USE OF MODULATION TECHNIQUES IN
TELECOMMUNICATION
Varun Kumar Sen, RB6703B50, 3460070010
Dept. of ECE, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, Punjab. 144402
e-mail id: varunsen@ymail.com
ABSTRACT:
Modulation techniques are methods used to encode
digital information data in analog information. This
term paper describes in detail various digital
modulation techniques for telecommunication.
Among others, these include quardrature phase shift
keying(QPSK), used in second generation digital
cellular mobile systems in North America and Japan,
Gaussian minimum-shift keying (GMSK), employed
in the GSM system in Europe. In this paper I explain
all these techniques and application in
telecommunication system. In telecommunications,
modulation is the process of varying a periodic
waveform, i.e. a tone, in order to use that signal to
convey a message, in a similar fashion as a musician
may modulate the tone from a musical instrument by
varying its volume, timing and pitch. Normally a
high-frequency sinusoid waveform is used as carrier
signal. The three key parameters of a sine wave are
its amplitude ("volume"), its phase ("timing") and its
frequency ("pitch"), all of which can be modified in
accordance with a low frequency information signal
to obtain the modulated signal.
1. INTRODUCTION:
The techniques used to modulate digital information
so that it can be transmitted via microwave, satellite
or down a cable pair is different to that of analogue
transmission. The data transmitted via satellite or
microwave is transmitted as an analogue signal. The
techniques used to transmit analogue signals are used
to transmit digital signals. The problem is to convert
the digital signals to a form that can be treated as an
analogue signal that is then in the appropriate form to
either be transmitted down a twisted cable pair or
applied to the RF stage where is modulated to a
frequency that can be transmitted via microwave or
satellite. The equipment that is used to convert digital
signals into analogue format is a modem. The word
modem is made up of the words “modulator” and
“demodulator”. A modem accepts a serial data stream
and converts it into an analogue format that matches
the transmission medium. In the selecting a suitable
modulation technique for telecommunication system,
consideration must be given to achieving the
following:
1. high bandwidth efficiency
2. high power efficiency
3. low carrier-to-co channel interference power
ratio
4. low out-of-band radiation
5. low sensitivity to multipath fading
 6. low cost and ease implementation 2). Analog modulation:
To optimize all these features at the same time is not
In this type of modulation, modulation is applied
possible as each has its practical limitation and also is
continuously in response to the analog information
related to the others. For example, to achieve high
signal.
bandwidth efficiency one may choose to use high-
level modulation. However, if this is done two 3). Pulse modulation:
consequent disadvantages are introduced. Firstly, the
power efficiency of the system is reduced. Secondly, This method is used for transfer a narrowband analog

the bandlimited high level modulated signal has a signal.

large envelope variation which, when the signal is

2.1 MODULATION TECHNIQUES:
passed through a power efficiency nonlinear
amplifier, generates large out of band radiation, this We have three basic modulation techniques:
in turn, introduces interference to adjacent channels.
a. AM (amplitude modulation)
The aim of digital modulation is to transfer a digital
bit stream over an analog bandpass channel, for b. FM (frequency modulation)
example over the public switched telephone network
c. PM (phase modulation)
(where a filter limits the frequency range to between
300 and 3400 Hz) or a limited radio frequency band. In all mentioned techniques a carrier signal is
On other, telecommunication is the assisted signal frequency that is used to carry data.
transmission over distance for the purpose of
communication. a. Amplitude modulation:

2. THEORY:
In amplitude modulation technique, it modified
Modulation is the process of varying one waveform
the amplitude of the carrier to represent 1 or 0.
in relation to another waveform and the device that
performs modulation is known as a modulation and
device that performs the inverse operation of
modulation is known as a demodulator. And the
device that can perform both operations is a modem.
There are basically three types of modulation:

1). Digital modulation:

It is also known as digital to analog conversion. In

this type of modulation analog carrier signal is
modulated by a digital bit stream.
Fig. 1: Amplitude Modulation
This modulation technique is simple to design
but noise spikes on transmission medium
interfere with carrier signal.
 b. Frequency modulation:
This technique modified the frequency of the carrier
signal to represent the 1s or 0s.
Fig. 2: Frequency Modulation
Half Duplex FSK
Fig. 3: Simplex/Half Duplex FSK
In this diagram, 0 is represented by original carrier
frequency and 1 by higher frequency.
This technique has great immunity to noise on
transmission medium and loss of signal easily
detected.
Frequency Shift Keying or FSK is the frequency
modulation of a carrier to represent digital
intelligence. For Simplex or Half Duplex operation, a
single carrier (1170 Hz) is used - communication can
only be transmitted in one direction at a time. A Mark
or 1 is represented by 1270 Hz, and a Space or 0 is
represented by 1070 Hz. The following diagram
shows the Voice Channel with Simplex/Half Duplex
FSK.
Full Duplex FSK
For Full Duplex, (data communication in both
directions simultaneously) the upper bandwidth of
the Voice Channel is utilized. Another carrier is
added at 2125 Hz. A Mark or 1 is represented by
2225 Hz, and a Space or 0 is represented by 2025 Hz.
The phone number and starts the connection) uses the
lower carrier (1170 Hz) and the answer modem (the
one which answers the ringing phone line) uses the
upper carrier (2125 Hz). This allocation of carriers is
done automatically by the modem's hardware. The
following diagram shows the Voice Channel with
Full Duplex FSK.

Fig. 6: FSK Modem

The FSK modem described above is used for 300

Fig.4: Full Duplex FSK
Example of Originates Frequency Modulated Carrier:
baud modems only. We can not use this for higher
modem because higher data rates require more
bandwidth: this would require that the Mark and
Space frequencies for each band be moved farther
apart (the originate and answer bands become wider).
The two carriers would have to move farther apart
from each other to prevent crosstalk (interference
with each other). The limit for present phone lines is
1200 Baud Half Duplex (one way) used by Bell 202
compatible modems.

Fig. 5: Frequency Modulation Carrier

c. Phase modulation:

The originate modem transmits on the 1170 Hz

This technique modified the phase of the carrier
carrier and receives on the 2125 Hz carrier. The
to represent 0s and 1s.
answer modem receives on the 1170 Hz carrier and
transmits on the 2125 Hz carrier. This way both
modems can be transmitting and receiving
simultaneously.

Fig.7: Phase Modulation

In this technique, carrier phase shift at every
occurrence of the 1 bit but remains unaffected for 0
bit.

Any digital modulation scheme uses a finite number

of distinct signals to represent digital data. PSK uses
a finite number of phases; each assigned a unique
pattern of binary bits. Usually, each phase encodes an
equal number of bits. Each pattern of bits forms the
symbol that is represented by the particular phase.
Fig. 8: Constellation diagram for BPSK
The demodulator, which is designed specifically for
Implementation
the symbol-set used by the modulator, determines the
Binary data is often conveyed with the following
phase of the received signal and maps it back to the
signals:
symbol it represents, thus recovering the original
for binary "0",
data. Aim of pulse modulation method to transfer a
for binary "1"
narrowband analog signal. For example, a cell phone
where fc is the frequency of the carrier-wave. Hence,
over a wideband low pass channel or, in some of
the signal-space can be represented by the single
scheme, as a bit stream over another digital
basis function where 1 is represented by. This
transmission system.
assignment is, of course, arbitrary. The use of this
Phase modulation further categories into following
basis function is shown at the end of the next section
methods:
in a signal timing diagram. The topmost signal is a
BPSK-modulated cosine wave that the BPSK
a. BSK- Binary shift keying
modulator would produce.
b. QPSK - Quardrature Phase Shifted Keying
1. BSK- Binary Shift Keying: 2. QPSK - Quardrature Phase Shift Keying
BPSK (also sometimes called PRK, Phase Reversal
Keying, or 2PSK) is the simplest form of phase shift Quardrature Phase Shift Keying employs shifting the

keying (PSK). It uses two phases which are separated phase of the carrier at a 600 baud rate plus an

by 180° and so can also be termed 2-PSK. It does not encoding technique. QPSK is used in Bell 212A

particularly matter exactly where the constellation compatible modems and V.22 - both are 1200 bps

points are positioned, and in this figure they are Full Duplex standards. The originate modem

shown on the real axis, at 0° and 180°. This transmits at 1200 Hz and receives on 2400 Hz. The

modulation is the most robust of all the PSKs since it answer modem receives on 1200 Hz and transmits on

takes the highest level of noise or distortion to make 2400 Hz.

the demodulator reach an incorrect decision. It is,

however, only able to modulate at 1 bit/symbol and
so is unsuitable for high data rate applications when
bandwidth is limited.
 Example of Carrier Phase Modulation:

Fig. 9: QPSK Modem

The digital information is encoded using 4 (Quad)

level differential PSK at 600 baud. Fig. 10: Carrier Phase Modulation

3. Differential phase-shift keying (DPSK)

Differential phase shift keying (DPSK) is a common
form of phase modulation that conveys data by
changing the phase of the carrier wave. As mentioned
for BPSK and QPSK there is an ambiguity of phase if
the constellation is rotated by some effect in the
communications channel through which the signal
passes. This problem can be overcome by using the
data to change rather than set the phase. For example,
in differentially-encoded BPSK a binary '1' may be
transmitted by adding 180° to the current phase and a
Remember that baud indicates how fast the analog
binary '0' by adding 0° to the current phase. In
signal is changing in the Voice Channel. The data is
differentially-encoded QPSK, the phase-shifts are 0°,
encoded as follows:
90°, 180°, -90° corresponding to data '00', '01', '11',

DIBIT Phase Shift '10'. This kind of encoding may be demodulated in

the same way as for non-differential PSK but the
00 +90
phase ambiguities can be ignored. Thus, each
01 0 received symbol is demodulated to one of the M

10 180 points in the constellation and a comparator then

computes the difference in phase between this
11 270
received signal and the preceding one. The difference
encodes the data as described above. The modulated
For every change in the baud rate (phase shift), we
signal is shown below for both DBPSK and DQPSK
can decode 2 bits. This leads to:
as described above. It is assumed that the signal starts
with zero phase, and so there is a phase shift in both
2 bits x 600 baud = 1200 bps
signals at t = 0.
 amplitude modulation. In the digital QAM case, a
finite number of at least two phases and at least two
amplitudes are used. PSK modulators are often
designed using the QAM principle, but are not
considered as QAM since the amplitude of the
modulated carrier signal is constant. Quardrature
Amplitude Modulation refers to QPSK with
Amplitude Modulation. Basically, it is a mix of phase
modulation and amplitude modulation. QAM phase
modulates the carrier and also modulates the
amplitude of the carrier.

QAM - Quardrature Amplitude Modulation

QAM Sometimes known as quaternary or

quadriphase PSK, 4-PSK, or 4- QAM [6], QPSK uses
Fig. 11: Phase Modulated and Amplitude Modulated
four points on the constellation diagram, equispaced
Carrier
around a circle. With four phases, QPSK can encode
two bits per symbol. Analysis shows that this may be There are two types: 8-QAM and 16-QAM. 8-QAM
used either to double the data rate compared to a encodes 3 bits of data (23=8) for every baud and 16-
BPSK system while maintaining the bandwidth of the QAM encodes 4 bits of data (24=16) for every baud.
signal or to maintain the data-rate of BPSK but halve Both are used in the V.32 standard for 9600 bps
the bandwidth needed. modem (milestone for communications). 8-QAM
transfers 4800 bps and 16-QAM transfers 9600 bps.
Quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) is both an
The baud rate used with QAM is 2400 baud half-
analog and a digital modulation scheme. It conveys
duplex. 16-QAM has 12 phase angles, 4 of which
two analog message signals, or two digital bit
have 2 amplitude values. 16-QAM changes phase
streams, by changing or modulating the amplitudes of
with every baud change.
two carrier waves, using the amplitude-shift keying
(ASK) digital modulation scheme or amplitude
modulation (AM) analog modulation scheme. These
two waves, usually sinusoids, are out of phase with
each other by 90° and are thus called Quadrature
carriers or Quadrature components hence the name of
the scheme. The modulated waves are summed, and
the resulting waveform is a combination of both
phase-shift keying (PSK) and amplitude-shift keying,
or in the analog case of phase modulation (PM) and
Fig. 12: 16-QAM Phasor Diagram
Fig 13: An 8QAM

Higher transfer rates use much more complex QAM 3 CONCLUSION:

methods. For example, V.32bis (14.4 kbps) uses a 64 The result shows that in telecommunications,

point constellation to transfer 6 bits per baud. modulation is the process of varying a periodic

Compare that to the above 16 point constellation. waveform, i.e. a tone, in order to use that signal to
convey a message, in a similar fashion as a musician
Digital QAM may modulate the tone from a musical instrument by
varying its volume, timing and pitch. Normally a
Like all modulation schemes, QAM conveys data by high-frequency sinusoid waveform is used as carrier
changing some aspect of a carrier signal, or the signal. This term paper introduces the concepts of
carrier wave, (usually a sinusoid) in response to a digital modulation used in many communications
data signal. In the case of QAM, the amplitude of two systems today and modulation techniques like ASK,
waves, 90 degrees out-of-phase with each other (in FSK, BPSK, QPSK, and QAM.
Quadrature) are changed or modulated to represent
the data signal. represent the data signal. Amplitude REFERENCES:
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Vol. 8, Page no. 5, 1981
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