Linear CW Modulation

Assoc Prof. Dr. Ho Van Khuong

Tele. Dept., HCMUT
Email: khuong.hovan@yahoo.ca

Continuous Wave Modulation (1)

Modulation is the systematic alteration of one waveform, called the
carrier, according to the characteristics of another waveform, the
modulating signal or message. The goal is to produce an information
bearing modulated waveform best suited to the given communication task.
Analog modulation methods can be divided into 2 main classes:
continuous-wave modulation and pulse coded modulation. Furthermore,
1. CW-modulation (continuous-wave) can be:
a) Linear CW-modulation
AM amplitude modulation
DSB double sideband modulation
VSB vestigial sideband modulation
SSB single sideband modulation

Continuous Wave Modulation (2)

b) Exponential CW-modulation
FM frequency modulation
PM phase modulation
2) Pulse coded modulation (for discrete signals) can be:
PAM pulse coded amplitude modulation
PDM pulse delay modulation
PPM pulse position modulation
CW modulation includes a high frequency sinusoidal signal, pulse
modulation contains a square wave.

Continuous Wave Modulation (3)

Example of Analog Modulation Methods

E.g., applications of AM signals: commercial broadcasting,

multiplexing of telephone signals, short wave military and amateur
communications.
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Continuous Wave Modulation (4)

Assumptions:
Assumptions of information signal x(t) are as follows
Bandlimited:
Normalized:

Tone Modulation:

AM Modulation (1)
AM-Signal in time domain:

where fc is carrier frequency,

Ac is the amplitude of the
unmodulated carrier,
> 0: modulation index.
AM-signal (modulated
envelope):

Envelope reproduces the shape

of x(t) if

AM Modulation (2)
100 % modulation: = 1
Overmodulation: > 1: It causes phase reversals and envelope
distortion.

AM Modulation (3)
AM-Signal in Frequency Domain

Here, we have written out only the positive-frequency half. Negative

frequency half will be the hermitian image of the above equation.
The bandwidth of the modulated signal is twice the bandwidth of
modulating (message) signal: BT = 2W.

AM Modulation (4)
Power of AM-Signal:
Average transmitted power is:

When fc >> W, second term averages to zero. If

and
Then,
This can be represented by using the power of unmodulated carrier Pc
and the power per sideband Psb:

AM Modulation (5)
It follows from the condition | x(t)| 1 that

Consequently, at least 50% of the total transmitted power resides in a

carrier term thats independent of x(t) and thus conveys no message
information.
AM-signal is not practical for transmitting DC-component or signals
with significant low frequency content.

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DSB-Modulation (1)
DSB: double-sideband suppressed-carrier modulation: two
sidebands, suppressed carrier
In frequency domain:

Like AM-spectrum without carrier

Bandwidth BT = 2W
Phase reversal whenever x(t) crosses 0.
In Time domain:
Envelope:
Phase:

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DSB-Modulation (2)
Note: Envelope itself cannot be used for detection because of the phase
reversal
Detection is more difficult than in the case of AM
DSB conserves power but requires complicated demodulation
circuitry, whereas AM requires increased power to permit
simple envelope detection.

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DSB-Modulation (3)
Power of DSB-signal:
All of the average transmitted power is used for information transition.

The peak envelope power is the limiting factor in the transmitters

Amax2 (Amax = max A(t) ).

If Amax2 is fixed and other factors are equal, a DSB-transmitter

produces four times the sideband power of an AM-transmitter. Since
the transmission range is proportional to the power per sideband, DSB
provide 4 times longer path length.
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Tone Modulation and Phasor Analysis (1)

Setting
DSB:

AM:

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Tone Modulation and Phasor Analysis (2)

Phasor analysis is helpful for studying effects of transmission
distortion and interference:
Example: Consider tone-modulated AM with Am = 2/3. The phasor
diagram is constructed as (including carrier phasor and two sideband
phasors):

The phasor sum equals the envelope Ac(1 + 2/3 cosmt)

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Tone Modulation and Phasor Analysis (3)

Suppose that a transmission channel completely removes the lower
sideband, then we obtain a phasor as:

Now the envelope becomes:

Therefore, the envelop distortion can be determined. Also, the

amplitude distortion produces a time-varying phase (t).
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SSB-Modulation (1)
SSB: Single-sideband (suppressed-sideband)
AM is wasteful of both power and bandwidth, DSB is wasteful of
bandwidth.
In the case of real baseband signals, the positive frequencies contains
all the information of the signal.
=> The upper and lower sidebands of DSB are symmetric about the
carrier frequency, so either one contains all the message information.
USSB: Lower sideband is removed.
LSSB: Upper sideband is removed.
In both cases, the bandwidth is
and the transmitted power is

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SSB-Modulation (2)
SSB spectra:

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SSB-Modulation (3)
Tone-modulation:

Note: Pure sine wave with frequency fc fm

Envelope is constant => envelope detection does not work.

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Hilbert Transform (1)

Hilbert transform is useful when analysing the SSB modulation. We
will also see in what follows the relationship between Hilbert
transform and analytic signals.
In the following, we are using a quadrature filter with transfer
function:

The corresponding impulse response is

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Hilbert Transform (2)

Now, let the input signal to a quadrature filter be x(t). Then, the output
signal x(t) is defined to be the Hilbert-transform of x(t):

The quadrature filter is non-causal, so it is not realizable. It can be,

however, well approximated over a finite frequency band.

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Hilbert Transform (3)

Hilbert-transform properties:
A signal x(t) and its Hilbert transform x(t) have the same
amplitude spectrum. In addition, the energy or power in a signal
and in its Hilbert transform are also equal.
If x(t) is the Hilbert transform of x(t), then - x(t) is the Hilbert
transform of x(t). i.e., that two successive frequency shifts of -90
degrees result in a total shift of 180 degrees.
A signal x(t) and its Hilbert transform x(t) are orthogonal.
Hilbert transforms are useful in analyzing SSB signals.

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Hilbert Transform (4)

Examples:
(a) The Hilbert-transform for a sinusoidal signal corresponds to 90
phase-shift:

(b) The Hilbert-transform of a rectangular pulse is:

Then,

(See more on p. 123, [1])

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SSB Modulation: Analysis with Arbitrary Message (1)

We begin with the general DSB-modulated signal:

The idea is to use the method of low-pass equivalent signals:

We assume that the sideband filters are ideal:

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SSB Modulation: Analysis with Arbitrary Message (2)

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SSB Modulation: Analysis with Arbitrary Message (3)

Then, the output of the ideal filter:

Frequency domain waveform of SSB signal:

Time-domain waveform of SSB signal:

A signal under the form

is called an analytic signal.

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SSB Modulation: Analysis with Arbitrary Message (4)

Lowpass bandpass transformation yields:

This means that we can represent the SSB-modulated signal with inphase and quadrature-phase components as:

The SSB envelope is:

Due to the complexity of the above expression, it is a difficult task to

sketch SSB waveforms or to determine the peak envelope power.

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SSB Modulation: Analysis with Arbitrary Message (5)

Example: SSB with pulse modulation

SSB envelope A(t) exhibits infinite peaks (horns) at t = 0 and t = , the

instants when x(t) has stepwise discontinuties.
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SSB Modulation: Analysis with Arbitrary Message (6)

Remarks:
Whenever the SSB modulating signal has abrupt transitions, the
Hilbert transform contains sharp peaks. In practice, the message
needs to be lowpass filtered before SSB modulation.
SSB is not appropriate for pulse transmission, digital data, or
similar applications, and more suitable modulating signals (such as
audio waveforms) should still be lowpass filtered before
modulation, in order to smooth out any abrupt transitions that
might cause excessive horns or smearing.

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Analytic Signal
An analytic signal, in general, is a signal which has only positive
frequency components. Thus, its frequency spectrum is zero when f < 0.
An analytic signal is also defined as:

(this is also called pre-envelope of a real signal).

Analytic signals are used in the analysis of SSB modulation. SSB
modulation can be studied as follows: first, we form the analytic lowpass
signal, then we apply a frequency translation (at carrier frequency):

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VSB Modulation (1)

VSB (Vestigial sideband): A compromise between DSB and SSB:
Bandwidth closer to SSB
Easier to implement than SSB
The message can include also small frequencies
Consider a modulation signal of very large bandwidth having significant
low frequency content (e.g., television video, facsimile, high-speed data
signals). Bandwidth conservation argues for the use of SSB, but
practical SSB signals have poor low-frequency response (due to nonideality of practical filters). On the other hand, DSB works quite well for
low message frequencies, but the transmission bandwidth is twice that of
SSB. The compromise is VSB.

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VSB Modulation (2)

One sideband is passed almost completely, while just a trace, or a
vestige, of the other sideband is included.
If we take the USB case, the sideband filter transfer function H(f) has
to fulfil:

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VSB Modulation (3)

The filter transition band is symmetric with respect to fc in a way that:

Usually, we want that the transfer function HT(f) of the total chain
(transmitter + receiver) is symmetric in a way that:

The processing of the vestigial sideband can be done either in the

transmitter or in the receiver. Then, this calls for a little bit wider
vestigial sideband in the other end. The processing can also be shared
equally between the transmitter and the receiver.

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VSB Modulation (4)

VSB signal in time domain

The transmitted power is not easy to be determined exactly but it is

bounded by:

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VSB Modulation (5)

VSB+C (VSB & carrier)
Time domain waveform:

In-phase and quadrature-phase components are given by

The envelope is

Hence, if is not too large and not too small, then

Envelope detection works.

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VSB Modulation (6)

In practice, we have to find a compromise between the following:
Envelope distortion (related to the demodulation complexity)
Power efficiency
Bandwidth
Usually, practical solutions are found empirically.
In practice, VSB+C is used in traditional TV broadcasting systems,
such as NTSC, PAL and SECAM.

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I/Q Modulation or QAM

QAM: Quadrature Amplitude Modulation.
The general representation of a bandpas signal consists of two independent
components (in-phase and quadrature-phase components). Based on this,
it is possible to modulate two independent messages, x1(t) and x2(t), into
one carrier => QAM signal:

Assuming that the bandwidths of the two messages are the same, the
bandwidth of the QAM signal equals the DSB bandwidth. Then, if it is
necessary to transmit two messages, QAM has the SSB bandwidth
efficiency.
This QAM modulation principle is used commonly as follows:
PAL and NTSC colour TV systems are partially based on QAM
QAM is used extensively in digital communications (will be studied
later)
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Frequency Conversion and Linear Demodulation

Demodulation (for AM, DSB, SSB and VSB) implies downward
frequency translation in order to recover the original message.
Demodulators fall into two categories:
Envelope (non-coherent) detectors.
Synchronous (coherent) detectors.

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Envelope Detection (for AM)

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Synchronous Detection (1)

The local oscillator signal is synchronized in phase and frequency with
the carrier.

A generalized AM-/DSB-/SSB-/VSB-signal:

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Synchronous Detection (2)

Here, KD is a detector specific constant. If needed, the DC-term can be
filtered out.
It should be noted that the synchronous detector attenuates the
quadrature-phase component completely.

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Synchronous Detection of a VSB Signal

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Carrier Synchronization
In a good-quality synchronous detection, the local oscillator signal is
exactly synchronized to the carrier in both frequency and phase. The
synchronization can be based on:
1. Carrier (if present, the envelope detection is usually used).
2. Partially attenuated carrier.
3. Pilot-signal that is synchronized to the carrier (e.g., half of th
carrier frequency).
4. Short carrier burst that is repeated from time to time.
In practice, a phase-locked loop (PLL) is used to lock the local
oscillator phase and frequency to the received pilot-signal.

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Phase & Frequency Errors in Synchronous Detection (1)

The local oscillator signal:

DSB with sine wave modulation demodulated signal:

SSB with sine wave modulation demodulated signal:

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Phase & Frequency Errors in Synchronous Detection (2)

If the LO phase is drifting: 0, = 0
with SSB, the phase errors appear as delay distortion (extreme case:
delay of 90 degrees output signal becomes the Hilbert transform
of the input signal). However, human ear can tolerate rather high
delay distortions no serious effect in speech signals
with DSB, the amplitude is varying 0 ... KD (if phase error is + or
90 degrees, the amplitude vanishes completely) an apparent
fading effect.
If the LO frequency is drifting: 0, = 0
with SSB the frequency is changing the harmonic structure of
speech is distorted, tolerable error 10 Hz.
with DSB, a pair of frequency tones is produced worse than with
SSB.

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Phase & Frequency Errors in Synchronous Detection (3)

Summary: phase and frequency synchronization requirements are rather
modest for voice transmission via SSB. But in data, facsimile and video
systems with suppressed carrier, careful synchronization is a must.
Consequently, TV broadcasting employs VSB+C rather than suppressed
carrier VSB.

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Synchronization Errors in QAM

In the case of QAM, the in-phase and quadrature modulated signals can be
separated only if the local oscillator is well synchronized to the carrier.
Phase error in local oscillator causes leakage. For instance, 900 phase error
changes the I to Q signal and vice versa.

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