COMMUNICATIONS LAB.

Experiment 1 : Amplitude Modulation / Demodulation

OBJECTIVES
1. Get familiar with Com.Lab. equipment, oscilloscopes and kits.
2. Introduction to amplitude modulation and demodulation.
GENERAL INFORMATION on Amplitude Modulation/Demodulation
Modulation is a process of controlling a quantity with another quantity. In communication it
should be understood as controlling one or more property of a signal (carrier) with an information
signal since transmitting an information signal in the form of a modulated carrier is either
necessary or has certain benefits over transmitting the bare information signal;
- Radiating baseband information signal through an antenna has technical difficulties (very
long antenna requirement)
- Using RF carriers opens the way to band sharing (frequency division mux) with other
transmitters.
Carrier is primarily a HF sinusoidal signal due to its wave propagation properties and is in
general in the form of y (t ) A cos(ct ) where A is the amplitude, c is the frequency and
is the angle of the sinusoidal. We are to replace the amplitude A in AM to A(t ) (or x(t ) ) to
notify that it is the information signal we are trying to transmit and it varies with time (ex: voice
signal). In AM c and are constant.
Amplitude modulation is primarily used for commercial/conventional broadcasting.

Fig.1. Unmodulated and amplitude modulated carrier example.

The process of extracting the message from a modulated signal is called demodulation or
detection. For AM, demodulation can be accomplished by;
- Using a diode + RC circuit (envelope detection)
- Using a synchronous detector (requiring exact carrier at the receiver)
We have synchronous demodulators in the lab.
(Question: We can easily wire carrier to the demodulator in the lab, but how do we generate
carrier with exact frequency and phase at a remote receiver?)
EXPERIMENT
1.The Amplitude Modulation
a) Generate 500kHz and 1Vpp carrier signal by using the RF2function generator.
b) Generate 10kHz and 0.8 Vpp message signal by using the FJ1function generator.
c) Make required connections except FJ1 on the training set to generate the AM modulated
signal. Required connections are given on Fig. 3a.
d) Connect the Channel 1 of the oscilloscope to the GM output of the AM module.
e) Adjusting the P1 potentiometer, obtain the signal specified in Fig. 2 at the GM output.

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COMMUNICATIONS LAB. Experiment 1 : Amplitude Modulation / Demodulation

Figure 2. The 500kHz signal to be observed at the GM output at step e).

f) Connect the message signal input to the module once again and observe the modulated
signal at the GM output. Save the result observed on the screen to your flash disk (FD)
and note down your comments.
g) Observe the output frequency spectrum using the FFT function on the oscilloscope.
Then, change the frequency and the amplitude of the message signal while using the FFT
to see the effects of the changes. Take notes. FFT analyzer can be found by pushing
theMath button on the oscilloscope. Save display to FD at each interesting result.
h) Exit FFT function. Adjust the P1 potentiometer to obtain ideal modulation where
modulation index value is 1 and over modulation where modulation index value is above 1.
Then, repeat g) for both ideally modulated signal and over modulated signal. Save
interesting displays and note down your comments.
i) State the block diagram of the modulation process and describe the effect of the P1
potentiometer.
j) Repeat e), f), g) and h) using sinusoidal message signal with 50kHz and 0.8Vpp.
2.The Amplitude Demodulation
k) Generate 500kHz - 1Vpp carrier signal by using the RF2function generator.
l) Generate 10kHz - 0.8Vpp message signal by using the FJ1function generator.
m) Make connections on the training kit to set up the AM demodulator as shown in Fig. 3b.
n) Connect the Channel 2 of the oscilloscope to the Fb output of the AM demodulator.
o) Adjust the P1 and P2 potentiometers on the demodulator part of the module to recover
the message signal back at the Fb output of the AM module.
p) Change the frequency and the amplitude of the message signal, observe the result and take
notes. Save screen shots to FD for your reports.

Figure 3. Module connections for AM modulation(left)/demodulation(right)

or

E-mail reports to : esogucomlab@gmail.com