Communication Systems

Technology Embedded in Daily Life

VSP 2019, Dr. Lutz Lampe & Dr. Paul Lusina

 Modulation Techniques
How to transmit and receive data (you do it all
the time …) Chapter 6

Channels, modulation, and

demodulation

6.1 Introduction
Digital modulation (or channel encoding) is the process of converting an input sequence of bits
into a waveform suitable for transmission over a communication channel. Demodulation (channel
decoding) is the corresponding process at the receiver of converting the received waveform into a
(perhaps noisy) replica of the input bit sequence. Chapter 1 discussed the reasons for using a bit
sequence as the interface between an arbitrary source and an arbitrary channel, and Chapters
2 and 3 discussed how to encode the source output into a bit sequence.
Chapters 4 and 5 developed the signal-space view of waveforms. As explained there, the source
and channel waveforms of interest can be represented as real or complex1 L2 vectors. Any such
vector can be viewed as a conventional function of time, x(t). Given an orthonormal basis
{φ1 (t), φ2 (t), . . . , } of L2 , any such x(t) can be represented as
!
x(t) = xj φj (t). (6.1)
j

Each xj in (6.1) can be uniquely calculated from x(t),"and the above series converges in L2 to
x(t). Moreover, starting from any sequence satisfying j |xj |2 < ∞ there is an L2 function x(t)
satisfying (6.1) with L2 convergence. This provides a simple and generic way of going back and
forth between functions of time and sequences of numbers. The basic parts of a modulator will
then turn out to be a procedure for mapping a sequence of binary digits into a sequence of real
or complex numbers, followed by the above approach for mapping a sequence of numbers into a
waveform.
In most cases of modulation, the set of waveforms φ1 (t), φ2 (t), . . . , in (6.1) will be chosen not
as a basis for L2 but as a basis for some subspace2 of L2 such as the set of functions that are
baseband limited to some frequency W or passband limited to some range of frequencies. In
some cases, it will also be desirable to use a sequence of waveforms that are not orthonormal.
1
As explained later, the actual transmitted waveforms are real. However, they are usually bandpass real
waveforms that are conveniently represented as complex baseband waveforms.
2
Equivalently, φ1 (t), φ2 (t), . . . , can be chosen as a basis of L2 but the set of indices for which xj is allowed to
be nonzero can be restricted.
167

Cite as: Robert Gallager, course materials for 6.450 Principles of Digital Communications I, Fall 2006. MIT OpenCourseWare
(http://ocw.mit.edu/), Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Downloaded on [DD Month YYYY].

https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-
computer-science/6-450-principles-of-digital-
communications-i-fall-2006/lecture-notes/
 We will look at

Error
Compression
Source Correction Modulator
Encoder
Encoder

Medium
Error
Compression
Sink Correction Demodulator
Decoder
Decoder
 Digital Transmission
Basic structure:

data symbol Mapper signal element

For example:
Data symbol Signal element

1 (00)

2 (01)

3 (10)

4 (11)
 Linear modulation
pulse shape
A very typical structure: symbol interval
P
1
s(t) = ak gT (t kT )
k= 1
data symbol
Example: ak 2 { 1, +1}
gT (t) = rect(t/T )
1

0.5
s(t) ⟶

-0.5

-1

2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20

t/T ⟶
 Linear modulation

Signal constellations:

M signal points, carrying log2(M) bits/symbol period

For example 8-ary pulse amplitude modulation (PAM)

-7A -5A -3A -A A 3A 5A 7A

binary 000 001 010 011 100 101 110 111

labels 000 001 011 010 110 111 101 100 Gray labeling
 Linear modulation - Baseband transmission

For example in Digital subscriber line (DSL), Ethernet, Power line

communications (PLC), Visible light communication (VLC), …
s(t)
Digital Analog
Digital
Mapping to analog (lowpass)
filter converter filter

binary data ak pulse shape gT(t)

Programmable
gain amplifier

Line
Driver

Medium
 Linear modulation - Passband transmission

All wireless communication systems use passband transmission

s(t)
Digital Analog
Digital
Mapping to analog (lowpass) IQ Mixer
filter converter filter

binary data ak Programmable

gain amplifier

Line
Driver

Medium
 Passband transmission
baseband to passband conversion (up-conversion) at transmitter
IQ Mixer
cos(2𝜋fct+𝜑)

pulse
real part shaping sI(t)

ak,I
imaginary

ak
spassband(t)
real pulse
sQ(t)
imaginary
part shaping

ak,Q −sin(2𝜋fct+𝜑)
 Passband transmission
passband to baseband conversion (down-conversion) at the receiver

cos(2𝜋fct+𝜑) IQ Mixer
lowpass Analog
filtering to digital âk,I
(ADC)

received “reverse” pulse shaping

signal

lowpass Analog
filtering to digital âk,Q
(ADC)

−sin(2𝜋fct+𝜑)
 Passband transmission
baseband and passband signals

s(t) = sI (t) + jsQ (t)

j(2⇡fc t+')
spassband (t) = < s(t)e
= sI (t) cos(2⇡fc t + ') sQ (t) sin(2⇡fc t + ')
 Passband transmission
baseband and passband signals

spassband (t) cos(2⇡fc t + ')

= (sI (t) cos(2⇡fc t + ') sQ (t) sin(2⇡fc t + ')) cos(2⇡fc t + ')

= 1 _ sQ (t) sin(2(2⇡fc t + '))]

[sI (t)(1 + cos(2(2⇡fc t + ')) +
2

at 2fc eliminated through lowpass filter

after lowpass filter and scaling

= sI (t)
 Passband transmission
Use complex-valued signal constellations:
1. Quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM)
64QAM

4QAM 16QAM
imaginary

real
}

dmin
 Passband transmission
Use complex-valued signal constellations:
2. Phase-shift keying (PSK)

2PSK 4PSK 8PSK

(BPSK)
imaginary

real
}d min

quadrature component
IQ or quadrature
in-phase component components
 Additive white Gaussian noise channel
n(t)

Pulse Lowpass ADC

Mapping
shaping filtering

ak s(t) r(t) y(t) zk

Additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN)

zk = a k + n k
nk ⇠ Normal(0, N0 /2)
nk are independent
 Additive white Gaussian noise channel
n(t)

Pulse Lowpass ADC

Mapping
shaping filtering

ak s(t) r(t) y(t) zk

2
a = Es (received) energy per symbol
2
n = N0 /2 noise variance

Signal-to-noise power ratio (SNR), for example SNR = Es /N0

 AWGN channel
zk = a k + n k
Baseband transmission
M=2

Es /N0 = 20 dB p p
Es + Es

Es /N0 = 10 dB p p
Es + Es

Es /N0 = 0 dB p p
Es + Es
 Error probability for AWGN channel
zk = a k + n k
Baseband transmission
M=2

dmin

Transmission errors happen if received signal lands on the

other side of the decision threshold
 Error probability for AWGN channel
zk = a k + n k
Baseband transmission
M=2
p p
Es + Es

dmin

Probability of error:
p R1 x2 /(2 2
Pe = P (zk > 0|ak = Es ) = P (nk > dmin /2) = p1 2
e n) dx
2⇡ n
dmin /2
⇣ ⌘ ✓ p
◆
dmin /2 Es
=Q =Q p
n N0 /2
⇣q ⌘
2Es
Pe = Q N0 NB: Gaussian Q-function
 Error probability for AWGN channel
p p ⇣q ⌘
Es + Es 2Es
M=2 Pe = Q N0

0.1 10 -1

0.09

0.08 10 -2

0.07

Pe ⟶
0.06 10 -3
Pe ⟶

0.05

0.04 10 -4

0.03

0.02 10 -5

0.01

10 -6
1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

SNR (Es/N0) ⟶ SNR (Es/N0) [dB] ⟶

 Error probability for AWGN channel
p p ⇣q ⌘
Es + Es 2Es
M=2 Pe = Q N0

10 -1

M=2: Eb = Es / log2 (M ) = Es
10 -2
Pe ⟶

10 -3
Bound for Q-function:
10 -4 x2 /2
Q(x)  0.5e
10 -5

10 -6
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

SNR (Es/N0) [dB] ⟶

 Error probability for AWGN channel
M≥2
-(M-1)A -3A -A A 3A (M-1)A
10 -1

Es = A2 (M 2 1)/3
10 -2
dmin = 2A
M=8
Pe ⟶

10 -3
⇣q ⌘
2(M 1) 6Es
Pe = M Q (M 2 1)N0
10 -4 M=2 M=4

10 -5
⇣q ⌘
2(M 1) 6Eb log2 (M )
Pe = M Q (M 2 1)N0
10 -6
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20

SNR (Eb/N0) [dB] ⟶

 Error probability for AWGN channel
zk = a k + n k
Passband transmission Q
nk = nIk + jnk
M-QAM

⇠ Normal(0, N0 /2)
⇠ Normal(0, N0 /2)
 Error probability for AWGN channel
zk = a k + n k
Passband transmission Q
nk = nIk + jnk
M-QAM

⇠ Normal(0, N0 /2)
⇠ Normal(0, N0 /2)
√M-PAM

dmin }
}

dmin
√M-PAM
 Error probability for AWGN channel
zk = a k + n k
Passband transmission

√M-PAM
M-QAM
dmin
}

}
dmin
√M-PAM
⇣ p ⇣q ⌘⌘2
2( M 1) 3Es
Pe = 1 1 p
M
Q (M 1)N0

p ⇣q ⌘
4( M 1) 3Es
< p
M
Q (M 1)N0
 Error probability for AWGN channel
M-QAM

10 -1

10 -2

M=64
Pe ⟶

10 -3
p ⇣q ⌘
4( M 1) 3Es
M=16 Pe < p
M
Q (M 1)N0
10 -4 M=4

10 -5 p ⇣q ⌘
4( M 1) 3Eb log2 (M )
Pe < p
M
Q (M 1)N0
10 -6
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20

SNR (Eb/N0) [dB] ⟶

 Comparison to Shannon bound
1
Capacity Cbaseband = 2 log2 (1 + 2Es /N0 )
bit/symbol
Cpassband = log2 (1 + Es /N0 )
(bit per 1 channel use)
7

ion
64QAM, Pe=10-5

at
6

c
coding

d
le uni

an
5

sb
ss mm
Rate ⟶

as
Cp
4
16QAM, Pe=10-5
po co
ib
coding
im le

3
is liab

4QAM, Pe=10-5
re

coding
1

0
-10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30

SNR (Es/N0) [dB] ⟶