Increasing Bit Rate with Denser

Modulation Schemes

Figure 2

In Figure 2, the first modulation technique is the quadrature phase shift-keying (QPSK,)

indicated by the four circles. Every time a QPSK symbol is sent, information for two bits is

transmitted. As you move to the right on the horizontal axis the modulation schemes become

denser. Four bits per symbol yields a 16QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation) transmission

rate, with 16 different states of polarization. At 16QAM, each pulse transmits four bits of data,

which is then decoded when the signal is received. On the far right of the horizontal axis is

64QAM, in which each pulse sends six bits of data per symbol and 64 different positions.
Assuming the pulses are sent at a constant rate, as the modulation density increases, so does the

bit rate transmission.

If transmitting at 30 symbols per second:

 For QPSK, each symbol contains two bits, or 60 bits per second

 For 16QAM, each symbol contains four bits, or 120 bits per second

 For 64QAM, each symbol contains six bits or 180 bits per second