Analog Modulation

What is Modulation?
Modulation the process of varying one or more properties of a high-frequency periodic waveform, called the carrier signal, with respect to a modulating signal. This is done in a similar fashion as a musician may modulate a tone (a periodic waveform) from a musical instrument by varying its volume, timing and pitch. The three key parameters of a periodic waveform are its amplitude ("volume"), its phase ("timing") and its frequency ("pitch"), all of which can be modified in accordance with a low frequency signal to obtain the modulated signal. Typically a high-frequency sinusoid waveform is used as carrier signal, but a square wave pulse train may also occur. In telecommunications, modulation is the process of conveying a message signal, for example a digital bit stream or an analog audio signal, inside another signal that can be physically transmitted. Modulation of a sine waveform is used to transform a baseband message signal into a passband signal, for example lowfrequency audio signal into a radio-frequency signal (RF signal). In radio communications, cable TV systems or the public switched telephone network for instance, electrical signals can only be transferred over a limited passband frequency spectrum, with specific (non-zero) lower and upper cutoff frequencies. Modulating a sine-wave carrier makes it possible to keep the frequency content of the transferred signal as close as possible to the centre frequency (typically the carrier frequency) of the passband. A device that performs modulation is known as a modulator and a device that performs the inverse operation of modulation is known as a demodulator (sometimes detector or demod). A device that can do both operations is a modem (modulatordemodulator). Modulation is a process in which a modulator changes some attribute of a higher frequency carrier signal proportional to a lower frequency message signal. If the carrier is represented by the equation

Carrier Signal Equation

a change in the message signal will produce a corresponding change in either the amplitude, frequency, or phase of the carrier. A transmitter can then send this carrier signal through the communication medium more efficiently than the message signal alone. Finally, a receiver will demodulate the signal, recovering the original message.

Modulations are of Two Types:

1. Digital Modulation
2.

Analog Modulation

Digital Modulation
Digital modulation is similar to analog modulation, but rather than being able to continuously change the amplitude, frequency, or phase of the carrier, there are only discrete values of these attributes that correspond to digital codes. There are several common digital modulation schemes, each varying separate sets of parameters. The simplest type is called On Off Keying (OOK) where the amplitude of the carrier corresponds to one of two digital states. A nonzero amplitude represents a digital one while a zero amplitude is a digital zero. A specific implementation of OOK is Morse Code. Frequency Shift Keying (FSK), seen in Figure, is a form of frequency modulation where a certain frequency represents each binary value.

Frequency Shift Keying (FSK)

Finally, Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) uses combinations of amplitudes and phases to represent more than 2 digital states, as many as 1024.

I and Q Data
I/Q data shows the changes in magnitude (or amplitude) and phase of a sine wave. If amplitude and phase changes are made in an orderly, predetermined fashion, one can use these amplitude and phase changes to encode information upon a sine wave; a process known as modulation. Modulation is the process of changing a higher frequency carrier signal in proportion to a lower frequency message, or information, signal. I/Q data is highly prevalent in RF communications systems, and more generally in signal modulation, because it is a convenient way to modulate signals. This discussion covers the theoretical background of I/Q data as well as practical considerations which make the use of I/Q data in communication so desirable.

Common Analog Modulation Techniques

Amplitude modulation (AM)

The amplitude of the carrier signal is varied in accordance to the instantaneous amplitude of the modulating signal)
o

o o

Double-sideband modulation (DSB) Double-sideband modulation with carrier (DSB-WC) (used on the AM radio broadcasting band) Double-sideband suppressed-carrier transmission (DSB-SC) Double-sideband reduced carrier transmission (DSB-RC) Single-sideband modulation (SSB, or SSB-AM), SSB with carrier (SSB-WC) SSB suppressed carrier modulation (SSB-SC) Vestigial sideband modulation (VSB, or VSB-AM) Quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM)

Angle Modulation
o

Frequency modulation (FM) (here the frequency of the carrier signal is varied in accordance to the instantaneous amplitude of the modulating signal) Phase modulation (PM) (here the phase shift of the carrier signal is varied in accordance to the instantaneous amplitude of the modulating signal)

In Amplitude Modulation (AM), pictured below, the amplitude of the carrier sinusoid changes based on the amplitude of the message.

Amplitude Modulation

The message signal (red) rides on top of the carrier as the amplitudes of both vary with time. The frequency of the carrier, however, is much higher than the frequency of the message. This carrier frequency is the center of the 'channel,' or frequency allocation of this RF signal. Frequency allocations vary depending on the medium of transmission. For broadcast transmissions, where signals are sent through the air, the government regulates frequency allocation. If the RF signal is transmitted over wire, such as in cable television, there is more freedom in the choice of carrier. In addition to amplitude modulation, frequency modulation varies the frequency of the carrier sinusoid based on the amplitude of the message signal. Similarly, phase

modulation changes the phase of the carrier in response to a change in amplitude of the message.

Amplitude Modulation
Modulation is the process of varying a higher frequency carrier wave to transmit information. Though it is theoretically possible to transmit baseband signals (or information) without modulating it, it is far more efficient to send data by modulating it onto a higher frequency "carrier wave." Higher frequency waves require smaller antennas, use the available bandwidth more efficiently, and are flexible enough to carry different types of data. AM radio stations transmit audio signals, which range from 20 Hz to 20 kHz, using carrier waves that range from 500 kHz to 1.7 MHz. If we were to transmit audio signals directly we would need an antenna that is around 10,000 km! Modulation techniques can be broadly divided into analog modulation and digital modulation. Amplitude modulation (AM) is one form of analog modulation.

Basic Stages of AM

Mathematical Background
The carrier signal is generally a high-frequency sine wave. There are three parameters of a sine wave that can be varied: amplitude, frequency, and phase. Any of these can be modulated, or varied, to transmit information. A sine wave can be mathematically described by a sine or cosine function with amplitude Ac, frequency fc, and phase .

Carrier Wave

The carrier signal is modulated by varying its amplitude in proportion to the message, or baseband, signal. The message signal can be represented by m(t) = Mb cos(2fb + ) and the carrier signal can be represented by c(t) = Ac cos(2fc + ) To make the equations simpler, assume that there is no phase difference between the carrier signal and the message signal and thus = 0.

The modulated signal can be represented by multiplying the carrier signal and the summation of 1 and the message signal, as shown below. Ac(1 + m(t)) cos(2fc) With some basic trigonometric manipulation, the above waveform can be written as Ac cos(2fc) + (Mb/2) cos(2(fc fb)) + (Mb/2) cos(2(fc + fb)).

Types of AM Modulation
As described in the previous section, the modulated signal has waves at three frequencies: fc, fc fb and fc + fb. Transmitting at all three frequencies wastes power and bandwidth. To avoid that problem use a filter to remove one of the sidebands (usually the lower sideband, fc fb). Use a highpass filter to remove the lower sideband signal; this process is single sideband (SSB) modulation. However, by removing one of the sidebands we lose some of the original power of the modulated signal. To maximize the power transmitted, transmit both the lower and the upper sideband. This process is double sideband (DSB) modulation. The following figure illustrates DSB.

Figure 3. Frequency Domain View of Double Sideband Full Carrier

One of the components of the modulated signal is the pure carrier wave. Because the carrier wave does not have any information, we can remove the carrier wave component from the signal before we transmit it. This process is called single sideband/double sideband suppressed carrier (SSB-SC, DSB-SC) modulation.

However, we need the carrier when demodulating the signal. Special circuits can extract information about the carrier from one of the sidebands; these circuits are used when demodulating SSB-SC or DSB-SC signals.
We can also use amplitude modulation to send digital data. Quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) uses four predetermined amplitude levels to determine digital bits.

Background on Signals
Signal modulation involves changes made to sine waves in order to encode information. The mathematical equation representing a sine wave is as follows:

Figure 1: Equation of a Sine Wave

If we think about possible sine wave parameters that we can manipulate, the equation above makes it clear we are limited to making changes to the amplitude, frequency, and phase of a sine wave to encode information. Frequency is simply the rate of change of phase of a sine wave (frequency is the first derivative of phase), so these two components of the sine wave equation can be collectively referred to as the phase angle. Therefore, we can represent the instantaneous state of a sine wave with a vector in the complex plane containing amplitude (magnitude) and phase coordinates in a polar coordinate system.

Polar Representation of a Sine Wave

In the graphic above, the distance from the origin to the black point represents the amplitude (magnitude) of the sine wave, and the angle from the horizontal axis represents the phase. Thus, the distance from the origin to the point will remain fixed as long as the amplitude of the sine wave is not changing (modulating). The phase of the point will change according to the current state of the sine wave. For example, a sine wave with a frequency of 1 Hz (2 radians/second) rotates counter-clockwise around the origin at a rate of one revolution per second. If the amplitude doesn't change during one revolution, the dot maps out a circle around the origin with radius equal to the amplitude along which the point will travel at a rate of one cycle per second. Because phase is a relative measurement, imagine that the phase reference used is a sine wave of frequency equal to the sine wave that is being represented by the amplitude and phase points. If the reference sine wave frequency and the plotted sine wave frequency are the same, then the rate of change that the phase of the two signals experience will be the same, and the rotation of the sine wave around the origin will become stationary. In this case, a single amplitude/phase point can be used to represent a sine wave of frequency equal to the reference frequency. Any phase rotation around the origin indicates a frequency difference between the reference sine wave and the sine wave being plotted. We will return to this point later.

Up to this point, this tutorial has covered amplitude and phase data in a polar coordinate system. All the concepts discussed above apply to I/Q data, and in fact, I/Q data is merely a translation of amplitude and phase data from a polar

coordinate system to a cartesian (X,Y) coordinate system. Using trigonometry, you can now convert the polar coordinate sine wave information into cartesian I/Q sine wave data. These two representations are equivalent and contain the exact same information, just in different forms. This equivalence is show in Figure.

I and Q Represented in Polar Form

The figure below shows a Lab View example demonstrating the relationship between polar and cartesian coordinates.

I/Q Data in Lab

I/Q Data in Communication Systems

At this point, we have discussed technically what I/Q data is, but to explain why I/Q data is used, we must first discuss modulation basics. RF communication systems use advanced forms of modulation to increase the amount of data that can be transmitted in a given amount of frequency spectrum. Signal modulation can be divided into two broad categories: analog modulation and digital modulation. Analog or digital refers to how the data is modulated onto a sine wave. If analog audio data is modulated onto a carrier sine wave, then this is referred to as analog modulation. If analog audio data is sampled by an analog to digital converter (ADC) with the resulting digital bits modulated onto a carrier sine wave, this is digital modulation because digital data is being encoded. Both analog modulation and digital modulation are performed by changing the carrier wave amplitude, frequency, or phase (or combination of amplitude and phase simultaneously) according to the message data. Amplitude modulation (AM), frequency modulation (FM), or phase modulation (PM) are all examples of analog modulation. With amplitude modulation, the carrier sine wave amplitude is modulated according to the message signal. The same idea holds true for frequency and phase modulation.

Time Domain of AM, FM, and PM Signals

Above figure represents various analog techniquesAM, FM, and PMapplied to a carrier signal. In the AM case, the message signal is the blue sine wave that forms the "envelope" of the higher frequency carrier sine wave. In the FM case, the message data is the dashed square wave. As the figure illustrates, the resulting carrier signal changes between two distinct frequency states. Each of these frequency states represents the high and low state of the message signal. If the message signal were a sine wave in this case, there would be a more gradual change in frequency, which would be more difficult to see. In the PM case, notice the distinct phase change at the edges of the dashed square wave message signal. Applying this to the earlier discussion, if only the carrier sine wave amplitude changes with respect to time (proportional to the message signal), as is the case with AM modulation, we should see changes in the I/Q plane only with respect to the distance from the origin to the I/Q points. This is evidenced by the following image:

I/Q Data in the Complex Domain

The preceding figure shows the I/Q data points vary in amplitude only, with the phase fixed of 45 degrees. We cannot tell from Figure 6 the nature of the message signalonly that it is amplitude modulated. However, if we can see how the I/Q data points vary in magnitude with respect to time, we can essentially see a representation of the message signal. Using Lab Views 3D graph control, we can show the third axis of time to illustrate the message signal.

Representation of Magnitude vs. Time

The preceding figure shows the same data as the 2D I vs. Q plot in Figure 6. The magnitude of the signal trace modulates in a sinusoidal pattern indicating that the message signal is a sine wave. The green trace represents the amplitude and phase data in a polar coordinate system, while the red traces represent the projections of this waveform onto the I and Q axes, representing the individual I and Q waveforms.

We can show the same type of example using PM. An image of the same message signal sine wave using PM instead of AM is shown below.

Polar Representation of Phase vs. Time Once again, we can tell that the message signal is phase modulated as the amplitude is constant but the phase is changing (modulating). We cannot tell what the shape of the message signal is with respect to time, but we can tell the minimum and maximum signal levels of the message signal are represented by phase deviations of -45 degrees and +45 degrees respectively. Once again, the time axis can be used to better understand this concept.

3D Representation of Phase Modulation

The preceding figure shown in the LabVIEW 3D graph, shows the green trace varying in a sinusoidal fashion with respect to time. The projections onto the I and Q axes represent the individual I and Q waveforms corresponding to the PM sine wave with fixed magnitude and oscillating phase. In essence, the I/Q data represents the message signal. Because the I/Q data waveforms are Cartesian translations of the polar amplitude and phase waveforms, it is not easy to visually tell what the nature of the message signal is from the I/Q data. To illustrate this, compare the red I and Q traces on the 3D I vs. Q plots in Figure 9 to the green trace in Figure 9. If we plot amplitude vs. time for the AM sine wave, we would display the message signal. If we plot the phase data vs. time for the AM sine wave, we would have a straight line. We would see sine waves for the I vs. time and Q vs. time waveforms as well, but the scale would be off, and this would not necessarily be the case for more complex digital modulation schemes where both amplitude and phase are modulated simultaneously.

So Why Use I/Q Data?

Because amplitude and phase data seem more intuitive, it would seem that we should use polar amplitude and phase data instead of cartesian I and Q data. However, practical hardware design concerns make I and Q data the better choice in this matter. It is difficult to vary precisely the phase of a high-frequency carrier sine wave in a hardware circuit according to an input message signal. A hardware signal modulator that manipulates the amplitude and phase of a carrier sine wave would therefore be expensive and difficult to design and build, and, as it turns out, not as flexible as a circuit that uses I and Q waveforms. To understand how we to avoid manipulating the phase of an RF carrier directly, we first return to trigonometry.

Mathematical Background of I/Q Modulation According to the trigonometric identity shown in the first line of Figure 10, multiply both sides of the equation by A and substitute 2fct in place of and in place of to arrive at the equation shown in line 2. Then substitute I for A cos() and Q for A sin() to represent a sine wave with the equation shown on line 3. Remember that the difference between a sine wave and a cosine wave of the same frequency is a 90-degree phase offset between them. The implications of this are very important. What this essentially means is that we can control the amplitude,

frequency, and phase of a modulating RF carrier sine wave by simply manipulating the amplitudes of separate I and Q input signals! With this method, we no longer have to directly vary the phase of an RF carrier sine wave. We can achieve the same effect by manipulating the amplitudes of input I and Q signals. Of course, the second half of the equation is a sine wave and the first half is a cosine wave, so we must include a device in the hardware circuit to induce a 90degree phase shift between the carrier signals used for the I and Q mixers, but this is a much simpler design issue than the aforementioned direct phase manipulation.

Hardware Diagram of an I/Q Modulator

The preceding figure shows a block diagram of an I/Q modulator. The circles with an 'X' represent mixersdevices that perform frequency multiplication and either upconvert or downconvert signals (upconverting here). The I/Q modulator mixes the I waveform with the RF carrier sine wave, and mixes the Q signal with the same RF carrier sine wave yet with a 90-degree phase offset. The Q signal is subtracted from the I signal (just as in the equation shown in line 3 in Figure 10) producing the final RF modulated waveform. In fact, the 90-degree shift of the carrier is the source of the names for the I and Q dataI refers to in-phase data (because the carrier is in phase) and Q refers to quadrature data (because the carrier is offset by 90 degrees). This technique is known as quadrature upconversion and the same I/Q modulator can be used for any modulation scheme. This is because the I/Q modulator is merely reacting to changes in I and Q waveform amplitudes, and I and Q data can be used to represent any changes in magnitude and phase of a message signal. The flexibility and simplicity (relative to other options) of the design of an I/Q modulator is the reason for its widespread use and popularity.

IQ vs. IF Modulators
After calculating digital I and Q data from the baseband message signal, there are two methods of converting this data into an analog RF signal. The first method involves converting I and Q data into analog signals, then feeding them into a quadrature encoder. There, they control the amplitudes of two oscillators, operating 90 degrees out of phase. The output of these oscillators is summed, resulting in an RF signal with the appropriate amplitude, phase, and frequency.

IQ Modulation

The next method of converting digital I and Q data to analog RF performs the oscillator scaling and summing in the digital domain. That is, digital sinusoids with a phase difference of 90 degrees are scaled by the digital I and Q values, then added together. These digital sinusoids are of a lower frequency than the analog oscillators in the IQ modulation scheme, but still at a significantly higher frequency than the message signal. A digital to analog converter (DAC), which operates at a much higher frequency than the DAC used in IQ modulation, converts the resulting digital waveform to low frequency analog RF. Finally, an analog IF to RF upconverter uses several stages of mixing and filtering to shift the analog RF signal to the desired RF frequency.

IF Modulation

Analog Modulation Methods

In analog modulation, the modulation is applied continuously in response to the analog information signal.

A low-frequency message signal (top) may be carried by an AM or FM radio wave. The following figure shows the modulation techniques that Communications Blockset supports for analog signals. As the figure suggests, some categories of techniques include named special cases.

For a given modulation technique, two ways to simulate modulation techniques are called baseband and passband. This blockset supports passband simulation for analog modulation. The modulation and demodulation blocks also let you control such features as the initial phase of the modulated signal and post-demodulation filtering.

Representing Signals for Analog Modulation

Analog modulation blocks in this blockset process only sample-based scalar signals. The input and output of the analog modulator and demodulator are all real signals. All analog demodulators in this blockset produce discrete-time, not continuoustime, output.

Sampling Issues in Analog Modulation

The proper simulation of analog modulation requires that the Nyquist criterion be satisfied, taking into account the signal bandwidth. Specifically, the sample rate of the system must be greater than twice the sum of the carrier frequency and the signal bandwidth.

Filter Design Issues

After demodulating, you might want to filter out the carrier signal. The particular filter used, such as butter, cheby1, cheby2, and ellip, can be selected on the mask of the demodulator block. Different filtering methods have different properties, and you might need to test your application with several filters before deciding which is most suitable.

Example: Varying the Filter's Cutoff Frequency

In many situations, a suitable cutoff frequency is half the carrier frequency. Since the carrier frequency must be higher than the bandwidth of the message signal, a cutoff frequency chosen in this way properly filters out unwanted frequency components. If the cutoff frequency is too high, those components may not be filtered out. If the cutoff frequency is too low, it might narrow the bandwidth of the message signal. The following example modulates a sawtooth message signal, demodulates the resulting signal using a Butterworth filter, and plots the original and recovered signals. The Butterworth filter is implemented within the SSB AM Demodulator Passband block.

To build the model, gather and configure these blocks:

Signal Generator in the Simulink Sources library

Set Wave form to Sawtooth. Set Amplitude to 4. Set Frequency to .3. Set Sample time to .01.

Zero-Order Hold: in the Simulink Discrete library

SSB AM Modulator Passband:In the Analog Passband sublibrary of

the Modulation library Set Carrier frequency to 25. Set Initial phase to 0. Set Sideband to modulate to Upper. Set Hilbert transform filter order to 200.

SSB AM Demodulator Passband: In the Analog Passband sublibrary of

the Modulation library Set Carrier frequency to 25. Set Initial phase to 0. Set Lowpass filter design method to Butterworth. Set Filter order to 2. Set Cutoff frequency to 30

Frequency Modulation
In telecommunications and signal processing, frequency modulation (FM) conveys information over a carrier wave by varying its instantaneous frequency. This is in contrast with amplitude modulation, in which the amplitude of the carrier is varied while its frequency remains constant. In analog applications, the difference between the instantaneous and the base frequency of the carrier is directly proportional to the instantaneous value of the input signal amplitude. Digital data can be sent by shifting the carrier's frequency among a set of discrete values, a technique known as frequency-shift keying. Frequency modulation can be regarded as phase modulation where the carrier phase modulation is the time integral of the FM modulating signal. FM is widely used for broadcasting of music and speech, and in two-way radio systems, in magnetic tape recording systems, and certain video transmission systems. In radio systems, frequency modulation with sufficient bandwidth provides an advantage in cancelling naturally-occurring noise. Frequency-shift keying (digital FM) is widely used in data and fax modems.

Theory of Frequency Modulation

Suppose the baseband data signal (the message) to be transmitted is xm(t) and the sinusoidal carrier is , where fc is the carrier's base frequency and Ac is the carrier's amplitude. The modulator combines the carrier with the baseband data signal to get the transmitted signal:

In this equation, is the instantaneous frequency of the oscillator and is the frequency deviation, which represents the maximum shift away from fc in one direction, assuming xm(t) is limited to the range 1. Although it may seem that this limits the frequencies in use to fc f, this neglects the distinction between instantaneous frequency and spectral frequency. The frequency spectrum of an actual FM signal has components extending out to infinite frequency, although they become negligibly small beyond a point.

Sinusoidal Base band signal:

While it is an over-simplification, a baseband modulated signal may be approximated by a sinusoidal Continuous Wave signal with a frequency fm. The integral of such a signal is

Thus, in this specific case, equation (1) above simplifies to:

where the amplitude of the modulating sinusoid, is represented by the peak deviation (see frequency deviation). The harmonic distribution of a sine wave carrier modulated by such a sinusoidal signal can be represented with Bessel functions - this provides a basis for a mathematical understanding of frequency modulation in the frequency domain. Frequency Modulation (FM) is a form of modulation in which changes in the carrier wave frequency correspond directly to changes in the baseband signal. FM is considered an analog form of modulation because the baseband signal is typically an analog waveform without discrete, digital values.

Common Applications
Frequency modulation (FM) is most commonly used for radio and television broadcast. The FM band is divided between a variety of purposes. Analog television channels 0 through 72 utilize bandwidths between 54 MHz and 825 MHz. In addition, the FM band also includes FM radio, which operates from 88 MHz to 108 MHz. Each radio station utilizes a 38 kHz frequency band to broadcast audio.

FM Theory
The basic principle behind FM is that the amplitude of an analog baseband signal can be represented by a slightly different frequency of the carrier. We represent this relationship in the graph below.

Frequency Modulation As this graph illustrates, various amplitudes of the baseband signal (shown in white) relate to specific frequencies of the carrier signal (shown in red). Mathematically, we represent this by describing the equations which characterize FM. First, we represent our message, or baseband, signal by the simple designation m(t). Second, we represent a sinusoidal carrier by the equation: xc(t) = Ac cos (2fct). The actual mathematical process to modulate a baseband signal, m(t), onto the carrier requires a two-step process. First, the message signal must be integrated with respect to time to get an equation for phase with respect to time, (t). This integration enables the modulation process because phase modulation is fairly straightforward with typical I/Q modulator circuitry. A block diagram description of an FM transmitter follows.

FM Transmitter Block Diagram As the block diagram above illustrates, the integration of a message signal results in an equation for phase with respect to time. This equation is defined by the following equation:

where kf is the frequency sensitivity. Again, the resulting modulation that must occur is phase modulation, which involves changing the phase of the carrier over time. This process is fairly straightforward and requires a quadrature modulator, shown below.

Quadrature Modulator As a result of phase modulation, the resulting FM signal, s(t), now represents the frequency modulated signal. This equation is shown below.

where m() = M cos (2fm). More simply, we can also represent this equation as:

Modulation Index
One important aspect of frequency modulation is the modulation index. We already have established that changes in amplitude of the baseband correspond to changes in carrier frequency. The factor that determines exactly how much the carrier deviates from its center frequency is known as the modulation index. Mathematically, we have already identified our integrated baseband signal as the following equation.

We can simplify this equation to the following:

In the equation above, is the frequency deviation, which represents the maximum frequency difference between the instantaneous frequency and the carrier frequency. In fact, the ratio of to the carrier frequency is the modulation index. This index, , is thus defined by the equation

The integrated message signal can be represented as:

As a result, we can substitute this new representation of (t) into our original formula to represent the final modulated FM signal as the following equation:

The modulation index affects the modulated sinusoid in that the larger the modulation index, the greater the instantaneous frequency can be from the carrier. Below we illustrate an FM modulated signal in which the center frequency is 500 kHz. In the graph below, the FM deviation has been selected as 425 kHz. As a result, the modulated signal will have instantaneous frequencies from 75 kHz to 925 kHz. The wide range of frequencies is evident by observing the minimum amplitude of the baseband, when the modulated frequency is very small.

FM Signal with 425 kHz FM Deviation

Contrast the image above to an FM signal where the frequency deviation is smaller. Below, we have chosen a 200 kHz FM deviation instead.

FM Signal with 200 kHz FM Deviation

Conclusions
Frequency Modulation (FM) is an important modulation scheme both because of its widespread commercial use, and because of its simplicity. As we have seen in this document, frequency modulation can be simplified to angle modulation with a simple integrator. As a result, we can generate frequency modulated signals with the National Instruments vector signal generator, because they require nothing more than an I/Q modulator.

Applications Magnetic tape storage

FM is also used at intermediate frequencies by all analog VCR systems, including VHS, to record both the luminance (black and white) and the chrominance portions of the video signal. FM is the only feasible method of recording video to and retrieving video from Magnetic tape without extreme distortion, as video signals have a very large range of frequency components from a few hertz to several megahertz, too wide for equalizers to work with due to electronic noise below 60 dB. FM also keeps the tape at saturation level, and therefore acts as a form of noise reduction, and a simple limiter can mask variations in the playback output, and the FM capture effect removes print-through and pre-echo. A continuous pilot-tone, if added to the signal as was done on V2000 and many Hi-band formats can keep mechanical jitter under control and assist time base correction. These FM systems are unusual in that they have a ratio of carrier to maximum modulation frequency of less than two; contrast this with FM audio broadcasting where the ratio is around 10,000. Consider for example a 6 MHz carrier modulated at a 3.5 MHz rate; by Bessel analysis the first sidebands are on 9.5 and 2.5 MHz, while the second sidebands are on 13 MHz and 1 MHz. The result is a sideband of reversed phase on +1 MHz; on demodulation, this results in an unwanted output at 61 = 5 MHz. The system must be designed so that this is at an acceptable level

Sound

FM is also used at audio frequencies to synthesize sound. This technique, known as FM synthesis, was popularized by early digital synthesizers and became a standard feature for several generations of personal computer sound cards.

Radio
Edwin Howard Armstrong (18901954) was an American electrical engineer who invented frequency modulation (FM) radio. He patented the regenerative circuit in 1914, the superheterodyne receiver in 1918 and the super-regenerative circuit in 1922. He presented his paper: "A Method of Reducing Disturbances in Radio Signaling by a System of Frequency Modulation", which first described FM radio

Example of Double-sideband AM

The (2-sided) spectrum of an AM signal. A carrier wave is modeled as a simple sine wave, such as:

where the radio frequency (in Hz) is given by:

The constants and represent the carrier amplitude and initial phase, and are introduced for generality. For simplicity however, their respective values can be set to 1 and 0. Let m(t) represent an arbitrary waveform that is the message to be transmitted. And let the constant M represent its largest magnitude. For instance:

Thus, the message might be just a simple audio tone of frequency

It is generally assumed that

and that

Then amplitude modulation is created by forming the product:

represents the carrier amplitude which is a constant that we would choose to demonstrate the modulation index. The values A=1, and M=0.5, produce a y(t) depicted by the graph labelled "50% Modulation" in Figure 4. For this simple example, y(t) can be trigonometrically manipulated into the following equivalent form:

Therefore, the modulated signal has three components, a carrier wave and two sinusoidal waves (known as sidebands) whose frequencies are slightly above and below Also notice that the choice A=0 eliminates the carrier component, but leaves the sidebands. That is the DSBSC transmission mode. To generate double-sideband full carrier (A3E), we must choose:

Spectrum:

For more general forms of m(t), trigonometry is not sufficient. But if the top trace of Figure 2 depicts the frequency spectrum, of m(t), then the bottom trace depicts the modulated carrier. It has two groups of components: one at positive frequencies (centered on + c) and one at negative frequencies (centered on c). Each group contains the two sidebands and a narrow component in between that represents the energy at the carrier frequency. We need only be concerned with the positive frequencies. The negative ones are a mathematical artifact that contains no additional information. Therefore, we see that an AM signal's spectrum consists basically of its original (2-sided) spectrum shifted up to the carrier frequency. Figure 2 is a result of computing the Fourier transform of: using the following transform pairs:

Amplitude Modulator Designs

Circuits
A wide range of different circuits have been used for AM, but one of the simplest circuits uses anode or collector modulation applied via a transformer. While it is perfectly possible to create good designs using solid-state electronics, valved

(vacuum tube) circuits are shown here. In general, valves are able to more easily yield RF powers, in excess of what can be easily achieved using solid-state transistors. Many high-power broadcast stations still use valves.

Anode modulation using a transformer. The tetrode is supplied with an anode supply (and screen grid supply) which is modulated via the transformer. The resistor R1 sets the grid bias; both the input and outputs are tuned LC circuits which are tapped into by inductive coupling Modulation circuit designs can be broadly divided into low and high level.

Low level
Here a small audio stage is used to modulate a low power stage; the output of this stage is then amplified using a linear RF amplifier. Wideband power amplifiers are used to preserve the sidebands of the modulated waves. In this arrangement, modulation is done at low power. To amplify it we use a wideband power amplifier at the output.

Advantages:
The advantage of using a linear RF amplifier is that the smaller early stages can be modulated, which only requires a small audio amplifier to drive the modulator.

Disadvantages:
The great disadvantage of this system is that the amplifier chain is less efficient, because it has to be linear to preserve the modulation. Hence Class C amplifiers cannot be employed. An approach which marries the advantages of low-level modulation with the efficiency of a Class C power amplifier chain is to arrange a feedback system to compensate for the substantial distortion of the AM envelope. A simple detector at the transmitter output (which can be little more than a loosely coupled diode) recovers the audio signal, and this is used as negative feedback to the audio modulator stage. The overall chain then acts as a linear amplifier as far as the actual modulation is concerned, though the RF amplifier itself still retains the Class C efficiency. This approach is widely used in practical medium power transmitters, such as AM radiotelephones.

High level
With high level modulation, the modulation takes place at the final amplifier stage where the carrier signal is at its maximum

Advantages:
One advantage of using class C amplifiers in a broadcast AM transmitter is that only the final stage needs to be modulated, and that all the earlier stages can be driven at a constant level. These class C stages will be able to generate the drive for the final stage for a smaller DC power input. However, in many designs in

order to obtain better quality AM the penultimate RF stages will need to be subject to modulation as well as the final stage.

Disadvantages:
A large audio amplifier will be needed for the modulation stage, at least equal to the power of the transmitter output itself. Traditionally the modulation is applied using an audio transformer, and this can be bulky. Direct coupling from the audio amplifier is also possible (known as a cascode arrangement), though this

Phase modulation (PM)

Phase modulation is a form of modulation that represents information as variations in the instantaneous phase of a carrier wave. Frequency modulation requires the oscillator frequency to deviate both above and below the carrier frequency. During the process of frequency modulation, the peaks of each successive cycle in the modulated waveform occur at times other than they would if the carrier were unmodulated. This is actually an incidental phase shift that takes place along with the frequency shift in fm. Just the opposite action takes place in phase modulation. The af signal is applied to a PHASE MODULATOR in pm. The resultant wave from the phase modulator shifts in phase, as illustrated in figure 2-17. Notice that the time period of each successive cycle varies in the modulated wave according to the audio-wave variation. Since frequency is a function of time period per cycle, we can see that such a phase shift in the carrier will cause its frequency to change. The frequency change in fm is vital, but in pm it is merely incidental. The amount of frequency change has nothing to do with the resultant modulated wave shape in pm. At this point the comparison of fm to pm may seem a little hazy, but it will clear up as we progress. .

Phase modulation Unlike its more popular counterpart, frequency modulation (FM), PM is not very widely used for radio transmissions. This is because it tends to require more complex receiving hardware and there can be ambiguity problems in determining whether, for example, the signal has changed phase by +180 or -180. PM is used, however, in digital music synthesizers such as the Yamaha DX7, even though these instruments are usually referred to as "FM" synthesizers (both modulation types sound very similar, but PM is usually easier to implement in this area).

Phase Modulation Basics

Before looking at phase modulation it is first necessary to look at phase itself. A radio frequency signal consists of an oscillating carrier in the form of a sine wave is the basis of the signal. The instantaneous amplitude follows this curve moving positive and then negative, returning to the start point after one complete cycle - it follows the curve of the sine wave. This can also be represented by the movement of a point around a circle, the phase at any given point being the angle between the start point and the point on the waveform as shown. Phase modulation works by modulating the phase of the signal, i.e. changing the rate at which the point moves around the circle. This changes the phase of the signal from what it would have been if no modulation was applied. In other words

the speed of rotation around the circle is modulated about the mean value. To achieve this it is necessary to change the frequency of the signal for a short time. In other words when phase modulation is applied to a signal there are frequency changes and vice versa. Phase and frequency are inseparably linked as phase is the integral of frequency. Frequency modulation can be changed to phase modulation by simply adding a CR network to the modulating signal that integrates the modulating signal. As such the information regarding sidebands, bandwidth and the like also hold true for phase modulation as they do for frequency modulation, bearing in mind their relationship.

Forms of Phase Modulation

Although phase modulation is used for some analogue transmissions, it is far more widely used as a digital form of modulation where it switches between different phases. This is known as phase shift keying, PSK, and there are many flavours of this. It is even possible to combine phase shift keying and amplitude keying in a form of modulation known as quadrature amplitude modulation, QAM. The list below gives some of the forms of phase shift keying that are used:

PM - Phase Modulation PSK - Phase Shift Keying BPSK - Binary Phase Shift Keying QPSK - Quadrature Phase Shift Keying 8 PSK - 8 Point Phase Shift Keying 16 PSK - 16 Point Phase Shift Keying QAM - Quadrature Amplitude Modulation 16 QAM - 16 Point Quadrature Amplitude Modulation 64 QAM - 64 Point Quadrature Amplitude Modulation MSK - Minimum Shift Keying GMSK - Gaussian filtered Minimum Shift Keying

These are just some of the major forms of phase modulation that are widely used in radio communications applications today. With today's highly software adaptable radio communications systems, it is possible to change between the different types of modulation to best meet the prevailing conditions.

Theory of Phase Modulation:

An example of phase modulation. The top diagram shows the modulating signal superimposed on the carrier wave. The bottom diagram shows the resulting phasemodulated signal. PM changes the phase angle of the complex envelope in direct proportion to the message signal. Suppose that the signal to be sent (called the modulating or message signal) is m(t) and the carrier onto which the signal is to be modulated is

Annotated: carrier(time) = (carrier amplitude)*sin(carrier frequency*time + phase shift) This makes the modulated signal

This shows how m(t) modulates the phase - the greater m(t) is at a point in time, the greater the phase shift of the modulated signal at that point. It can also be viewed as a change of the frequency of the carrier signal, and phase modulation can thus be considered a special case of FM in which the carrier frequency modulation is given by the time derivative of the phase modulation. The spectral behaviour of phase modulation is difficult to derive, but the mathematics reveals that there are two regions of particular interest:

For small amplitude signals, PM is similar to amplitude modulation (AM) and exhibits its unfortunate doubling of baseband bandwidth and poor efficiency. For a single large sinusoidal signal, PM is similar to FM, and its bandwidth is approximately , where fM = m / 2 and h is the modulation index defined below. This is also known as Carson's Rule for PM.

Overview of Phase Modulation:

Phase modulation, PM, is widely used in today's radio communications scene, with phase shift keying being widely used for digital modulation and data transmission. It is used in all forms of radio communications from cellular technology to Wi-Fi, WiMAX, radio broadcasting of digital audio and TV, and many more forms of transmission.