Rizvi college of Engineering

FM Demodulation

Prof. Priyal Zaveri

Principles of communication Engineering Prof.Priyal Zaveri

 Rizvi college of Engineering

Methods for Frequency Demodulation

What are Frequency demodulators ?
 They produce output voltage whose instantaneous amplitude is directly
proportional to the instantaneous frequency of the input FM wave.
Methods:
1. Balanced Slope Detector
2. Foster Seely Descriminator
3. Phase locked loop demodulator.
4. Ratio-detector. (old)

Prof.Priyal Zaveri
Principles of communication Engineering
 Basic Idea Rizvi college of Engineering

Vout (t )  kd f
where Vout (t=) demodulated output signal (Volts)
kd
= demodulator transfer function (Volts per Hertz)

f = difference between the input frequency and the center

frequency of the demodulator (Hertz).

Prof.Priyal Zaveri
Principles of communication Engineering
 Rizvi college of Engineering

Balanced Slope Detector

Prof.Priyal Zaveri
Principles of communication Engineering
 Rizvi college of Engineering

Prof.Priyal Zaveri
Principles of communication Engineering
 Rizvi college of Engineering

Advantages and Limitations

Advantages:
(i) This circuit is more efficient than simple slope detector.
(ii) It has better linearity than the simple slope detector.

Limitations:
(i) Even though linearity is good, it is not good enough.
(ii) This circuit is difficult to tune since the three tuned circuits
are to be tuned at different frequencies, and
(iii) Amplitude limiting is not provided.

Prof.Priyal Zaveri
Principles of communication Engineering
 Rizvi college of Engineering

Foster-Seeley Discriminator
(Phase Discriminator)

Principles of communication Engineering Prof.Priyal Zaveri

 Rizvi college of Engineering

Foster-Seeley Discriminator f
f in  f o f in  f o in  f o

Prof.Priyal Zaveri
Principles of communication Engineering
 Rizvi college of Engineering

Foster-Seeley…
Advantages:
 uning procedure is simpler than balanced slope detector,
because it contains only two tuned circuits and both are
tuned to the same frequency .

 Better linearity, because the operation of the circuit is

dependent more on the primary to secondary phase
relationship which is very much linear.

Limitations:
It does not provide amplitude limiting. So in the presence of
noise or any other spurious amplitude variations, the
demodulator output respond to them and produce errors.

Principles of communication Engineering Prof.Priyal Zaveri

 Ratio Detector Rizvi college of Engineering

Similar to the Foster-Seeley discriminator .

(i) The direction of diode is reversed.
(ii) A large capacitance Cs is included in the
circuit.
(iii) The output is taken different locations.
Advantages:
Easy to align.
Good linearity due to linear phase relationship between
primary and secondary.
Amplitude limiting is provided inherently. Hence
additional limiter is not required.

Prof.Priyal Zaveri
Principles of communication Engineering
 Ratio Detector Rizvi college of Engineering

Prof.Priyal Zaveri
Principles of communication Engineering
 Rizvi college of Engineering

Phase-locked Loops

• PLLs when fed with an FM signal directly produce an

output signal that is proportional to the message signal.
• PLL has low cost and superior performance even at
low SNR (signal-to-noise ratio)
• Where do we take the output? Compare with the case
of carrier acquisition.

Prof.Priyal Zaveri
Principles of communication Engineering
 Rizvi college of Engineering

Phase Lock Loop (PLL)

A PLL is a device whose output is a periodic signal synchronized in phase
with an input reference (periodic or almost periodic) signal.

Prof.Priyal Zaveri
Principles of communication Engineering
 Rizvi college of Engineering

VCO: oscillator that produces a period waveform with a frequency that may
be varied around free running frequency, f o .
 VCO output frequency = f o when v2 (t )  0.
Phase Detector (PD): output is a function of the phase difference between
incoming signal vo (t ) and vin (t ).
PLL has two modes:
- Narrowband mode: tracks average frequency of vin (t ).
- Wideband mode: tracks instantaneous frequency of vin (t ).
Lock: When the PLL tracks the (average or instantaneous) frequency of vin (t ).
Hold-in range: When the PLL is in lock, the range of frequency of vin (t ) to remain
in lock. (Also called the lock range.)
Pull-in range: When the PLL is not in lock, the range of frequency of vin (t ) to
capture a lock. (Also called the capture range.)
Maximum locked sweep range: When the PLL is in lock, the maximum rate
of change of the frequency of vin (t ) to remain in lock.
A PLL can be made in analog (APLL) or digital (DPLL) circuits.
Principles of communication Engineering Prof.Priyal Zaveri
 Rizvi college of Engineering

Different Phase Detector Characteristics

Prof.Priyal Zaveri
Principles of communication Engineering
 Rizvi college of Engineering

Performance Comparison of FM Demodulators

S.No. Parameter of Balanced Slope Foster-Seeley Ratio Detector
Comparison detector (Phase)
discriminator
(i) Alignment/tuning Critical as three Not Critical Not Critical
circuits are to be tuned
at different frequencies
(ii) Output characteristics Primary and secondary Primary and Primary and
depends on frequency relationship secondary phase secondary phase
relation. relation.
(iii) Linearity of output Poor Very good Good
characteristics
(iv ) Amplitude limiting Not providing Not Provided Provided by the
inherently inherently ratio detector.
(v) Amplifications Not used in practice FM radio, TV receiver
satellite station sound section ,
receiver etc. narrow band
FM receivers.
Principles of communication Engineering Prof.Priyal Zaveri
 Rizvi college of Engineering

Principles of communication Engineering Prof.Priyal Zaveri