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Modulation
Introduction
The transmission of an information-bearing signal over
communication channel (telephone or satellite channel)
requires a shift of the range of frequencies contained in the
signal to another frequency range suitable for transmission.
The shift in the signal frequency range is accomplished by
modulation.

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Modulation is defined as the process by which some
characteristic of a carrier signal is varied in accordance
with a modulating signal
The message is referred to as the modulating signal
The result of modulation is referred to as the
modulated signal

The basic types of analog modulations are
Continuous wave (CW) modulation
Pulse modulation


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In CW modulation, a sinusoidal signal is used as a carrier
signal


A general modulated signal can be represented as


Where is the carrier frequency
and are called the instantaneous amplitude and
phase angle of the carrier.

( ) | + = t w A t g
c c
cos ) (
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) | | t t w t A t x
c
| + = cos
c
e
( ) t A
( ) t |
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When is linearly related to the message ,
the result is amplitude modulation.
If or its derivative is linearly related to
, then we have phase or frequency modulation.
The phase and frequency modulation are
referred to as angle modulation.

In pulse modulation, a periodic train of short
pulses act as the carrier signal.


( ) t A ( ) t m
( ) t m ( ) t |
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Amplitude Modulation
In amplitude modulation, the modulated carrier is
represented by


Depending on the nature of the spectral relationship
between and , we have the following
types of amplitude modulation scheme
Double-sideband (DSB) modulation
Amplitude modulation (AM) also known as DSBFC
Single-sideband (SSB) modulation
Vestigial-sideband (VSB) modulation
( ) ( ) ) cos( u e + = t t A t x
c c
( ) t A
( ) t m
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Double-Sideband Modulation
DSB modulation results when is proportional to the
message signal . i.e


DSB is the multiplication of a carrier , by the
message signal .

The spectrum of a DSB signal is given by



( ) t A
( ) t m
( ) ( ) t t m t x
c DSB
e cos =
( ) t m
t
c
e cos
( ) ( ) ( ) | |
c c DSB
M M X e e e e e + + =
2
1
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Generation of DSB signals









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The spectral range occupied by the message signal is
called the baseband, and thus the message signal is
referred to as the baseband signal.

From the spectrum, has no identifiable carrier
and this type of modulation is known as double-
sideband suppressed-carrier (DSB-SC) modulation.

Demodulation of DSB signal
Recovery of the message from the modulated signal
is called demodulation or detection.
( ) t x
DSB
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The message signal is recovered from the
modulated signal by multiplying by a
local carrier and using a lowpass filter (LPF) on the
product as shown below.






The local carrier must be in phase and frequency
synchronism with the incoming carrier
( ) t x
DSB
( ) t m
( ) t x
DSB
X
Carrier replica
DSB-SC
signal
Demodulation of a DSB-SC
signal
Lowpass
filter
Recovered
message
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Ordinary Amplitude Modulation
An ordinary amplitude modulated signal is generated by
adding a large carrier signal to the DSB signal. The ordinary
AM signal has the form


The spectrum of is given by




( ) ( ) | | t t m A t A t t m x
c c c AM
e e e cos cos cos + = + =
AM
x
( ) ( ) | |
( ) ( ) | |
c c
c c AM
A
M M X
e e o e e o t
e e e e
+ +
+ + + =
2
1
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Amplitude modulation











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Demodulation of AM signals
The advantage of AM over DSB modulation is that
the envelope detection scheme can be used for
demodulation if sufficient carrier power is
transmitted.

If is large enough, the envelope of the modulated
waveform given by is proportional to .


Demodulation reduces the detection of the envelope
of the modulated carrier with no dependence on the
exact phase or frequency of the carrier.
( ) t m ( ) t m A+
A
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If is not large enough, then the envelope of
is not always proportional to .
The condition for demodulation of AM by an
envelope detector is

or

Modulation Index
The modulation index for AM is defined as


A
( ) t m
( ) t x
AM
( ) 0 > + t m A
( ) { } t m A min >

( ) { }
A
t m min
=
16
The condition for demodulation of AM by an
envelope detector can be expressed as


When , the carrier is said to be overmodulated,
resulting in envelope distortion.

Envelope Detector
An envelope detector consisting of a diode and a
resistor-capacitor combination is shown below

1 s
1 >
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Envelope Detector for AM
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During the positive half-cycle of the input signal,
the diode is forward-biased, and the capacitor C,
charges up rapidly to the peak value of the input
signal. As the input signal falls below its
maximum, the diode turns off. This is followed by
a slow discharge of the capacitor through resistor
R until the next positive half-cycle, when the input
signal becomes greater than the capacitor voltage
and the diode turns on again.
For proper operation of the envelope detector, the
discharge time constant RC must be chosen
properly such that
m c
M c f
RC
f
f f
1 1
1 1
< < <<
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Single-Sideband Modulation
Ordinary AM modulation and DSB modulation
waste bandwidth because they both require a
transmission bandwidth equal to twice the message
bandwidth.
Since either the upper sideband or the lower
sideband contains the complete information of the
message signal, only one sideband is necessary for
information transmission.
When only one sideband is transmitted, the
modulation is referred to as single-sideband (SSB)
modulation.
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Generation of SSB signals


Frequency Discrimination Method
The easy way to generate an SSB signal is to generate a
DSB signal first and then suppress one of the sidebands by
filtering. This method is called the frequency
discrimination method.

Phase-Shift Method
Read and make notes for yourself.
Assignment: Describe the phase-shift method in details.


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Demodulation of SSB signals



Demodulation of SSB signals can be achieved by using the
coherent detector as used in the DSB demodulation and
passing the resulting signal through a low-pass filter.






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SSB signal












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Power in AM wave

The total power transmitted in the modulated wave will be


**

The first term is the unmodulated carrier power and is given
by



( ) rms
R
A
R
A
R
A
P
USB LSB cr
t
2 2 2
+ + =
R
A
R
A
R
A
P
c
c
cr
c
2
2
2
2
2
=
|
.
|

\
|
= =
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similarly





Substituting the above equations in ** , we have

R
A
R
A
R
A
R
A
P P
c c
c
SB
USB LSB
2 4 8
2
2
2 2 2 2
2
2

= =
|
|
|
.
|

\
|
= = =
)
2
1 ( )
4 4
1 (
4 4 2 4 2 4 2
2 2 2
2 2 2 2 2 2 2


+ = + + =
+ + = + + =
c c t
c c c
c c c
t
P P P
P P P
R
A
R
A
R
A
P
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The ration of useful power to total power
2
1
2

+ =
c
t
P
P
2
1 :
2
2 2

+
Vestigial-Sideband Modulation (VSB)
In VSB, all of the one sideband is transmitted and a
small amount (vestige) of the other sideband is
transmitted as well.
VSB overcomes two of the difficulties present in
SSB modulation. By allowing a small amount or
vestige, of the unwanted sideband to appear at the
output of an SSB modulator, the design of the
sideband filter is simplified since the need for a
sharp cutoff at the frequency is eliminated.
In addition, a VSB system has improved LF response
compared to SSB & can even have DC response
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Exercise:
For each of the following baseband signals
(i)

(ii)

(a) Sketch the spectrum
(b) Sketch the spectrum of DSB-SC signal with a
carrier frequency of


(c) Identify the upper sideband (USB) and lower
sideband (LSB) spectra.
( ) t t x
m
2000 cos =
( ) t t t x
m
2000 cos 1000 cos 2 + =
( ) t t x
c
20000 cos 12 =
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Ex.
(a) A modulating signal represented by

modulates a carrier represented by

and resulting modulated signal is developed across a
resistance of
(i) State the mathematical expression for
the modulated wave
(ii) Using an appropriate mathematical
identity, expand the expression in (i) to
show the frequency composition for the wave

( )mV t t 1000 sin 2
( )mV t t
6
10 2 sin 10
O k 2
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(iii) Sketch the resultant wave in frequency domain

(iv) Sketch the resultant wave in time domain

(v) Calculate the power in the wave

(vi) Calculate the power in the Carrier

(vii) The ratio of the useful power to the carrier
power
(viii) What is the cutoff frequency of the lowpass
filter that may be used to recover the message
at the receiver.

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QUIZ #1
1. Given the modulating signal:
a. Sketch the spectrum of m(t) (10)
b. Find and sketch the spectrum of the DSB-SC signal
(10)
c. From the spectrum in (b.) suppress the LSB to obtain the
USB spectrum [Draw and show how you do this] (10)
d. Write down an expression for the USB (10)
e. If the modulated wave was developed across a
resistor, find the power in the USB (10)



t t t m 300 cos 2 100 cos ) ( + =
t t m 1000 cos ) ( 2
O k 2
) (t
USB

Quiz 2
A standard AM broadcast station is allowed to
transmit modulating frequencies up to 3.5 kHz. If
the AM station is transmitting on a frequency 89.9
kHz,
(a) compute the maximum and minimum upper and
lower sidebands
(b) and the total bandwidth
(c) plot the spectrum of the modulated signal
(d) find the total power of the modulated signal
given that the modulation index is 80%.
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