

Fig1.0.0 Modulation
When the information signals amplitude is increased the carrier signals amplitude is
increased and when the information signals amplitude is decreased the carrier
signals amplitude is decreased. The purpose of any detector or demodulator is to
recover the original modulating signal with the minimum of distortion and
interference. The simplest way of dealing with an AM signal is to use a simple halfwave rectifier circuit. If the signal were simply passed through a diode to a resistive
load, the output would be a series of half-cycle pulses at carrier frequency. So the
diode is followed by a filter, typically a capacitor and resistor in parallel. The
capacitor is charged by the diode almost to the peak value of the carrier cycles and
the output therefore follows the envelope of the amplitude modulation. [1]

Amplitude modulation applications [2]

Amplitude modulation is used in a variety of applications. Even though it is not as
widely used as it was in previous years in its basic format it can nevertheless still be
found.
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Broadcast transmissions: AM is still widely used for broadcasting on the

long, medium and short wave bands. It is simple to demodulate and this
means that radio receivers capable of demodulating amplitude modulation are
cheap and simple to manufacture. Nevertheless many people are moving to
high quality forms of transmission like frequency modulation, FM or digital
transmissions.
Air band radio: VHF transmissions for many airborne applications still use
AM. . It is used for ground to air radio communications as well as two way
radio links for ground staff as well.
Single sideband: Amplitude modulation in the form of single sideband is
still used for HF radio links. Using a lower bandwidth and providing more
effective use of the transmitted power this form of modulation is still used for
many point to point HF links.
Quadrature amplitude modulation: AM is widely used for the transmission
of data in everything from short range wireless links such as Wi-Fi to cellular
telecommunications and much more. Effectively it is formed by having two
carriers 90 out of phase.
These form some of the main uses of amplitude modulation. However in its basic
form, this form of modulation is being sued less as a result of its inefficient use of
both spectrum and power.

The Receiver Circuit

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A demonstration receiver for the AM broadcast band will be used. In this circuit
(schematic attached),
The circuit uses both discrete and integrated components and is much more
spread out than a commercial receiver layout. Test terminals are provided at
important points in the circuit. In most cases a high-impedance probe is not
required to examine these voltages with a CRO/DSO.
The receiver is of super heterodyne structure. Tuning of both the RF stage
and the Local Oscillator is by variable capacitance (varactor) diodes.
There are some options:
The RF input can be connected to an antenna, or (via a standard coupling
network) to a signal generator. The coupling network mimics some of the
characteristics of a typical wire antenna.
The Q of the RF stage (pre-selector) can be set high or low.
The AGC (automatic gain control) feedback loop, which normally reduces
the gain for large input signals, can be disabled.
The audio output can be switched from the loudspeaker to an external
load.
The circuit runs from a single 20V DC bench supply. There is on-board
regulation down to lower voltages to drive the various receiver stages.

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Measurement Procedure:
Part A
1. The AM signal is set up for 400Hz AM with 30% depth of modulation and a
carrier frequency of about 1MHz using Signal Generators. The linearity of the
modulator is checked using the CRO in X-Y mode and the modulating and
modulated signals as inputs. A trapezoidal diagram can also be observed.
Fig 1.0.1 Amplitude Modulated wave with 30%depth.

Fig 1.0.2 Trapezoidal Display

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Initially, the Signal Generator input on the receiver is used to set the RF stage
Q to LOW. Then we tune the receiver for maximum audio (400Hz) output.
2. Next the IF and LO frequencies are measured.
IF Intermediate Frequency
LO Local Oscillator
As per measurements, it has been found to be of 450kHz and 840kHz Intermediate Frequency, and 1.4MHz Local Oscillator Frequency.
3. Next, the range of input voltages over which the envelope detector output is
undistorted, with and without AGC is measured.
Without AGC
With AGC
Lower limit
7.2
6.24
Higher limit
18
16
4. An estimate of the sensitivity can be obtained by finding the level of RF input
signal required to produce about 20dB SNR at the receiver output (speaker
replaced for this measurement by a resistive load connected to the AF O/P test
point)
5. The modulating frequency has to be increased until the audio output
decreases. What is the audio bandwidth of the receiver?
Bandwidth - The range of audio frequencies which directly influence
the fidelity of a sound. The higher the audio bandwidth, the better the
sound fidelity. The highest practical frequency which the human ear
can normally hear is 20 kHz.
The amplitude modulation spectrum usage and bandwidth are critical
for most applications.
The bandwidth that an amplitude modulated space occupies determines
the number of transmissions that can be accommodated within a certain
band, and also the levels of interference caused to other users.
With pressure on the radio spectrum increasing, and the number users
increasing in many areas, the bandwidth of an amplitude modulated
signal is important. [3]
Here, it has been found to have a bandwidth of 1003kHz 1000kHz =
3kHz.

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6. What is the tuning range? As the tuning is adjusted, how well do the LO
frequency and the centre frequency of the RF stage track?

Tuning range is the frequency range over which a receiver, transmitter

or other piece of equipment (such as antennas) can be adjusted by
means of a tuning control in consideration of required system
performance.
Limiting factors for the system performance within the tuning range
among others are
varying large signal behaviour of the receivers caused by the
variation of the receiver tuning components.
fast increase of oscillator phase noise and by extending the
tuning range, the impact on the overall system performance.
In Spectrum ranges with TV broadcast allocations, the tuning range of
some PMSE application relates to the bandwidth of one TV channel (6
to 8 MHz) and integer multiples of it.
Here it has been found to be 2kHz to 8kHz.

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Fig1.2 The X-Y mode result.

Fig1.3 Sweep band.

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Fig1.4 Signal with least distortion.

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Conclusion:
Hence from the experiment conducted, the characteristics of the AM receiver have
been observed and recorded. It can be observed from the above that
1) The modulator is linear.
2) AGC improves quality of output signal, i.e; The signal is less distorted.
3) The range can be adjusted according to design.

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References:
[1] https://www.vidyarthiplus.com/vp/thread-2517.html#.VdM8BLKqqkp
[2]
http://www.radio-electronics.com/info/rf-technology-design/am-amplitudemodulation/what-is-am-tutorial.php
[3]
http://www.radio-electronics.com/info/rf-technology-design/am-amplitudemodulation/spectrum-bandwidth.php
Other References :
[4] https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Communication_Systems/Amplitude_Modulation

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Part B
Introductory
Amplitude modulation (AM) is a modulation technique used in electronic communication, most
commonly for transmitting information via a radio carrier wave. In amplitude modulation,
the amplitude (signal strength) of the carrier wave is varied in proportion to the waveform being
transmitted. That waveform may, for instance, correspond to the sounds to be reproduced by
a loudspeaker, or the light intensity of television pixels. This technique contrasts with frequency
modulation, in which the frequency of the carrier signal is varied, and phase modulation, in which
its phase is varied.
Modulation is the addition of information to an electronic or optical carrier signal. A carrier signal
is one with a steady waveform -- constant height (amplitude) and frequency. Information can be
added to the carrier by varying its amplitude, frequency, phase, polarization (for optical signals),
and even quantum-level phenomena like spin.
Signal modulate by carrier frequncy
y (t) = [ A + m (t) ] . c (t)
y (t) = [ A + M cos (m t ] . sin(c t)
y (t) = A . sin (c t) + M/2 [ sin ((c + m) t ) + M/2 [ sin ((c - m) t)
The upper sideband is c + m and the lower sideband is c m

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What is a sweep generator? Diagram 1 show the arrangement for a basic sweep generator.

Diagram 1
A basic system for the sweep generator is shown in figure 1. A low-frequency sawtooth wave is
generated from some form of oscillator or waveform generator. The instantaneous voltage of the
sawtooth wave controls the frequency of an RF oscillator with its centre frequency set at the
centre frequency of the device under test (filter or IF channel etc). Over a single sweep of
frequency, RF output voltage from the device, as a function of time, is a plot of the filter response.
By rectifying and RF filtering in a simple AM detector, the output is converted to a DC voltage
varying as a function of time and this voltage is applied to the vertical input of the CRO. By
synchronising the sweep of the CRO with the sawtooth output, the device response is plotted on
the CRO screen.
This experiment is to show how the modulation signal be generated and how can we mixed up the
carrier signal and the modulation signal. The charcteristics of an amplitude wave, determine the
gain, IF frequency and LO frequency from part A. Part B of the experiment shows the the
modulated frequncy that been modulated where you can see the DSBSC modulation method,
which will show us the one carrier band suppressed by two sideband and moving from upper
sideband to loer sideband. We also can learn the Image rejection ratio and AGC operation through
part B of the experiment.

The AM receiver is tuned until it is synchronized with the signal generated by the signal generator
which is 1MHz frequency. It is until the AM reciver and 1Mhz is synchronized the whole
experiment just can function in the correct way.
The math function of the modulated signal measured from IF.

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The function generator is set to produce a linear frequency sweep and is connected to the
CRO/DSO trough the external frequency. The modulated signal is shown in the CRO and
then it is switched to the MATH MENU. The output is shown at the picture below. The
double sideband and the carrier bandwidth sweep from upper frequency to lower
frequency back and forth.

The sweep rate of the modulated signal.

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The diagram above show the sweep rate in XY format which is from center low frequency move
to high frequency then back to low, back and forth.

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Receiver bandwidth from input to IF ouput = 5kHz

The response is not flat.

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The diagram above show the Vpp of a 1Mhz frequency modulated AM signal. It is change
to 50khz and the Vpp is measured again.
When frequency 1Mhz= 12 Vpp
When frequency 50Khz = 4Vpp
4
Db down = 20 log 12
= -9.54db
6

The image rejection ratio(IRR) is the ratio, of the intermediate-frequency (IF) signal level
produced by the desired input frequency to that produced by the image frequency. The IRR
does not vary with the tuning, the reason is that no matter how the tuned frequency is the
IRR always reject the unwanted signal or the image to maintain the desired IF frequency.

The Input signal for AGC operation operates starts on 0.97Mhz.

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The AGC operation begins and it will stabilize the signal , in order to produce a amplitude
controlled signal to improve the measurement. It will not have any effect on the signal if
the input signal level is not in the right range.

Conclusion
For conclusion on part B, we can know that there is IF and LO frequency which the double
sideband suppress carrier will sweep back and forth and it has a high sweep rate. The
receiver bandwidth is not having a flat passband. The image rejection does not vary with
the frequency and AGC operation begins only on a certain input signal.

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Reference
Hao Jun Chee has done Part B of the experiment and documentation. Aishwarya
Rajendran has done Part A of the experiment and documentation. Each of them has done
50% of the experiment.

Aishwarya Rajendran, Chee Hao Jun