Digital Modulation for

Wireless Communications
Dr. Miguel Rodrigues
Laboratory for Communication Engineering
Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge
E-mail: mrdr3@eng.cam.ac.uk
 Agenda
ƒ Introduction

ƒ Binary and M-ary modulation

ƒ Pulse shaping techniques

ƒ Multi-carrier modulation

ƒ Spread spectrum modulation

ƒ Multiple access techniques

 Introduction

Input Input Source Channel Digital

Signal Transducer Encoder Encoder Modulator

Channel

Output Output Source Channel Digital

Signal Transducer Decoder Decoder Demodulator

Basic Elements of a Digital Communication System

 How to choose the
Digital Modulation Method?
ƒ Criteria to take into account when choosing the digital
modulation method:
ƒ Power efficiency, i.e., the Eb/N0 ratio for a specific error
probability

ƒ Bandwidth efficiency, i.e., the data rate per unit

bandwidth

ƒ Performance on multipath fading channels and under

non-linear distortion

ƒ Implementation cost and complexity

ƒ Conflicting requirements that cannot be satisfied

simultaneously
 Binary Amplitude Shift Keying

t
0 Tb 2Tb 3Tb 0 Tb 2Tb 3Tb
t
1 0 1 1 0 1
Unipolar NRZ binary signal Binary ASK or OOK

Carrier

Bandwidth ≈ 1/Tb Hz
Bandwidth efficiency = 1 bps/Hz
 Binary Phase Shift Keying

t
0 Tb 2Tb 3Tb 0 Tb 2Tb 3Tb
t
1 0 1 1 0 1
Polar NRZ binary signal Binary PSK

Carrier

Bandwidth ≈ 1/Tb Hz
Bandwidth efficiency = 1 bps/Hz
 Binary Frequency Shift Keying
ƒ Two different ways of generation of FSK
ƒ The outputs of two oscillators are selected according to
the baseband binary data ⇒ discontinuous phase

ƒ The output of a single oscillator is frequency modulated

by the baseband binary data ⇒ continuous phase

0 Tb 2Tb 3Tb t 0 Tb 2Tb 3Tb

t

1 0 1 1 0 1
Discontinuous Phase FSK Continuous Phase FSK

ƒ FSK is a constant envelope modulation scheme ⇒

good performance under non-linear distortion
 Minimum Shift Keying
ƒ MSK or “fast” FSK is a special type of continuous
phase FSK

ƒ In MSK the frequency separation between the two

tones is ∆f=1/(2Tb)

ƒ ∆f=1/(2Tb) is the minimum frequency separation that

is necessary to ensure orthogonality between the two
tones over the signaling interval of length Tb

ƒ The power efficiency of MSK is similar to the power

efficiency of BPSK

ƒ The bandwidth efficiency of MSK is twice the

bandwidth efficiency of BPSK
Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying
ƒ GMSK is a derivative of MSK

ƒ In GMSK the baseband binary data is first Gaussian

pulse shaped before frequency modulating a carrier ⇒
smoother phase trajectory

ƒ The 3dB bandwidth-bit duration product of the

Gaussian filter (BTb) is a parameter that measures the
performance of GMSK

ƒ A lower value of BTb implies a narrower bandwidth but

more ISI ⇒ bandwidth efficient but power inefficient

ƒ A higher value of BTb implies a wider bandwidth but

less ISI ⇒ bandwidth inefficient but power efficient
 Comparison of Binary
Modulation Schemes

Power Spectrum of Selected Bit Error Rate of Selected

Binary Modulation Schemes Binary Modulation Schemes
 M-ary Modulation
ƒ A group of n bits is transmitted in each signaling
interval T=log2(M)Tb

ƒ In M-ASK a group of n bits is transmitted using M=2n

different amplitudes

ƒ In M-PSK a group of n bits is transmitted using M=2n

different phases

ƒ In M-FSK a group of n bits is transmitted using M=2n

different frequencies

ƒ Quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) uses a

combination of amplitude and phase modulation to
convey the information
 Constellations
ƒ A constellation diagram is a graphical representation of
the complex envelope of each possible symbol state

ƒ The power efficiency is related to the minimum distance

between the points in the constellation Quadrature
component

ƒ The bandwidth efficiency is

related to the number of points
in the constellation dmin

ƒ Gray coding is used to assign In-phase

groups of bits to each component
constellation point

ƒ In Gray coding adjacent

constellation points differ by a
single bit Constellation diagram
 M-ary Amplitude Shift Keying

10 00 11 10
I
Bandwidth ≈ 1/T = 1/(log2(M)Tb) Hz
Bandwidth efficiency = log2(M) bps/Hz Gray coded 4-ASK constellation

ƒ dmin smaller for M-ASK than for M-PSK or M-QAM for the
same average transmitted power ⇒ poorer error performance

ƒ Envelope not constant ⇒ poor performance under non-linear

distortion
 M-ary Phase Shift Keying
Q
0110
0111 0010
0101 0011

0100 0001

1100 0000
Bandwidth ≈ 1/T = 1/(log2(M)Tb) Hz I
1101 1000
Bandwidth efficiency = log2(M) bps/Hz
1111 1001

1110 1011
ƒ dmin smaller for M-PSK than for M-QAM 1010

for the same average transmitted Gray coded 16-PSK

constellation
power ⇒ poorer error performance

ƒ Constant envelope ⇒ good performance under non-linear

distortion
 M-ary Quadrature Amplitude
Modulation
Q

1011 1001 0001 0011

1010 1000 0000 0010

Bandwidth ≈ 1/T = 1/(log2(M)Tb) Hz

1110 1100 0100 0110 I
Bandwidth efficiency = log2(M) bps/Hz

1111 1101 0101 0111

ƒ dmin larger for M-QAM than for M-ASK or
M-PSK for the same average transmitted
power ⇒ better error performance Gray coded 16-QAM
constellation

ƒ Envelope not constant ⇒ poor performance under non-linear

distortion
Generation of M-ary Digital Signals
cos(2πfct)

In-phase
component
M-ary digital signal

Quadrature
component
-sin(2πfct)

ƒ In M-ASK the in-phase component is an M-level NRZ baseband

signal and the quadrature component is zero
ƒ In M-PSK the in-phase and quadrature components are M-level
NRZ baseband signals
ƒ In M-QAM the in-phase and quadrature components are √M-level
NRZ baseband signals
ƒ The amplitude of the in-phase/quadrature component is given by
the I/Q value of the point of the constellation to be transmitted
 Comparison of M-ary
Modulation Schemes

Power Spectrum of Selected Bit Error Rate of Selected

M-ary Modulation Schemes M-ary Modulation Schemes
 Pulse Shaping Techniques

ƒ The aim of pulse shaping is to reduce the bandwidth

requirement

ƒ Nyquist techniques reduce the bandwidth requirement

and eliminate intersymbol interference

ƒ Non-Nyquist techniques reduce the bandwidth

requirement but do not eliminate intersymbol
interference
 Nyquist Techniques

-2T -T T 2T -1/(2T) 1/(2T)

Time Domain Pulse Spectrum

There is no ISI

0 T 2T 3T 4T

1 0 1 1 0
 Nyquist Techniques
(Raised Cosine Family)
α=0
α = 0.5
α=1

-3T -2T -T T 2T 3T -1/T -1/(2T) 1/(2T) 1/T

Time Domain Pulse Spectrum

 Non-Nyquist Techniques
α1> α2
α2 α1

α1 α2

Time Domain Pulse Spectrum

There is ISI

0 T 2T 3T 4T

1 0 1 1 0
QPSK, Offset-QPSK and π/4-QPSK
ƒ QPSK has a constant envelope when rectangular pulse
shaping is used ⇒ good performance under non-linear
distortion

ƒ QPSK looses the constant envelope property when

other pulse shapes are used ⇒ poor performance
under non-linear distortion

ƒ The aim of O-QPSK and π/4-QPSK is to minimise

envelope variations by eliminating 180° phase
transitions

ƒ In O-QPSK and π/4-QPSK the maximum phase shift at

any given time is limited to ±90° and ±135°
respectively
QPSK, Offset-QPSK and π/4-QPSK
Q Q

I I

O-QPSK constellation π/4-QPSK constellation

and permitted trajectories and permitted trajectories
 Multi-carrier Modulation
ƒ In a single carrier modulation scheme each data symbol
is transmitted sequentially on a single carrier ⇒
signalling interval equal to data symbol duration

ƒ In a single carrier modulation scheme the modulated

carrier occupies the entire available bandwidth

ƒ In a multi-carrier modulation scheme N sequential data

symbols are transmitted simultaneously on N multiple
carriers ⇒ signalling interval equal to N times data
symbol duration

ƒ In a multi-carrier modulation scheme each modulated

carrier occupies only a small part of the entire available
bandwidth
 Multi-carrier Modulation
Single carrier ≈1/T

0 T 2T 3T 4T
fc
Carrier
Spectrum
T: single carrier signal symbol duration

Multi-carrier Carrier 1
≈1/NT ≈1/NT ≈1/NT

Carrier 2
...

s/p ..
0 T 2T 3T 4T .
Carrier N fc1 fc2 fcN
Spectrum
NT: multi-carrier signal symbol duration
 Multi-carrier Modulation
on Multipath Channels
path 2
Two-path channel path 1
Transmitter Receiver
relative delay = T’
ƒ Time domain interpretation
path 1 path 1
... ... ... ...
0 T 2T 3T 4T Significant 0 NT 2NT Negligible
path 2 ISI path 2 ISI
... ... ... ...

0 T’ T+T’ 2T +T’ 3T +T’ 4T +T’ 0 T’ NT+T’ 2NT+T’

Single-
Single-carrier case Multi-
Multi-carrier case

ƒ Frequency domain interpretation

Two-path channel Two-path channel
frequency response frequency response
...

Significant Negligible
fc distortion fc1 fc2 fcN distortion
Single-
Single-carrier case Multi-
Multi-carrier case
Orthogonal Frequency Division
Multiplexing
ƒ OFDM is a multi-carrier modulation scheme

ƒ In OFDM the frequency spacing between adjacent

sub-carriers is ∆f=1/(NT)

ƒ ∆f=1/(NT) is the minimum frequency separation that

is necessary to ensure orthogonality between the sub-
carriers over the signalling interval of length NT

ƒ In OFDM the frequency spectrum of each sub-carrier

overlaps the frequency spectrum of adjacent sub-
carriers
 Orthogonal Frequency Division
Multiplexing
OFDM Transmitter

Converter

Converter

Converter
Converter

IFFT

D/A
P/S
S/P

Serial Data OFDM signal

Up
...

...
Input

OFDM Receiver
Converter

Converter
Converter
Converter
Down

A/D

FFT

P/S
S/P

OFDM signal Serial Data

...

...
Output
Orthogonal Frequency Division
Multiplexing
ƒ Advantages of OFDM:
ƒ Good performance under delay spread conditions
(a characteristic of multipath channels)
ƒ Bandwidth efficiency
ƒ Easier to equalise when compared to single carrier
signals
ƒ Disadvantages of OFDM:
ƒ Poor performance under Doppler spread conditions
(a characteristic of time-varying channels)
ƒ Large Peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) ⇒ poor
performance under non-linear distortion
ƒ More sensitive to frequency offset and phase noise when
compared to single carrier signals
 Spread Spectrum Modulation
ƒ In spread spectrum modulation the transmitted spectrum is
spread over a range much greater than the message
bandwidth

ƒ In direct sequence spread spectrum (DS-SS) the transmitted

spectrum is spread by multiplying the signal by a wide-band
pseudo-noise (PN) sequence

ƒ In frequency hopped spread spectrum (FH-SS) the transmitted

spectrum is spread by modulating the signal onto a wide-
band series of frequencies generated by a frequency
synthesiser driven by a pseudo-noise (PN) sequence

ƒ The ratio of the transmitted signal spectrum to the message

spectrum is the known as the bandwidth expansion factor or
the processing gain
Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum
DS-SS Transmitter

Data Modulator DS-SS Signal

PN Generator
Carrier

DS-SS Receiver

DS-SS Signal Demodulator Data

Data

PN Generator
Carrier
 DS-SS Transmitter Operation
Waveforms Spectra
≈1/T
... ... Data

0 T 2T
t
0

... ≈1/T
... T
BPSK signal

0 2T t
fc

... ... PN sequence ≈1/Tc

0 Tc T 2T t
0
... ... DS-
DS-SS signal ≈1/Tc

0 2T t
Tc T fc
 DS-SS Receiver Operation
Waveforms Spectra
≈1/Tc
... ... DS-
DS-SS signal

0 2T t
fc
Tc T
≈1/Tc
... ... PN sequence

0 Tc T 2T t
0

≈1/T
... ... BPSK signal
T
0 2T t
fc

... ... Data

≈1/T

0 T 2T
t
0
Frequency Hopped Spread Spectrum
FH-SS Transmitter

Data Modulator BPF FH-SS Signal

Frequency
2k frequencies
Synthesiser
Carrier 1 ... k

PN Generator

FH-SS Receiver

FH-SS Signal BPF Demodulator Data

Frequency
2k frequencies
Synthesiser
1 ... k
Carrier

PN Generator
 Spread Spectrum Modulation
on Multipath Channels
path 2
Two-path channel path 1
Transmitter Receiver
relative delay = T’
ƒ Time domain interpretation
path 1 path 1
... ... ... ...
0 T 2T 0 2T
Path 2 contributes Path 2 contributes
T
path 2 with equal power path 2 with lower power
... ... ... ...

0 T’ T+T’ 2T+T’ 0 T’ 2T+T’

T+T’
Ordinary modulation case Spread Spectrum modulation case

ƒ Frequency domain interpretation

Two-path channel Two-path channel
frequency response frequency response

Significant Negligible
fc distortion fc distortion
Ordinary modulation case Spread Spectrum modulation case
 Spread Spectrum Modulation
and CW Interference

Interference
Spread signal Before de-spreading: signal spectrum is
spread

De-spread signal After de-spreading: interference spectrum

Spread
interference is spread
⇒ lower interference spectral density in
the message pass-band
 Synchronisation:
Acquisition and Tracking
ƒ Proper operation requires synchronisation or alignment of
transmitter and receiver spreading/de-spreading codes.

ƒ Synchronisation or alignment of transmitter and receiver

spreading/de-spreading codes is carried out in two steps:
firstly an acquisition phase and finally a tracking phase.

ƒ In the acquisition phase a coarse alignment between

transmitter and receiver spreading/de-spreading codes is
carried out to within half a chip

ƒ In the tracking phase a fine alignment between

transmitter and receiver spreading/de-spreading codes is
carrier out using PLL techniques
 Multiple Access Techniques

ƒ A single channel can be used by multiple users using

some sort of multiple access technique
ƒ In time division multiple access (TDMA) different users
are assigned different time slots but are jumbled together
in the frequency domain
ƒ In frequency division multiple access (FDMA) different
users are assigned different frequency slots but are
jumbled together in the time domain
ƒ In code division multiple access (CDMA) different users
transmit at the same time and in the same frequency
band but are assigned different orthogonal codes, i.e.,
codes for which the auto-correlation function is nearly an
impulse and the cross-correlation function is nearly zero
 Summary

ƒ A range of binary and M-ary modulation methods

have been introduced and compared

ƒ A range of pulse shaping techniques have been

introduced and compared

ƒ Principles of multi-carrier modulation and spread

spectrum modulation have been explained

ƒ Multiple access techniques have been explained