Mindanao State University – Iligan Institute of Technology

College of Engineering and Technology

Department of Electrical Engineering and Technology

LABORATORY REPORT

5- AMPLITUDE MODULATION

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT
OF THE COURSE REQUIREMENTS IN
ECE 104.1

Submitted by:
Manoza, Karol Rose H.
Petallo, Regine N.
Quidlat, Annie Mae O.
Sienes, Aila Kaye Iony Y.

Submitted to:
Prof. Mark Lester Acodili

March 2019
 EXPERIMENT 5
AMPLITUDE MODULATION

This experiment is all about how amplitude modulation (AM) communications system,

speech and music are converted into an electrical signal using a device such as microphone. The

message or baseband signal that’s an electrical signal is used to electrically vary the amplitude of

a pure sine wave called the carrier where it usually has a frequency that is much higher than the

message’s frequency. We notice that the modulated carrier’s amplitude varies above and below

its unmodulated amplitude. For this experiment, we use the Emona DATEx to generate a real

AM signal by implementing its mathematical model. We have add a DC component to a pure

sinewave to create a message signal then we have multiplied it with another sinewave at a higher

frequency which is the carrier. We also examine the AM signal using the scope and compared it

to the original message. We did it the same with the speech for the message instead of a simple

sinewave.

We also have varied the message signal’s amplitude and observed how it affects the

modulated carrier. We also observed the effects of modulating the carrier to much.

For part A, we found out that the adder module’s output differs to the signal out of the

Master Signals module’s 2kHz SINE output in a way that it has a 1V DC offset. After all the set

up, we noticed that the AM signal is really a complex waveform consisting of more than one

signal but it does not have a 2kHz sinewave signal because the multiplication process produces a

carrier and sum and difference signals only. It only have 98kHz, 100kHz and 102kHz

frequencies.
 For part B, we generated an AM signal using a sinewave message. However, the message

in commercial communications systems is much more likely to be speech and music. We have

seen in this part of the experiment what an AM signal looks like when modulated by speech. We

found out that there is still a signal out of the multiplier module even when we are not humming

because one of the components of an AM signal is a carrier and because it is always present even

when there’s no message.

For part c, we have investigated the depth of modulation. We are now aware of the

relationship of the message’s amplitude and the amount of the carrier’s modulation and that is, as

the amplitude of the message signal goes up, the amount of modulation also goes up. We

perceived that the size of the message signal and the modulation of the carrier are proportional.

We note that the extent that a message modulates a carrier is known in the industry as the

modulation index. It is an important characteristic of an AM signal for several reasons including

calculating the distribution of the signal’s power between the carrier and sidebands. This part of

experiment also let us practices measuring those dimensions to calculate a carrier’s modulation

index.

Lastly, we also note the problem that is important to avoid is over-modulation because

when the carrier is over-modulated, it can upset the receiver’s operation. That is, the envelopes

are no longer the same shape as the message signal when it is over-modulated. And we should

remember that the carrier’s maximum modulation index without over-modulation is 1.