A M Receiver

Communication Systems
• We have studied the basic blocks of any communication system
– Modulator
– Demodulator
• Modulation Schemes:
– Linear Modulation (DSB, AM, SSB, VSB)
 AM/FM Radio System
• Principles:
– Frequency Spectrum Sharing (many transmitters using one
medium)
– Demodulating desired signal and rejecting other signals
transmitted at the same time
 AM/FM Radio System
• The source signal is audio
• Different sources have different spectrum
– Voice (speech)
– Music
– Hybrid signals (music, voice, singing)
 AM/FM Radio System
• Different audio sources have different bandwidth “W”
– Speech- 4kHz
– High quality music- 15kHz
– AM radio limits “baseband” bandwidth W to 5kHz
– FM radio uses “baseband” bandwidth W to 15kHz
 AM/FM Radio System
• Radio system should be able to receive any type of
audio source simultaneously.
• Different stations with different sources transmit signals
simultaneously.
• Different listeners tune to different stations
simultaneously.
 AM/FM Radio System

• The different radio stations share the frequency spectrum over the
air through AM and FM modulation.

• Each radio station, within a certain geographical region, is

designated a carrier frequency around which it has to transmit

• Sharing the AM/FM radio spectrum is achieved through Frequency

Division Multiplexing (FDM)
 Example of AM Radio Spectrum
• Different radio stations, different source signals

… …

Fc0 Fc1 Fc2 F

• Carrier spacing- 10kHz (AM)

• Bandwidth (3-5kHz)
• For AM radio, each station occupies a maximum bandwidth of
10 kHz
• Carrier spacing is 10 kHz
• For FM radio, each station occupies a bandwidth of 200 kHz,
and therefore the carrier spacing is 200 kHz
 A M Receiver

• Functions:
– Select the desired signal from all the other unwanted
signals
– Amplify the desired signal
– Demodulate the amplified signal
– Original modulating signal is obtained
 Receiver Types

• Tuned Radio Frequency (TRF) Receiver

• Suprhetrodyne Receiver
 Tuned Radio Frequency (TRF)
Receiver

• Oldest and simplest

• High sensitivity
 Tuned Radio Frequency (TRF)
Receiver
• Limitations of TRF receivers:
– Instability :All the gain is at one frequency – feedback is
a problem
– Variation in BW f
BWover
 r the tuning range
Q

AM range is 530kHZ to 1640 kHz

AM BW is 10kHz
Q is 53.5 for 530 kHz and 164 for 1640kHz.
Practical value of Q is 120 at this value BW is 13.7 kHz
– Insufficient selectivity at high frequencies, and poor
adjacent channel rejection.
 Superhetrodyne Receiver
• All problems of TRF receiver are overcome by converting all
incoming RF signal to a fixed lower freq called “intermediate
frequency" (IF)

• Mixer changes variable RF frequency to fixed IF frequency

• IF amplifier provides selectivity with several tuned circuits
• Fixed IF can use non-tunable crystal or ceramic filters
• A constant frequency difference is maintained between local
oscillator and RF circuits through capacitance tuning
• Characteristics of IF amplifier are indifferent of the frequency to
which receiver is tuned, selectivity and sensitivity are fairly
uniform.
• RF circuit select wanted frequency and reject unwanted
 Superhetrodyne Receiver

• RF stage
• Mixer and local oscillator
• IF amplifier
• Detector
• Audio and power amplifier
• AGC :
– Controls the gain of RF and IF amplifiers to maintain a constant
output voltage level
– This is done by feeding a controlling dc voltage to the RF and
IF amplifiers. The amplitude of this DC voltage is proportional
to the detector output.
 Superhetrodyne Receiver

455 + 3 KHz

540 to 1650
KHz
Very narrow
band class
A amplifier

995 to 2105
KHz
 Superhetrodyne Receiver

640 KHz

1095 KHz
Superhetrodyne Receiver

17
Characteristics of the radio
receivers
• Are used to judge the performance of a radio
receiver
Sensitivity
Selectivity
Fidelity
Dynamic range
 Sensitivity
• Ability to amplify weak signals (µv)
• The minimum RF signal level that
can be detected at the input to
the Rx and still produce a usable
demodulated information signal.
• Voltage that must be applied to
the receiver input terminals to
give standard output power
measured at the output terminals.
• Rx sensitivity also called Rx
threshold.
• Signal power required to produce
a minimum acceptable output
signal with a minimum acceptable
signal to noise ratio.
• Important factors: Gain of IF and
RF amplifier
 Sensitivity..

Depends on:
• The noise power present at the input to the Rx.
• Rx noise figure.
• AM detector sensitivity.

To improve ~ reduce the noise level

Reducing the temperature or Rx BW or RX
noise figure
 Fidelity
• Fidelity is the ability of a receiver to reproduce all
modulating frequencies equally.
• Fidelity depends on the frequency response of the
AF amplifier.
• High fidelity (HiFi) is required to reproduce good
quality music.
• Forms of distortion that can deteriorate the fidelity
of a communication system:-
• Amplitude
• Frequency
• Phase
 Selectivity

• Ability to reject
unwanted signals

• Used to measure the

ability of the receiver to
accept a given band of
frequencies and reject
all others.

• Way to describe
selectivity is to simply
give the bandwidth of
the receiver at the -3dB
points.
 Dynamic range

• The difference (in dB) between the minimum

input level necessary to discern a signal and the
input level that will overdrive the Rx and produce
distortion.
• Input power range over which the Rx is useful.
• A dynamic range of 100dB is considered about
the highest possible.
• A low dynamic range can cause a desensitizing of
the RF amplifiers and result in severe
intermodulation distortion of the weaker input
signal.