What is FM: Frequency Modulation Tutorial

- overview or tutorial about the basics of what is frequency modulation, FM

used for modulating a radio signal to carry sound or other information.
FM TUTORIAL INCLUDES

FM tutorial

Advantages & disadvantages

Modulation index & deviation ratio

Spectrum & bandwidth

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, being used in taxis, and many other forms of vehicle.
In view of its widespread use, frequency modulation, FM, is an important form of modulation, despite
many forms of digital transmission being used these days.
FM, frequency modulation has been in use for many years. However its advantages were not
immediately apparent. In the early days of wireless, it was thought that a narrower bandwidth was
required to reduce noise and interference. As FM did not perform well under these conditions, AM
predominated and FM was not used. However, Edwin Armstrong, an American engineer looked at the
use of wideband FM for broadcasting and introduced the idea against the trend of the thinking of the
time.
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.

Frequency modulation basics

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
below that the frequency of the signal varies as the voltage of the modulating signal changes.
 Concept of frequency modulation
The amount by which the signal frequency varies is very important. This is known as the deviation and
is normally quoted as the number of kiloHertz deviation. As an example the signal may have a
deviation of 3 kHz. In this case the carrier is made to move up and down by 3 kHz.

Note on FM Demodulation:

In order to be able to extract any information being carried by an FM signal, it is necessary to pass it through a

demodulator. The output from this stage provides the information that was carried by the FM signal. There are many

methods of achieving this, using circuits that employ a variety of different techniques.

Read more about FM demodulation

Narrowband FM, NBFM, & Wideband FM, WBFM

The level of deviation is important in many aspects. It obviously is important in determining the
bandwidth of the overall signal. As a result the deviation used for FM is different between different
applications. Broadcast stations in the VHF portion of the frequency spectrum between 88.5 and 108
MHz use large values of deviation, typically 75 kHz. This is known as wideband FM (WBFM). These
signals are capable of supporting high quality transmissions, but occupy a large amount of bandwidth.
Usually 200 kHz is allowed for each wideband FM transmission. For radio communications purposes
less bandwidth is used. Narrowband FM, NBFM often uses deviation figures of around 3 kHz or
possibly slightly more. As quality is not as important for radio communications applications, the much
narrower bandwidth has advantages in terms of radio spectrum efficiency.
Improvement in Signal to Noise Ratio
It has already been mentioned that FM can give a better signal to noise ratio than AM when wide
bandwidths are used. The amplitude noise can be removed by limiting the signal to remove it. In fact
the greater the deviation the better the noise performance. When comparing an AM signal to an FM
one an improvement equal to 3 D2 is obtained where D is the deviation ratio.

FM pre-emphasis & de-emphasis

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.
Both the receiver and transmitter networks must match one another. In the UK the CR time constant
is chosen to be 50sS. For this the break frequency f1 is 3183 Hz. For broadcasting in North America
values of 75s with a break frequency of 2.1 kHz is used.
Pre-emphasising the audio for an FM signal is effective because the noise output from an FM system
is proportional to the audio frequency. In order to reduce the level of this effect, the audio amplifier in
the receiver must have a response that falls with frequency. In order to prevent the audio signal from
losing the higher frequencies, the transmitter must increase the level of the higher frequencies to
compensate. This can be achieved because the level of the high frequency sounds is usually less than
those lower in frequency.

Frequency modulation highlights

Frequency modulation is used in a wide variety or radio communications applications from
broadcasting to two way radio communications links as well as mobile radio communications. It
possesses many advantages over amplitude modulation and this is the reason for its widespread use.
Nowadays, many digital forms of radio communications are being introduced, but despite this the use
of frequency modulation, FM will undoubtedly continue for many years to come in many areas of radio
communications.

Frequency Modulation Advantages &

Disadvantages
- summary of the advantages and disadvantages of frequency modulation,
FM, detailing why it is used in certain applications and not others.
FM TUTORIAL INCLUDES

FM tutorial
 Advantages & disadvantages

Modulation index & deviation ratio

Spectrum & bandwidth

FM is widely used because of the many advantages of frequency modulation. Although, in the early
days of radio communications, these were not exploited because of a lack of understand of how to
benefit from FM, once these were understood, its use grew.
There are many advantages of FM, but also some disadvantages, and as a result it is suitable for
many applications, but other modes may be more suited to other applications.
An understanding of the disadvantages and advantages of FM will enable the choice of the best
modulation format to be made.

Advantages of frequency modulation

There are many advantages to the use of frequency modulation. These have meant that it has been
widely used for many years, and will remain in use for many years.

Resilient to noise: One of the main advantages of frequency modulation that has been
utilised by the broadcasting industry is the reduction in noise. As most noise is amplitude
based, this can be removed by running the signal through a limiter so that only frequency
variations appear. This is provided that the signal level is sufficiently high to allow the signal to
be limited.
Resilient to signal strength variations: In the same way that amplitude noise can be
removed, so too can any signal variations. This means that one of the advantages of frequency
modulation is that it does not suffer audio amplitude variations as the signal level varies, and
it makes FM ideal for use in mobile applications where signal levels constantly vary. This is
provided that the signal level is sufficiently high to allow the signal to be limited.
Does not require linear amplifiers in the transmitter: As only frequency changes are
required to be carried, any amplifiers in the transmitter do not need to be linear.
Enables greater efficiency than many other modes: The use of non-linear amplifiers, e.g.
class C, etc means that transmitter efficiency levels will be higher - linear amplifiers are
inherently inefficient.

Disadvantages of frequency modulation

There are a number of dis-advantages to the use of frequency modulation. Some are can be overcome
quite easily, but others may mean that another modulation format is more suitable.

Requires more complicated demodulator: One of the minor dis-advantages of frequency

modulation is that the demodulator is a little more complicated, and hence slightly more
expensive than the very simple diode detectors used for AM. Also requiring a tuned circuit
adds cost. However this is only an issue for the very low cost broadcast receiver market.
Some other modes have higher data spectral efficiency: Some phase modulation and
quadrature amplitude modulation formats have a higher spectral efficiency for data
transmission that frequency shift keying, a form of frequency modulation. As a result, most
data transmission system use PSK and QAM.
 Sidebands extend to infinity either side: The sidebands for an FM transmission
theoretically extend out to infinity. To limit the bandwidth of the transmission, filters are used,
and these introduce some distortion of the signal.
There are many advantages to using frequency modulation - it is still widely used for many broadcast
and radio communications applications. However with more systems using digital formats, phase and
quadrature amplitude modulation formats are on the increase. Nevertheless, the advantages of
frequency modulation mean that it is an ideal format for many analogue applications.

Frequency Modulation, FM Modulation Index &

Deviation Ratio
- notes and details of frequency modulation, FM, modulation index and
deviation ratio and the differences between them.
FM TUTORIAL INCLUDES

FM tutorial

Advantages & disadvantages

Modulation index & deviation ratio

Spectrum & bandwidth

In order to characterise frequency modulated signals there are figures used that are the equivalent of
those used for AM.
The modulation index and deviation ratio for FM are two of the major ones used. These appear to be
very similar to each other but they are subtly different.
In view of the slight differences between the definitions for FM modulation index and FM deviation
ratio, there is often confusion between the two terms.

FM modulation index
In terms of a definition: the FM modulation index is equal to the ratio of the frequency deviation to the
modulating frequency.
Thus the formula for the modulation index for FM is simple given by that shown below:

FM deviation ratio
The modulation index will vary according to the frequency that is modulating the transmitted carrier
and the amount of deviation. However when designing a system it is important to know the maximum
permissible values. This is given by the deviation ratio and is obtained by inserting the maximum
values into the formula for the modulation index.
Thus the FM deviation ratio can be defined as: the ratio of the maximum carrier frequency deviation
to the highest audio modulating frequency.

Where
D = Deviation ratio.
To give an example of how the deviation ratio may be calculated and used, take the example of an
FM broadcast transmitter. For these the maximum deviation is 75 kHz and the maximum modulation
frequency is 15 kHz. This means that the deviation ratio is 75 / 15 = 5.

Modulation index & FM bandwidth

It will often be seen that the terms narrowband or wideband FM are used when describing the form of
FM being used.

Narrowband FM: Narrow band FM is defined as an FM transmission where the value of is

small enough that the terms in the Bessel expansion, i.e. sidebands are negligible. For this to
be the case the modulation index must be less than 0.5, although a figure of 0.2 is often used.
Narrowband FM is often used for short distance communications using vehicle mount radios
or hand carried equipment. Here the narrow band means that the audio or data bandwidth is
small, but this is acceptable for this type of communication.
Wideband FM: Wideband FM is defined as the situation where the modulation index is above
0.5. Under these circumstances the sidebands beyond the first two terms are not insignificant.
Broadcast FM stations use wideband FM, and using this mode they are able to take advantage
of the wide bandwidth available to transmit high quality audio as well as other services like a
stereo channel, and possibly other services as well on a single carrier.
The bandwidth of the FM transmission is a means of categorising the basic attributes for the signal,
and as a result these terms are often seen in the technical literature associated with frequency
modulation, and products using FM. This is one area where the figure for modulation index is used.

Frequency Modulation Bandwidth, Spectrum &

Sidebands
- notes and details of frequency modulation bandwidth, spectrum and
sidebands, and their impact on the use of FM.
FM TUTORIAL INCLUDES

FM tutorial
 Advantages & disadvantages

Modulation index & deviation ratio

Spectrum & bandwidth

The bandwidth, spectrum and sidebands are of great importance when using frequency modulation.
The sidebands of a frequency modulated signal extend out either side of the main carrier, and cause
the bandwidth of the overall signal to increase well beyond that of the unmodulated carrier.
As the modulation of the carrier varies, so do the sidebands and hence the bandwidth and overall
spectrum of the signal.

Frequency modulation Bessel functions & sidebands

Any signal that is modulated produces sidebands. In the case of an amplitude modulated signal they
are easy to determine, but for frequency modulation the situation is not quite as straightforward. . They
are dependent upon the not only the deviation, but also the level of deviation, i.e. the modulation index
M. The total spectrum is an infinite series of discrete spectral components expressed by a complex
formula using Bessel functions of the first kind.

The total spectrum can be seen to consist of the carrier plus an infinite number of sidebands spreading
out on either side of the carrier at integral multiples of the modulating frequency. The relative levels of
the sidebands can be obtained by referring to a table of Bessel functions. It can be seen from the
image below that the relative levels rise and fall according to the different values of modulation index.
For small values of modulation index, when using narrow-band FM, and FM signal consists of the
carrier and the two sidebands spaced at the modulation frequency either side of the carrier. This looks
to be the same as an AM signal, but the difference is that the lower sideband is out of phase by 180
degrees.
As the modulation index increases it is found that other sidebands at twice the modulation frequency
start to appear. As the index is increased further other sidebands can also be seen.
 Spectra of an FM signal with differing levels of modulation index
At certain levels of modulation, where the modulation index equals figures of 2.41, 5.53, 8.65 and
other higher specific levels, the carrier actuals falls to a figure of zero, the signal being comprised
simply of the sidebands.

Frequency modulation bandwidth

In the case of an amplitude modulated signal the bandwidth required is twice the maximum frequency
of the modulation. Whilst the same is true for a narrowband FM signal, the situation is not true for a
wideband FM signal. Here the required bandwidth can be very much larger, with detectable sidebands
spreading out over large amounts of the frequency spectrum. Usually it is necessary to limit the
bandwidth of a signal so that it does not unduly interfere with stations either side.
As a frequency modulated signal has sidebands that extend out to infinity, it is normal accepted
practice to determine the bandwidth as that which contains approximately 98% of the signal power.
A rule of thumb, often termed Carson's Rule states that 98% of the signal power is contained within a
bandwidth equal to the deviation frequency, plus the modulation frequency doubled, i.e.:

Normally the bandwidth of a wideband FM signal is limited to the Carson's Rule limit - this reduces
interference and does not introduce any undue distortion of the signal. In other words for a VHF FM
broadcast station this must be (2 x 75) + 15 kHz, i.e. 175 kHz. In view of this a total of 200 kHz is
usually allowed, enabling stations to have a small guard band and their centre frequencies on integral
numbers of 100 kHz.
Key points for frequency modulation bandwidth and
sidebands
There are a few interesting points of summary relative to frequency modulation bandwidth:

The bandwidth of a frequency modulated signal varies with both deviation and modulating
frequency.
Increasing modulating frequency reduces modulation index - it reduces the number of
sidebands with significant amplitude and hence the bandwidth.
Increasing modulating frequency increases the frequency separation between sidebands.
The frequency modulation bandwidth increases with modulation frequency but it is not directly
proportional to it.
Frequency modulation bandwidth is of importance as it is with any other form of signal. With band
occupancy growing, and pressure on spectrum space, it is necessary to ensure the bandwidth of a
frequency modulated signal falls within its specified allowance. Any undue signal spread outside this
is likely to cause interference to other users.