EE160 - Digital and Analog Communication Systems San Jos State University. Spring 2003.

e Lecture on Noise eects on analog communication systems

Baseband systems Baseband systems will serve as a reference to compare the performance of various analog modulation systems. The case of additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) is considered in the following. Various analog communication systems analyzed in class are compared in terms for their signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The noise power at the output of a receiver with lowpass characteristic and bandwidth W is W N0 Pn o = df = N0 W. W 2 Let PR denote the power of the received signal. Then the baseband SNR is given by S N DSB-AM systems In this case, the modulated signal is u(t) = Ac m(t) cos(2fc t + c ). (Note the typo in the book, Equation (5.1.3) on page 218. Assume a coherent demodulator ( = c r = 0) is employed. The received signal is now expressed as r(t) = u(t) + n(t), where n(t) is an AWGN process. The output of the demodulator is given by 1 y (t) = [Ac m(t) + nc (t)] , 2 where nc (t) is the in-phase component of n(t). The power of the modulated message signal u(t) is given by Po = A2 c Pm , 4 =
b

PR . N0 W

(1)

where Pm is the power of the message signal m(t), and the noise power is 1 1 Pno = Pnc = Pn , 4 4 since the powers of nc (t) and n(t) are equal. To determine the power of n(t), we note that this is a bandpass process with power spectral density as shown in the gure below: 1

Sn(f) N0/2 f -fc 2W fc 2W

Consequently, the noise power is Pn == and it follows that Sn (f )df = (N0 /2) 4W = 2W N0 ,

1 W N0 . Pno = 2W N0 = 4 2 Finally, the output SNR for a coherent DSB-AM demodulator is S N Po Pno A2 Pm /4 A2 Pm c = = c 2W N0 2W N0 S PR = = . No W N b =
o,DSB

where in the last line, we used the fact that PR = A2 PM /2 and equation (1), respectively. c SSB-AM systems In the case of a single sideband AM, the modulated signal is u(t) = Ac m(t) cos(2fc t + c ) + Ac m(t) sin(2fc t). The (lowpass) coherent demodulator output, with input r(t) = u(t) + n(t), where n(t) is a bandpass AWGN process, is 1 Ac y (t) = m(t) + nc (t). 2 2 As before, the powers of the output and the noise are A2 Po = c Pm , 4 1 1 Pno = Pnc = Pn . 4 4 Assume upper SSB-AM, or USSB. In this case, the PSD of the noise is as shown in the gure below: 2 and

Sn(f) N0/2 f -fc W fc W

As a result, the power of the noise equals Pn =

Sn (f )df = (N0 /2) 2W = W N0 .

The SNR in this case is therefore equal to S N =

o,SSB

Po A2 Pm = c . Pno W N0

In addition, for SSB-AM modulation, PR = PU = A2 Pm . Therefore, c S N =

o,SSB

PR = No W

S N

.
b

In other words, the SNR of SSB-AM is the same as the SNR of DSB-AM. Conventional DSB-AM systems With a carrier inserted in the modulated signal, we have u(t) = Ac [1 + amn (t)] cos(2fc t). The (lowpass) coherent demodulator output (including the removal of the DC component), with input r(t) = u(t) + n(t), where n(t) is a bandpass AWGN process, is 1 {Ac amn (t)] + nc (t).} 2 Assuming that m(t) is a zero-mean signal. The received signal power is given by y (t) = A2 c [1 + a2 Pmn ]. 2 As a result, the output SNR for the coherent demodulator is PR = S N where = For details, see the textbook, p. 222. 3

=
o,AM

S N

,
b

a2 Pmn . 1 + a2 Pmn

Angle-modulation (PM and FM) systems For angle-modulated signals, the derivation of the power of the noise is presented in the textbook, pp. 238-242. For our purposes, it suces to state the resulting expressions of the output SNR from the demodulator: S 2 p PMn N b , (PM); S = N o 2 S 3f PMn N b , (FM), where PM n =

PM , (max|m(t)|)2

and p and f are the modulation indices of PM and FM, respectively. We can express the SNR as a function of the required bandwidth by using Carsons rule, Bc = 2(1 + )W , and dening the bandwidth expansion factor as =

Bc = 2(1 + ), W

where is equal to p or f , for PM or FM, respectively. With this denition, the output SNR of the demodulator becomes 1 S 2 PM (max|m(t)|)2 N , (PM); b S = N o 1 3P S 2 , (FM);
M (max|m(t)|)2 N b

From the above expressions, the following conclusions can be drawn: 1. FM has three times better SNR compared to PM, that is, an improvement of 10 log10 (3) = 4.78 dB. 2. The output SNR of a PM/FM demodulator is proportional to the square of the modulation index, 2 . This is not the case for an AM demodulator. 3. The increase in SNR is achieved at the expense of increased bandwidth. 4. There is a limiting value of after which the noise power becomes too large (due to an increased bandwidth) and the signal is lost. This is known as the threshold eect. 5. Noise in an FM demodulator follows a quadratic law with respect to the frequency. This requires the use of pre-emphasis and de-emphasis ltering techniques.

Comparison of analog modulation systems Bandwidth eciency SSB-SC is the most bandwidth ecient modulation method. Used in voice transmission over microwave and satellite links. VSB can transmit DC and is used in TV broadcasting. FM is the least bandwidth ecient modulation method. It is favored because of its high SNR. Power eciency FM is the most power ecient modulation technique. Used in point-to-point communications as well as high-delity radio broadcasting. Also used to transmit a group of voice channels (which have already been combined with SSB and FDM) on microwave and satellite links. Conventional (carrier inserted) AM and VSB+C (VSB with carrier inserted) are the least power ecient modulation methods. Receiver implementation The simplest receiver is that for conventional AM modulation. Application: AM radio broadcasting. A reciever for VSB+C is only slightly more complicated. Application: Analog TV broadcasting. An FM receiver is easy to implement as well. Application: FM-stereo radio broadcasting. DSB-SC and SSB-SC require coherent demodulation and therefore are more complicated and never used for commercial applications.