ANALOG

MODULATION
TECHNIQUES

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 AMPLITUDE MODULATION
Introduction

Amplitude Modulation is the process of changing the amplitude of

a relatively high frequency carrier signal in proportion with the
instantaneous value of modulating signal (information).

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. Amplitude Modulation is a process where the amplitude
of a carrier signal is altered according to information in a message signal. The
frequency of the carrier signal is usually much greater than the highest frequency
of the input message signal. It is a technique used in electronic communication,
most commonly for transmitting information via a radio carrier wave. AM works
by varying the strength of the transmitted signal in relation to the information
being sent. For example, changes in the signal strength can be used to specify the
sounds to be reproduced by a loudspeaker, or the light intensity of television
pixels. (Contrast this with frequency modulation, also commonly used for sound
transmissions, in which the frequency is varied; and phase modulation, often used
in remote controls, in which the phase is varied).

In the mid 1870s, a form of amplitude modulation initially called "undulatory

currents" was the first method to successfully produce quality audio over telephone
lines. Beginning with Reginald Fessenden's audio demonstrations in 1906, it was
also the original method used for audio radio transmissions, and remains in use
today by many forms of communication. AM is often used to refer to the medium
wave broadcast band.

Forms of AM

As originally developed for the electric telephone, amplitude modulation was used
to add audio information to the low-powered direct current flowing from a
telephone transmitter to a receiver. As a simplified explanation, at the transmitting
end, a telephone microphone was used to vary the strength of the transmitted
current, according to the frequency and loudness of the sounds received. Then, at
the receiving end of the telephone line, the transmitted electrical current affected
an electromagnet, which strengthened and weakened in response to the strength of

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the current. In turn, the electromagnet produced vibrations in the receiver
diaphragm, thus closely reproducing the frequency and loudness of the sounds
originally heard at the transmitter.

In contrast to the telephone, in radio communication what is modulated is a

continuous wave radio signal (carrier wave) produced by a radio transmitter. In its
basic form, amplitude modulation produces a signal with power concentrated at the
carrier frequency and in two adjacent sidebands. This process is known as
heterodyning. Each sideband is equal in bandwidth to that of the modulating signal
and is a mirror image of the other. Amplitude modulation that results in two
sidebands and a carrier is often called double sideband amplitude modulation
(DSB-AM). Amplitude modulation is inefficient in terms of power usage and much
of it is wasted. At least two-thirds of the power is concentrated in the carrier signal,
which carries no useful information (beyond the fact that a signal is present); the
remaining power is split between two identical sidebands, though only one of these
is needed since they contain identical information.

To increase transmitter efficiency, the carrier can be removed (suppressed) from

the AM signal. This produces a reduced-carrier transmission or double-sideband
suppressed-carrier (DSBSC) signal. A suppressed-carrier amplitude modulation
scheme is three times more power-efficient than traditional DSB-AM. If the carrier
is only partially suppressed, a double-sideband reduced-carrier (DSBRC) signal
results. DSBSC and DSBRC signals need their carrier to be regenerated (by a beat
frequency oscillator, for instance) to be demodulated using conventional
techniques. Even greater efficiency is achieved at the expense of increased
transmitter and receiver complexity by completely suppressing both the carrier and
one of the sidebands. This is single-sideband modulation, widely used in amateur
radio due to its efficient use of both power and bandwidth.

A simple form of AM often used for digital communications is on-off keying, a

type of amplitude-shift keying by which binary data is represented as the presence
or absence of a carrier wave. This is commonly used at radio frequencies to
transmit Morse code, referred to as continuous wave (CW) operation.

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ITU Designations

Mathematical Representation 0

AM Signal:
-5
s(t)= Ac [1+ k*m(t)] coswct 0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1
1

-1
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1
Modulating signal:
1
m(t)

-1
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1
Carrier Signal:
c(t)= Ac coswc t

Modulation Index

It can be defined as the measure of extent of amplitude variation about an

unmodulated maximum carrier. As with other modulation indices, in AM, this
quantity, also called modulation depth, indicates by how much the modulated
variable varies around its 'original' level. For AM, it relates to the variations in the
carrier amplitude and is defined as:

where and were introduced above.

So if h = 0.5, the carrier amplitude varies by 50% above and below its
unmodulated level, and for h = 1.0 it varies by 100%. To avoid distortion in the
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A3E transmission mode, modulation depth greater than 100% must be avoided.
Practical transmitter systems will usually incorporate some kind of limiter circuit,
such as a VOGAD, to ensure this. However, AM demodulators can be designed to
detect the inversion (or 180 degree phase reversal) that occurs when modulation
exceeds 100% and automatically correct for this effect.

FREQUENCY MODULATION
Introduction

Frequency Modulation: It is the process of varying the frequency of a constant-

amplitude carrier directly proportional to the amplitude of the modulating signal
at a rate equal to the frequency of the modulating signal.

Frequency modulation by a sine wave is given as:

v(t) = Ac cos {2 fct -m sin (2 fmt)}
where, AC = unmodulated peak carrier amnplitude
fC = carrier frequency
fm = modulation frequency
m = modulation index (degree of modulation)

FM signals can be generated using either direct or indirect frequency modulation.

Direct FM modulation can be achieved by directly feeding the message into

the input of a VCO.

For indirect FM modulation, the message signal is integrated to generate a

phase modulated signal. This is used to modulate a crystal controlled
oscillator, and the result is passed through a frequency multiplier to give an
FM signal.

Basically frequency modulation and phase modulation both are the forms of angle
modulation. Angle modulation results whenever the phase angle of a sinusoidal
wave is varied with respect to time. In frequency modulation (FM), the frequency
of the carrier wave is varied as a function of the instantaneous voltage of the
modulating signal. This is illustrated in figure. The amount of frequency shift off
the centre frequency is called the frequency deviation. A peak deviation of 5kHz
(such as used in amateur radio systems) means that the carrier frequency is shifted

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in one direction a maximum of 5kHz by the positive going peaks of the modulating
signal and shifted in the opposite direction a maximum of 5kHz by the negative
going peaks of the modulating signal. Total frequency swing is thus 10kHz.
Modulation index is defined as the ratio of frequency deviation to modulating
frequency producing the deviation. If a 1kHz modulating signal produces 5kHz of
deviation. the modulation index is equal to 5. Considering a maximum speech
frequency of 2.5kHz, the modulation index equals 2 if the carrier frequency is
driven to a maximum deviation of 5kHz by that particular speech frequency
component.

The FM receiver is designed to be insensitive to amplitude variation in the RF

signal it receives. As random incoming noise is received essentially as a voltage of
fluctuating amplitude, the receiver on FM has a signal to noise ratio advantage
over an AM receiver, given received signals of equal carrier amplitude. The degree
of that advantage is dependent on the modulation index which is used and this is
illustrated in figure 8 showing noise reduction factor in dB as a function of the
index. The diagram shows that to
gain advantage, the modulation
index must be greater than 0.6,
and the higher the value of the
index, the greater is the noise
reduction factor. In comparing
the FM and AM systems, equal
receiver audio bandwidth is
assumed.

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 All this is fine except that the
FM signal has sidebands
much more complicated than
the AM signal, and which
theoretically extend infinitely
either side of the carrier
frequency. In practice, we
need only to consider the
sideband frequencies which
are of significant level. The
bandwidth of the significant
sidebands increases both as
the modulation index is
increased and as the
modulating frequency is increased. The second curve in figure 8 plots the
bandwidth of the significant sidebands as a function of modulation index for a
modulating frequency of 2.5kHz, chosen as the maximum speech frequency. Using
both curves, we see that to get a 10dB signal to noise ratio advantage we need a
modulation index equal to 2. However, to achieve this, we take up a bandwidth of
around 22kHz.

So here is the answer to why FM is restricted essentially to the VHF and UHF
bands. FM gives us a signal to noise ratio advantage over AM, but it takes up more
bandwidth and much more than we are able to accommodate in the restricted band
space of our HF bands. More band space is available on the VHF and UHF bands,
allowing us to use FM as a popular mode of transmission. On two metres, for
example, we use 25kHz channel spacing to accommodate the wide bandwidth FM
signals.

Modulation Index

As with other modulation indices, this quantity indicates by how much the
modulated variable varies around its unmodulated level. It relates to the variations
in the frequency of the carrier signal:

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where is the highest frequency component present in the modulating signal
xm(t), and is the Peak frequency-deviation, i.e. the maximum deviation of the
instantaneous frequency from the carrier frequency. If , the modulation is
called narrowband FM, and its bandwidth is approximately . If , the
modulation is called wideband FM and its bandwidth is approximately . While
wideband FM uses more bandwidth, it can improve signal-to-noise ratio
significantly.

With a tone-modulated FM wave, if the modulation frequency is held constant and

the modulation index is increased, the (non-negligible) bandwidth of the FM signal
increases, but the spacing between spectra stays the same; some spectral
components decrease in strength as others increase. If the frequency deviation is
held constant and the modulation frequency increased, the spacing between spectra
increases.

Applications

Broadcasting

FM is commonly used at VHF radio frequencies for high-fidelity broadcasts of

music and speech (see FM broadcasting). Normal (analog) TV sound is also
broadcast using FM. A narrow band form is used for voice communications in
commercial and amateur radio settings. The type of FM used in broadcast is
generally called wide-FM, or W-FM. In two-way radio, narrowband narrow-fm (N-
FM) is used to conserve bandwidth. In addition, it is used to send signals into
space.

Aplikimet

Transmetimi

FM perdoret zakonisht ne frekuencat radio VHF per cilesine e larte

transmetimit te muzikes dhe zerit. Zeri normal (analog) i TV transmetohet
gjithashtu duke perdorur FM. Nje forme frekuence narrow band perdoret per
komunikimet me ze ne transmetimet e radiove komerciale dhe amatore. Lloji
FM i perdorur ne transmetim pergjithesisht quhet wide-FM ose W-FM. Ne

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radion me dy drejtime, narrowband narrow-fm perdoret per te ruajtur
bandwith. Ai gjithashtu perdoret per te derguar sinjale ne hapesire.