Modulation
Assignment :
1.An amplifier has a noise figure of 6 dB. What is its noise temperature? Ans:
2.An antenna with Ta = 75 K is connected to a receiver input of 300 K. What is the
overall Noise temperature, noise factor and NF?
3. What is Teq, when F = 1.5
4. NF = 16 dB; what are the F value and Teq?
* Remember: Teq = (F-1) To ; solve.
5. The NF of an amplifier is 7 dB. Calculate the output SNR when input
SNR is 35 dB.
* Remember: (S/N)o = (S/N)in –(F) dB.
Usually, the information contained in any message signals is of low frequency
content. This is because, the human speech / voice frequencies are from ~20 Hz
to ~ 20 KHz.
Due to their low frequency content, the information signals have a spectrum with
a lot of low frequency components and the one-sided spectrum is located near the
zero frequency. We say that the signal has a bandwidth of f m, because it extends
from 0 to fm.
Low frequency spectrum above and its time domain representation below
When we want to send such a signal over some distance, we find that for
efficient radiation and reception of electromagnetic signals we need antennas
that are a quarter of the wavelength of the frequency. At 15 KHz, it is 5000 m!
whereas at 1 MHz it is 75 m and at 100 MHz it is only 75 cms! (calculate).
Also we want several stations / persons to be communicating at the same time.
In order to separate all these communications we need to translate each of the
signal ranges (<fm) to different frequencies of the EM spectrum.
The next problem is that one cannot just translate the frequencies alone. The carrier at the higher frequency is a
constant amplitude, constant frequency and constant phase carrier, but speech, for example, varies in both
amplitude (volume) and frequency (pitch). Thus a modulation scheme has to be evolved that varies the amplitude
or the frequency or the phase of the carrier. These are AM, FM & PM.
Amplitude Modulation is the simplest and earliest form of transmitted signal.
AM applications include broadcasting in medium- and high-frequency applications, CB radio, and aircraft
communications.
The processing of translating a low frequency into a higher frequency range is
called modulation. The amplitude, frequency or the phase of the signal is
modified but in a known way so that the same change can be recovered at the
receiving end.
Amplitude modulation (AM) occurs when the amplitude of a carrier wave is
modulated, to correspond to a source signal.
Fsignal(t) = A(t)sin(ωt),
Amplitude modulation requires a high frequency constant carrier and a low
frequency modulation signal.
A sine wave carrier is of the form e c = Ec sin (wc t)
A sine wave modulation signal is of the form e m= Em sin (wm t)
The amplitude of the high frequency carrier takes on the shape of the lower
frequency modulation signal, forming what is called a modulation envelope.
• The information signal varies the instantaneous
amplitude of the carrier
AM is a nonlinear process.
When modulating signal and carrier signals are mixed, the mixer being a non linear
device produces in the output a dc level as well as the sum and difference products
(fc+fm, fc-fm), besides the fundamentals and harmonics (f c, 2 fc, 3 fc ----,fm, 2 fm, 3 fm ).
• Modulation Index - The ratio between the amplitudes of the modulating signal and
carrier, is expressed by the equation: m = E m/Ec.
mam = Em/Ec, where 0 <=mam <= 1
The overall signal will be:
e am = (Ec + Em sin (wmt)) sin (wct)
= Ec (1 + Em/Ec sin (wmt)) sin (wct)
Ec is normalized to 1 and hence,
= (1 + mam sin (wmt)) sin (wct); simply
e = (1 + m sin wmt ) sin wct. If the value of m =0, then it reduces to e = sin w ct, a
constant amplitude carrier; if m=1, then the resultant waveform has a 100%
amplitude modulation.
If we expand the equation then we get:
e = (sin wct + m sin wmt sin wct )
= sin wct + m /2 cos (wc - wm) t - m/2 cos (wc + wm) t ,
where the first term is the carrier, the second term is the lower side band (lsb) and 3 rd
term is the upper side band (usb).
The sidebands are centered on the carrier frequency. They are the sum and diff.
freqs. of the carrier and modn. signals. In this example, they are just single
frequencies, but normally the base band modulation signal is a range of frequencies
and hence two bands are formed..
Measurement of Modulation Index
Time domain information can be obtained using an oscilloscope
Frequency domain information can be calculated using Fourier methods, but
trigonometric methods are simpler and valid.
Sidebands are calculated using the formulas :
f usb = fc + fm; f lsb = fc – fm ;
E usb =E lsb = (m Ec / 2) .
(a) Carrier wave
(b) Sinusoidal modulating wave
( c )AM wave
( d )FM wave
An important conclusion from the above is that if the modulating frequency is f m, then
you need a bandwidth of 2 fm. In other words, the bandwidth required is twice the
highest modulating frequency.
Tuned cct. of an oscillator has L=50 µH and C=1 nF; If the osc. is modulated by 10
KHz, what is the frequency range occupied by the sidebands. (f osc = 1/ (2π√LC) ) - To
work it out in class.
A 1.4 GHz carrier is modulated by a music signal with a frequency range of 20
Hz to 20 KHz. What are the range of frequencies for the USB and LSB? To work
out in the class.
Suppressed-Carrier AM
Full-carrier AM is simple but not efficient
Removing the carrier before power amplification allows full transmitter power to be
applied to the sidebands
Removing the carrier from a fully modulated AM system results in a double-sideband
suppressed-carrier transmission
Suppressed-Carrier Signal
The standard amplitude modulation equation is:
e = (1 + m sin wmt ) sin wct; we notice that AM involves a multiplication process.
(Recall that multiplication in the time domain is equal to addition and subtraction in the
frequency domain). There are several ways to perform this function electronically. The
simplest method uses a switch ( unipolar or bipolar ) dealt with in the next slides.
AM waveform appears to consist of a low frequency dc signal whose polarity is
reversing at a carrier rate.
The AM signal can be created by multiplying a dc modulation signal by ±1. We will see
the various methods now.
The above shows a typical Non Linear DSB-SC modulator. If we express the NL element
by the eqn. y(t) = a x(t)+ b x ²(t) with x(t) and y(t) as input and output, the summed output
z(t) = y1(t) – y2(t); then {a x1(t)+ b x1 ²(t)} – {a x2(t)+ b x 2²(t)}. Put the two in-puts x1(t) =
cos wct + m(t); x2(t) = cos wct - m(t); result is z(t) = 2 am(t) + 4 b m(t) cos w ct.
z(t) = 2 a m(t) + 4 b m(t) cos wct.
The spectrum of m(t) is centred at the origin whereas the spectrum of m(t) cos w ct is
centred at the carrier frequency +/- w c. Hence, when z(t) is passed through the BPF
tuned to wc, then the first term is suppressed and only the modulated signal passes
through.
One can also use a switching modulator where a diode switch produces a square wave
for modulation.
AM representation:
Figure shows how AM is represented.
The central frequency carrier has the highest amplitude and the other two are
located symmetrically on either side with ½ of the carrier amplitude.
Since the square wave is actually composed of a series of cosines at odd multiples of
the fundamental switching frequency, using this signal to multiply the baseband
signal results in AM signals being generated at each of the odd harmonics of the
switching (carrier) frequencies. Since the amplitude of the harmonics decreases
rapidly, this technique is practical for only the first few harmonics, and produces an
enormous amount of unwanted signals (noise).
Another is a balanced modulator, where both the inputs are removed by the circuit.
A band pass filter can be used to select any one of the AM signals. Removing the DC
component from the input eliminates the carrier signal and creates DSB-SC modulation.
The process of reversing the polarity of a signal is easily accomplished by placing two
switch pairs in the output of a differential amplifier. The LM 1596 Balanced Modulator is
an example of such a device. A unipolar modulator will involve multiplying a dc
modulation signal by 1 and 0.
Signal bandwidth is an important characteristic of any modulation scheme
In general, a narrow bandwidth is desirable
Bandwidth is calculated by: B = 2 fm.
Power in a transmitter is important, but the most important power measurement is that of the
portion that transmits the information
AM carriers remain unchanged with modulation and therefore are wasteful
Power in an AM transmitter is calculated according to the formula :
Pt = Pc ( 1 + m2/2)
P = P ( 1 + m 2
/2)
t c
Hence, m = √2 {(P /P ) -1}
t c
This is an important eqn., since it
relates the total power to wasted
carrier, since only sidebands carry
information. If m = 1 (100%), then
Pt = 1 + m²/2 =1.5; that is, if 1.5
W is transmitted only 0.5 W
actually carries information!
Examples to work out in the class:
1.A carrier of 1000 W is modulated with a
resulting m of 0.8; what is the total power? Ans:
2.For a carrier of 250 W, with 90% modulation,
what is the total power? Ans:
3.For a carrier of 500 W and m =0.75 what is the
total power? Ans:
4.If the total power is 1000 W and m =0.5, what
is the carrier power? Ans =
5.What are the carrier and sideband power with a
m =0.25 (25%), when total power is 100 W
maxm. power? Ans: Pc; sidebands have the
remaining= ~ x W ! So, as m decreases, the
amount of sideband power drastically decreases.
Modulation by several carriers:
In practice, there are several sine waves
modulating a carrier. In such cases the
total modulation voltage Et is given by Et =
√ (E1² + E2² + E3²) etc. If we divide both
sides by Ec, then
Et/Ec = √ {(E1² /Ec² ) + (E2²/Ec²) + (E3²
/Ec² )}
This is same as mt=√ (m1² +m2² + m3² ).
Hence, to get the total modulation index,
take the square root of the sum of
squares of the individual modulation
index.
As an example, K & D page 43:
1. A Tx radiates 9 KW with the carrier
unmodulated and 10.125 KW when it is
sinusoidally modulated.
Calculate the m and percentage of
modulation. If another sine wave
modulates the same carrier with an
m2 =0. 4 then calculate the total
modulated power.
First calculate m²/2 fromP t = P c( 1 +
m2/2).The second m value is given. Find the
total m based on previous equatiom.
Ans: mt=0.64; now you can calculate Pt.
All the examples show that a lot of power
is wasted in a simple amplit. Modulation
scheme. Many ways are used to take care
of this. However, where power is
available, as in AM broadcast, AM is a
simple and useful scheme. It is also
helpful, when one has to recover the
information during demodulation at the
receiving end.
Hence AM is inefficient, but useful
because simple low cost circuits can be
used for mass distribution of information.
Quadrature AM and AM
Stereo
Two carriers generated at the same
frequency but 90º out of phase with each
other allow transmission of two separate
signals
Thisapproach is known as
Quadrature AM (QUAM or QAM)
Recovery of the two signals is
accomplished by synchronous
detection by two balanced
modulators
Quadrature Operation
Single-Sideband AM
The two sidebands of an AM signal are mirror
images of one another
As a result, one of the sidebands is redundant
Using single-sideband suppressed-carrier
transmission results in reduced bandwidth and
therefore twice as many signals may be
transmitted in the same spectrum allotment
Typically, a 3dB improvement in signal-to-noise
ratio is achieved as a result of SSBSC
DSBSC and SSB
Transmission
Power in Suppressed-
Carrier Signals
Carrier power is useless as a measure of power
in a DSBSC or SSBSC signal
Instead, the peak envelope power is used
The peak power envelope is simply the power
at modulation peaks, calculated thus:
PEP = Vp2/2R .
L
Assignment 4:
1.Carriers are spaced at 20 KHz beginning at
100 KHz. Each carrier is modulated by a
signal with 5 KH BW. Is there interference
from sideband overlap?
2.If the mod. Freq., is changed to 20 KHz? 3.
(a)The modulated peak value of a signal is 10
V and unmodulated carrier value is 8 V. What
is the mod. Index m? (b): If the values are
1800 V and 1000 V, m value? {Remember :m
= (Vmax-Vmin) / (Vmax+Vmin)}
4. A modulated signal on an Oscilloscope
has a maximum span of 5 V and a min.
span of 1 V; what is the value of m?
5. Max. span is 9 V; minm. Span is 8 V; m?
6. - do---- 8 V, --- do ---- 0 V,
m?
7.Total power is 1200 W; Carrier alone is
850 W. What is the value of m? Ans:91%
8.An unmodulated carrier of 10 W is
measured at 12 W, when modulated. What
is m?
9.A 75 W unmodulated carrier has 100 W
of power when modulated. What is m?
Ans: 82%
MC1445 balanced modulator
Examples to work out in the class:
1.A carrier of 1000 W is modulated with a
resulting m of 0.8; what is the total power? Ans:
1320 W.
2.For a carrier of 250 W, with 90% modulation,
what is the total power? Ans: 351 W
3.For a carrier of 500 W and m =0.75 what is the
total power? Ans: 641 W
4.If the total power is 1000 W and m =0.5, what
is the carrier power? Ans = 889 W.
5.What are the carrier and sideband power with a
m =0.25 (25%), when total power is 100 W
maxm. power? Ans: Pc = ~97 W; sidebands have
the remaining= ~ 3 W ! So, as m decreases, the
amount of sideband power drastically decreases.
