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UNIT NAME OF STUDENT STUDENT ID

ENS6162 Communication Systems 1

Wangmo Kinley
CODE TITLE 10374882
FAMILY NAME FIRST NAME

NAME OF LECTURER DUE DATE

Dr Iftekhar Ahmad
  20/04/2016
Topic of assignment
Laboratory 2: AM Transmission and Reception

Group or tutorial (if applicable) Course CAMPUS

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ENS6162: Communication Systems Laboratory 1: AM Transmission and Reception

ABSTRACT

When a signal is transmitted over a carrier having different characteristics than the baseband
signal, it is known as signal modulation which can be achieved using various methods. In this
laboratory report, the process of signal generation and amplification at the transmitter along
with signal recovery from the modulated signal at the receiver end using double side band large
carrier (DSB-LC) amplitude modulation is discussed.

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ENS6162: Communication Systems Laboratory 1: AM Transmission and Reception

Table of Content

Topic Page No.

1. Introduction…………………………………………………. 3
2. Equipment used…………………………………………….. 3
3. Procedure and Observation…………………………………. 4
i. AM Transmitter………………………………………..
A. Modulation of Signal…………………………….
B. Power Amplification for Transmission………….
ii. AM Receiver…………………………………………..
4. Conclusion…………………………………………………… 7
5. References……………………………………………………. 8

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ENS6162: Communication Systems Laboratory 1: AM Transmission and Reception

Introduction
Double side band suppressed carrier becomes a double side band large carrier or commonly
known as amplitude modulation, when a carrier component is added to the amplitude modulated
signal.

Amplitude modulation is a process whereby the amplitude of a carrier signal is varied about the
mean value linearly with the amplitude of baseband signal also known as modulating signal or
message while the frequency and phase are kept constant (Lathi, 1998). The envelop of the
modulated signal will have the same shape as the message signal if the carrier frequency is
much larger than the message frequency and if the modulation index is less than 1. When the
modulation index is greater than 1, the carrier wave becomes over modulated and the modulated
wave will be distorted which hinders recovery of the message at the receiver end (Haykin,
2001).

The message at the receiver end is extracted form the modulated signal by demodulating the
modulated wave which is basically the reverse of the modulation process at the transmitter.
Since the envelop of the modulated wave has the same value as the baseband signal, an
envelope detector is used to separate the message from the modulated wave. A diode in series
with the parallel combination of a capacitor (C) and resistor (R) forms the envelop detector
circuit wherein the RC time constant should be such that the maximum negative rate of change
of the envelop does not exceed the exponential discharge rate (Ahmad, 2016).

Equipment used:

 Digital Oscilloscope

 Signal Generator

 Lab volt base unit and analog communication FACET board

 Lab volt accessories box

Procedure and Observation:

AM Transmitter

The procedure and observation of signal modulation and amplification at the AM transmitter are
shown separately as follows;

A) Modulation of Signal
 To perform the modulation of signal a carrier signal and message signal was generated
with following characteristics:

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ENS6162: Communication Systems Laboratory 1: AM Transmission and Reception

Carrier signal: 0.2V peak to peak, 10000KHz

Message signal: 0.2V peak to peak, 2KHz

 The modulated signal was then displayed on oscilloscope and modulation index calculated
as follows;

( maximum magnitude−minimum magnitude )

m=
(maximum magnitude+ minimummagnitude )

(2.67−0.63)
m=
(2.67+0.63)

m=0.62

 The output waveform was observed for various values of modulation index and are as
shown below;

Figure 1: When m<1

Figure 2: When m=1

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ENS6162: Communication Systems Laboratory 1: AM Transmission and Reception

Figure 3: When m>1

When the amplitude of the signal is changed the envelop shape of the modulated wave also
changes as can be seen from the waveforms above.

B) Power amplification for transmission

The modulated signal was then connected to the input of the RF power amplifier and the
amplitude of modulated wave from both input and output of amplifier was measured from the
oscilloscope display.

Measured Vin = 0.2V peak to peak

Measured Vout = 0.3V peak to peak

V out 0.3
Amplifier gain, A v = = =1.5
V ¿ 0.2

Or, AV = 3.52dB

The signal needs to be amplified before transmission so that it can be transmitted over long
distance without being severely affected by interference or noise.

AM Receiver

 The signal from transmitter was connected to demodulator at the AM receiver while L4 and
L5 was adjusted until a waveform similar to message signal was observed at the
oscilloscope display.
 The output of VCO-HI was connected to input of mixer and the frequency was adjusted to
1455Hz.
 The output of mixer was then connected to the input of IF filter.
 The signal from both output of envelop detector and the original message was displayed on
the oscilloscope.

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ENS6162: Communication Systems Laboratory 1: AM Transmission and Reception

 When the amplitude of the signal from the signal generator is changed, the signal obtained
at the output of the envelop detector also changes. However, as the amplitude is
continuously increased, the signal is over modulated which introduces phase reversal in the
modulated wave and the signal obtained at the envelop output is no longer similar to the
original message signal. Therefore, it is very clear that the signal can be successfully
transmitted from the transmitter by performing amplitude modulation and the same
message can be recovered at the receiver end using simplest method of envelop detector
only if the modulation index is less than 1 and the carrier frequency is much higher than the
baseband signal.

Conclusion

On completion of this laboratory experiment, it was clear that the amplitude modulation can be
used to successfully transmit signal from the transmitter by using a carrier signal having much
higher frequency than the message signal. Since the modulated wave has the envelop shape of
the original signal, the original message can be recovered using simplest method of envelop
detector at the receiver end as long as the modulation index is less than 1 and the carrier
frequency is much higher than the baseband signal. Moreover, it is also equally important to
amplify the signal before transmission to prevent loss of signal due to noise and interference.

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ENS6162: Communication Systems Laboratory 1: AM Transmission and Reception

References

Ahmad, I. (2016). ENS5441: Communication systems 1 lecture notes. Retrieved from

https://blackboard.ecu.edu.au/bbcswebdav/pid-4250050-dt-content-rid-
4881065_1/courses/ENS6162.2016.1.ONCAMPUS/Lecture%204%20DSB
%20LC_PG.pdf

Haykin, S. S. (2001). Communication systems (4th ed.). Chichester;New York;: Wiley.

Lathi, B. (1998). Modern Digital and Analog Communication Systems. New York: Oxford
University.

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