DE LA SALLE UNIVERSITY-DASMARIAS

College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology

ECET412L- PRINCIPLE OF COMMUNICATIONS LABORATORY

Expt. No. 8
Frequency Modulation and Demodulation

Submitted By:
Maria Rosalina C. Reyes
ECE41

October 7, 2014

Engr. Conrado D. Monzon

Instructor

OBJECTIVES
1. To observe the dynamic response if the frequency modulation (FM) wave.
2. To determine the frequency deviation and modulation index.
3. To investigate the spectra of FM waves.
4. To understand the process of FM demodulation.
THEORY/DISCUSSION
Frequency modulation (FM) is the encoding of information in a carrier wave by
varying the instantaneous frequency of the wave. Frequency modulation, FM is widely
used for a variety of radio communications applications. FM broadcasts on the VHF
bands still provide exceptionally high quality audio, and FM is also used for a variety of
forms of two way radio communications, and it is especially useful for mobile radio
communications.
The most obvious method of applying modulation to a signal is to superimpose
the audio signal onto the amplitude of the carrier. However this is by no means the only
method which can be employed. It is also possible to vary the frequency of the signal to
give frequency modulation or FM. It can be seen that the frequency of the signal varies
as the voltage of the modulating signal changes.
When using frequency modulation, an additional improvement in signal to noise
ratio can be achieved if the audio signal is pre-emphasised. To achieve this the lower
level high frequency sounds are amplified to a greater degree than the lower frequency
sounds before they are transmitted. Once at the receiver the signals are passed through
a network with the opposite effect to restore a flat frequency response.

To achieve the pre-emphasis the signal is passed through a capacitor-resistor

(CR) network. At frequencies above the cut-off frequency the signal increases in level
by 6 dB per octave. Similarly at the receiver the response falls by the same amount. FM
signals can be generated using either direct or indirect frequency modulation: Direct FM
modulation can be achieved by directly feeding the message into the input of a VCO.
For indirect FM modulation, the message signal is integrated to generate a phasemodulated signal. This is used to modulate a crystal-controlled oscillator, and the result
is passed through a frequency multiplier to give an FM signal
Since its first introduction the use of frequency modulation, FM has grown
enormously. Now wideband FM is still regarded as a very high quality transmission
medium for high quality broadcasting. FM, frequency modulation is also widely used for
communications where it is resilient to variations in signal strength.
DATA AND RESULTS
FREQUENCY MODULATION
Fmin= 18,68 kHz

Fmax= 24.04 kHz

Fo=(fmin+fmax)/2= 21.36 kHz

Table 1. Characteristics of the FM Modulator
Vm (volts) fVCO (kHz) Vm (volts) fVCO (kHz)
-10

20.58

10

21.44

-9

20.6

21.52

-8

20.75

21.6

-7

20.77

21.69

-6

20.86

21.77

-5

20.95

21.86

-4

21.03

21.94

-3

21.10

22.03

-2

21.19

22.11

-1

21.28

22.20

21.96

Diagram. Modulator Characteristic of FM Modulator

What do you observe? The group observed that the behaviour of the graph is that as
the Vin increases the fVCO also increases.
kfm= 0.08
While looking at the oscilloscope, slowly vary the amplitude of the modulating signal
from 0 to 10Vpp, What do you observe? When the amplitude is low the frequency goes
slow and decreases and vice versa.

Diagram 2. Dynamic Characteristic of the FM Signal

While maintaining the amplitude of the modulating signal to 5V pp, slowly vary the
frequency from 1Hz to 10Hz. What do you observe on the output signal? The distance
between each cycle of the output widens proportionally.

Diagram 3. Dynamic Response of the FM Signal

Diagram 4. Dynamic Response of the FM signal with a Square Wave

f1= 19,94 kHz

f2= 20.07 kHz

Ffm= 130 Hz

Modulation index, n= 13
THE SPECTRUM OF FM
Table 2. The Spectrum of FM
MEASURED
f (kHz) VFM (dB)
18.9
-47
19.1
-31.8
19.4
-19
19.7
-9.79
20.1
-8.94
20.3
-10.2
20.6
-19
21
-32.2
21.2
-48.2
21.4
-60.6
FFM= 200 Hz

Diagram 5. FM Spectrum with 300-Hz Modulating Signal

Table 3. The FM Spectrum
MEASURED
f (kHz) VFM (dB)
18.5
-44.6
19
-27.4
19.6
-13.4
20.1
-5.79
20.5
-13.8
21
-27.4
21.5
-45
FFM= 500 Hz

Diagram 6. FM Spectrum with 500-Hz Modulating Signal

Bandwidth300Hz= 2.3 kHz
Bandwidth500Hz= 3 kHz
Using Carsons Rule,
BW= 2 kHz
FM DEMODULATION

Diagram 7. Demodulated Signal with Pre-Emphasis

What do you observe? When the input signal was placed in the pre-emphasis and set
the loop filter to T2, the output has an amplitude that doubles the input.
OBSERVATION/CONCLUSION
Based form the experiment conducted, Frequency Modulation is a type of
angle modulation that varies its frequency in every instantaneous frequency of the wave.
In FM, it can be seen that the frequency of the signal varies as the voltage of the
modulating signal changes. FM exhibits a deviation that is important in determining the
bandwidth of the signal. Also, the FM signal was improved by means of preemphasizing the signal. This method improves the signal to noise ration. The lower level
of the high frequency sounds were amplified to a greater degree before transmission.
Once these signals pass through the network with the opposite effect to restore a flat
frequency response. The signal undergoes a capacitor-resistor network. FMs
modulation index is always higher than one depending on its frequency modulation and
frequency deviation. The frequency spectra of an Frequency Modulation has many pair
of sidebands depending on the value of the modulating index. At the end of the
experiment, extracting the information that was carried by the FM signal was passed
through a demodulator. The output provided the information that was carried by the FM
signal. To achieve this different type of circuits can be used.
REFERENCES
http://www.radio-electronics.com/FM_modulation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequency_modulation
http://www.radio-electronics.com/demodulation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FM_Demodulation