Frequencymodulation

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Intelecommunicationsandsignalprocessing,frequencymodulation(FM)
istheencodingofinformationinacarrierwavebyvaryingtheinstantaneous
frequencyofthewave.Thiscontrastswithamplitudemodulation,inwhich
theamplitudeofthecarrierwavevaries,whilethefrequencyremains
constant.

Inanalogfrequencymodulation,suchasFMradiobroadcastingofanaudio
signalrepresentingvoiceormusic,theinstantaneousfrequencydeviation,
thedifferencebetweenthefrequencyofthecarrieranditscenterfrequency,
isproportionaltothemodulatingsignal.

DigitaldatacanbeencodedandtransmittedviaFMbyshiftingthecarrier's AsignalmaybecarriedbyanAMorFM
frequencyamongapredefinedsetoffrequenciesrepresentingdigitsfor
radiowave.
exampleonefrequencycanrepresentabinary1andasecondcanrepresent
binary0.Thismodulationtechniqueisknownasfrequencyshift
keying(FSK).FSKiswidelyusedinmodemsandfaxmodems,
andcanalsobeusedtosendMorsecode.[1]Radioteletypealso
usesFSK.[2]

FrequencymodulationiswidelyusedforFMradiobroadcasting.
Itisalsousedintelemetry,radar,seismicprospecting,and
monitoringnewbornsforseizuresviaEEG,[3]twowayradio
systems,musicsynthesis,magnetictaperecordingsystemsand
somevideotransmissionsystems.Inradiotransmission,an
advantageoffrequencymodulationisthatithasalargersignal
tonoiseratioandthereforerejectsradiofrequencyinterference
betterthananequalpoweramplitudemodulation(AM)signal.
Forthisreason,mostmusicisbroadcastoverFMradio.

Frequencymodulationhasacloserelationshipwithphase
modulationphasemodulationisoftenusedasanintermediate
steptoachievefrequencymodulation.Mathematicallybothof
theseareconsideredaspecialcaseofquadratureamplitude
modulation(QAM).

Contents FMhasbetternoise(RFI)rejectionthanAM,asshown
inthisdramaticNewYorkpublicitydemonstrationby
GeneralElectricin1940.TheradiohasbothAMand
1 Theory FMreceivers.Withamillionvoltarcasasourceof
interferencebehindit,theAMreceiverproducedonlya
1.1 Sinusoidalbasebandsignal roarofstatic,whiletheFMreceiverclearlyreproduceda
musicprogramfromArmstrong'sexperimentalFM
1.2 Modulationindex transmitterW2XMNinNewJersey.

1.3 Besselfunctions

1.4 Carson'srule

2 Noisereduction
 3 Implementation

3.1 Modulation

3.2 Demodulation

4 Applications

4.1 Magnetictapestorage

4.2 Sound

4.3 Radio

5 Seealso

6 References

7 Externallinks

8 Furtherreading

Theory
Iftheinformationtobetransmitted(i.e.,thebasebandsignal)is andthesinusoidalcarrieris
,wherefcisthecarrier'sbasefrequency,andAcisthecarrier'samplitude,themodulator
combinesthecarrierwiththebasebanddatasignaltogetthetransmittedsignal:

where = , beingthesensitivityofthefrequencymodulatorand beingtheamplitudeofthe

modulatingsignalorbasebandsignal.

Inthisequation, istheinstantaneousfrequencyoftheoscillatorand isthefrequencydeviation,which

representsthemaximumshiftawayfromfcinonedirection,assumingxm(t)islimitedtotherange1.

Whilemostoftheenergyofthesignaliscontainedwithinfcf,itcanbeshownbyFourieranalysisthatawiderrange
offrequenciesisrequiredtopreciselyrepresentanFMsignal.ThefrequencyspectrumofanactualFMsignalhas
componentsextendinginfinitely,althoughtheiramplitudedecreasesandhigherordercomponentsareoftenneglectedin
practicaldesignproblems.[4]

Sinusoidalbasebandsignal

Mathematically,abasebandmodulatedsignalmaybeapproximatedbyasinusoidalcontinuouswavesignalwitha
frequencyfm.ThismethodisalsonamedasSingletoneModulation.Theintegralofsuchasignalis:
Inthiscase,theexpressionfory(t)abovesimplifiesto:

wheretheamplitude ofthemodulatingsinusoidisrepresentedbythepeakdeviation (seefrequencydeviation).

TheharmonicdistributionofasinewavecarriermodulatedbysuchasinusoidalsignalcanberepresentedwithBessel
functionsthisprovidesthebasisforamathematicalunderstandingoffrequencymodulationinthefrequencydomain.

Modulationindex

Asinothermodulationsystems,themodulationindexindicatesbyhowmuchthemodulatedvariablevariesaroundits
unmodulatedlevel.Itrelatestovariationsinthecarrierfrequency:

where isthehighestfrequencycomponentpresentinthemodulatingsignalxm(t),and isthepeakfrequency

deviationi.e.themaximumdeviationoftheinstantaneousfrequencyfromthecarrierfrequency.Forasinewave
modulation,themodulationindexisseentobetheratioofthepeakfrequencydeviationofthecarrierwavetothe
frequencyofthemodulatingsinewave.

If ,themodulationiscallednarrowbandFM,anditsbandwidthisapproximately .Sometimesmodulation
indexh<0.3radisconsideredasNarrowbandFMotherwiseWidebandFM.

Fordigitalmodulationsystems,forexampleBinaryFrequencyShiftKeying(BFSK),whereabinarysignalmodulates
thecarrier,themodulationindexisgivenby:

where isthesymbolperiod,and isusedasthehighestfrequencyofthemodulatingbinarywaveformby

convention,eventhoughitwouldbemoreaccuratetosayitisthehighestfundamentalofthemodulatingbinary
waveform.Inthecaseofdigitalmodulation,thecarrier isnevertransmitted.Rather,oneoftwofrequenciesis
transmitted,either or ,dependingonthebinarystate0or1ofthemodulationsignal.

If ,themodulationiscalledwidebandFManditsbandwidthisapproximately .WhilewidebandFMuses
morebandwidth,itcanimprovethesignaltonoiseratiosignificantlyforexample,doublingthevalueof ,while
keeping constant,resultsinaneightfoldimprovementinthesignaltonoiseratio.[5](ComparethiswithChirpspread
spectrum,whichusesextremelywidefrequencydeviationstoachieveprocessinggainscomparabletotraditional,better
knownspreadspectrummodes).

WithatonemodulatedFMwave,ifthemodulationfrequencyisheldconstantandthemodulationindexisincreased,the
(nonnegligible)bandwidthoftheFMsignalincreasesbutthespacingbetweenspectraremainsthesamesomespectral
componentsdecreaseinstrengthasothersincrease.Ifthefrequencydeviationisheldconstantandthemodulation
frequencyincreased,thespacingbetweenspectraincreases.