EE 5140: Digital Modulation and Coding

Mini Project 1 : 10 marks

August 28, 2021

1 Problem
Consider a linearly modulated signal as given by:
∞
X
s(t) = b[n]p(t − nT ) (1)
n=−∞

whose symbol rate is 500 per second. Now consider a windowed version of s(t) where s(t) is
restricted to the observation interval [0, N T ] and is given by
N
X −1
sT0 (t) = s(t)I[0,N T ] = b[n]p(t − nT ).
n=0

1. Plot sT0 (t) for b[n] being a random sequence of 1 and −1 and p(t) being

a) a rectangular pulse i.e. p(t) = rect( Tt )

b) p(t) = sinc( Tt )
c) p(t) = sinc( 3t
T)
t
d) p(t) = sinc( 4T )
e) a Raised Cosine pulse i.e. p(t) = sinc( Tt ) cos παt/T
1−( 2αt )2
with different roll of factors
T
α ∈ {0, 0.5, 0.7}.

Perform the experiment with different values of N ∈ {50, 100, 500}.

2. Plot the frequency domain representations of both sT0 (t) and p(t) obtained in question
1.

3. Among the above pulses which one is the minimum bandwidth Nyquist pulse and why?

4. To understand why sinc is not the best pulse to use in practical scenarios where perfect
sampling is not possible, let us do an experiment. Instead of sampling the signal sT0 (t)
(in question 1) at kT where k = 0, 1, . . . if the signal is sampled at kT + δ with δ ∈
{0, T2 , T4 , T8 }. Observe whether ISI is present or not for all possible choices of p(t) in
t
question 1. Why does taking zero offset still give ISI for p(t) = sinc( 2T ). Discuss all the
results.

5. Now instead of b[n] being real, consider that b[n] has both in-phase and quadrature
components.

1
 a. Plot vc (t) and vs (t) as below with p(t) = sinc( Tt ).
X
vc (t) = Re(b[n])p(t − nT )
X
vs (t) = Im(b[n])p(t − nT )

b. Upconvert both of them with fc = 2kHz and plot the frequency domain represen-
tations.
c. What happens if while downconversion, instead of using cos(2πfc t) and sin(2πfc t),
we use cos(2πfc t) and sin(2πfc t + θ̃). Consider θ̃ = {π/6, π/3, π/2} for the experi-
ment.

6. Compute the power spectral density (PSD) of the finite energy finite power linearly
modulated waveform sT0 (t) as an approximation of the PSD given below:

|ST0 (f )|2
S̄s (f ) = lim (2)
T0 →∞ T0

and verify that it is a scaled version of the PSD of the pulse p(t). You can consider
p(t) = sinc(t/T ). Do this experiment for different N ∈ {50, 500, 10000} and provide your
understanding from the observations.

7. Now consider b[n] as a sequence of all ones i.e. there is no randomness present in the
sequence. Is the time average of the PSD same as the PSD we found before with a
random sequence for b[n]? Explain why/why not.

8. Write a (≤ 1 page) summary of your understandings of chapter 2 in your own words.

Include only the key points.

2 Submission
You need to submit this problem no later than September 11th , 2020. You may discuss among
friends but the code should be written individually. Use proper variable names and comment
the code for better understanding. Please upload only a compressed .zip file containing the pro-
gram/programs and the report. The report will contain the plots/results and their inferences.
Name the zip file with your roll number and the miniproject index. For example, a student
with roll number EE21M001 submitting miniproject 1 will name the folder to be zipped as
“EE21M001Miniproject1”. A well written code is always encouraged. Any plagiarism found
in the code will be regarded meticulously. The submission is by showing the codes to the TA
handling your course project and explaining your results. The viva for each person will be
conducted individually.