1

Lecture 7
AM and FM Signal Demodulation

Introduction
Demodulation of AM signals
Demodulation of FM Signals
Regeneration of Digital Signals and Bias
Distortion
Noise and Transmission Line Capacity
Channel capacity
Conclusion
2
Introduction
The goal of demodulation.
Demodulation
Regeneration can exactly reproduce the original
digital signal.
An AM signal preserves the frequency domain
information of the baseband signal in each sideband,
Two methods for demodulation of an AM signal:
Envelope detection (for DSBTC AM signal)
Synchronous detection (coherent or homodyne)
3
FM signal demodulation
It is more resistant to noise than an AM signal.
filtering and Limiting the transmitted signal.
Differentiation to obtain the phase information in the
modulated signal.
There are four ways to implement differentiation:
- Phase-Locked Loop
- Zero-Crossing Detection
- FM-to-AM Conversion
- Phase-Shift or Quadrature Detection


4
Envelope detection circuit.

Diode
C
R
2

R
1

R S(

t

) S
f
(

t

)
Operational
Amplifier
Low-pass
filter
Half-wave
rectifier
S
r
(

t

)
5
Half-wave rectification and filtration of DSBTC AM signal.

Baseband signal S
m
(

t

)
Modulated signal S

(

t

)
Rectified signal S
r
(

t

)
Filtered signal S
f
(

t

)
6
Circuit diagram of the low-pass filter.


8 6
10 to 10 ; ~ =
E
g ge e
out

C
R
2

R
1

e
out

Operational
Amplifier
e
in

R

-g

7
E
E E E E

+

R
0 ) (
C
R R
2 1
e
dt
e e d e e e e
out out in

In the limit as | g | , the voltage, otherwise eout = -g

e
dt
de e e
out out in
= C
R R
2 1
dt
de
e e
out
out in
+ = C R
R
R
2
1
2
or
| |
) ( C R C R
; ;
R
R
R
R
2 2
1
2
1
2
e e j U j
dt
de
F
U e F U e F
out
out
out
out
in
in
=
(

= =
(

( )
C R 1
1
R
R
2 1
2
e
e
j U
U
j H
in
out
+
= =
( )
( )
( ) C R tan ) (
C R 1
1
R
R
2
1
2
2
1
2
e e
e
e
=
+
=

j H
0

e
8
( )
( ) | |
2
2 10
1
2
10
2
2
1
2
10 10
C R 1 log 10
R
R
log 20
C R 1
1
R
R
log 20 ) ( log 20
e
e
e
+
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
|
|
.
|

\
|
+
= j H


( ) ( )
|
|
.
|

\
|
~

|
|
.
|

\
|
~ <<
1
2
10
10
1
2
10
2
R
R
log 20
1 log 10
R
R
log 20 log 20 :
C R
1
e e j H


( ) ( )
dB 01 . 3
R
R
log 20
2 log 10
R
R
log 20 log 20 :
C R
1
1
2
10
10
1
2
10
2

|
|
.
|

\
|
=

|
|
.
|

\
|
= = e e j H
( ) ( ) | |
( ) C R log 20
R
R
log 20
C R log 10
R
R
log 20 log 20 :
C R
1
2 10
1
2
10
2
2 10
1
2
10
2
e
e e e

|
|
.
|

\
|
~

|
|
.
|

\
|
~ >> j H
( ) ( ) C R tan
2
1
e e =

2
) (
4
) (
C R
1
C R ) (
C R
1
2
2
2
t
e e
t
e e e
e e e
= =
= = =
~ <<
c
9

()

(a) Amplitude Bode plot (in decibels)
(b) Phase Bode plot (in radians)

constant
time delay
RC
20log
10
|

H(

j

)

|
plot of
20log
10

R
2

R
1
20log
10

R
2

R
1

-20log
10
(

R
2
C

)

c
=
1
R
2
C

c
=
1
R
2
C
-

2
-

4

gain?1
=
1
R
1
C
-3 dB
10
Synchronous Demodulation of AM signals
( ) ( ) | | ( ) t f t S A A t S
c m c c
t 2 cos + =
( ) ( ) | | ( ) ( )
( ) | | ( )
( ) | | ( ) | |
( ) ( ) | | ( ) t f t S A A
k
t S
k
A
k
A
t f t S A A
t f t S A A
t f t f t S A A t S
c m c
c
m
c
c
c m c
c
k
c m c
c
k
c c m c
c
k demod
t
t
t
t t
4 cos
2
1
2 2
2 2 cos 1
2
1
2 cos
2 cos 2 cos
2
2 3
2
1
2 2
1
2
1
+ + + =
+ + =
+ =
+ =

( ) ( ) | | o o 2 cos 1
2
1
cos
2
+ =
( ) ( ) t S
k
A
t S
m
c
demod
=
2
2
11
Block diagram of synchronous demodulator.

S
m
(

t

)
S
c
(

t

)
S

(

t

)

Multiplier
Low-pass
filter
S
demod
(

t

)
12
Demodulation of FM Signal
1 - filter the signal in order to eliminate all noise
outside of the signal band. Broadcast FM signals
are filtered by a band-pass filter prior to
transmitting.
2 - Modulated FM signal is to pass it through a
limiter. This will restrict the signal amplitude to
the range -V
L
to +V
L
. The output is a series of
nearly rectangular pulses.
3 - low-pass filter eliminates the higher frequency
components from these pulses to obtain a signal
which very closely resembles the transmitted FM
signal:
13
( ) ( ) | | t t V g t S
c L filter f
| e
t
+ ~ cos
4
g
filter
: gain of low-pass filter (ratio of R
2
to R
1
)

This amplitude variation in the received signal does not appear at the
output of the low-pass filter, but the phase function |

(

t

) is preserved.

After the added noise is removed, the demodulator must restore the
original signal S
m
(

t

). It is possible to accomplish this by differentiating
the filtered output signal with respect to time:
(Af : amplitude of filter output, Af ~ gfilter VL)
( ) ( ) | | ( ) ( ) t t
dt
t d
A t t A
dt
d
c c f c f
| e
|
e | e +
|
.
|

\
|
+ = + sin
) (
cos
|
|
|
.
|

\
|
+ =
}

t
m c c
d S k t f A t S t ) ( 2 cos ) (
14

Data
Transmission Medium
1. Rectangular pulses are generated. Pulse
Generator
Low Pass
Filter
FM
Modulator
2. High-frequency components are
removed and the wave is given a
more suitable shape for modulation.
Sine Wave
Generator
Band Pass
Filter
3. Frequency of sine wave carrier is
varied by the data signal.
4. Sidebands with low data content
are removed.
Noise
Transmitter
1. Components and noise outside the
transmitted signal bandwidth are
removed.
Band Pass
Filter
Limiter
FM
Demodulator
2. Signal is converted into a nearly
rectangular wave so that amplitude
distortions can be ignored
Sine Wave
Generator
Regenerator
3. Demodulation recovers the data
signal.
4. Data signal converted to
rectangular pulses.
Receiver
Data
15



Received signal S

(

t

)
Limited signal S
L
(

t

)
Filtered signal S
f
(

t

)
+V
L

+V
L

+V
L

+V
L

16
The DC offset can be removed with a capacitor placed in
series to the differentiator. The varying portion of the
signal is proportional to the original signal:
( ) ( ) ( ) t S
K
A
A t S t S K
dt
d
m
f
c f env m
+ = = e
|
;
( )
( ) ( )
dt
t d
A A
dt
t d
A t S
f c f c f env
|
e
|
e + =
|
.
|

\
|
+ =
By passing the differentiated signal through an ideal envelope
detector and low-pass filter, we can recover the original signal.
The carrier frequency determines the DC offset of this signal,
which will be much larger than the varying portion of the signal:

There are four ways to implement a differentiator:
A. Phase-Locked Loop (PLL)
B. Zero-Crossing Detection
C. FM-to-AM Conversion (also called a slope detector)
D. Phase Shift or Quadrature Detection

17
Phase-Locked Loop (PLL) - negative feedback.
The PLL consists of three basic components:
A. Phase detector (PD)
B. Low-pass filter (LPF)
C. Voltage controlled oscillator (VCO)

S
out
(

t

) S
f
(

t

)
S
phase
(

t

)
Voltage Controlled
Oscillator (VCO)
S
VCO
(

t

) = A
VCO
sin

[e
0
t + |
0
(

t)]
S
f
(

t

) = A
f
cos

[e
c
t + |

(

t)]
S
VCO
(

t

)
Phase
Detector
Low-pass
filter
18
Demodulation by Zero Crossing Detection
Zero crossing detector
Positive voltage.
Negative voltage.
Pulse generator.
low-pass filter.
The advantage of zero crossing detection (and
FM-to-AM conversion) is that no source of the
carrier frequency is required to demodulate the
signal. A digital signal can easily be recovered
from a FM signal in this manner.
Decoding an analog signal may be difficult by this
method, since the signal at the low-pass filter
output does not closely resemble the baseband
signal.
19



Received signal S

(

t

)
Zero Crossing Detection
Fully rectified signal
Pulse Generator
Low Pass Filter
Regenerator Threshold
Regenerated baseband
signal S
m
(

t)
Limited and filtered
signal S
f
(

t

)
20
Regeneration of Digital Signals and Bias
Distortion
To produce rectangular pulses, we send the demodulated signal
to a regenerator, which detects whether the signal level is above
a certain threshold.
A poorly adjusted regenerator threshold can cause bias
distortion, where the digital signal produced is not identical to
the original signal.

orig
reg
BD
t
t
= 1
21

Demodulated signal
Original digital signal
mark space mark space mark space
Regenerator threshold
is too high
Regenerated signal with
positive bias distortion
mark
space
mark
space mark space
Regenerated signal with
negative bias distortion
Regenerator threshold
is too low
mark
space
mark
space
mark
space
22
Noise is any signal that interferes with a transmitted signal. It can be
another message signal, a random fluctuation in the amount of
signal attenuation, environmental noise, or additional voltages
introduced by the transmitting or receiving equipment.
N = k T W
k: the Boltzmann constant = 1.3710 10
-23
Joules per degree Kelvin
T: temperature degrees Kelvin;
W: bandwidth in Hertz

The channel capacity is the maximum rate at which data can be
accurately transmitted over a given communication link
(transmission line or radio link) under a given set of conditions.
Shannon proved that if signals are sent with power S over a
transmission line perturbed by AWGN of power N, the upper limit
to the channel capacity in bits per second is:



W: bandwidth of the channel in Hertz
S: power of the signal in the transmission bandwidth
N: power of the noise in the transmission bandwidth

|
.
|

\
|
+ =
N
S
W C 1 log
2