Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Faculty of Engineering and Architecture

American University of Beirut






EECE 442L Communications Laboratory






Experiment on
Digital Modulation Techniques: Part II




Version: August 2009

Bigital Nouulation Techniques: Pait II August 2uu9 Page 1

Digital Modulation Techniques: Part II
OBJECTIVES

Understand the basic concepts of MFSK and MSK digital modulation techniques.
Demonstrate and analyze MFSK, MSK, and GMSK modulation techniques.
Evaluate the performance of MFSK, MSK, and GMSK modulation techniques..
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

A. INTRODUCTION
This experiment deals with the design and performance analysis of MFSK (M-ary
Frequency Shift Keying), MSK (Minimum Shift Keying), and GMSK (Gaussian MSK)
modulation schemes. The modulation schemes are compared in terms of their spectral
efficiency by valuating their power spectral densities. It is important to note that GMSK
is the modulation scheme used in the GSM cellular standard.
B. M-ARY FREQUENCY SHIFT KEYING (MFSK)
In MFSK, the information bit stream is modulated via the frequency of the transmitted
signal. With MFSK, M frequency channels are required where each frequency represents
K = log
2
H bits. The transmitted signal over symbol duration can be basically
represented as s

(t) = Acos(2n

t) where f
i
is the carrier frequency of index i. In order
to guarantee orthogonality between signals transmitted on different carrier frequencies,
the minimum separation between two consecutive carrier frequencies should be 12I
s

where I
s
represents the symbol duration.
Frequency modulation is less sensitive to amplitude distortion and allows the use of low-
cost non-linear power amplifiers. However, it requires additional bandwidth which results
in low spectral efficiency especially for large values of M.
The simplest way to perform MFSK modulation is to use a bank of H oscillators
operating at the different carrier frequencies

. Depending on the input bit steam, the

modulator switches between the different oscillators.
Bigital Nouulation Techniques: Pait II August 2uu9 Page 2

For more background information on MFSK modulation schemes, check Section 7.4
in [1], Sections 8.12 and 8.20 in [2], and/or Section 5.4 in [3].
C. MINIMUM SHIFT KEYING (MSK)
A drawback of MFSK modulation schemes is the discontinuous phase transitions due to
switching between different oscillators in the modulator. This results in spectral
broadening due to large spectral side lobes outside the main spectral band of the
transmitted signal. A solution to this problem is to generate frequency modulated signals
whose frequency changes continuously. This can be achieved via CPFSK (Continuous
Phase FSK) modulation schemes which use MPAM modulation with rectangular pulse
shaping to modulate the phase.
MSK is a special case of CPFSK with H = 2 and minimal frequency separation between
the two carrier frequencies.
C.1 GAUSSIAN MINIMUM SHIFT KEYING (GMSK)
A GMSK modulator is composed of an MSK modulator with a Gaussian filter applied
after the rectangular pulse shaping filter that is used to modulate the phase. The Gaussian
filter is used in order to further improve the spectral characteristics of the modulated
signals with a tradeoff cost in terms of introducing some inter-symbol interference.
GMSK modulators are normally characterized by the product term BI
s
where B is the
bandwidth of the Gaussian filter and I
s
is the symbol duration. For example, the GSM
cellular standard is based on GMSK modulation with BI
s
= u.S whereas the Cordless
Telephone DECT standard is based on GMSK modulation with BI
s
= u .2.
For more background information on MSK and GMSK modulation schemes, check
Section 10.2 in [1], Sections 8.14 and 8.20 in [2], and/or Sections 5.4-5.5 in [3].







Bigital Nouulation Techniques: Pait II August 2uu9 Page S

PREPARATION EXERCISE FOR MSK MODULATION TECHNIQUE

This demo presents an MSK system implemented using built in LabVIEW SubVIs. It will
be a good exercise to understand the role of each component. Open the front panel of
Demo_MSK.vi, and set the following parameters:

Quantity/Setting Value
M-MSK 2
Number of FSK Symbols 1000
Symbol Rate 1000 Hz
Pulse Shaping Filter None
Filter parameter Any value [0,1]

Observe the PSD graph. What is the bandwidth of the MSK signal? Change the Pulse
Shaping Filter to Gaussian and vary the Filter parameter between 0 and 1. What is
the effect of the Filter parameter on the bandwidth? What are the impacts on the
magnitude and bandwidth of the main lobe when the Pulse Shaping Filter is
rectangular (i.e., when Pulse Shaping Filter is set to None) and it is Gaussian?























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EXPERIMENT DESCRIPTION

GENERAL RULES
If you open a VI and are not asked to do any changes in it, then close it without
saving changes by clicking on Defer decision.
Save Vis as [GroupID]_name of VI.vi.
Save plots as [GroupID]_Question number.jpg. For questions with more than one
plot, append extra info to the name to differentiate between the plots.
Remember to zip and upload only the files you created without the ones given to you
in ModulationII.zip.
PARTI: MFSK MODULATION
In this part, we will observe an MFSK modulated signal through which an MSK and a
GMSK modulated signal should be obtained by changing the parameters.

A. M-FSK MODULATED SIGNAL
This part interprets the characteristics of MFSK Modulated signal.
Open the Block Diagram of FSKMod.VI.
The SubVIs are the following:

Generate Bits
Generates the sequence of data bits to be modulated.

Generate System Parameters
Calculates parameters for use with modulation and demodulation
Vis.

Generate Filter Coefficients
Calculates filter coefficients for pulse shaping and matched filters
applied by the digital modulation Vis and demodulation Vis.
Bigital Nouulation Techniques: Pait II August 2uu9 Page S


Modulate FSK
Inputs a sequence of data bits, performs FSK modulation, and
returns the modulated complex baseband waveform in the output
complex waveform parameter.

Add AWGN
Generates zero-mean complex additive white Gaussian noise with
uniform power spectral density and adds it to the complex baseband
modulated waveform, returning a signalplusnoise waveform
having a specified E
b
/N
0
.

Open FSKMod.VI and set on the Front Panel the following parameters:
Number of FSK Symbols 1000
Symbol Rate 1000 Hz
Pulse Shaping Filter None
Filter Parameter Any value [0,1]
Modulation Index 1
E
b
/N
0
30dB
Symbol Phase Continuity discontinuous

Q.1 Determine experimentally the bandwidth for M = 4 and 8 (referring to
the PSD plots).
Q.2 Comment on the relation between M and the bandwidth in MFSK
signals.
Q.3 Comment on the MFSK spectrum (for M = 4 and 8) by measuring the
ratio between the main lobe and the secondary lobe.
Q.4 List an advantage and a disadvantage of MFSK over MQAM and
MPSK.
Run the VI for E
b
/N
0
equal to 10dB.
Q.5 Comment on the PSD at the output of the AWGN channel as E
b
/N
0

decreases.
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In the Block Diagram load the PassBandFSK.VI as a SubVI into FSKMod.VI.
Connect the Symbols Out of the Modulate FSK SubVI to the Frequencies In of
the PassBandFSK.VI. Place a graph indicator at the output FSK Waveform of the
PassBandFSK.VI. The input bit stream generated from the Bit Generation SubVI
should be replaced by a 1D array of 11000110.
Save the VI as GroupID_PassBand_FSK.VI.
Open FSKMod.VI and set on the Front Panel the following parameters:
Symbol Rate 1000 Hz
Pulse Shaping Filter None
Filter Parameter Any value [0,1]
Modulation Index 1
E
b
/N
0
30dB
Symbol Phase Continuity continuous

Q.6 Provide waveform plots for 2FSK and 4FSK signals.
Q.7 Comment on the phase transition between symbols compared to the
phase transition between the MPSK symbols observed in the
previous Lab.

B. MSK MODULATED SIGNAL
In this part, we will observe an MSK modulated signal.
Open FSKMod.VI. Set on the front panel the following parameters:
Number of FSK Symbols 1000
Symbol Rate 1000 Hz

Note that you are required to determine the values of the other parameters.
Q.8 What is the relation between the Modulation Index and the frequency
separation?
Q.9 How can we get the MSK Modulated signal from FSKmod.VI?
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Q.10 Provide a plot for the MSK spectrum at the transmitter and at the
output of the AWGN channel.
Q.11 Determine the bandwidth of the MSK for symbol rate = 1000 HZ.
Q.12 What is the advantage of MSK?
Q.13 Provide a plot of the spectrum at the transmitter for the case where
Symbol Phase Continuity = discontinuous? Compare the
obtained bandwidth to the case where Symbol Phase Continuity =
continuous and comment.
C. GMSK MODULATED SIGNAL
In this part, we will observe a GMSK modulated signal.
Q.14 How can one change the MSK VI in order to produce a GMSK VI?
Save the VI as GMSK.VI.
Q.15 For values of the filter parameter = 0.1, 0.3, and 0.5; find the GMSK
bandwidth in each case.
Q.16 Based on the results of Q15, comment on the relation between the
filter parameter and the bandwidth in this type of modulation.
Q.17 GMSK modulation is used in GSM with a filter parameter of 0.3. In
your opinion, why a lower filter parameter hasnt been used (say a
value of 0.1)?
D. COMPARISON OF FSK, MSK, AND GMSK SPECTRA
The digital modulation methods described in this experiment can be compared in a
number of ways. Let us consider the bandwidth requirements for several modulation
methods.

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Figure 2: Compare Spectra block diagram.

Build the VI shown in Figure 2. You have to join parts of the 3 previous VIs with the
appropriate modifications shown above. Use the Merge Signal function and place a
waveform indicator at the output.
Save this VI as GroupID_Compare_Spectra.VI. Set on the front panel the following
parameters:
Number of FSK Symbols 1000
Symbol Rate 1000 Hz

Note that you have to determine the other parameters that allow you to distinguish
between 2FSK, MSK and GMSK.
Q.18 Provide a plot which shows the spectra for the three modulation
schemes (2FSK, MSK, and GMSK).
Bigital Nouulation Techniques: Pait II August 2uu9 Page 9

Q.19 From the plot obtained in Q18, compare the bandwidth requirements
for these modulation schemes.
Q.20 What makes the spectrum of GMSK modulation scheme better than
those of MSK and MFSK modulation schemes?


REFERENCES

[1] J. Proakis and M. Salehi, Communication Systems Engineering. Prentice-Hall, 2
nd

edition, 2002.
[2] S. Haykin, Communication Systems. John Wiley & Sons, 3
rd
edition, 1994.
[3] A. Goldsmith, Wireless Communications. Cambridge University Press, 2005.