MODULATION

Capacity-approaching codes Demodulation Line coding Modem PAM PCM PWM M In electronics and telecommunications, modulation is the process of varying one or more properties of a periodic waveform, called the carrier signal (high frequency signal), with a modulating signal that typically contains information to be transmitted. In telecommunications, modulation is the process of conveying a message signal, for example a digital bit stream or an analog audio signal, inside another signal that can be physically transmitted. Modulation of a sine waveform transforms a baseband message signal into a passband signal. A modulator is a device that performs modulation. A demodulator (sometimes detector or demod) is a device that performs demodulation, the inverse of modulation. A modem (from modulatordemodulator) can perform both operations. The aim of digital modulation is to transfer a digital bit stream over an analog bandpass channel, for example over the public switched telephone network (where a bandpass filter limits the frequency range to 3003400 Hz), or over a limited radio frequency band. The aim of analog modulation is to transfer an analog baseband (or lowpass) signal, for example an audio signal or TV signal, over an analog bandpass channel at a different frequency, for example over a limited radio frequency band or a cable TV network channel. Analog and digital modulation facilitate frequency division multiplexing (FDM), where several low pass information signals are transferred simultaneously over the same shared physical medium, using separate passband channels (several different carrier frequencies). The aim of digital baseband modulation methods, also known as line coding, is to transfer a digital bit stream over a baseband channel, typically a non-filtered copper wire such as a serial bus or a wired local area network.

The aim of pulse modulation methods is to transfer a narrowband analog signal, for example a phone call over a wideband baseband channel or, in some of the schemes, as a bit stream over another digital transmission system. In music synthesizers, modulation may be used to synthesise waveforms with an extensive overtone spectrum using a small number of oscillators. In this case the carrier frequency is typically in the same order or much lower than the modulating waveform. See for example frequency modulation synthesis or ring modulation synthesis.

ANALOG MODULATION METHODS

A low-frequency message signal (top) may be carried by an AM or FM radio wave. In analog modulation, the modulation is applied continuously in response to the analog information signal. Common analog modulation techniques are: Amplitude modulation (AM) (here the amplitude of the carrier signal is varied in accordance to the instantaneous amplitude of the modulating signal) Double-sideband modulation (DSB) Double-sideband modulation with carrier (DSB-WC) (used on the AM radio broadcasting band) Double-sideband suppressed-carrier transmission (DSB-SC) Double-sideband reduced carrier transmission (DSB-RC) Single-sideband modulation (SSB, or SSB-AM) SSB with carrier (SSB-WC) SSB suppressed carrier modulation (SSB-SC) Vestigial sideband modulation (VSB, or VSB-AM) Quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) Angle modulation, which is approximately constant envelope

Frequency modulation (FM) (here the frequency of the carrier signal is varied in accordance to the instantaneous amplitude of the modulating signal) Phase modulation (PM) (here the phase shift of the carrier signal is varied in accordance with the instantaneous amplitude of the modulating signal)

DIGITAL MODULATION METHODS

In digital modulation, an analog carrier signal is modulated by a discrete signal. Digital modulation methods can be considered as digital-to-analog conversion, and the corresponding demodulation or detection as analog-to-digital conversion. The changes in the carrier signal are chosen from a finite number of M alternative symbols (the modulation alphabet). Schematic of 4 baud (8 bit/s) data link containing arbitrarily chosen values. A simple example: A telephone line is designed for transferring audible sounds, for example tones, and not digital bits (zeros and ones). Computers may however communicate over a telephone line by means of modems, which are representing the digital bits by tones, called symbols. If there are four alternative symbols (corresponding to a musical instrument that can generate four different tones, one at a time), the first symbol may represent the bit sequence 00, the second 01, the third 10 and the fourth 11. If the modem plays a melody consisting of 1000 tones per second, the symbol rate is 1000 symbols/second, or baud. Since each tone (i.e., symbol) represents a message consisting of two digital bits in this example, the bit rate is twice the symbol rate, i.e. 2000 bits per second. This is similar to the technique used by dialup modems as opposed to DSL modems. According to one definition of digital signal, the modulated signal is a digital signal, and according to another definition, the modulation is a form of digital-to-analog conversion. Most textbooks would consider digital modulation schemes as a form of digital transmission, synonymous to data transmission; very few would consider it as analog transmission.

Fundamental digital modulation methods

The most fundamental digital modulation techniques are based on keying: PSK (phase-shift keying): a finite number of phases are used. FSK (frequency-shift keying): a finite number of frequencies are used. ASK (amplitude-shift keying): a finite number of amplitudes are used. QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation): a finite number of at least two phases and at least two amplitudes are used. In QAM, an inphase signal (or I, with one example being a cosine waveform) and a quadrature phase signal (or Q, with an example being a sine wave) are amplitude modulated with a finite number of amplitudes, and then summed. It can be seen as a two-channel system, each channel using ASK. The resulting signal is equivalent to a combination of PSK and ASK. In all of the above methods, each of these phases, frequencies or amplitudes are assigned a unique pattern of binary bits. Usually, each phase, frequency or amplitude encodes an equal number of bits. This number of bits comprises the symbol that is represented by the particular phase, frequency or amplitude. If the alphabet consists of M = 2^N alternative symbols, each symbol represents a message consisting of N bits. If the symbol rate (also known as the baud rate) is f_{S} symbols/second (or baud), the data rate is N f_{S} bit/second. For example, with an alphabet consisting of 16 alternative symbols, each symbol represents 4 bits. Thus, the data rate is four times the baud rate. In the case of PSK, ASK or QAM, where the carrier frequency of the modulated signal is constant, the modulation alphabet is often conveniently represented on a constellation diagram, showing the amplitude of the I signal at the x-axis, and the amplitude of the Q signal at the yaxis, for each symbol.

Amplitude modulation
Amplitude modulation (AM) is a modulation technique used in electronic communication, most commonly for transmitting information via a radio carrier wave. AM works by varying the strength (amplitude) of the carrier in proportion to the waveform being sent. That waveform may, for instance, correspond to the sounds to be reproduced by aloudspeaker, or the light intensity of television pixels. This contrasts with frequency modulation, in which the frequency of the carrier signal is varied, and phase modulation, in which its phase is varied, by the modulating signal. AM was the earliest modulation method used to transmit voice by radio. It was developed during the first two decades of the 20th century beginning with Reginald Fessenden'sradiotelephone experiments in 1900. It remains in use today in many forms of communication; for example it is used in portable two way radios, VHF aircraft radio and in computer modems.[citation needed] "AM" is often used to refer to mediumwave AM radio broadcasting.

An audio signal (top) may be carried by an AM or FM radio wave.

Forms of amplitude modulation

In electronics and telecommunications, modulation means varying some aspect of a higher frequency continuous wave carrier signalwith an information-bearing modulation waveform, such as an audio signal which represents sound, or a video signal which represents images, so the carrier will "carry" the information. When it reaches its destination, the information signal is extracted from the modulated carrier by demodulation. In amplitude modulation, the amplitude or "strength" of the carrier oscillations is what is varied. For example, in AM radio communication, a continuous wave radio-frequency signal

(a sinusoidal carrier wave) has its amplitude modulated by an audio waveform before transmission. The audio waveform modifies the amplitude of the carrier wave and determines the envelope of the waveform. In thefrequency domain, amplitude modulation produces a signal with power concentrated at the carrier frequency and two adjacentsidebands. Each sideband is equal in bandwidth to that of the modulating signal, and is a mirror image of the other. Standard AM is thus sometimes called "double-sideband amplitude modulation" (DSB-AM) to distinguish it from more sophisticated modulation methods also based on AM. One disadvantage of all amplitude modulation techniques (not only standard AM) is that the receiver amplifies and detects noise andelectromagnetic interference in equal proportion to the signal. Increasing the received signal to noise ratio, say, by a factor of 10 (a 10decibel improvement), thus would require increasing the transmitter power by a factor of 10. This is in contrast to frequency modulation(FM) and digital radio where the effect of such noise following demodulation is strongly reduced so long as the received signal is well above the threshold for reception. For this reason AM broadcast is not favored for music and high fidelity broadcasting, but rather for voice communications and broadcasts (sports, news, talk radio etc.). Another disadvantage of AM is that it is inefficient in power usage; at least two-thirds of the power is concentrated in the carrier signal. The carrier signal contains none of the original information being transmitted (voice, video, data, etc.). However its presence provides a simple means of demodulation using envelope detection, providing a frequency and phase reference to extract the modulation from the sidebands. In some modulation systems based on AM, a lower transmitter power is required through partial or total elimination of the carrier component, however receivers for these signals are more complex and costly. The receiver may regenerate a copy of the carrier frequency (usually as shifted to the intermediate frequency) from a greatly reduced "pilot" carrier (in reduced-carrier transmission or DSB-RC) to use in the demodulation process. Even with the carrier totally eliminated in double-sideband suppressed-carrier transmission, carrier regeneration is possible using a Costas phase-locked loop. This doesn't work however for single-sideband suppressed-carrier transmission (SSB-SC), leading to the characteristic "Donald Duck" sound from such receivers when slightly detuned. Single sideband is nevertheless used widely in amateur radio and other voice communications both due to its power efficiency and bandwidth efficiency (cutting the RF bandwidth in half compared to

standard AM). On the other hand, in medium wave and short wave broadcasting, standard AM with the full carrier allows for reception using inexpensive receivers. The broadcaster absorbs the extra power cost to greatly increase potential audience. An additional function provided by the carrier in standard AM, but which is lost in either single or double-sideband suppressed-carrier transmission, is that it provides an amplitude reference. In the receiver, the automatic gain control (AGC) responds to the carrier so that the reproduced audio level stays in a fixed proportion to the original modulation. On the other hand, with suppressed-carrier transmissions there is no transmitted power during pauses in the modulation, so the AGC must respond to peaks of the transmitted power during peaks in the modulation. This typically involves a so-called fast attack, slow decay circuit which holds the AGC level for a second or more following such peaks, in between syllables or short pauses in the program. This is very acceptable for communications radios, where compression of the audio aids intelligibility. However it is absolutely undesired for music or normal broadcast programming, where a faithful reproduction of the original program, including its varying modulation levels, is expected. A trivial form of AM which can be used for transmitting binary data is on-off keying, the simplest form of amplitude-shift keying, in whichones and zeros are represented by the presence or absence of a carrier. On-off keying is likewise used by radio amateurs to transmitMorse code where it is known as continuous wave (CW) operation, even though the transmission is not strictly "continuous." Mathematical analysis John Renshaw Carson in 1915 did the first mathematical analysis of amplitude modulation, showing that a signal and carrier frequency combined in a nonlinear device would create two sidebands on either side of the carrier frequency, and passing the modulated signal through another nonlinear device would extract the original baseband signal.[1] His analysis showed only one sideband was necessary to transmit the audio signal, and Carson patented single-sideband modulation 1 December 1915.[1] SSB was used beginning 7 January 1927 by AT&T for longwave transatlantic telephone service. After WW2 it was developed by the military for aircraft communication. Example: double-sideband AM[edit]

Left part: Modulating signal. Right part: Frequency spectrum of the resulting amplitude modulated carrier

Fig 2: Double-sided spectra of baseband and AM signals. A carrier wave is modeled as a sine wave:

in which the frequency in Hz is given by:

The constants

and

represent the carrier amplitude and initial phase, and are

introduced for generality. For simplicity, their respective values can be set to 1 and 0. Let m(t) represent an arbitrary waveform that is the message to be transmitted, e.g., a simple audio tone of form:

where constant M represent the largest magnitude, and the frequency is:

It is assumed that

and that

Amplitude modulation is formed by the product:

represents the carrier amplitude. The values A=1 and M=0.5 produce y(t), depicted by the top graph (labelled "50% Modulation") in Figure 4. Using prosthaphaeresis identities, y(t) can be written in the form

Therefore, the modulated signal has three components: a carrier wave and two sinusoidal waves (known as sidebands), whose frequencies are slightly above and below Spectrum[edit] For more general forms of m(t), trigonometry is not sufficient; however, if the top trace of Figure 2 depicts the frequency of m(t) the bottom trace depicts the modulated carrier. It has two components: one at a positive frequency (centered on frequency (centered on ) and one at anegative

). Each component contains the two sidebands and a narrow

segment in between, representing energy at the carrier frequency. Since the negative frequency is a mathematical artifact, examining the positive frequency demonstrates that an AM signal's spectrum consists of its original (two-sided) spectrum, shifted to the carrier frequency. Figure 2 is a result of computing the Fourier transform of: following transform pairs: using the

Fig 3: The spectrogram of an AM broadcast shows its two sidebands (green), separated by the carrier signal (red).

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