Digital Modulation

ASK, FSK, & PSK

Iwan Handoyo Putro, M.Dig.Comm.
Previous Lecture

AM
Analogue
Modulation
FM
 Digital modulation is the process of encoding a digital
information signal into the amplitude (ASK), phase (PSK), or
frequency (FSK) of the transmitted signal.

The digital modulation or DM is one kind of modulation, which

utilizes discrete signals to change a carrier wave. This kind of
modulation eliminates the noise of communication and
provides superior power for the signal interruption.

Impresses a digital signal consisting of a sequence of binary

What is digits (bits), a bitstream, on the carrier.

Digital Digital Modulation provides more information capacity, high

Modulation? data security, quicker system availability with great quality
communication.

This modulation provides additional data capacity and security

for high & easy system accessibility by huge communication
quality. So, this kind of modulation has a vast demand than
analog modulation.

Hence, digital modulation techniques have a greater demand,

for their capacity to convey larger amounts of data than
analogue modulation techniques.
Where is digital modulation used?

Today, the digital modulations methods

are used in latest wireless or wire line
transmission gadget.

This modulation technique is also in use in direct

video broadcasting systems and cable TV.

In order to transmit computer data and other

digitized information over a communications
channel.
 ANTENNA SIZE GETS NO SIGNAL MIXING
REDUCED. OCCURS.

What is the
advantages? COMMUNICATION
RANGE INCREASES.
MULTIPLEXING OF
SIGNALS OCCUR.

ADJUSTMENTS IN RECEPTION QUALITY

THE BANDWIDTH IS IMPROVES.
ALLOWED.
How to Modulate & Demodulate a
Digital Signal
• A modulator is a device or circuit that performs
modulation.
• A demodulator (sometimes detector) is a circuit that
performs demodulation, the inverse of modulation.
• A modem (from modulator–demodulator) can perform
both operations.
• The frequency band occupied by the modulation signal
is called the baseband,
• While the higher frequency band occupied by the
modulated carrier is called the passband.
Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK)
• Amplitude-shift keying (ASK) is a form of amplitude
modulation that represents digital data as variations in
the amplitude of a carrier wave.
• In an ASK system, a symbol, representing one or more bits,
is sent by transmitting a fixed-amplitude carrier wave at a
fixed frequency for a specific time duration.
• For example, if each symbol represents a single bit, then the
carrier signal will be transmitted when the input value is 1,
but will not be transmitted when the input value is 0.
Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK)
• Any digital modulation scheme uses a finite number of distinct signals
to represent digital data.
• ASK uses a finite number of amplitudes, each assigned a unique
pattern of binary digits. Usually, each amplitude encodes an equal
number of bits. Each pattern of bits forms the symbol that is
represented by the particular amplitude.
• The demodulator, which is designed specifically for the symbol-set
used by the modulator, determines the amplitude of the received
signal and maps it back to the symbol it represents, thus recovering
the original data. Frequency and phase of the carrier are kept constant.
Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK)
• Like AM, an ASK is also linear and sensitive to atmospheric noise,
distortions, propagation conditions on different routes in PSTN, etc.
• Both ASK modulation and demodulation processes are relatively
inexpensive.
• The ASK technique is also commonly used to transmit digital data over
optical fiber.
• For LED transmitters, binary 1 is represented by a short pulse of light
and binary 0 by the absence of light.
• Laser transmitters normally have a fixed "bias" current that causes the
device to emit a low light level. This low level represents binary 0, while
a higher-amplitude lightwave represents binary 1.
Amplitudo Shift Keying (ASK)
• The simplest and most common form of ASK
operates as a switch, using the presence of a carrier
wave to indicate a binary one and its absence to
indicate a binary zero.
• This type of modulation is called on-off
keying (OOK), and is used at radio frequencies to
transmit Morse code (referred to as continuous
wave operation).
Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK)
• More sophisticated encoding schemes have been
developed which represent data in groups using
additional amplitude levels.
• For instance, a four-level encoding scheme can
represent two bits with each shift in amplitude; an eight-
level scheme can represent three bits; and so on.
• These forms of amplitude-shift keying require a high
signal-to-noise ratio for their recovery, as by their nature
much of the signal is transmitted at reduced power.
ASK system can be divided into three blocks. The first one represents the
transmitter, the second one is a linear model of the effects of the channel, the
third one shows the structure of the receiver. The following notation is used:
• ht(f) is the carrier signal for the transmission
• hc(f) is the impulse response of the channel
• n(t) is the noise introduced by the channel
• hr(f) is the filter at the receiver
• L is the number of levels that are used for transmission
• Ts is the time between the generation of two symbols
Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK)
ASK Modulator
•The ASK modulator block diagram comprises of the
carrier signal generator, the binary sequence from the
message signal and the band-limited filter. Following
is the block diagram of the ASK Modulator.
•The carrier generator, sends a continuous high-
frequency carrier. The binary sequence from the
message signal makes the unipolar input to be either
High or Low.
•The high signal closes the switch, allowing a carrier
wave. Hence, the output will be the carrier signal at
high input.
•When there is low input, the switch opens, allowing
no voltage to appear. Hence, the output will be low.
•The band-limiting filter, shapes the pulse depending
upon the amplitude and phase characteristics of the
band-limiting filter or the pulse-shaping filter.
ASK
Demodulator
• The Asynchronous ASK
detector consists of a half-
wave rectifier, a low pass
filter, and a comparator.
Following is the block
diagram for the same.
• The modulated ASK signal is
given to the half-wave
rectifier, which delivers a
positive half output.
• The low pass filter suppresses
the higher frequencies and
gives an envelope detected
output from which the
comparator delivers a digital
output.
ASK Advantages

• Generation of ASK is very easy.

• Both ASK modulation and demodulation processes
are relatively inexpensive.
• Amplitude-shift keying transmitters are very simple
and transmitter current is lower than FSK.
• ASK need less bandwidth than FSK. Thus, It offers
high bandwidth efficiency.
ASK Disadvantages

• In PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network), ASK is

linear and sensitive to atmospheric noise, distortion and
propagation condition.
• ASK modulation is very susceptible to noise interference.
This is due to the fact that noise affects the amplitude.
• It offers lower power efficiency.
Frequency Shift Keying (FSK)
• Frequency-shift keying (FSK) is a frequency modulation scheme in which
digital information is transmitted through discrete frequency changes of
a carrier signal.
• The technology is used for communication systems such as telemetry,
weather balloon radiosondes, caller ID, garage door openers, and low
frequency radio transmission in the VLF and ELF bands.
• The simplest FSK is binary FSK (BFSK). BFSK uses a pair of discrete
frequencies to transmit binary (0s and 1s) information. With this scheme,
the 1 is called the mark frequency and the 0 is called the space frequency.
Frequency Shift Keying (FSK)
Frequency Shift Keying (FSK)
 FSK
Modulator

• The FSK modulator block diagram comprises of

two oscillators with a clock and the input binary
sequence. Following is its block diagram.

• The two oscillators, producing a higher and a

lower frequency signals, are connected to a switch
along with an internal clock.

• To avoid the abrupt phase discontinuities of the

output waveform during the transmission of the
message, a clock is applied to both the oscillators,
internally.

• The binary input sequence is applied to the

transmitter so as to choose the frequencies
according to the binary input.
 FSK
Demodulator

• The block diagram of Asynchronous FSK

detector consists of two band pass filters, two
envelope detectors, and a decision circuit.
Following is the diagrammatic representation.
• The FSK signal is passed through the two Band
Pass Filters BPFs, tuned
to Space and Mark frequencies.
• The output from these two BPFs look like ASK
signal, which is given to the envelope detector.
The signal in each envelope detector is
modulated asynchronously.
• The decision circuit chooses which output is
more likely and selects it from any one of the
envelope detectors. It also re-shapes the
waveform to a rectangular one.
FSK – Sound
FSK Applications
• In 1910, Reginald Fessenden invented a two-tone method of transmitting Morse code. Dots and dashes were
replaced with different tones of equal length. The intent was to minimize transmission time.
• Some early CW (continues wave) transmitters employed an arc converter that could not be
conveniently keyed. Instead of turning the arc on and off, the key slightly changed the transmitter frequency
in a technique known as the compensation-wave method. The compensation-wave was not used at the
receiver. Spark transmitters used for this method consumed a lot of bandwidth and caused interference, so it
was discouraged by 1921.
• Most early telephone-line modems used audio frequency-shift keying (AFSK) to send and receive data at
rates up to about 1200 bits per second. The Bell 103 and Bell 202 modems used this technique. Even today,
North American caller ID uses 1200 baud AFSK in the form of the Bell 202 standard. Some
early microcomputers used a specific form of AFSK modulation, the Kansas City standard, to store data
on audio cassettes.
• AFSK is still widely used in amateur radio, as it allows data transmission through unmodified voiceband
equipment.
• AFSK is also used in the United States' Emergency Alert System to transmit warning information.
• Frequency-shift keying (FSK) is commonly used over telephone lines for caller ID (displaying callers'
numbers) and remote metering applications
FSK Applications
ASK vs FSK
• A side by side comparison of FSK with ASK does not give FSK
a performance advantage over ASK in the presence of noise.
• FSK is just a modulation scheme and is not necessarily more
immune to noise than ASK.
• However, FSK has several advantages over ASK due to the fact
that the carrier has a constant amplitude. hence, its immunity to
non-linearities, immunity to rapid fading, immunity to adjacent
channel interference, and the ability to work in small SNR
environments due to the effect of exchanging SNR for
bandwidth.
Phase Shift Keying
• Phase-shift keying (PSK) is a digital
modulation process which conveys data by
changing (modulating) the phase of a
constant frequency reference signal (the carrier
wave).
• The modulation is accomplished by varying
the sine and cosine inputs at a precise time.
• It is widely used for wireless LANs, RFID
and Bluetooth communication.
 The term PSK or Phase shift This kind of technique is
keying is broadly used in a mostly compatible with data
radio communication system. communications.

Phase It allows information in a

more efficient way to be
Data communication is rising
with different forms of

Shift
carried over a radio communication formats like
communications signal analogue to digital to carry
compare with other data along with different

Keying
modulation forms. modulation forms.

There are different types of

PSK where each one has its
own benefits and drawbacks.
What is PSK?
• The Phase Shift Keying is one kind of digital modulation method.
• This kind of method is used to transmit data by modulating
otherwise changing the phase of the carrier signal which is known
as a reference signal.
• The digital data can be represented with any kind of digital
modulation method by using a limited number of separate signals.
• This kind of modulation method uses a limited number of phases
where each phase can be assigned with binary digits.
• Generally, every phase encodes an equivalent number of bits.
Every bits pattern forms the symbol that is denoted by the exact
phase.
What is PSK?
• The PSK method can be represented by a convenient
method namely constellations diagram.
• In this kind of communication, the points of the
constellation can be selected are generally placed by
uniform angular spacing in the region of circle.
• So that utmost phase separation can be offered among
nearby points & therefore the best protection to
corruption.
• These are arranged in a circle so that they can all be
transmitted by similar energy.
PSK Diagram
PSK Problems
• In general the higher order forms of modulation allow higher data rates to be
carried within a given bandwidth. However the downside is that the higher
data rates require a better signal to noise ratio before the error rates start to
rise and this counteracts any improvements in data rate performance.
• The problem with phase shift keying is that the receiver cannot know the
exact phase of the transmitted signal to determine whether it is in a mark or
space condition. This would not be possible even if the transmitter and
receiver clocks were accurately linked because the path length would
determine the exact phase of the received signal. To overcome this problem
PSK systems use a differential method for encoding the data onto the carrier.
This is accomplished, for example, by making a change in phase equal to a
one, and no phase change equal to a zero.
Forms of PSK

• PSK - Phase Shift Keying

• BPSK - Binary Phase Shift Keying
• QPSK - Quadrature Phase Shift Keying
• O-QPSK - Offset Quadrature Phase Shift Keying
• 8 PSK - 8 Point Phase Shift Keying
• 16 PSK - 16 Point Phase Shift Keying
The advantages of phase-shift
keying
• This type of PSK allows information to be carried with a radio
communications signal more efficiently compare with FSK.
• QPSK is another kind of data transmits wherever 4 phase states
are utilized, all in 90 degrees of one another.
• It is less vulnerable to faults when we evaluate with ASK
modulation & occupies similar bandwidth like ASK.
• By using this, the high transmission data rate can be attained with
the help of high-level PSK modulations like QPSK, 16-QAM.
Here QPSK signifies 2-bits for each constellation and 16-QAM
signifies 2-bits for each constellation.
The disadvantages of phase-shift
keying
• The bandwidth efficiency of this PSK is less compared with
ASK type of modulation
• It is a non-coherent reference signal
• By estimating the phase states of the signal, the binary
information can be decoded. Algorithms like recovery and
detection are extremely difficult.
• High-level PSK modulations like QPSK, 16-QAM is more
sensitive to phase differences.
• It generates wrong demodulations as the fault can combine with
time because the reference signal for demodulation is not fixed.
The applications of PSK

• This method is broadly used for bio-metric, wireless

LAN along with wireless communications like
Bluetooth and RFID.
• Local Oscillator
• Optical Communications
• Multi-channel WDM (wave-length division
multiplexing)
PSK Summary
• PSK is a digital modulation technique which transmits information by
altering the phase of a stable frequency carrier signal.
• Generally, these modulation methods are superior to modulation
techniques like FSK in terms of bandwidth.
• These modulation schemes provide better efficiency. But FSK
modulation methods are power-efficient at a given signal-to-noise ratio
(S/N).
• This method is broadly used for bio-metric, wireless LAN along with
wireless communications like Bluetooth and RFID.
Video from Sunny Classroom

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGwUOvErR8Q&ab_channel=SunnyClassroom
 Todays’
Lecture
Summary
Frequently Asked Questions
1). What is phase shift keying in simple terms?
PSK is basically a data modulation technique in which data is
transmitted by continuously varying the pulses of the reference signal.
2). Which is better PSK or FSK?
PSK signals have more bandwidth efficiency as compared to FSK.
However, FSK signals are less susceptible to noise and distortion.
Hence, it is quite difficult to draw up a comparison chart between PSK
and FSK.
Frequently Asked Questions
3). What is the Shift keying technique?
Shift keying is a data modulation technique. In shift keying, while data is
being transmitted, the values which are used for encoding the data
continuously switch between two keys having discrete switching values.
4). Which is better PSK or FSK?
PSK signals have more bandwidth efficiency as compared to FSK.
However, FSK signals are less susceptible to noise and distortion. Hence,
it is quite difficult to draw up a comparison chart between PSK and FSK.