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Chapter 5

Fundamentals of Frequency Modulation

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Topics Covered in Chapter 5

▪ 5-1: Basic Principles of Frequency Modulation

▪ 5-2: Principles of Phase Modulation

▪ 5-3: Modulation Index and Sidebands

▪ 5-4: Frequency Modulation Versus Amplitude

Modulation

▪ 5-5: Frequency Modulation Advatages

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5-1: Basic Principles
of Frequency Modulation
▪ A sine wave carrier can be modified for the purpose of
transmitting information from one place to another by
varying its frequency. This is known as frequency
modulation (FM).

▪ In FM, the carrier amplitude remains constant and the

carrier frequency is changed by the modulating signal.

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5-1: Basic Principles
of Frequency Modulation
▪ As the amplitude of the information signal varies, the
carrier frequency shifts proportionately.

▪ As the modulating signal amplitude increases, the

carrier frequency increases.

▪ With no modulation the carrier is at its normal center

or resting frequency.

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5-1: Basic Principles
of Frequency Modulation
Figure 5-1: FM and PM
signals. The carrier is
drawn as a triangular wave
for simplicity, but in
practice it is a sine wave.
(a) Carrier. (b) Modulating
signal. (c) FM signal. (d)
PM signal.

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5-1: Basic Principles
of Frequency Modulation
▪ Frequency deviation (fd) is the amount of change in
carrier frequency produced by the modulating signal.

▪ The frequency deviation rate is how many times per

second the carrier frequency deviates above or below
its center frequency.

▪ The frequency of the modulating signal determines the

frequency deviation rate.

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Basic Principles of Frequency
Modulation
• A type of modulation called frequency-shift keying
(FSK) is used in transmission of binary data in digital
cell phones and low-speed computer modems.

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5-2: Principles of Phase Modulation

▪ When the amount of phase shift of a constant-frequency

carrier is varied in accordance with a modulating signal,
the resulting output is a phase-modulation (PM) signal.

▪ Phase modulators produce a phase shift which is a time

separation between two sine waves of the same
frequency.

▪ The greater the amplitude of the modulating signal, the

greater the phase shift.
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5-2: Principles of Phase Modulation

Figure 5-3: A frequency shift

occurs in PM only when the

modulating signal amplitude

varies. (a) Modulating

signal. (b) FM signal. (c) PM

signal.

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5-2: Principles of Phase Modulation

Relationship between the Modulating Signal and Carrier

Deviation
▪ In FM and in PM, the frequency deviation is directly
proportional to the amplitude of the modulating signal.

▪ In PM, the maximum amount of leading or lagging

phase shift occurs at the peak amplitudes of the
modulating signal.

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▪ The maximum frequency deviation produced by PM

occurs during the time when the modulating signal is
changing at its most rapid rate. For a sine wave
modulating signal, the rate of change of modulating signal
is greatest when modulating wave changes from plus to
minus or minus to plus.

▪ In PM the carrier deviation is proportional to both the

modulating frequency and the amplitude.

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5-2: Principles of Phase Modulation

Phase-Shift Keying
▪ The process of phase modulating a carrier with binary
data is called phase-shift keying (PSK) or binary
phase-shift keying (BPSK).

▪ The PSK signal has a constant frequency, but the

phase of the signal from some reference changes as
the binary modulating signal occurs.

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5-2: Principles of Phase Modulation

Figure 5-6: Phase modulation of a carrier by binary data produces PSK.

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5-3: Modulation Index
and Sidebands
▪ Any modulation process produces sidebands.

▪ When a constant-frequency sine wave modulates a

carrier, two side frequencies are produced.

▪ Side frequencies are the sum and difference of the

carrier and modulating frequency.

▪ The bandwidth of an FM signal is usually much wider

than that of an AM signal with the same modulating
signal.
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5-3: Modulation Index
and Sidebands

Modulation Index

▪ The ratio of the frequency deviation to the

modulating frequency is known as the
modulation index (mf).

𝒇𝒅
• 𝒎𝒇 =
𝒇𝒎

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▪ In most communication systems using FM, maximum

limits are put on both the frequency deviation and the
modulating frequency.

▪ In standard FM broadcasting, the maximum permitted

frequency deviation is 75 kHz and the maximum
permitted modulating frequency is 15 kHz.

▪ The modulation index for standard FM broadcasting

is therefore 5.
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5-3: Modulation Index
and Sidebands
Determining the number of significant sidebands:
▪ Knowing the modulation index, you can compute the
number and significant sidebands. This is done through
complex mathematical process known as Bessel
functions.

▪ Bessel coefficients are widely available and it is not

necessary to memorize or calculate them.
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5-3: Modulation Index
and Sidebands

Figure 5-8: Carrier and sideband amplitudes for different modulation indexes of FM
signals based on the Bessel functions.
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5-3: Modulation Index
and Sidebands
Bessel Functions
▪ The leftmost column gives the modulation index mf . The
remaining columns indicate the relative amplitude of
carrier and various pairs of sidebands.

▪ Note that some of carrier and sidebands have negative

signs. This means that the signal represented by the
amplitude is simply shifted in phase 180˚(phase
inversion)

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▪ Fig. 5-9 shows the curves that are generated by plotting the data
in Fig. 5-8.
▪ The carrier and sideband amplitudes and polarities are plotted
on the vertical axis; the modulation index is plotted on the
horizontal axis.
▪ As the figures illustrate, the carrier amplitude J0 varies with the
modulation index.
▪ In FM, the carrier amplitude and the amplitudes of the sidebands
change as the modulating signal frequency and deviation
change. In AM, the carrier amplitude remains constant.
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▪ Note that at several points in Figs. 5-8 and 5-9, at

modulation indexes of about 2.4, 5.5, and 8.7, the carrier
amplitude J0 actually drops to zero.
▪ At those points, all the signal power is completely
distributed throughout the sidebands. And as can be seen
in Fig. 5-9, the sidebands also go to zero at certain values
of the modulation index.

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5-3: Modulation Index
and Sidebands
FM Signal Bandwidth
▪ The higher the modulation index in FM, the greater the
number of significant sidebands and the wider the
bandwidth of the signal.

▪ When spectrum conservation is necessary, the

bandwidth of an FM signal can be restricted by putting
an upper limit on the modulation index.

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5-3: Modulation Index
and Sidebands
FM Signal Bandwidth

BW = 2fmN
Where N is the number of significant* sidebands

▪ Example:
If the highest modulating frequency is 3 kHz and the
maximum deviation is 6 kHz, what is the modulation
index?
mf = 6 kHz/3 kHz = 2
What is the bandwidth?
BW = 2(3 kHz)(4) = 24 kHz
*Significant sidebands are those that have an amplitude of greater than 1% (.01) in the Bessel table.
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▪ Another way to calculate BW is by using Carson’s

rule Another way.

𝐵𝑊 = 2[𝑓𝑑(𝑚𝑎𝑥) +
𝑓𝑚(𝑚𝑎𝑥)]

▪ Carson’s rule will always give a bandwidth lower than that

calculated with other formula BW=2fmN. But it has been proved
that if a circuit or system has bandwidth calculated by Carson's
rule, the sidebands will indeed passed well enough to ensure full
intelligibility of the signal.
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5-4: Frequency Modulation Versus
Amplitude Modulation
▪ Noise is interference generated by lightning, motors,
automotive ignition systems, and power line switching
that produces transient signals.

▪ Noise is typically narrow spikes of voltage with high

frequencies.

▪ Noise (voltage spikes) add to a signal and interfere with

it.

▪ Some noise completely obliterates signal information.

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5-4: Frequency Modulation Versus
Amplitude Modulation
▪ FM signals have a constant modulated carrier amplitude.

▪ FM receivers contain limiter circuits that deliberately

restrict the amplitude of the received signal.

▪ Any amplitude variations occurring on the FM signal are

effectively clipped by limiter circuits.

▪ This amplitude clipping does not affect the information

content of the FM signal, since it is contained solely
within the frequency variations of the carrier.
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5-4: Frequency Modulation Versus
Amplitude Modulation

Figure 5-11: An FM signal with noise.

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5-4: Frequency Modulation Versus

Amplitude Modulation

▪ In FM, interfering signals on the same

frequency are rejected. This is known as the
capture effect.

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5-5: Frequency Modulation
Advantages
Advantages of FM
▪ FM has superior immunity to noise, made possible by
clipper limiter circuits in the receiver.

▪ In FM, interfering signals on the same frequency are

rejected. This is known as the capture effect.

▪ FM signals have a constant amplitude and there is no

need to use linear amplifiers to increase power levels.
This increases transmitter efficiency.
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5-5: Frequency Modulation
Advantages
Disadvantages of FM
▪ FM uses considerably more frequency spectrum space.

▪ FM has used more complex circuitry for modulation and

demodulation.

▪ In the past, the circuits used for frequency modulation and

demodulation involved were complex. With the proliferation of ICs,
complex circuitry used in FM this disadvantage has almost
disappeared. ICs are inexpensive and easy to use. FM and PM
have become the most widely used modulation method in
electronic communication today.
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5-5: Frequency Modulation Versus
Amplitude Modulation

Major applications of AM and FM

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