Adama Science and Technology University

School of Engineering and Information Technologies

Department of Electrical Engineering
EEng-3210: Introduction to Communication systems
Chapter 4- Digital Modulation

4.1. Introduction
Digital Modulation uses sinusoidal carrier signal like analog modulations but the modulating signals are
digital signals and thus the modulation type is different. The three predominant methods in digital modulation
are ASK, FSK, and PSK. These digital modulations are essential in long distance digital (data)
communications; to shift the digital signals at baseband to a bandpass signal at a very high frequency may be
at microwave frequency. As compared to analog modulation, digital modulation offers many advantages:
• greater noise immunity and robustness to channel impairments
• easier multiplexing
• greater security (encryption)
• more flexibility
4.2. Bandpass Digital Transmission
The source information usually needs to be mapped to a high frequency bandpass signal in order to
communicate over a channel. Therefore a bandpass communication system involves modulation of a baseband
on to a carrier using some type of modulation. Bandpass digital communication system uses the different
types of digital modulation types i.e. ASK, FSK, PSK. The modulating signals in digital modulation are
classified as binary and multilevel signals.
Binary signaling: - It is the most commonly used type of digital signal. It has two possible levels i.e. 1 and 0.
Its respective digital modulations are on-off keying (OOK), Binary frequency shift keying (BFSK) and Binary
phase shift keying (BPSK).
Multilevel Signaling: - It is a type of signaling with more than two levels. Examples of multilevel
modulation are Quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), Quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) etc.
4.2.1. Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK)
Amplitude shift keying (ASK) is keying or shifting the magnitude of a sinusoid carrier with respect to the
digital message signal. If the message is a unipolar binary signal, the carrier will be on and off with the
message as shown in Fig. 4.1. The most basic (binary) form of ASK involves the process of switching the
carrier either on or off, in correspondence to a sequence of digital pulses that constitute the information signal.
One binary digit is represented by the presence of a carrier; the other binary digit is represented by the absence
of a carrier. Frequency remains fixed. In this particular case the ASK is known as On-off keying (OOK).
Morse code radio transmission is an example of OOK.

The ASK signal is represented by S (t ) = m(t )VC cos 2πf C t where m(t) is the digital message signal 1 or 0
in binary signaling.
 Fig. 4.1: ASK modulation

Multilevel message signal will produce a multilevel ASK signal. As it can be observed from its expression,
ASK is identical to DSB-SC signal and therefore, the transmission bandwidth of the ASK signal is twice that
of the baseband digital signal i.e. BW=2B where B is baseband bandwidth.

ASK (OOK) signal can be demodulated either coherently or non-coherently with little difference in
performance. OOK can be detected using either an envelope detector or a product detector. Since it is a form
of AM signaling, ASK (OOK) is relatively low quality, low cost method of digital radio and is seldom used in
high capacity/ high traffic systems.

4.2.2. Frequency Shift Keying (FSK)

FSK consists of shifting the frequency of a sinusoidal carrier from a mark frequency (corresponding to
sending a binary 1) to space frequency (corresponding to sending a binary 0) according to the base band
digital signal. It is identical modulating an FM carrier with a binary digital signal. The most basic (binary)
form of FSK involves the process of varying the frequency of a carrier wave by choosing one of two
frequencies (binary FSK) in correspondence to a sequence of digital pulses that constitute the information
signal. Two binary digits are represented by two frequencies around the carrier frequency as shown in Fig.
4.2. Amplitude remains fixed.

Fig. 4.2: FSK modulation

There are two types of FSK signal: the discontinuous phase FSK and the continuous phase FSK.
Discontinuous phase FSK is generated by switching the output line between two different oscillators. It has a
 VC cos(2πf 1t + θ 1 ) for binary 1
discontinuous phase at the switching time and it is represented by S (t ) = 
VC cos(2πf 2 t + θ 2 ) for binary 0
where f1 is called the mark frequency and f2 the space frequency.

The continuous phase FSK signal is generated by feeding the digital signal into a frequency modulator. The
FSK signal is represented by S ( t ) = V C cos  2π f 1 t + ∆ f 
t



∫ m ( λ ) d λ 
−∞
where m(t) is the baseband digital signal.

Although m(t) is discontinuous at the switching time, the phase function θ(t) is continuous since it is
proportional to the integral of m(t).

If the digital signal is binary, the resulting FSK signal is called binary FSK (BFSK). Multilevel signaling will
produce multilevel FSK signal.

Oscillator 1
FSK m(t) FM mod FSK
Oscillator 2

m(t)
Carrier osc

Fig. 4.3: Discontinuous FSK Modulator Fig. 4.4: Continuous FSK Modulator
Application of FSK in Modems

Computer A FSK Telephone FSK Computer B

Modem Line Modem
Fig. 4.5: Computer Communication through telephone line using FSK Modem

FSK demodulation is easier than FM demodulation and it can be detected using the configuration shown in
fig. 4.6.

Fig. 4.6: Non-coherent detection of FSK

Another most common circuit used for demodulating binary FSK signal is the phase-locked loop (PLL),
which is shown below.
 Phase Comparator LPF & Amp
FSK IN

VCO

Fig. 4.7: PLL FSK demodulator

Minimum shift keying FSK is a form of continuous phase frequency shift keying. Essentially, MSK is binary
system having a synchronous time relationship between the mark and space frequencies. In other words
stating, the mark and space frequencies are selected such that they are separated from the center frequencies
by an odd multiple of one half of the bit rate i.e. f S = nf m b / 2 where n is any odd integer. MSK has a better
bit-error performance than conventional binary FSK for the same signal to noise ratio. The disadvantage of
MSK is that it requires synchronizing circuits.

4.2.3. Phase Shift Keying (PSK)

PSK is similar to conventional phase modulation except that with PSK the input signal is a digital signal and a
limited number of output phases are possible.
Based on the input baseband digital signal PSK can be BPSK or multilevel PSK. BPSK consists of shifting
the phase of a sinusoidal carrier by 0o or 180o with respect to a binary signal as shown in Fig. 4.8.

Fig. 4.8: FSK modulation

The BPSK signal is represented by S (t ) = VC cos (2πf 1t + ∆Pm(t ) ) where m(t) is a unipolar baseband binary
signal. BPSK is a form of suppressed carrier, square wave modulator of a continuous wave signal. Simplified
block diagram of BPSK is shown below.

Balanced BPSK BPSK Balanced

Binary Modulator BPF IN Modulator LPF
In Binary
out
Carrier
Carrier Osc recovery

Fig. 4.9: BPSK Modulator Fig. 4.10: BPSK Demodulator

 Fig. 4.11 A BPSK modulator Fig. 4.11 A BPSK demodulator

Multilevel Signaling
The main problem with binary signaling is that speed of data transmission is limited in a given bandwidth.
One way to increase the binary data with a fixed bandwidth is to encode more than one bit per level. This
results in multilevel signaling. With multilevel signaling digital inputs with more than two modulation levels
are allowed on the transmission input. Each level represents more than one bit. The bit rate of multilevel
signaling is higher than the bit rate of binary signaling. One commonly used system for doing this is known
as quadrature phase PSK (QPSK or 4-PSK).
Quadrature Phase shift keying (QPSK) and M-ary phase shift keying:- In QPSK, each pair of successive
digital bits in the transmitted word are assigned a particular phase as indicated. Each pair of bits is
represented by separations of two input bits. The result is four equally spaced voltage levels. These are applied
to the two balanced modulators fed by the carrier oscillator and a 90o phase shifter as in a QPSK modulator.
Each balanced modulator produces four different outputs PM/AM combinations. When these are combined in
the linear mixer, eight different output PM/AM combinations are produced. The result is 8-QAM.
Examples:
If M > 2, each waveform carry log2(M) bits. This scheme is therefore more bandwidth efficient. It is called
M-ary ASK, M-ary FSK, and M-ary PSK.

M-ary ASK M-ary FSK

Exp: M = 4; log2(4)=2 bits/waveform Exp: M = 4; log2(4)=2 bits/waveform
» A1 = 0; 00 » f1 = fc+fm; 00
» A2 = 1; 01 » f2 = fc-fm; 01
» A3 = 2; 10 » f3 = fc+2.fm; 10
» A4 = 3; 11 » f4 = fc-2.fm; 11
 (a) (b)
M-ary PSK
If M=8, log2 (M) bits/waveform=3 i.e., 3
bits/waveform
» s0(t) = (2E/T)1/2 cos[2._.fc .t]
» s1(t) = (2E/T)1/2 cos[2. _.fc .t +_/4 ]
»s2(t) = (2E/T)1/2 cos[2. _.fc .t + _/2 ]
»……...
» s7(t) = (2E/T)1/2 cos[2. _.fc .t + 7. _/4 ]

(c)
Fig. 4.13: Multilevel signaling (a) 4-ary ASK (b) 4-ary FSK (c) 8-ary PSK