Analogue Modulation and Demodulation in

Communication System

2.1 MODULATION:
Modulation is the process of changing some property of the information sources (baseband
signal) into suitable form for transmission through the physical medium or channel. It is
performed in the transmitter by a device called modulator.

Fig. 2-1 Block diagram of Modulation System.

Modulation is an operation of varying amplitude, frequency or phase of carrier signal

according to the instantaneous amplitude of the baseband signal/modulating signal.

Baseband signal: is refers to the original frequency range or information such as music,
video, data etc. of a transmission signal before it is converted or modulated to a different
frequency range.
Carrier: Transferring information at high frequency.
Bandwidth: It is the difference between the highest frequencies and the lowest frequencies
of the input signal frequencies (fB = 2fm) or BW = fUSB - fLSB

THE NEED FOR MODULATION:

a) Reduction in the height of an Antenna

b) Makes Multiplexing possible
c) Increases the range of communication
d) Avoids the mixing of signals
e) It also aim to achieve transfer information with the minimum distortion, minimum
loss, and efficient utilisation of spectrum.

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2.2 DEMODULATION:
Demodulation is the reverse process of modulation by converting the modulated
information sources back to its original information (it removes the information from the
carrier signal). It is performed in the receiver by a device called demodulator.

Fig. 2-2 Block diagram of Demodulation System.

A demodulator is an electronic circuit that is mainly used to recover the information content
from the modulated carrier wave. There are different types of modulation and so are
demodulators. The output signal via a demodulator may describe the sound, images, or
binary data.

2.3 TYPE OF MODULATION:

There are mainly two categories of modulations: Analog and Digital. Fig 2-3 is a block
diagram showing the types of modulations and further the sub types of analog and digital
modulations.

Fig. 2-3 Block diagram of different types of modulations and sub-types.

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Analogue Modulation
2.3.1 Amplitude Modulation (AM)
This is the process of changing the amplitude of the high frequency carrier signal with
respect to the instantaneous value of the modulating signal. It is a technique used in an
electronic communication, most commonly for transmitting information via a radio carrier
wave.

Fig. 2-4 Signal wave of Amplitude Modulation.

Mathematical Expression:
We shall now develop the mathematical expressions that represent AM signals.
Assuming that the modulating signal is a sine wave in fm frequency:
Am (t) = Am cos ꞷm t ------------------------------------------------------- (I)
…and the carrier wave is in fc frequency:
Ac (t) = Ac cos ꞷc t --------------------------------------------------------- (II)
The expression representing the modulated wave is:
AAM (t) = (Ac + Am cos ꞷm t) cos ꞷc t = A (t) cos ꞷc t ------------------ (III)

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Where:
Ac - amplitude of carrier wave ꞷm - 2πfm
Am - amplitude of message signal wave fc - carrier frequency
ꞷc - 2πfc fm - frequency of modulating signal

Equation (III) describes a sine wave whose frequency fc (ꞷc) is that of the carrier wave and
whose amplitude A(t) is behaving as another sine wave whose frequency is fm with the
average value of Ac. By extracting Ac from the brackets we obtain:

By extracting Vc from the brackets we obtain:

𝑨𝒎
𝑨𝑨𝑴 (𝒕) = 𝑨𝒄 ⌊𝟏 + 𝒄𝒐𝒔𝝎𝒎 𝒕⌋ 𝒄𝒐𝒔𝝎𝒄 𝒕
𝑨𝒄

= 𝑨𝒄 (𝟏 + 𝒎𝒄𝒐𝒔𝝎𝒎 𝒕)𝒄𝒐𝒔𝝎𝒄 𝒕

Where 𝒎 is Modulation Index:

𝑨𝒎 𝑨𝒎𝒂𝒙 −𝑨𝒎𝒊𝒏
𝒎= or 𝒎=
𝑨𝒄 𝑨𝒎𝒂𝒙 +𝑨𝒎𝒊𝒏

The modulation index shows the relationship between the original carrier wave amplitude
and the signal wave amplitude. Figure 2-4 shows AM waves with the same carrier and
signal frequencies but with different modulation coefficients.

Percentage of modulation (m %)
The modulation index or modulation depth is often denoted in percentage called as
Percentage of Modulation. We will get the percentage of modulation, just by multiplying
the modulation index value with 100.

For a perfect modulation, the value of modulation index should be 1 (m = 1), which implies
the percentage of modulation should be 100%.

For instance, if this value is less than 1 (m < 1), i.e., the modulation index is 0.5, then the
modulated output would look like in Fig. 2-5. It is called as Under-modulation. Such a
wave is called as an under-modulated wave.

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 Fig. 2-5 Under-Modulated wave

If the value of the modulation index is greater than 1(m > 1), i.e., 1.5 or so, then the wave
will be an over-modulated wave. It would look like the following figure.

Fig. 2-5 Over-Modulated wave

As the value of the modulation index increases, the carrier experiences a 180o phase
reversal, which causes additional sidebands and hence, the wave gets distorted. Such an
over-modulated wave causes interference, which cannot be eliminated.

Bandwidth of AM Wave
Bandwidth (BW) is the difference between the highest and lowest frequencies of the signal.
Mathematically, we can write it as
BW = fmax - fmin

Sidebands
In radio communications, a sideband is a band of frequencies higher than or lower than the
carrier frequency, that are the result of the modulation process.
Whenever a carrier is modulated by an information signal, new signals at different
frequencies are generated as part of the process. These new frequencies, which are called
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side frequencies, or sidebands, occur in the frequency spectrum directly above and directly
below the carrier frequency.
The upper sideband fUSB and lower sideband fLSB are computed as;
fUSB = fc + fm and fLSB = fc - fm
Where;
fc is the carrier frequency
fm is the modulating frequency

Amplitude Modulation Techniques

Amplitude modulation techniques are classified into three (3) types and they are;
1. Double Sideband Suppressed Carrier AM (DSB-SC)
2. Single sideband Suppressed Carrier AM (SSB-SC)
3. Vestigial sideband Suppressed Carrier AM (VSB-SC)

Double Sideband Suppressed Carrier (DSB – SC)

In the process of Amplitude Modulation, the modulated wave consists of the carrier wave and two
sidebands. The modulated wave has the information only in the sidebands. Sideband is nothing
but a band of frequencies, containing power, which are the lower and higher frequencies of the
carrier frequency.
The transmission of a signal, which contains a carrier along with two sidebands can be termed
as Double Sideband Full Carrier system or simply DSB-FC. It is plotted as shown in the
following figure.

However, such a transmission is inefficient. Because, two-thirds (2⁄3) of the power is being wasted
in the carrier, which carries no information.
If this carrier is suppressed and the saved power is distributed to the two sidebands, then such a
process is called as Double Sideband Suppressed Carrier system or simply DSB-SC. It is
plotted as shown in the following figure.

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Mathematical Expressions

Let us consider the same mathematical expressions for modulating and carrier signals as we have
considered in the earlier chapters.
i.e., modulating signal

m(t) = Am cos(2πfmt)
Carrier signal

c(t) = Ac cos(2πfct)
Mathematically, we can represent the equation of DSBSC wave as the product of modulating
and carrier signals.

s(t) = m(t) c(t)

Consider the equation of DSBSC modulated wave

𝑠(𝑡) = 𝐴𝑚 𝐴𝑐 cos(2𝜋𝑓𝑚 (𝑡)) cos(2𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡)

Bandwidth of DSBSC Wave

We know the formula for bandwidth (BW) is

BW = fmax – fmin
Consider the equation of DSBSC modulated wave.

𝑠(𝑡) = 𝐴𝑚 𝐴𝑐 cos(2𝜋𝑓𝑚 (𝑡)) cos(2𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡)

𝐴𝑚 𝐴𝑐 𝐴𝑚 𝐴𝑐
⇒ 𝑠(𝑡) = cos[2𝜋(𝑓𝑐 + 𝑓𝑚 )𝑡] + cos[2𝜋(𝑓𝑐 − 𝑓𝑚 )𝑡]
2 2

The DSBSC modulated wave has only two frequencies. So, the maximum and minimum
frequencies are fc + fm and fc − fm respectively.

Fmax = fc + fm & fmin = fc – fm

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Substitute, fmax and fmin values in the bandwidth formula.

BW = fc + fm − (fc − fm)
⇒BW = 2fm
Thus, the bandwidth of DSBSC wave is same as that of AM wave and it is equal to twice the
frequency of the modulating signal.

Single Sideband Suppressed Carrier (SSB-SC)

We have discussed DSB-SC modulation. The DSBSC modulated signal has two sidebands. Since,
the two sidebands carry the same information, there is no need to transmit both sidebands. We
can eliminate one sideband.

The process of suppressing one of the sidebands along with the carrier and transmitting a single
sideband is called as Single Sideband Suppressed Carrier system or simply SSBSC. It is plotted
as shown in the following figure.

In the above figure, the carrier and the lower sideband are suppressed. Hence, the upper sideband
is used for transmission. Similarly, we can suppress the carrier and the upper sideband while
transmitting the lower sideband.

This SSBSC system, which transmits a single sideband has high power, as the power allotted for
both the carrier and the other sideband is utilized in transmitting this Single Sideband.

Mathematical Expressions
Let us consider the same mathematical expressions for the modulating and the carrier signals as
we have considered in the earlier chapters.

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i.e., Modulating signal

m(t) = Am cos(2πfmt)
Carrier signal
c(t) = Ac cos(2πfct)
Mathematically, we can represent the equation of SSBSC wave as
𝑨𝒎 𝑨𝒄
𝒔(𝒕) = 𝐜𝐨𝐬[𝟐𝝅(𝒇𝒄 + 𝒇𝒎 )𝒕] ----------------- Upper sideband
𝟐

Or
𝑨𝒎 𝑨𝒄
𝒔(𝒕) = 𝐜𝐨𝐬[𝟐𝝅(𝒇𝒄 − 𝒇𝒎 )𝒕] ----------------- Lower sideband
𝟐

Bandwidth of SSBSC Wave

We know that the DSB-SC modulated wave contains two sidebands and its bandwidth is 2fm.
Since the SSB-SC modulated wave contains only one sideband, its bandwidth is half of the
bandwidth of DSB-SC modulated wave.

𝟐𝒇𝒎
i.e., Bandwidth of SSBSC modulated wave = = 𝒇𝒎
𝟐

Therefore, the bandwidth of SSB-SC modulated wave is 𝒇𝒎 and it is equal to the frequency of the
modulating signal.

Advantages
 Bandwidth or spectrum space occupied is lesser than AM and DSBSC waves.
 Transmission of more number of signals is allowed.
 Power is saved.
 High power signal can be transmitted.
 Less amount of noise is present.
 Signal fading is less likely to occur.
Disadvantages
 The generation and detection of SSBSC wave is a complex process.
 The quality of the signal gets affected unless the SSB transmitter and receiver have an
excellent frequency stability.
Applications
 For power saving requirements and low bandwidth requirements.
 In land, air, and maritime mobile communications.

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  In point-to-point communications.
 In radio communications.
 In television and radar communications.
 In military communications, such as amateur radio, etc.

Vestigial Side Band Suppressed Carrier (VSB-SC):

As discussed earlier on, SSBSC modulated signal has only one sideband frequency. Theoretically,
we can get one sideband frequency component completely by using an ideal band pass filter.
However, practically we may not get the entire sideband frequency component. Due to this, some
information gets lost.

To avoid this loss, a technique is chosen, which compromise between DSBSC and SSBSC. This
technique is known as Vestigial Side Band Suppressed Carrier (VSBSC) technique. The word
“vestige” means “a part” from which, the name is derived.

VSBSC Modulation is the process, where a part of the signal called as vestige is modulated along
with one sideband. The frequency spectrum of VSBSC wave is shown in the figure below.

Along with the upper sideband, a part of the lower sideband is also being transmitted in
this technique. Similarly, we can transmit the lower sideband along with a part of the upper
sideband. A guard band of very small width is laid on either side of VSB in order to avoid
the interferences. VSB modulation is mostly used in television transmissions.
Bandwidth of VSBSC Modulation
We know that the bandwidth of SSBSC modulated wave is fm. Since the VSBSC
modulated wave contains the frequency components of one side band along with the
vestige of other sideband, the bandwidth of it will be the sum of the bandwidth of SSBSC
modulated wave and vestige frequency fv.
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 Bandwidth of VSBSC Modulated Wave = fm + fv
Advantages
Following are the advantages of VSBSC modulation.
 Highly efficient.
 Reduction in bandwidth when compared to AM and DSBSC waves.
 Filter design is easy, since high accuracy is not needed.
 The transmission of low frequency components is possible, without any difficulty.
Disadvantages
Following are the disadvantages of VSBSC modulation.
 Bandwidth is more when compared to SSBSC wave.
 Demodulation is complex.
Applications

The most prominent and standard application of VSBSC is for the transmission of
television signals. Also, this is the most convenient and efficient technique when
bandwidth usage is considered.

2.3.2 Frequency Modulation (FM)

In FM, the carrier amplitude remains constant and the carrier frequency is changed by the
modulating signal. As the amplitude of the information signal varies, the carrier frequency
shifts proportionately. As the modulating signal amplitude increases, the carrier frequency
increases. If the amplitude of the modulating signal decreases, the carrier frequency
decreases.

The amount of change in carrier frequency produced by the modulating signal is known as
the frequency deviation (∆𝒇). Maximum frequency deviation occurs at the maximum
amplitude of the modulating signal.

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 Frequency Modulation sine wave. (a) Carrier. (b) Modulating signal. (c) FM signal.

The frequency modulated wave has a constant power and its frequency is changing as a
function of time:

V (t) = Vc cos (2πf (t))

Another description of a frequency modulated wave is as follows:

V (t) = Vc cos (2π(fc + ∆𝒇t) ----------------------------------(2.1)

∆𝒇 (t) Indicates the frequency deviation from the carrier wave frequency, which comes
from the modulated wave. The frequency deviation depends on the modulated wave power.

∆𝒇 = Kf ˑ Vm
Kf = is the constant, which describes the connection between the frequency
deviation and the modulated wave voltage (Frequency Sensitivity).

Vm = maximum frequency deviation

fd is called a maximum frequency deviation.

The wave described earlier is hard to analyze. Mathematical dismantling of this wave will
give the customary equation of a frequency modulated wave:
V (t) = Vc ˑcos (2πfct + β(2πfmt))

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Where:
Vc - The power of the carrier wave
fc - The frequency of the carrier wave
fm - The frequency of the modulating wave
β - The modulation index.

The modulation index/coefficient is the relation between the maximum frequency

deviation and the frequency modulating wave.
∆𝒇
β=
𝒇𝒎

There is no connection between fd and fm.

fm = is the frequency modulating wave.
∆𝒇 = is the maximum frequency deviation,
The change in the modulated wave frequency is in the range ∆𝒇 ± fm.

Deviation ration:
In a frequency modulation system, the ratio of the maximum frequency deviation of the
carrier to the maximum modulating frequency.
𝑴𝒂𝒙 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒚 𝒅𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 ∆𝒇
𝒎= =
𝑴𝒂𝒙 𝒎𝒐𝒅𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒚 𝒇𝒎

Carrier Swings:
The total variation in frequency from the lowest to the highest is called Carrier Swings or
Frequency Swings.
𝑪𝑺 = 𝟐 ∗ 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒄𝒚 𝒅𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 = 𝟐∆𝒇

2.4 Principles of Amplitude Demodulation

Demodulators, or detectors, are circuits that accept modulated signals and recover the
original modulating information. The demodulator circuit is the key circuit in any radio
receiver. In fact, demodulator circuits can be used alone as simple radio receivers. One of
the most common and widely used detector is called Diode Detectors.
Diode Detectors
The simplest and most widely used amplitude demodulator is the diode detector. As shown,
the AM signal is usually transformer-coupled and applied to a basic half wave rectifier

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circuit consisting of D1 and R1. The diode conducts when the positive half-cycles of the
AM signals occur. During the negative half-cycles, the diode is reverse-biased and no
current flows through it. As a result, the voltage across R1 is a series of positive pulses
whose amplitude varies with the modulating signal. A capacitor C1 is connected across
resistor R1, effectively filtering out the carrier and thus recovering the original modulating
signal.

Fig. A diode detector AM demodulator

One way to look at the operation of a diode detector is to analyze its operation in the time domain.
On each positive alternation of the AM signal, the capacitor charges quickly to the peak value of
the pulses passed.

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2.5 Principles of Frequency Demodulation
FM demodulation is a key process in the reception of a frequency modulated signal. Once the
signal has been received, filtered and amplified, it is necessary to recover the original modulation
from the carrier. It is this process that is called demodulation or detection.

FM demodulation principle

FM demodulator circuits are found in any receiver that uses FM: broadcast receivers, two way
radios like walkie-talkies and handheld radios that use FM, and any receiver where frequency
modulation is used.
Two important characteristics that all FM detectors must provide:
a) FM demodulators must convert frequency variations of the input signal into amplitude
variations at the output.
b) The amplitude of the output must be proportional to the frequency deviation of the input

There are four major types of FM detectors:

o Foster-Seely discriminator
o Ratio detector
o Quadrature detector
o PLL detector

2.6 Multiplexing and De-multiplexing

Multiplexing
The use of modulation also permits another technique, known as multiplexing, to be used.
Multiplexing is the process of allowing two or more signals to share the same medium
or channel. A multiplexer converts the individual baseband signals to a composite signal
that is used to modulate a carrier in the transmitter.

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Demultiplexing is a term relative to multiplexing. It is the reverse of the multiplexing
process. De-multiplexing is a process reconverting a signal containing multiple analog
or digital signal streams back into the original separate and unrelated signals.

Multiplexing (MUX) and De-multiplexing (DEMUX)

A device that performs the multiplexing is called a MULTIPLEXER (MUX), and a device
that performs the reverse process is called a DE-MULTIPLEXER (DEMUX or DMX).

Types of Multiplexers
There are mainly two types of multiplexers, namely analog and digital. They are further
divided into FDM, WDM, and TDM. The following figure gives a detailed idea about this
classification.

Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM)

Frequency division multiplexing (FDM) is a technique of multiplexing which means

combining more than one signal over a shared medium. In FDM, signals of different
frequencies are combined for concurrent transmission.

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Concept and Process
In FDM, the total bandwidth is divided to a set of frequency bands that do not overlap.
Each of these bands is a carrier of a different signal that is generated and modulated by one
of the sending devices. The frequency bands are separated from one another by strips of
unused frequencies called the guard bands, to prevent overlapping of signals.
The modulated signals are combined together using a multiplexer (MUX) in the sending
end. The combined signal is transmitted over the communication channel, thus allowing
multiple independent data streams to be transmitted simultaneously. At the receiving end,
the individual signals are extracted from the combined signal by the process of de-
multiplexing (DEMUX).

Example
The following diagram conceptually represents multiplexing using FDM. It has 4
frequency bands, each of which can carry signal from 1 sender to 1 receiver. Each of the 4
senders is allocated a frequency band. The four frequency bands are multiplexed and sent
via the communication channel. At the receiving end, a de-multiplexer regenerates the
original four signals as outputs.

Here, if the frequency bands are of 150 KHz bandwidth separated by 10KHz guard bands,
then the capacity of the communication channel should be at least 630 KHz (channels : 150
× 4 + guard bands: 10 × 3).

Uses and Applications

It allows sharing of a single transmission medium like a copper cable or a fiber optic cable,
among multiple independent signals generated by multiple users.
FDM has been popularly used to multiplex calls in telephone networks. It can also be used
in cellular networks, wireless networks and for satellite communications.
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