Digital Modulation Tradeoffs

1. Linear Modulation:
a) The amplitude of the modulated transmitted signal: s(t), varies linearly with
the modulating digital signal: m(t). Bandwidth efficient but power
inefficient. Examples: M-ASK, M-PAM, BPSK, DPSK, QPSK, π/4 PSK, M-
QAM.
b) Information encoded in carrier signal’s amplitude and/or in carrier’s phase.
c) Easier to adapt. More spectrally-efficient than nonlinear modulation.
d) Issues: differential encoding, pulse shaping, bit mapping.
e) Often requires linear power amplifiers to minimize signal distortions.
2. Nonlinear Modulation:
a) The amplitude of the modulated transmitted signal: s(t), does not vary linearly
with the modulating digital signal: m(t). Power efficient but bandwidth
inefficient. Examples: FSK, MSK, GMSK, constant envelope modulation.
b) Information encoded in carrier signal’s frequency.
c) Continuous phase (CPFSK) modulation is a special case of FM.
d) Bandwidth determined by Carson’s rule(1) (pulse shaping).
e) More robust to channel and power amplifier’s nonlinearities.
Modulation: Types and Techniques
Types of Digital-to-Analog Modulations

Bit rate is the number of bits transmitted per second: Rb = kRs .

Baud rate is the number of signal elements transmitted per second: Rs = Rb/k .
 In the analog transmission of digital data, if a signal unit is composed of k bits,
then the bit rate is k times higher than baud rate. Baud rate determines the channel
bandwidth required to transmit the modulated signal.
Digital Bandpass Modulation Techniques
 In digital communications, the modulating baseband message signal: m(t) is a binary
or M-ary digital data stream. The carrier is usually a sinusoidal signal.
Types of Digital Modulation Techniques
 Performance Advantages of Digital Transmission
When compared to Analog Modulation
1. Digital transmission produces fewer data errors than analog transmission:
a) Data integrity & noise immunity: Easier to detect and correct information-bearing data errors, since
transmitted data is binary (1’s & 0’s : only two distinct values) .
b) Error coding is used to detect and correct digital transmission errors.
c) Regenerative capability: Regenerative digital repeaters placed along the transmission channel can
detect a distorted digital signal and retransmit a new, clean digital data signal. These repeaters
minimize the accumulation of noise and signal distortion along the transmission channel.
2. Permits higher transmission data rates: Economical to build transmission
links of very high bandwidth. Optical fiber designed for digital transmission.
3. Better spectral efficiency: Effective use of limited frequency resources
(narrow bandwidth) to send a large amount of data.
4. Security & privacy: Enables encryption algorithms in information-bearing
digital bit stream signals.
5. Easy to multiplex multiple sources of information: Voice, video and data in a
single transmission channel, since all signals are made up of 1’s and 0’s.
6. Easy to integrate computer/communication systems.
7. Digital equipment consumes less DC power in a smaller physical size.
 Bandpass Signals
 Bandpass communication signals are obtained by
modulating a baseband analog or digital signal on to a
carrier signal
 Definitions:
 Baseband Signal: waveform whose spectral magnitude
is non-zero for frequencies at or near f = 0. Negligible
spectral magnitude at f >> 0.
 Bandpass Signal: waveform whose spectral magnitude
is non-zero for frequencies concentrated in a band
around a frequency f = ± fc where fc >> 0. The frequency
fc is called the carrier or center frequency.

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Communication System
Information Transmission Information
Source Channel Sink

m (t) s (t)
Noise
r (t)
˜m (t)
Baseband Modulation & n (t) Demodulation Baseband
Signal Carrier & Carrier Signal
Processing Circuits Circuits Processing

Transmitter (Tx) Receiver (Rx)

Goal: Design system to transmit information, m(t), with as

little deterioration as possible within design constraints of
signal power, signal bandwidth, and system cost

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 Bandpass Signals
A | G( f ) |

 Baseband signal spectrum : f

-B 0 +B

 v(t) = g(t) cos (2p fc t)

 Bandpass signal spectrum :

|V ( f ) |
A A
2 2

-fc-B -fc -fc+B fc-B fc fc+B

f

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 Bandpass Signals
 Definitions:
 Modulation: process of translating a baseband information signal into
a bandpass signal with a carrier frequency fc using amplitude, phase,
and/or frequency variations of carrier.
 Bandpass signal s(t)  modulated signal, also called RF signal
 Baseband information signal g(t)  modulating signal
 Carrier Frequency
 Frequency of oscillatory sinusoid that is normally an assigned
frequency for wireless type transmissions (AM Radio, TV, 3G, etc.) 
FCC
 Multiple baseband signals of same type (BW) assigned different fc’s so
that spectrum can be shared
 Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA)

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 Bandpass Signals
 Modulation
 Mathematically  mapping operation that transfers source
information onto bandpass signal
 Functionally  translation or shifting of baseband signal
spectrum to higher frequency
 Necessary for transmission through most channels
 Necessary for wireless transmissions in particular
 Antenna size must be at least  0.1 = c / fc

 Large fc required for small antenna

 Antenna’s with large “gain” (focusing ability) require size >> 1

 Satellite dish has large gain (30-35 dB)

 Choose fc = 4 GHz then size = 20  = 1.5 m

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 Signal Representation
 Any physical bandpass waveform, v(t), can be
represented by
v(t )  Re g (t ) e j 2p fct   R(t ) cos2p f ct   (t )
 From block diagram on previous Slides
 Signal at Tx output  s(t) = v(t)
 Channel noise  n(t) = v(t)
 Signal + noise @ Rx input  r(t) = v(t)

 g(t)  “complex envelope” of v(t)

 Complex?  signal, in general, may have amplitude and
phase information

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 Complex Representation
 Another complex representation for bandpass signal is

v(t )  x(t ) cos( 2p f ct )  y(t ) sin( 2p f ct )

 Note that  (t) information is contained in both x(t) and
y(t)
and complex baseband envelope is
g (t )  x(t )  j y(t )  | g (t ) | e jg (t )  R(t ) e j (t )

Cartesian
where Cartesian from Polar is
Form x(t )  Re{ g (t )}  R(t ) cos (t ) Polar Form
y (t )  Im{ g (t )}  R(t ) sin  (t )

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 Complex Representation
 Polar from Cartesian form :
R(t )  | g (t ) |  x 2 (t )  y 2 (t )
 y (t ) 
 (t )  tan 1

 x(t ) 
 v(t) has bandpass spectrum concentrated at f = fc
 g(t) has baseband spectrum concentrated at f = 0
 g(t)  v(t) is often called:
 Lowpass to bandpass translation
 Frequency translation, shifting, or heterodyning
 Superheterodyne Rx

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 Modulation
 g(t), x(t), y(t), R(t), and  (t) are all baseband
waveforms
 g(t) is complex while x(t), y(t), R(t), and  (t) are all real
 R(t) must be > 0 (non-negative) since it is magnitude of
polar form

 Bandpass signal
v(t )  Re g (t ) e j 2p fct   R(t ) cos2p f ct   (t )
 e j 2p fct or cos2p f c t  translate or shift baseband G(f ) to
fc
 Multiplication in time is convolution in frequency

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Modulation  cos2p f t  c

| G( f ) | 1 1
A

2 2

-B 0 +B
f f
-fc fc

|V ( f ) |


A A
2 2

-fc-B -fc -fc+B fc-B fc fc+B

f

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Modulation
 v(t )  Re g (t ) e j 2p fct   R(t ) cos2p f ct   (t )

 If g(t) = constant then v(t) is pure sinusoid

 If g(t)  constant then the amplitude and/or phase of
v(t) will vary as a function of time
 R(t) = | g(t) | is the amplitude modulation (AM)
  (t) is the phase modulation (PM)
 Frequency modulation (FM) is a specific type of phase
modulation

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Modulation
 Cartesian form of complex baseband signal:
 x(t )  Re{g (t )}
g (t )  x(t )  j y(t ) where 
 y (t )  Im{ g (t )}
 x(t)  in phase modulation of g(t)
 y(t)  quadrature modulation of g(t)
 Quadrature = 90° phase difference
 Complex representation is VERY important in modern
communication systems with DSP
 Communication Rx’s often break received signal into two
baseband signal channels:
 x(t) = in phase (I) & y(t) = quadrature (Q)  I & Q channels

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 I & Q Channels
Bandpass Signal
(RF or IF)
cos(2p fc t)

-sin(2p fc t)

 Why use 2 channels when one will do?

 Sampling rate of A/D converter for digital baseband signal
processing will be 2  smaller compared to sampling rate for single
channel
 Cost/complexity of many A/D converters is  to fs
 Useful property for computer simulations of communication
systems
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Complex Signal Plot
Q
| g (t ) |  R(t )  x 2 (t )  y 2 (t )
y(t)
 y (t ) 
 (t )  (t )  tan 1  
I  x(t ) 
x(t)
Phasor Rotates CCW @ 2p fc (rad/s)

AM  vector magnitude changes as phasor rotates

BPSK  magnitude constant but phase switches 180° in
discrete jumps between 1/0 data bits

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Modulation
 Modulation  encode source information m(t) into a bandpass
signal s(t) (see block diagram)
 Using general complex representation
s(t )  Re g (t ) e j 2p fct   R(t ) cos2p f ct   (t )
 Complex envelope g(t) is function of modulation signal m(t) :
g (t )  g[m(t )]
where g[] is peforming a mapping operation on m(t)
 Different mapping functions for different modulation types
 Example: AM  g [m(t)] = Ac [1 + m(t)]

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Demodulation
 Demodulation: convert bandpass signal s(t) back into a
baseband signal  another frequency translation
 Assume  (t) is zero  amplitude modulation only, e.g.
R(t)
~ (t )  s(t )  cos2p f t   R(t ) cos2p f t  cos2p f t 
m c c c
Using trigonome tric identity : 2 cos 2 ( x)  1  cos 2 x
~ (t )  R(t ) cos 2 2p f t   1 R(t )1  cos4p f t 
m c 2 c
Desired Frequency
Baseband Doubled
Signal
~ (t )  1 R(t )  1 R(t ) cos4p f t 
m 2 2 c Signal

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 Demodulation
Bandpass | S( f ) | Bandpass
Signal A Signal
A
2 2

 fc
f
~ fc
Frequency |M(f )| Frequency
Doubled Signal Doubled Signal
LPF
A A A
4 2 4

2fc 2fc
Desired Baseband
Signal

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