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QAM Formats: 8-QAM, 16-QAM, 32-QAM, 64-
QAM, 128-QAM, 256-QAM
Quadrature amplitude modulation can be used
with a variety of different formats: 8QAM,
16QAM, 64QAM, 128QAM, 256QAM, but there are
performance differences and trade-offs
Quadrature Amplitude Modulation, QAM Tutorial
Includes:
Quadrature amplitude modulation, QAM basics    
QAM theory     QAM formats     QAM modulators
& demodulators    

Modulation formats:     Modulation types &


techniques     Amplitude modulation     Frequency
modulation     Phase modulation   

QAM, quadrature amplitude modulation provides


some significant benefits for data transmission.
As 16QAM transitions to 64QAM, 64QAM to 256
QAM and so forth, higher data rates can be
QAM and so forth, higher data rates can be
achieved, but at the cost of the noise margin.

Many data transmission systems migrate


between the different orders of QAM, 16QAM,
32QAM, etc., dependent upon the link conditions.
If there is a good margin, higher orders of QAM
can be used to gain a faster data rate, but if the
link deteriorates, lower orders are used to
preserve the noise margin and ensure that a low
bit error rate is preserved.

As the QAM order increases, so the distance


between the different points on the constellation
diagram decreases and there is a higher
possibility of data errors being introduced. To
utilise the high order QAM formats, the link must
have a very good Eb/No otherwise data errors
will be present.When the Eb/No deteriorates,
then other the power level must be increased, or
the QAM order reduced if the bit error rate is to
be preserved.

Accordingly there is a balance to be made


between the data rate and QAM modulation
order, power and the acceptable bit error rate.
Whilst further error correction can be introduced
to mitigate any deterioration in link quality, this
will also decrease the data throughput.

Bit sequence mapping for a 16QAM signal


Bit sequence mapping for a 16QAM signal
QAM applications
QAM is in many radio communications and data
delivery applications. However some specific
variants of QAM are used in some specific
applications and standards.

For domestic broadcast applications for


example, 64 QAM and 256 QAM are often used in
digital cable television and cable modem
applications. In the UK, 16 QAM and 64 QAM are
currently used for digital terrestrial television
using DVB - Digital Video Broadcasting. In the US,
64 QAM and 256 QAM are the mandated
modulation schemes for digital cable as
standardised by the SCTE in the standard ANSI/
SCTE 07 2000.
In addition to this, variants of QAM are also used
for many wireless and cellular technology
applications. Here the link conditions can vary
and accordingly the order of the QAM modulation
used can normally be altered dynamically with
the level of error correction to achieved the best
throughput. This means balancing the QAM order
with the level of error correction against the
prevailing link conditions. As data rates have
risen and the demands on spectrum efficiency
have increased, so too has the complexity of the
link adaptation technology. Data channels are
carried on the cellular radio signal to enable fast
adaptation of the link to meet the prevailing link
quality and ensure the optimu data throughput,
balancing transmitter power, QAM order, and
forward error correction, etc.

Constellation diagrams for QAM


The constellation diagrams show the different
positions for the states within different forms of
QAM, quadrature amplitude modulation. As the
order of the modulation increases, so does the
number of points on the QAM constellation
diagram.

The diagrams below show constellation


diagrams for a variety of formats of modulation:

16 QAM constellation
16QAM constellation
32 QAM constellation
32QAM constellation
64 QAM constellation
64QAM constellation
It can be seen from these few QAM constellation
diagrams, that as the modulation order increases,
so the distance between the points on the
constellation decreases. Accordingly small
amounts of noise can cause greater issues.

It is also found that the higher the order of


modulation for the QAM signal, the greater the
amount of amplitude variation. For transmitter
RF amplifiers for everything from Wi-Fi to cellualr
and more, it means that linear amplifiers are
required. As linear amplifiers are less efficient
than those that can be run in saturation, it means
that techniques like Doherty amplifers and
envelope tracking may be needed.

QAM bits per symbol


The advantage of using QAM is that it is a higher
order form of modulation and as a result it is able
to carry more bits of information per symbol. By
selecting a higher order format of QAM, the data
rate of a link can be increased.

The table below gives a summary of the bit rates


of different forms of QAM and PSK.

Bit mapping for a 16QAM signal


Bit mapping for a 16QAM signal

QAM FORMATS & BIT RATES COMPARISON

MODULATIONBITS PER SYMBOLSYMBOL RATE


BPSK11 x bit rate
QPSK21/2 bit rate
8PSK31/3 bit rate
16QAM41/4 bit rate
32QAM51/5 bit rate
64QAM61/6 bit rate
The power spectrum and bandwidth efficiency of
QAM modulation is identical to M-ary PSK
modulation, in other words for the same order
phase shift keying, the power spectrum and
bandwidth efficiency levels are exactly the same
whether quadrature amplitude modulation or
phase shift keying is used.

QAM noise margin


While higher order modulation rates are able to
offer much faster data rates and higher levels of
spectral efficiency for the radio communications
system, this comes at a price. The higher order
modulation schemes are considerably less
resilient to noise and interference.

As a result of this, many radio communications


systems now use dynamic adaptive modulation
techniques. They sense the channel conditions
and adapt the modulation scheme to obtain the
highest data rate for the given conditions. As
signal to noise ratios decrease errors will
increase along with re-sends of the data, thereby
slowing throughput. By reverting to a lower order
modulation scheme the link can be made more
reliable with fewer data errors and re-sends.

QAM FORMATS & NOISE PERFORMANCE

MODULATIONηBEB / NO FOR BER = 1 IN 106


16QAM210.5
64QAM318.5
256QAM424
1024QAM528

Selecting the right order of QAM modulation for


any given situation, and having he ability to
dynamically adapt it can enable the optimum
throughput to be obtained for the link conditions
for that moment. Reducing the order of the QAM
modulation enables lower bit error rates to be
achieved and this reduces the amount of error
correction required. In this way the throughput
can be maximised for the prevailing link quality.
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More Essential Radio Topics:


Radio Signals     Modulation types &
techniques     Amplitude modulation     Frequency
modulation     OFDM     RF mixing     Phase locked
loops     Frequency synthesizers     Passive
intermodulation     RF attenuators     RF filters    
Radio receiver types     Superhet radio     Radio
receiver selectivity     Radio receiver sensitivity    
Receiver strong signal handling    
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