Unit 1

Communication
Systems - 1

Modulation schemes

BE 5th semester

Faculty: Ashok Herur

Unit outline
Amplitude (Linear) Modulation
Baseband versus Carrier Communication
Amplitude Modulation, Bandwidth efficient AM
Vestigial Sideband (VSB), Local carrier Synchronization
Frequency Division multiplexing, PLL and applications.

Angle (Exponential) Modulation

Nonlinear Modulations, Bandwidth of Angle-modulated waves
Generation and Demodulation of FM signals
Effect of nonlinear distortions and Interference
Super heterodyne AM/FM receivers, FM broadcasting
systems.

Angle Modulation

Angle modulation Nonlinear modulation

Angle Modulation is a method of modulation in
which either Frequency or Phase of the carrier
wave is varied according to the message signal.
Unlike the linear AM, here the variation of the
frequency or phase is not a linear function of the
message signal.
Hence they are called non-linear modulation
techniques.

Angle modulation Nonlinear modulation

In general form, an angle modulated signal can
represented as:
s(t) = Ac Cos [(t)]
where Ac is the amplitude of the carrier wave and
(t) is the angle of the modulated carrier and also
a function of the message signal.
The instantaneous frequency of the angle
modulated signal, s(t) is given by:
fi (t) = (1/ 2) * d / dt
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Angle modulation Nonlinear modulation

An unmodulated carrier would the angle (t)
defined as:
(t) = 2 fc t +
An angle modulated carrier would the angle (t)
defined as:
(t) = 2 fc t + (t)
There are two commonly used methods of angle
modulation:
Frequency Modulation
Phase Modulation
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Phase and Frequency modulation

m(t)

PM

FM

Phase modulation

Frequency modulation
The carrier amplitude remains constant during the
modulation process, but its frequency varies in accordance
with the modulating signal.
An increase in the amplitude of the modulating signal causes
the instantaneous frequency of the carrier to increase.
FM is used in many broadcasting systems.
It offers much better noise immunity, but it comes at the
expense of increased complexity in the transmitter /
receiver.

Frequency modulation

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Angle modulation Example

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Relation between Frequency and Phase modulation

A frequency modulated signal can be generated
using a phase modulator by first integrating m(t)
and using it as an input to a phase modulator.
This is possible by considering FM signal as phase
modulated signal in which the modulating wave is
integral of m(t) instead of m(t).
Similarly, a PM signal can be generated by first
differentiating m(t) and then using the resultant
signal as the input to a FM modulator.

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Relation between Frequency and Phase modulation

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Frequency modulation Mathematical analysis

If the message signal, m(t) is a single-tone wave given by
m(t) = Am Cos (2 fmt),
then the instantaneous frequency of the FM signal is given
by:

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Frequency modulation Mathematical analysis

The frequency deviation factor indicates the

amount of frequency change in the FM signal
from the carrier frequency fc on either side of it.
Thus FM signal will have the frequency
components between
(fc - f ) to (fc + f ).

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Frequency modulation Mathematical analysis

The modulation index, , represents the phase
deviation of the FM signal and is measured in
radians.
Depending on the value of , the FM signal can be
classified into two types:
Narrow band FM ( << 1), and
Wide band FM ( >> 1).

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Narrow Band FM

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NBFM
The analysis shows that the spectrum of a NBFM
signal is very similar to that of a normal AM
signal:
It has two side bands on either side of the
carrier;
The total bandwidth is 2*fm

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Wide band FM Mathematical analysis

The analysis of Wideband FM is more involved, and is
done using Bessels functions, Jn( )
The modulated signal can be expressed as:
s(t) = Ac * Jn () Cos [2 (fc nfm)t], for n = - to
Theoretically, s(t) has an infinite bandwidth, with the
carrier at fc and an infinite no. of sidebands at fc fm,
fc 2fm, ..., fc nfm
However, for a fixed , the amplitude of the Bessel
function Jn() decreases as n increases.
This means that for any fixed , there is only a finite
number of significant sidebands.
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Frequency modulation Bessel functions

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Frequency modulation Mathematical analysis

As n > ( + 1) the amplitude of the Bessel
function becomes negligible.
Hence, the number of significant sidebands is +
1.

This means that, with good approximation, the

bandwidth of the FM signal is:
BW = 2 * nfm = 2( + 1)fm = 2(f + fm).
This rule is called Carsons Bandwidth rule.
Note that for non-sinusoidal messages, the
modulation index is called as a Deviation ratio, D.
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Frequency modulation Example

A commercial FM radio station operating at the
carrier frequency of 91 MHz is allowed a max
frequency deviation of 75 KHz. If it cuts off the
message signals at 15 KHz, find:
The modulation index,
The bandwidth of the FM signal.

= f / fm = 75 / 15 = 5 ---- WBFM
BW = 2(f + fm) = 180 KHz

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Frequency modulation Example

An angle modulated signal with carrier frequency
wc = 2 105 radians /sec is given by:
v(t) = 10 cos(wct + 5 sin 3000t + 10 sin
2000t).
Find the power of the modulated signal, if R=1
ohm
Find the modulating signal bandwidth
Find the frequency deviation, f
Find the deviation ratio,
Estimate the bandwidth of the FM signal.

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Frequency modulation Example

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FM versus AM
Advantages of FM:
Less radiated power.
Low distortion due to improved signal to noise ratio
Smaller geographical interference between
neighbouring stations.
Well defined service areas for given transmitter
power.
Dis-advantages of FM:
Much more Bandwidth (as much as 20 times as
much).
More complicated receiver and transmitter
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Generation and Detection of FM waves

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Generation of FM signals
There are two basic methods of generating FM
waves:
Direct method, and
Indirect method.

In the direct method, the carrier frequency is

directly varied in accordance with the message
signal.
In indirect method a NBFM wave is generated first,
and frequency multiplication is next used to
increase the frequency deviation to the desired
level.
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Generation of FM signals Direct method

In the direct method of FM generation, the
instantaneous frequency of the carrier wave is directly
varied in accordance with the message signal by
means of an voltage controlled oscillator (VCO).
The frequency determining network in the oscillator is
chosen with high quality factor (Q-factor) and the
oscillator is controlled by the incremental variation of
the reactive components in the tank circuit of the
oscillator.
A Hartley Oscillator can be used for this purpose,
along with a voltage-dependent capacitor (varactor or
varicap) in the tank circuit.

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Generation of FM signals Direct method

The oscillator frequency is given by: f o = 1 / 2 LC
If C changes by c*Cos (2 fmt), due to the message
voltage applied around it, then the oscillator frequency
changes to:
f1 = 1 / [2 L(C + c*Cos (2 fmt))]
= fo * [1+ (c / Co )*Cos (2 fmt) ]
= fo * [1- (c / 2Co )*Cos (2 fmt) ] approx.
= fo * [1- f *Cos (2 fmt) ]
But the direct method of generation has the
disadvantage that the carrier frequency will not be
stable as it is not generated from a highly stable
oscillator.
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Generation of FM signals Indirect method

To understand the indirect method, it is required to
know the generation of NBFM waves and the working of
frequency multipliers.
Recollect that the NBFM signal can be approximated as:

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Generation of NBFM signal

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Non-linear distortion and Interference

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Super heterodyne receivers

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Any questions?

ashokherur60@gmail.com

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