MIRPUR UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

(MUST), MIRPUR

MIRPUR INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

Communications Technology 1
 Communications Technology
ET-353
Lecture No.11 & 12:Modulation,
Introduction to AM,FM.PM
Engr. Faisal Iqbal
Lecturer

Date: December 29 & 30, 2021

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Lecture Outline
Baseband vs. Modulated Signal
Baseband Transmission
Modulation
Modulation System
Electromagnetic Frequency Spectrum
Frequency allocation

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 Baseband vrs Modulated Signal
 Baseband Signal
 Base band signal is the modulating signal/original information signal
either in a digital or analog form (intelligent/message) in
communication system
 Example: voice signal (300Hz – 3400Hz)

 Transmission of original information whether analog or digital,

directly into transmission medium is called baseband transmission.

 Modulated Signal
 Modulated signal is baseband signal which its original frequency is
shifted to higher frequency to facilitate transmission purposes.
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Block Diagram of Modulation Process

Baseband Modulated
signal signal
MODULATION
PROCESS

Carrier

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 Baseband Transmission
 The need of baseband transmission:

 The concepts and parameter of baseband transmission are used

in modulated transmission
 Performance of baseband transmission is used as the standard for
comparing modulation techniques

 Baseband signal is not suitable for long distance communication

because:

 Hardware limitation (eg: requires very long antenna)

 Interference with other waves
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 Modulation
 Modulation –

Process of changing baseband signals to facilitate

the transmission medium

 Process of modulation

 Frequency translation such as AM, FM, PM etc

 Sampling and coding such as PAM, PCM etc
 Keying such as ASK, FSK etc

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 Modulation
 Types of modulation :

 Analogue modulations are frequency translation method caused

by changing the appropriate quantity in a carrier signal

 Digital modulation is the result of changing analogue signal into

binary ones by sampling and coding

 Keying modulations are digital signals subsequently modulated by the

frequency modulation by using one or other analogue method
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 Why Modulate?
 Reduce noise and interference
 By using proper frequency where noise and interference are at
minimum
 Increasing power is costly and may damage equipment

 Frequency Assignment
 For TV and radio broadcasting, each station has a different assigned
carrier

 Multiplexing
 Combining several signals for simultaneous transmission on one
channel by placing each signal on different carrier frequency

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 Definition of Modulation:
Modulation is the process by which some
characteristics of a carrier wave is varied in accordance
with the instantaneous value of a modulating signal or
message signal.
The carrier wave is changed in accordance with the
intensity (i.e amplitude) of the message signal.
The resultant wave is called modulated wave or radio
wave.

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Need for modulation:
(i) Practical Antenna Length
 Theory shows that in order to transmit a wave effectively the length of the
transmitting antenna should be approximately equal to the wavelength of the wave

 As the audio frequency ranges from 20 HZ to 20 kHZ, if they are transmitted directly
into space, the length of the transmitting antenna required would be extremely
large.

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 For instance, to radiate a frequency of 20 kHZ directly into space, we
would need an antenna length of

 This is too long for an antenna to be constructed practically.

 For this reason, it is impracticable to radiate audio signal directly into
space; on the other hand, if a carrier wave, say of 1000 KHz is used to
carry the signal, we need an antenna length of 300 meters only.
 So, an increase in the carrier frequency range, decreases the antenna
length.

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(ii) Operating range
The energy of a wave depends upon its frequency.
The greater the frequency of the wave, the greater the energy
possessed by it.
As the audio signal frequencies are small, they cannot be
transmitted over large distances if radiated directly into space.
The only practical solution is to modulate a high frequency
carrier wave with audio signal and permit the transmission to
occur at this high frequency (i.e., Carrier frequency)

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(iii) Wire Communication
One desirable feature of radio transmission is that it
should be carried with out wires i.e., radiated into
space.
At audio frequencies, radiation is not practicable
because the efficiency of radiation is poor.
 However, efficient radiation of electrical energy is
possible at high frequencies (> 20 kHz).

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(iv) Multiplexing
If more than one signal uses a single channel then
modulation may be used to translate different signals to
different spectral location, thus enabling the receiver to
select the desired signal.
Application of multiplexing includes data telemetry,
broadcasting and long-distance telephones.

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(v) To Overcome Equipment Limitations
Occasionally in signal processing applications the frequency
of the signal to be processed and frequency range of
processing apparatus do not match.
If the equipment is elaborate and complex. It is operated in
some fixed frequency range, thus translating the frequency
range of the processing signal corresponding to this fixed
range of equipment. Modulation can be used to accomplish
this frequency translation.

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(vi) Narrow banding:
without modulation, the ratio of highest to lowest
message (audio) signal would be 20 KHz / 20 hz =
1000.
So, the antenna height has to vary up to a scale of
1000, which is impractical.
If modulation is used with a carrier of 1 MHz, then the
ratio will be [106+ 20000] / 106 + 20] ≈ 1.

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Modulation System

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Classification

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 Electromagnetic Frequency Spectrum
 The electromagnetic frequency spectrum is divided into
subsections, or bands, with each band having a different
name and boundary.

 The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) is an

international agency in control of allocating frequencies and
serviceswithin the overall frequency spectrum

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 Electromagnetic Frequency Spectrum
 In the United State, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
assigns frequencies and communications services for free space
radio propagation

Speed of electromagnetic wave = speed of light, c = 3.0x108 ms-1

f = freq
λ = wavelength
c  f

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Frequency allocation
 If the transmission channel is the atmosphere,
interference and propagation are strongly dependent on the
transmission frequency

 On international basis, frequency assignment and technical

standards are set by the ITU

 There are three main sector that provides frequency assignment and
is concerned with the efficient use of radio frequency spectrum
 ITU(R)
 ITU(T)
 ITU(D)

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Frequency Bands
3 – 30 kHz VLF (very low freq) Ground wave
30 – 300 kHz LF (low freq) Ground wave
300 – 3000 kHz MF (medium freq) Ground wave/sky wave
3 – 30 MHz HF (high
freq) Sky wave (Ionospheric)
30 – 300 MHz VHF (very high freq) Space wave (LOS)
300 – 3000 MHz UHF (ultrahigh freq) Space wave (LOS)
3 – 30 GHz SHF (superhigh freq) LOS/Satellite
30 – 300 GHz EHF (Extremely high freq) LOS/Satellite

International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Band Designation

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Frequency Bands

Frequency Bands Letter Designation

1.0 – 2.0 GHz L

2.0 – 4.0 GHz S
4.0 – 8.0 GHz C

8.0 – 12.0 GHz X

12.0 – 18.0 GHz Ku
18.0 – 27.0 GHz K
27.0 – 40.0 GHz Ka
26.5 – 40.0 GHz R

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Emission Classifications

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Frequency Bands

Frequency Bands Letter Designation Uses

33.0 – 50 GHz Q Radar/satellite comm

40.0 – 75.0 GHz V Radar/satellite comm
75.0 – 110 GHz W Radar/satellite comm
103 – 107GHz Infrared, visible Optical communication
light and ultra violet

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Emission Classifications

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Any Question?

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 Communications Technology
ET-353

Lecture No.12: Introduction to AM,FM,PM

Engr. Faisal Iqbal

Lecturer

Date: December 30, 2021

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Lecture Outline
Types of analog-to-analog modulation
Amplitude Modulation
Advantages & Disadvantages of AM
Applications of AM
Frequency Modulation
Phase Modulation

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Analog-to-analog conversion is the representation of
analog information by an analog signal. One may ask
why we need to modulate an analog signal; it is
already analog. Modulation is needed if the medium
is bandpass in nature or if only a bandpass channel
is available to us.

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Types of analog-to-analog modulation

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 AM, PM and FM
 All these modulation types are analog modulation
techniques. All the modulation types are used to
transmit information from one place to the distant
place. Mostly these techniques are employed in wireless
communication.

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 For any analog modulator type, there are two inputs and one
output. The two inputs are modulating signal (i.e. analog
information to be transmitted) and carrier signal waveform.
The output is referred as modulated waveform.

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 Amplitude Modulation
 A carrier signal is modulated only in amplitude value
 The modulating signal is the envelope of the carrier
 The required bandwidth is 2B, where B is the bandwidth of the
modulating signal
 Since on both sides of the carrier freq. fc, the spectrum is identical, we
can discard one half, thus requiring a smaller bandwidth for
transmission.

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Figure: Amplitude modulation

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Note

The total bandwidth required for AM

can be determined
from the bandwidth of the audio
signal: BAM = 2B.

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Figure 5.17 AM band allocation

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 What is amplitude modulation

In order that a radio signal can carry audio or other radio

information for broadcasting or for two way
communication, it must be modulated or changed in some way. Although there are a
number of ways in which a radio signal may be modulated, one of the easiest is to
change its amplitude in line with variations of the sound.

Amplitude modulation

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 Amplitude demodulation
 Amplitude modulation, AM, is one of the most straightforward ways of
modulating a radio signal or carrier. It can be achieved in a number of
ways, but the simplest uses a single diode rectifier circuit.
 Other methods of demodulating an AM signal use synchronous
techniques and provide much lower levels of distortion and improved
reception where selective fading is present.
 One of the main reasons for the popularity of amplitude modulation has
been the simplicity of the demodulation. It enables costs to be kept low -
a significant advantage in producing vast quantities of very low cost AM
radios.

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Advantages & disadvantages of AM
Advantages
 It is simple to implement
• it can be demodulated using a
circuit consisting of very few
components
• AM receivers are very cheap as
no specialised components are
needed.
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Disadvantages
• It is not efficient in terms of its
power usage
• It is not efficient in terms of its
use of bandwidth, requiring a
bandwidth equal to twice that
of the highest audio frequency
• It is prone to high levels of noise
because most noise is amplitude
based and obviously AM
detectors are sensitive to it.
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Applications
• Broadcast transmissions: AM is still
widely used for broadcasting on the
long, medium and short wave bands. It
is simple to demodulate and this means
that radio receivers capable of
demodulating amplitude modulation
are cheap and simple to manufacture.
Nevertheless many people are moving
to high quality forms of transmission
like frequency modulation, FM or digital
transmissions.

• Air band radio: VHF transmissions for

many airborne applications still use AM.
. It is used for ground to air radio
communications as well as two way
radio links for ground staff as well.

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Cont..

• Single sideband: Amplitude modulation

in the form of single sideband is still used
for HF radio links. Using a lower
bandwidth and providing more effective
use of the transmitted power this form of
modulation is still used for many point to
point HF links.

• Quadrature amplitude modulation: AM

is widely used for the transmission of data
in everything from short range wireless
links such as Wi-Fi to cellular
telecommunications and much more.
Effectively it is formed by having two
carriers 90° out of phase.

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 Frequency Modulation

The modulating signal changes the freq. fc of the carrier signal

The bandwidth for FM is high
It is approx. 10x the signal frequency

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Note

The total bandwidth required for FM can

be determined from the bandwidth
of the audio signal: BFM = 2(1 + β)B.
Where  is usually 4.

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Figure: Frequency modulation

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Figure: FM band allocation

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 What is frequency modulation, FM
 As with any form of modulation, it is
necessary to be able to successfully
demodulate it and recover the original
signal. The FM demodulator may be
called a variety of names including FM
demodulator, FM detector or an FM
discriminator.
 There are a number of different types of
FM demodulator, but all of them enable
the frequency variations of the incoming
signal to be converted into amplitude
variations on the output. These are
typically fed into an audio amplifier, or
possibly a digital interface if data is
being passed over the system.

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 Frequency Demodulation
 It is necessary to be able to successfully demodulate it and
recover the original signal. The FM demodulator may be
called a variety of names including FM demodulator, FM
detector or an FM discriminator.
 There are a number of different types of FM demodulator, but
all of them enable the frequency variations of the incoming
signal to be converted into amplitude variations on the
output. These are typically fed into an audio amplifier, or
possibly a digital interface if data is being passed over the
system.

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Advantages of frequency modulation

• Resilience to noise: One particular advantage of frequency

modulation is its resilience to signal level variations. The modulation
is carried only as variations in frequency.
• Easy to apply modulation at a low power stage of the
transmitter: Another advantage of frequency modulation is
associated with the transmitters.
• It is possible to use efficient RF amplifiers with frequency modulated
signals: It is possible to use non-linear RF amplifiers to amplify FM
signals in a transmitter and these are more efficient than the linear
ones required for signals with any amplitude variations (e.g. AM and
SSB).

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Disadvantages of frequency modulation

• FM has poorer spectral efficiency than some other modulation

formats: Some phase modulation and quadrature amplitude
modulation formats have a higher spectral efficiency for data
transmission than frequency shift keying, a form of frequency
modulation.
• Requires more complicated demodulator: One of the minor
disadvantages of frequency modulation is that the demodulator is a
little more complicated, and hence slightly more expensive than the
very simple diode detectors used for AM.

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 Phase Modulation (PM)
The modulating signal only changes the phase of the
carrier signal.
The phase change manifests itself as a frequency change
but the instantaneous frequency change is proportional to
the derivative of the amplitude.
The bandwidth is higher than for AM.

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Figure: Phase modulation

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Note

The total bandwidth required for PM can

be determined from the bandwidth
and maximum amplitude of the
modulating signal:
BPM = 2(1 + β)B.
Where  = 2 most often.

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 What is Phase Modulation
 Phase modulation, PM is sometimes used for analogue transmission, but
it has become the basis for modulation schemes used for carrying data.
Phase shoft keying, PSK is widely used for data communication.Phase
modulation is also the basis of a form of modulation known as quadrature
amplitude modulation, where both phase and amplitude are varied to
provide additional capabilities.

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 Phase modulation basics
 A radio frequency signal consists of an oscillating carrier in the form of a sine
wave is the basis of the signal.
 The instantaneous amplitude follows this curve moving positive and then
negative, returning to the start point after one complete cycle - it follows the
curve of the sine wave.

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 Cont..
 The sine wave can also be represented by the movement of a point around a
circle, the phase at any given point being the angle between the start point and
the point on the waveform as shown.

• Phase angle of poin ts on a sine waveAlso the phase advances

as time progresses so points on the waveform can be said to
have a phase difference between them.

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Cont..

 Phase modulation works by modulating the phase of the

signal, i.e. changing the rate at which the point moves
around the circle. This changes the phase of the signal
from what it would have been if no modulation was
applied. In other words the speed of rotation around the
circle is modulated about the mean value.

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 Forms of phase modulation
 Although phase modulation is used for some analogue
transmissions, it is far more widely used as a digital form of
modulation where it switches between different phases.

 This is known as phase shift keying, PSK, and there are many
flavours of this. It is even possible to combine phase shift keying
and amplitude keying in a form of modulation known as quadrature
amplitude modulation, QAM.

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Phase Modulation(PM)

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 PM Advantage
Modulation and demodulation does not catch any channel noise.
 PM Disadvantage:
Circuit needed for PM modulation and demodulation is bit
complicated than AM and FM
 Application:
Satellite communication.

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Any Question?

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