AM Demodulation Techniques

COMMUNICATION SYSTEM ( TC-307), FALL, 2022

 AM/DSB-FC Demodulation
The process of extracting an original message signal from the modulated wave is known
as detection or demodulation. The circuit, which demodulates the modulated wave is known as
the demodulator.
The following demodulators (detectors) are used for demodulating AM wave:
1. Square Law Demodulator
2. Envelope Detector
 Square Law Demodulator
Square law demodulator is used to demodulate low level AM wave. Following is the block diagram of the square law
demodulator.
This demodulator contains a square law device and low pass filter. The AM wave S(t) is applied as an input to this
demodulator.

The standard form of AM signal is: S(t)= 𝑉𝑐 𝐶𝑜𝑠𝑤𝑐 𝑡(1+mx(t)).

 We know that the mathematical relationship between the input and the output of square law device is:
X(t)= AS(t)+BS2 (𝑡) Equation (1)
Where, S(t) is the input of the square law device, which is the AM wave
S2 (𝑡) is the output of the square law device, A and B are the constants.
 Square Law Demodulator
Substitute S(t) in Equation 1:
2
X(t)=𝐴𝑉𝑐 𝐶𝑜𝑠𝑤𝑐 𝑡(1+mx(t))+B𝑉𝑐 2 𝐶𝑜𝑠 2 𝑤𝑐 𝑡 (1+mx(t))
X(t)= 𝐴𝑉𝑐 𝐶𝑜𝑠𝑤𝑐 𝑡+𝐴𝑉𝑐 𝑚𝐶𝑜𝑠𝑤𝑐 𝑡x(t)+B𝑉𝑐 2 𝐶𝑜𝑠 2 𝑤𝑐 𝑡 (1+2mx(t)+𝑚2 𝑥 2 (𝑡))
X(t)= 𝐴𝑉𝑐 𝐶𝑜𝑠𝑤𝑐 𝑡+𝐴𝑉𝑐 𝑚𝐶𝑜𝑠𝑤𝑐 𝑡x(t)+B𝑉𝑐 2 𝐶𝑜𝑠 2 𝑤𝑐 𝑡 +2m B𝑉𝑐 2 𝐶𝑜𝑠 2 𝑤𝑐 𝑡 x(t)+ B𝑉𝑐 2 𝐶𝑜𝑠 2 𝑤𝑐 𝑡 𝑚2 𝑥 2 (𝑡)
1+𝑐𝑜𝑠2𝑤𝑐 𝑡 1+𝑐𝑜𝑠2𝑤𝑐 𝑡 1+𝑐𝑜𝑠2𝑤𝑐 𝑡
X(t)=𝐴𝑉𝑐 𝐶𝑜𝑠𝑤𝑐 𝑡+𝐴𝑉𝑐 𝑚𝐶𝑜𝑠𝑤𝑐 𝑡x(t)+B𝑉𝑐 2 ( ) +2m B𝑉𝑐 2 x(t) ( ) +B𝑉𝑐 2 𝑚2 𝑥 2 (𝑡) ( )
2 2 2
B𝑉𝑐 2 B𝑉𝑐 2 2 2 B𝑉𝑐 2 2 2
X(t)=𝐴𝑉𝑐 𝐶𝑜𝑠𝑤𝑐 𝑡+𝐴𝑉𝑐 𝑚𝐶𝑜𝑠𝑤𝑐 𝑡x(t)+ + 𝑐𝑜𝑠2𝑤𝑐 𝑡+ m B𝑉𝑐 x(t) + m B𝑉𝑐 x(t) 𝑐𝑜𝑠2𝑤𝑐 𝑡+ 𝑚 𝑥 (𝑡) +
2 2 2
B𝑉𝑐 2
𝑚2 𝑥 2 (𝑡) 𝑐𝑜𝑠2𝑤𝑐 𝑡 Equation 2
2

In Equation 2, the frequencies for the first term is 𝑓𝑐 , for the second term is 𝑓𝑐 ±𝑓𝑚 , for the third term is 𝑓=0, for
the fourth term is 2𝑓𝑐 , for the fifth term is 𝑓𝑚 , 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑥𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚 𝑖𝑠 2𝑓𝑐 ±𝑓𝑚 , 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚 𝑖𝑠 2𝑓𝑚 ,
and for the eighth term is 2𝑓𝑐 ±2𝑓𝑚
 Square Law Demodulator
The frequency spectrum of Equation (2) is shown below:

As the low pass filter cutoff frequency is 𝑓𝑚 so it will only pass the frequencies at 𝑓𝑚 and frequencies lower
than the 𝑓𝑚 so the output of Low pass filter will be:
B𝑉𝑐 2 2 B𝑉𝑐 2 2 2
Y(t)= + m B𝑉𝑐 x(t)+ 𝑚 𝑥 (𝑡)
2 2

After the signal pass from the DC Blocker, the component at f=0 will be eliminated and the output will be:
Square Law Demodulator
2 B𝑉𝑐 2 2 2
Y(t)= m B𝑉𝑐 x(t)+ 𝑚 𝑥 (𝑡)
2

2 B𝑉𝑐 2
Where m B𝑉𝑐 x(t) is signal and 𝑚2 𝑥 2 (𝑡) is a distortion.
2

As the performance of communication system is measured by signal to noise ratio so the ratio of signal
power to noise power at the output should be high in order to make the signal power dominating compared
to the noise power.

𝑆𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟
For better performance of receiver, ˃1
𝑁𝑜𝑖𝑠𝑒 𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟
Envelope Detector
Envelope detector is used to detect (demodulate) DSBFC/ AM wave. Following is the circuit diagram of
the envelope detector.

This envelope detector consists of a diode and low pass filter. Here, the diode is the main detecting element.
Hence, the envelope detector is also called as the diode detector. The low pass filter contains a parallel
combination of the resistor and the capacitor.
The AM wave is applied as an input to the detector.
Envelope Detector
At time t=0, when the input is zero, diode will not work because initially the voltage across the capacitor will
be zero i.e., capacitor is not charged.
When the zero voltage is applied across the diode as shown in the figure below, the voltage potential remains
same across the diode and the circuit will not be operational.

At time t=0+ , the input value is greater than 0 as shown in the figure, the voltage potential at P side is greater
than the N side of diode so the diode will be forward biased. At this condition, the diode is acting as a short
circuit as shown in the figure and the output across the diode will be equal to the capacitor voltage. The
capacitor will start charging with that voltage.
Envelope Detector

At time t=t1, the input value to the envelope detector reaches the maximum value i.e. A , the output to the envelope detector will
also reach to the maximum value A.
 At time t=𝑡1+ , the input voltage starts decreasing but the output voltage at the capacitor is already maximum i.e. A, and
now the voltage at N side is more than the voltage at P side, the diode will be reverse biased and becomes open circuited. Due to
that, the capacitor voltage decreases and it starts discharging through the resistor R as shown in the figure below.
Envelope Detector
The process will be repeated and the capacitor will be charging and discharging according to the provided input voltage. The
voltage across the capacitor will be exactly equal to the envelope after passing it through smoothing filter, hence the information
signal will be extracted.
 For the capacitor voltage to follow the envelope properly, the capacitor has time constant which should satisfies the following
condition:
𝟏 𝟏
<<RC<<
𝒇𝒄 𝒇𝒎
Envelope Detector
𝟏
Case 1: RC< :
𝒇𝒄
𝟏
When the RC time constant is less than the , the capacitor discharges very fastly as shown in the
𝒇𝒄
figure below: There is a very big gap between capacitor voltage and envelope so the envelope of
input signal is not followed properly.
 Envelope Detector
𝟏
Case 2: RC> :
𝒇𝒎

𝟏
When the RC time constant is greater than the , the capacitor discharges very slowly and takes more time
𝒇𝒎
to discharge completely as shown in the figure below: The peak values of envelope is missed by the
capacitor voltage and the effect is known as “Diagonal Clipping”. Hence, the envelope of input signal is not
𝟏
followed properly. To avoid the diagonal clipping, RC< .
𝒇𝒎
 DSBSC Demodulators
The process of extracting an original message signal from DSBSC wave is known as detection or demodulation
of DSBSC. The following demodulators (detectors) are used for demodulating DSBSC wave.
1. Coherent Detector
2. Costas Loop
1. Coherent/Synchronous Detector: The product modulator has two inputs. One is the received DSBSC
input and other is the carrier signal which is locally generated with the help of oscillator at the receiver side
that must be synchronized with that of the transmitted carrier signal. Therefore, the frequency and phase of
the carrier signal which is locally generated at the receiver should be same as the frequency and phase of
the transmitted signal. Hence, this process of detection is called as coherent or synchronous detection.
Following is the block diagram of the coherent detector. As the message signal is the low frequency signal
so Low pass filter is used with the cutoff frequency of 𝑓𝑚 to transmit the signal at 𝒇𝒎 and less than 𝒇𝒎 .
Coherent/Synchronous Detector:

 As the DSBSC signal is given by:

M(t) = 𝑋 𝑡 𝐴𝑐 𝐶𝑜𝑠𝑤𝑐 𝑡
Therefore, the v(t)=M(t)×C(t)
1+𝑐𝑜𝑠2𝑤𝑐 𝑡
V(t)=𝑋 𝑡 𝐴𝑐 𝐶𝑜𝑠𝑤𝑐 𝑡×𝐴𝑐 𝐶𝑜𝑠𝑤𝑐 𝑡=𝑋 𝑡 𝐴𝑐 2 𝐶𝑜𝑠 2 𝑤𝑐 𝑡=𝑋 𝑡 𝐴𝑐 2 ( )
2
𝑋 𝑡 𝐴𝑐 2 𝑋 𝑡 𝐴𝑐 2 𝑐𝑜𝑠2𝑤𝑐 𝑡
V(t)= 2 + 2
Coherent/Synchronous Detector:
The frequency spectrum of the v(t) is given below: The low pass filter will pass only the frequency component
of 𝒇𝒎 and reject the another term at 2𝒇𝒄 frequency.
The output is given below and the information signal is recovered back from the DSBSC signal.
𝑋 𝑡 𝐴𝑐 2
V(t)= 2
Coherent/Synchronous Detector
The effects of asynchronous carrier signal at the receiver side with respect to transmitted carrier signal are
discussed below:
Case 1: Effects of phase drift in synchronous detector:
The balanced modulator has two inputs i.e., DSBSC signal and carrier signal 𝑉𝑐 cos (𝑤𝑐 𝑡+θ)which has the
phase shift with respect to transmitted carrier signal. At the transmitter, carrier signal is 𝑉𝑐 cos(𝑤𝑐 𝑡) having
phase 0 but at the receiver, phase shift of θ is present in the locally generated carrier signal. Therefore,
x(t) 𝑉𝑐 2
X(t)= x(t) 𝑉𝑐 cos(𝑤𝑐 𝑡)×𝑉𝑐 cos (𝑤𝑐 𝑡+θ)= ×2 cos(𝑤𝑐 𝑡) cos (𝑤𝑐 𝑡+θ)
2
Coherent/Synchronous Detector
x(t) 𝑉𝑐 2
X(t)= [cos(𝑤𝑐 𝑡 + 𝑤𝑐 𝑡+θ) +cos (𝑤𝑐 𝑡 − 𝑤𝑐 𝑡+θ)]
2
x(t) 𝑉𝑐 2
X(t)= [cos(2𝑤𝑐 𝑡+θ) +cos (θ)]
2

The first term has the frequency 2𝑓𝑐 so when the signal is passed from the low pass filter, it will be
rejected and only the second term will be passed. The output will be:
x(t) 𝑉𝑐 2
X(t)= cos (θ)
2

When θ=90⁰ then the output will be zero i.e., Y(t) = 0. This effect is called as Quadrature Null Effect.
At the receiver side, the locally generated carrier will be 𝑉𝑐 cos (𝑤𝑐 𝑡+90⁰)=-Sin𝑤𝑐 𝑡 where as at transmitter
side, the carrier signal is 𝑉𝑐 cos 𝑤𝑐 𝑡, hence the cos and sin signals are perpendicular/quadrature to each
other and the output we get is 0 therefore its known as Quadrature null effect.
Coherent/Synchronous Detector
Case 2: Effects of frequency drift in synchronous detector:
The balanced modulator has two inputs i.e., DSBSC signal and carrier signal 𝑉𝑐 cos 2π (𝑓𝑐 +∆f)t which has
the frequency shift with respect to the transmitted carrier signal. At the transmitter, carrier signal is
𝑉𝑐 cos(2π𝑓𝑐 𝑡) having frequency 𝑓𝑐 but at the receiver, frequency shift of ∆f is present in the locally
generated carrier signal.
x(t) 𝑉𝑐 2
Therefore, X(t)= x(t) 𝑉𝑐 cos(𝑤𝑐 𝑡)×𝑉𝑐 cos (𝑤𝑐 𝑡+ ∆w)t= ×2 cos(𝑤𝑐 𝑡) cos (𝑤𝑐 + ∆w)t
2
 Coherent/Synchronous Detector
x(t) 𝑉𝑐 2
X(t)= [cos(𝑤𝑐 +𝑤𝑐 + ∆w)t + cos (𝑤𝑐 − 𝑤𝑐 + ∆w)t ]
2
x(t) 𝑉𝑐 2
X(t)= [cos(2𝑤𝑐 + ∆w)t + cos (∆w)t ]
2
As the low pass filter is centered to the 𝑓𝑚 , 𝑠𝑜 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑖𝑔ℎ 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 2𝑓𝑐 .
The output will be:
x(t) 𝑉𝑐 2
X(t)= cos (∆w)t
2
The message signal is now shifted to small frequency ∆w. As the message signal is multiplied with the cos
signal and cos signal is oscillatory signal so the amplitude of message signal will also vary and distortion in
output will occur. This effect is called as Beat effect and the message signal will not be recovered.
Therefore, in order to get the information back from the modulated signal, it is necessary that the locally
generated carrier signal at receiver should be synchronized with that of the transmitted carrier signal.
 Costas Loop
Costas loop is used to demodulate the DSBSC signal and make both the carrier signal (used
for DSBSC modulation) and the locally generated signal in phase.
Following is the block diagram of Costas loop.
 Costas Loop
Costas loop consists of two product modulators with common input s(t) which is DSBSC wave. The other input for both
product modulators is taken from Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO) with -90⁰ phase shift to one of the product
modulator as shown in figure.
We know that the equation of DSBSC wave is:
𝑠 𝑡 = 𝑋 𝑡 𝐴𝑐 𝐶𝑜𝑠𝑤𝑐 𝑡
Let the output of VCO be: 𝑐1 (𝑡)=𝐴𝑐 (𝐶𝑜𝑠𝑤𝑐 𝑡+Ø)
This output of VCO is applied as the carrier input of the upper product modulator.
Hence, the output of the upper product modulator is 𝑣1 (𝑡)= 𝑠 𝑡 × 𝑐1 𝑡 = 𝑋 𝑡 𝐴𝑐 𝐶𝑜𝑠𝑤𝑐 𝑡 × 𝐴𝑐 (𝐶𝑜𝑠𝑤𝑐 𝑡+Ø)
𝐴𝑐 2 x(t) 𝐴𝑐 2 x(t)
𝑣1 (𝑡)= ×2 𝐶𝑜𝑠𝑤𝑐 𝑡 𝐶𝑜𝑠(𝑤𝑐 𝑡+Ø)= [𝐶𝑜𝑠(𝑤𝑐 𝑡 + 𝑤𝑐 𝑡+Ø)+Cos(𝑤𝑐 𝑡 − 𝑤𝑐 𝑡 −Ø)]
2 2
𝐴𝑐 2 x(t)
𝑣1 (𝑡)= [Cos(2𝑤𝑐 𝑡+Ø)+Cos(Ø)]
2
𝐴𝑐 2 x(t) 𝐴𝑐 2 x(t)
𝑣1 (𝑡)= Cos(2𝑤𝑐 𝑡+Ø)+ 2 Cos(Ø)
2
Costas Loop
This signal is applied as an input of the upper low pass filter. The output of this low pass filter is:
𝐴𝑐 2 x(t)
Y(t)= Cos(Ø)
2

The modulating signal can be extracted from the output signal.

For lower product modulator, the output of -90⁰ phase shift will be:
𝑐2 (𝑡)=𝐴𝑐 (𝐶𝑜𝑠𝑤𝑐 𝑡+Ø-90 ⁰)=𝐴𝑐 Sin(𝑤𝑐 𝑡+Ø)
This signal is applied as the carrier input of the lower product modulator.
The output of the lower product modulator is 𝑣2 (𝑡)= 𝑠 𝑡 × 𝑐2 𝑡 = 𝑋 𝑡 𝐴𝑐 𝐶𝑜𝑠𝑤𝑐 𝑡 × 𝐴𝑐 𝑆𝑖𝑛(𝑤𝑐 𝑡 +Ø)
𝐴𝑐 2 x(t)
𝑣2 (𝑡)= × 2𝐶𝑜𝑠𝑤𝑐 𝑡𝑆𝑖𝑛(𝑤𝑐 𝑡 +Ø)
2
𝐴𝑐 2 x(t)
𝑣2 (𝑡)= [sin(𝑤𝑐 t-𝑤𝑐 𝑡 -Ø)+sin(𝑤𝑐 t+𝑤𝑐 𝑡 +Ø)]
2
Costas Loop
𝐴𝑐 2 x(t)
𝑣2 (𝑡)= [sin(Ø)+sin(2𝑤𝑐 𝑡 +Ø)]
2

This signal is applied as an input of the lower low pass filter. The output of this low pass filter is
𝐴𝑐 2 x(t)
𝑣2 (𝑡)= sin(Ø)
2

The output of this Low pass filter has -90 ⁰ phase shift with the output of the upper low pass filter.
The outputs of these two low pass filters are applied as inputs of the phase discriminator. Based on the
phase difference between these two signals, the phase discriminator produces a DC control signal.
 When the quadrature null effect will occur, the output of phase discriminator will become 0 and VCO
will lock the signals in order to correct the phase error at VCO output. Therefore, the carrier signal (used
for DSBSC modulation) and the locally generated signal (VCO output) are in phase.
SSBSC and VSBSC Demodulation
The synchronous detection technique as
discussed in DSBFC is also used for SSBSC and
VSBSC demodulation to extract the information
signal from these modulated signals.