PULSE AMPLITUDE MODULATION (PAM)

Reporters: Abias, Marck Christopher Llamas, Eugine Cristy Sabido, Suzette

INTRODUCTION Objectives y y y y y Scope y y y y y y Brief History Definition Types of PAM Generation is PAM signal Demodulation of PAM signal Applications and problems with PAM. To briefly discuss the history of Pulse Amplitude Modulation To know the definition and types of PAM. To know how to generate a PAM signal To know how to demodulate PAM. To discuss the applications and some problems of PAM.

BACKGROUND Theory Pulse Amplitude Modulation is the simplest form of pulse modulation. It is the modulation in which the amplitude of a series of regularly spaced pulses is varied in accordance with the modulating signal. In other words, this technique transmits data by varying the voltage or power amplitudes of individual pulses in a timed sequence of electromagnetic pulses. The amplitude of each pulse is proportional to the amplitude of the message signal at the time of sampling. The purpose of PAM signaling is to provide another waveform that looks like pulses, yet contains the information that was present in the analog waveform. It can also be used for generating additional pulse modulations. History In electrical communications, the earliest reason for sampling a signal was to interlace samples from different telegraphy sources, and convey them over a single telegraph cable. Telegraph timedivision multiplexing (TDM) was conveyed as early as 1853, by the American inventor Moses G. Farmer. The electrical engineer W. M. Miner, in 1903, used an electro-mechanical commutator for time-division multiplex of multiple telegraph signals, and also applied this technology to telephony.

He obtained intelligible speech from channels sampled at a rate above 3500 4300 Hz: below this was unsatisfactory. Discussion Natural & Flat top PAM There are two types of PAM: Natural PAM and Flat top PAM. In Natural PAM, sampling occurs when finite width pulses are used in the modulation and tops of puses follow the modulating signal. Since a pulse is composed on infinite number of components, the circuit which processes a pulse must have infinite bandwidth. For practical purposes, the bandwidth should be such that it includes all the frequency components which have some bearing on the intelligence to be carried. While in Flat top PAM, the tops of the pulses are flat and the pulses have constant amplitude within the pulse interval. When the modulating waveform is reduced from the flat top wave form, through low pass filtering, it shows distortion. This distortion is negligible when the width is much less than the sampling period. Also, Flat top PAM is more popular and widely used, because during transmission the noise interferes with the top of the pulses. This noise can be removed easily if pulses have a flat top. PAM signal generation PAM signal is generated by using a pulse train, called the sampling signal (or clock signal) to operate an electronic switch or chopper . This produces samples of the analog message signal.

Natural sampling generation of PAM signals

In the figure shown above, the switch is closed for the duration of each pulse allowing the message signal at that sampling time to become part of the output. The switch is open for the

remainder of each sampling period making the output zero. This type of sampling is called Natural sampling.

Flat-top sampling generation of PAM signals

For flat-top sampling, a sample-and-hold circuit is used in conjunction with the chopper to hold the amplitude of each pulse at a constant level during the sampling time. Sampling rate, The repetition rate of the sampling signal is called the sampling rate, or sampling frequency, and is abbreviated . Observation in the time domain shows that, when the sampling rate is much greater than the frequency of the message signal , the PAM signal clearly resembles the message signal. If the sampling rate is reduced, or the message signal frequency is increased, the resemblance is less visible. It is neither nor fm alone that determines the degree of resemblance between the PAM and message signals, it is the ratio / . The lower this ratio, the less the resemblance. Disadvantages The BW required for transmission of a PAM signal is very large as compared to the maximum frequency present in the modulating signal. As the amplitude of the carrier pulses is varied according to the amplitude of the modulating signal, noise is maximum in the PAM wave. As the amplitude of the PAM signal is varied, this also varies peak power required by the transmitter

Applications Ethernet e.g. Fast Ethernet 100BASE-T2 medium (now defunct) Photobiology used for the study of photosynthesis using a PAM fluorometer Electronic drivers for LED lighting for lighting applications

CONCLUSION y y y PAM is rather stringent in its system requirement, such as short duration of pulse. Also, the noise performance of PAM may not be sufficient for long distance transmission. Accordingly, PAM is often used as a mean of message processing for time-division multiplexing, from which conversion to some other form of pulse modulation is subsequently made.

References http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulse-code_modulation http://www.tech-faq.com/pulse-amplitude-modulation.html http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0%2C%2Csid9_gci1102195%2C00.html http://ptuece.loremate.com/acs/node/9