Amplitude

Modulation
Submitted by : Keshav Dadhich
3rd yr
Electronic and Communication
DEMODULATION OF DSB-SC AM SIGNALS
 Suppose that the DSB-SC AM signal u(t) is transmitted t
hrough an ideal channel (with no channel distortion and
no noise)
 Then the received signal is equal to the modulated signa
r (t )  u (t )  m(t )c(t )  Ac m(t ) cos(2 f c t )
l,

 Suppose we demodulate the received signal by

1. Multiplying r(t) by a locally generated sinusoid cos(2fct + ).
2. We pass the product signal through an ideal lowpass filter with
bandwidth W

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DEMODULATION OF DSB-SC AM SIGNALS
 The multiplication of r(t) with cos(2fct + ) yields
r (t ) cos(2 f c t   )  Ac m(t ) cos(2 f c t ) cos(2 f c t   )
1 1
 Ac m(t ) cos( )  Ac m(t ) cos(4 f c t   )
2 2

Frequency-domain representation
of the DSB-SC AM demodulation.

 Since the frequency content of m(t) is limited to W Hz, whe

re
W << fc, the lowpass filter can be designed to eliminate the si 3
DEMODULATION OF DSB-SC AM SIGNALS
 Consequently, the output of the ideal lowpass filter
1
yl (t )  Ac m(t ) cos( )
2

 Note that m(t) is multiplied by cos()

 So the power in the demodulated signal is decreased by a factor of
cos2
 Thus, the desired signal is scaled in amplitude by a factor that depen
ds on the phase  of the locally generated sinusoid
1. When   0, the amplitude of the desired signal is reduced by the fa
ctor cos() 2
2. If  = 45, the amplitude of the signal is reduced by and the pow
er is reduced by a factor of two
3. If  = 90, the desired signal component vanishes
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DEMODULATION OF DSB-SC AM SIGNALS
 The preceding discussion demonstrates the need for a p
hase-coherent or synchronous demodulator for recoveri
ng the message signal m(t) from the received signal
 That is, the phase  of the locally generated sinusoid sh
ould ideally be equal to 0 (the phase of the received-car
rier signal)
 A sinusoid that is phase-locked to the phase of the recei
ved carrier can be generated at the receiver in one of t
wo ways

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DEMODULATION OF DSB-SC AM SIGNALS
 One method is to add a carrier component into the transmitted sign
al.

Addition of a pilot
tone to a DSB-AM signal.

 We call such a carrier component "a pilot tone."

 Its amplitude Ap is selected to be significantly smaller than those of the modula
ted signal u(t).
 Thus, the transmitted signal is a double-sideband, but it is no longer a suppres
sed carrier signal

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DEMODULATION OF DSB-SC AM SIGNALS
 At the receiver, a narrowband filter tuned to frequency fc, filters o
ut the pilot signal component
 Its output is used to multiply the received signal, as shown in belo
w
 We may show that the presence of the pilot signal results in a DC
component in the demodulated signal
 This must be subtracted out in order to recover m(t)

Use of a pilot tone

to demodulate a
DSB-AM signal.

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DEMODULATION OF DSB-SC AM SIGNALS
 Adding a pilot tone to the transmitted signal has
a disadvantage
 It requires that a certain portion of the transmitted sig
nal power must be allocated to the transmission of the
pilot
 As an alternative, we may generate a phase-lock
ed sinusoidal carrier from the received signal r(t)
without the need of a pilot signal
 This can be accomplished by the use of a phase-locked
loop, as described in Section 6.4.

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 CONVENTIONAL AMPLITUDE MODULATION
 A conventional AM signal consists of a large carrier com
ponent, in addition to the double-sideband AM modula
ted signal
 u (t )  Ac [1signal
The transmitted  m(t )]
is cos( 2 f c t )as
expressed

 The message waveform is constrained to satisfy the conditio

n that |m(t)|  1
 We observe that Acm(t) cos(2fct) is a double-sideband AM
signal and Accos(2fct) is the carrier component

A conventional AM signal in
the time domain

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CONVENTIONAL AMPLITUDE MODULATION

 As we will see later in this chapter, the existence of th

is extra carrier results in a very simple structure for the
demodulator
 That is why commercial AM broadcasting generally e
mploys this type of modulation
 As long as |m(t)|  1, the amplitude Ac[1 + m(t)] is always posi
tive
 This is the desired condition for conventional DSB AM that

makes it easy to demodulate, as we will describe

 On the other hand, if m(t) < -1 for some t , the AM signal is ov
ermodulated and its demodulation is rendered more complex

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CONVENTIONAL AMPLITUDE MODULATION
 m(t) is scaled so that its magnitude is always less than unity
 It is convenient to express m(t) as
m(t )  amn (t )
 where m,(t) is normalized such that its minimum value is -1 and
m(t )
mn (t ) 
max m(t )
 The scale factor a is called the modulation index, which is generally a
constant less than 1
 Since |m(t)|  1 and 0 < a < 1, we have 1 + amn( t ) > 0 and the mo

dulated signal can be expressed as

u (t )  Ac [1  amn (t )] cos(2 f c t )
 which will never be overmodulated

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 SPECTRUM OF THE CONVENTIONAL AM SIGNAL
 The spectrum of the amplitude-modulated signal u(t) is
U ( f )  F  Ac amn (t ) cos(2 f c t )  F  Ac cos(2 f c t )
Ac a
  M n ( f  f c )  M n ( f  f c )  Ac  ( f  f c )   ( f  f c )
2 2

Conventional AM in both the

time and frequency domain.

 Obviously, the spectrum of a conventional AM signal oc

cupies a bandwidth twice the bandwidth of the messag
e signal
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POWER FOR THE CONVENTIONAL AM SIGNAL

 A conventional AM signal is similar to a DSB when m(t) is substi

tuted with 1 + amn(t)
 DSB-SC : The power in the modulated signal
Ac2
Pu  Pm
2
 where Pm denotes the power in the message signal
 Conventional AM :
1 T /2 1 T /2
Pm  lim T / 2 [1  amn (t )] dt  Tlim  [1  a 2 mn2 (t )]dt
2
T  T  T T / 2

 where we have assumed that the average of mn(t) is zero

 This is a valid assumption for many signals, including audio signals.

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POWER FOR THE CONVENTIONAL AM SIGNAL
 Conventional AM,
Ac2 Ac2 2
Pm  1 a Pmn
2
Pu   a Pmn
2 2

 The first component applies to the existence of the carrier, and this compo
nent does not carry any information
 The second component is the information-carrying component
 Note that the second component is usually much smaller than the first co
mponent (a < 1, |mn(t)| < 1, and for signals with a large dynamic range, Pmn
<< 1)
 This shows that the conventional AM systems are far less power
efficient than the DSB-SC systems
 The advantage of conventional AM is that it is easily demodulate
d

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DEMODULATION OF CONVENTIONAL DSB-AM SIGNALS
 The major advantage of conventional AM is the ease in which the
signal can be demodulated
 There is no need for a synchronous demodulator
 Since the message signal m(t) satisfies the condition |m(t)| < 1, the
envelope (amplitude) 1+m (t) > 0
 If we rectify the received signal, we eliminate the negative values
without affecting the message signal, as shown in below
 The rectified signal is equal to u(t) when u(t) > 0, and zero when u
(t) < 0
 The message signal is recovered by passing the rectified signal thro
ugh a lowpass filter whose bandwidth matches that of the messag
e signal
 The combination of rectifier and lowpass filter is called an envelop
e detector

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DEMODULATION OF CONVENTIONAL DSB-AM SIGNALS
 The output of the envelope detector is of the form
d (t )  g1  g 2 m(t )
 where gl represents a DC component and g2 is a gain factor due
to the signal demodulator.
 The DC component can be eliminated by passing d(t) through a t
ransformer, whose output is g2m(t).
 The simplicity of the demodulator has made conventiona
l DSB-AM a practical choice for AM-radio broadcasting
 Since there are billions of radio receivers, an inexpensive implem
entation of the demodulator is extremely important
 The power inefficiency of conventional AM is justified by the fact
that there are few broadcast transmitters relative to the number
of receivers
 Consequently, it is cost-effective to construct powerful tr
ansmitters and sacrifice power efficiency in order to simp
lify the signal demodulation at the receivers
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THANK YOU