FREQUENCY MODULATION In frequency modulation scheme, the frequency of the carrier signal is modulated or changed in accordance with the

instanteneous value of the information carrying modulating signal. In phase modulation, on the other hand, it is the phase angle of the carrier signal which is modulated in accordance with the instanteneous value ofthe modulating signal. The carrier signal We start with a sinusoidally varying signal called the 'carrier', usually of high frequency, and expressed as

is the amplitude and

is the angular frequency of the carrier signal. is the time.

is the linear frequency. MODULATING SIGNAL Next we consider the message signal containing the information to be transmitted. This signal is called the modulating signal as it is used to modulate or change some charecteristic of the carrier signal. It is of lower frequency vis-a-vis the carrier. The modulating signal may have different forms. We consider here a cosinusoidal modulating signal expressed as

is the amplitude and

is the angular frequency of the modulating signal. is the time.

is the corresponding linear frequency.

The Frequency-Modulated (FM) signal In order to obtain an expression for the frequency-modulated signal, we start with the instanteneous value of the modulated frequency of the carrier, , keeping in mind that in frequency modulation the carrier frequency is modulated by the instanteneous value of the modulating signal. By instanteneous, we mean, that which changes with time. The relevant expression would then be:

is the frequency of the unmodulated carrier, and is a proportionality constant.

is the instanteneous modulating voltage

Since the amplitude of the carrier remains fixed in frequency modulation, the form of the instanteneous frequency-modulated signal would be:

is the total instanteneous phase angle of the frequency-modulated voltage waveform. It is correlated with as follows:

is called the maximum frequency deviation in FM and is called the modulation index for FM. So finally we arrive at the expression for the frequency-modulated (FM) wave, viz.,