I/Q Modulation and RC Filtering

Issues with coherent modulation Analog I/Q modulation principles RC networks as continuous-time filters Differentiation property of Fourier Transform
Copyright 2007 by M.H. Perrott All rights reserved.

M.H. Perrott 2007

I/Q Modulation and RC Filtering, Slide 1

AM Modulation and Demodulation

Transmitter Output
Lowpass Filter H(f) 2cos(2fot) 2cos(2fot)

Receiver Output

x(t)

y(t)

y(t)

w(t)

r(t)

Multiplication (i.e., mixing) operation shifts in frequency Lowpass filtering passes only the desired baseband signal at receiver What can go wrong here?
M.H. Perrott 2007 I/Q Modulation and RC Filtering, Slide 2

Also creates undesired high frequency components at receiver

Impact of 90 Degree Phase Shift

Transmitter Output
Lowpass Filter H(f) 2cos(2fot) 2sin(2fot)

Receiver Output

x(t)

y(t)

y(t)

w(t)

r(t)

If receiver cosine wave turns into a sine wave, we suddenly receive no baseband signal!
We apparently need to synchronize the phase of the transmitter and receiver local oscillators This is called coherent demodulation

Some key questions:

How do we analyze this issue? What would be the impact of a small frequency offset?
M.H. Perrott 2007 I/Q Modulation and RC Filtering, Slide 3

Frequency Domain Analysis

W(f) X(f) Y(f) H(f)

0
x(t)

f
y(t)

-fo

0 Transmitter Output

fo

f
y(t)

-2fo
w(t) H(f)

-fo
r(t) Lowpass Filter

fo

2fo

Receiver Output

2cos(2fot)

2cos(2fot)

1 -fo 0

1 fo f

1 -fo 0

1 fo f

When transmitter and receiver local oscillators are matched in phase:

Demodulated signal constructively adds at baseband

M.H. Perrott 2007

I/Q Modulation and RC Filtering, Slide 4

Impact of 90 Degree Phase Shift

W(f) X(f) Y(f) H(f) 2fo -2fo
w(t) H(f) 2sin(2fot) Lowpass Filter

0
x(t)

f
y(t)

-fo

0 Transmitter Output

fo

f
y(t)

-fo
r(t)

fo

Receiver Output =0

2cos(2fot)

1 -fo 0

1 fo f

f1 -f1 0
-j

When transmitter and receiver local oscillators are 90 degree offset in phase:
Demodulated signal destructively adds at baseband

What would happen with a small frequency offset?

M.H. Perrott 2007 I/Q Modulation and RC Filtering, Slide 5

I/Q Modulation
1
It(f) 1

1 Transmitter Output 0 fo f 1 -fo

Yi(f)

-fo
it(t)

I stands for in-phase

component
f

1 fo

0
Qt(f) 1

f
2cos(2fot) 2sin(2fot) qt(t) y(t)

0
Yq(f)

j -fo

f j

fo 0 -j

Q stands for quadrature

component

fo -fo 0
-j

Consider modulating with both a cosine and sine wave and then adding the results
This is known as I/Q modulation

The I/Q signals occupy the same frequency band, but one is real and one is imaginary
We will see that we can recover both of these signals
M.H. Perrott 2007 I/Q Modulation and RC Filtering, Slide 6

I/Q Demodulation
1
It(f) 1

1 Transmitter Output 0 fo f 1 -fo

Yi(f)

1 -fo f
y(t)

1 0 fo f
H(f) 2cos(2fot) 2sin(2fot) Lowpass 2

Receiver Output
Ir(f) ir(t) 2

-fo
it(t)

1 fo

0
Qt(f) 1

f
2cos(2fot) 2sin(2fot) qt(t) y(t)

0
Yq(f)

0
Qr(f) qr(t)

j -fo

f j

fo 0 -j

H(f)

Lowpass

fo -fo 0
-j

fo -fo 0
-j

Demodulate with both a cosine and sine wave

Both I and Q channels are recovered!

M.H. Perrott 2007

I/Q modulation allows twice the amount of information to be sent compared to basic AM modulation with same bandwidth What can go wrong here?

I/Q Modulation and RC Filtering, Slide 7

Impact of 90 Degree Phase Shift

1
It(f) 1

1 Transmitter Output 0 fo f 1 -fo

Yi(f)

fo -fo 0
-j

-fo
it(t)

f
H(f)

Receiver Output
Ir(f) ir(t) 2

1 fo f

0
Qt(f) 1

f
2cos(2fot) 2sin(2fot) qt(t) y(t)

0
Yq(f)

y(t)

2sin(2fot) -2cos(2fot)

Lowpass

0
Qr(f) qr(t)

j -fo

f j

fo 0 -j

f -fo 0 -1 -1 fo

H(f) Lowpass

0
-2

fo -fo 0
-j

I and Q channels get swapped at receiver

Key observation: no information is lost!

Questions

What would happen with a small frequency offset? What would happen with a large frequency offset?
I/Q Modulation and RC Filtering, Slide 8

M.H. Perrott 2007

Summary of Analog I/Q Modulation

Frequency domain view
Baseband Input
It(f) 1 it(t) H(f) Lowpass 2cos(2fot) 2sin(2fot) H(f) Lowpass qr(t) 2 ir(t) 2

Receiver Output
Ir(f)

0
Qt(f) 1

f
2cos(2fot) 2sin(2fot) qt(t)

0
Qr(f)

Time domain view

Baseband Input t
it(t) 2cos(2fot) 2sin(2fot) H(f) Lowpass 2cos(2fot) 2sin(2fot) H(f) Lowpass qr(t) ir(t)

Receiver Output t

qt(t)
M.H. Perrott 2007

I/Q Modulation and RC Filtering, Slide 9

R Vin= cos(2fot) IR

RC Filter
C Vout Scope or Spectrum Analyzer

Analyze by first deriving a differential equation relating output and input voltages

The filter frequency response is defined as

The output voltage corresponds to a scaled and phase shifted version of the input cosine wave
M.H. Perrott 2007 I/Q Modulation and RC Filtering, Slide 10

Differentiation Property of FT
Fourier Transform Definition

Derive impact of differentiation

M.H. Perrott 2007

I/Q Modulation and RC Filtering, Slide 11

Derivation of RC Filter Response

R Vin IR C Vout Scope or Spectrum Analyzer

Apply FT to above differential equation

Filter frequency response is then calculated as

M.H. Perrott 2007

I/Q Modulation and RC Filtering, Slide 12

Magnitude of RC Filter Response

R Vin IR C Vout Scope or Spectrum Analyzer

Define cutoff frequency of filter

Magnitude of response:

H(f)
1 1 2

M.H. Perrott 2007

-fc

I/Q Modulation and RC Filtering, Slide 13

fc

Summary
Coherent modulation requires synchronized local oscillators at transmitter and receiver
Impact of phase offset is to change baseband amplitude Impact of frequency offset is fading (small offset) or catastrophic corruption (large offset) of baseband signal

I/Q modulation allows twice the amount of information to be sent compared to basic AM
Impact of phase offset is to swap I/Q Impact of frequency offset is I/Q swapping (small offset) or catastrophic corruption (large offset) of received signal

RC networks provide continuous-time filtering Upcoming lectures

information

Examine another non-ideality: noise Lay groundwork for digital modulation and the concept of
M.H. Perrott 2007 I/Q Modulation and RC Filtering, Slide 14