Viet Nam National University Ho Chi Minh City

University of Science
Faculty of Electronics & Telecommunications

Chapter 2
Amplitude Modulations and Demodulations

Dang Le Khoa
Email: dlkhoa@fetel.hcmus.edu.vn
 Overview
⚫ Baseband and Carrier Communication
⚫ Different AMs
⚫ DSB-SC
⚫ Conventional AM
⚫ SSB
⚫ VSB

⚫ Amplitude Demodulations
⚫ FDM system
⚫ Phase-locked loop
 Baseband and Carrier Communication
⚫ Baseband:
− Describes signals and systems whose range of frequencies is measured
from 0 to a maximum bandwidth or highest signal frequency
− Voice: Telephone 0-3.5KHz; CD 0-22.05KHz
− Video: Analog TV 4.5MHz, TV channel is 0-6MHz. Digital, depending
on the size, movement, frames per second, …
− Example: wire, coaxial cable, optical fiber, PCM phone
⚫ Carrier Communication:
− Carrier: a waveform (usually sinusoidal) that is modulated to represent
the information to be transmitted. This carrier wave is usually of much
higher frequency than the modulating (baseband) signal.
− Modulation: is the process of varying a carrier signal in order to use
that signal to convey information.
 Modulation
⚫ Modulation
− A process that causes a shift in the range of frequencies of a signal.
⚫ Gain advantages
− Antenna size: half of the antenna size. Thousands of miles for baseband
− Better usage of limited bandwidth: less side lopes
− Trade bandwidth for SNR: CDMA
− Robust to inter-symbol-interference (multipath delay)
− Robust to errors and distortions
⚫ Types
− Analog: AM (DSB, SSB, VSB), FM, Delta modulation
− Digital: ASK, FSK, PSK, QAM, …
− Pulse modulation: PCM, PDM, … Fiber, phone
⚫ Advanced: CDMA (3G), OFDM (WLAN, WMAN), ….
 Double Sideband
⚫ Modulation: m(t)cos(wct) 0.5[M(w-wc)+M(w+wc)]
⚫ Low/upper side band (LSB/USB), Double side band (DSB)
⚫ DSB-SC: suppressed carrier, no carrier frequency
⚫ Wc >= bandwidth of the signal to avoid aliasing.
⚫ Demodulation: e(t)=m(t)(cos(wct))^2=0.5(m(t)+m(t)cos(2wct))
E(w)=0.5M(w)+0.25(M(w+2wc)+M(w-2wc))
Low pass filter to remove the higher frequency
⚫ Coherent and non-coherent detection
– Receiver can recover the frequency and phase of the transmitter by
PLL. Error of timing can cause the performance error floor
– Non-coherent receiver has 3dB worst performance than coherent.
 AM-DSB-SC
⚫ Example 4.1

t→
t→


( t )

( t )
t→

m( t ) cos(c t )
 
M( ) F{cos( c t )}


0
→ 0 c →


() Lower sideband (LSB)
Upper sideband (USB)

− c 0 c →
 Frequency Conversion
⚫ Move the signals to other
frequency ( t ) = m( t ) cos(C t ) e 1 ( t ) = 21 m( t ) cos(I t )

⚫ Multiplying two sinusoids results BPF@ I

in two frequencies which are the cos(MIX t )

sum and difference of the EXAMPLE : Let m(t)
be as shown.
frequencies of the sinusoids m(t) (t) e1(t)
multiplied.
cos(t ) cos(t ) = 21 [cos(( + )t ) + cos(( − )t )]
t→
⚫ To change the carrier frequency c t→ t→
M()
of a modulated signal to an SPECTRA

intermediate frequency I we use

0 →
an oscillator to generate a sinusoid
()
of frequency MIX such that
I =  c − MIX .
− c 0 c  →
Then m(t)cos(  c t ) cos(MIX t ) = 21 m( t )[cos(( c + MIX )t ) + cos(( c − MIX )t )]
E1()
= 21 m( t )[cos((2 c + I )t ) + cos((I )t )]
−I 0 I →
⚫ Example 4.2, 4.3
 Amplitude Modulation
⚫ Why DSB-SC not working: do not know the carrier frequency in receiver.
⚫ The last impulse functions indicate that the carrier is not suppressed in this
case. For some M() shown, the modulated signal spectrum is as shown.
 AM (t ) = [ A + m(t )] cos(ct )
( ) = 12 M ( − c ) + M ( − c ) + A  ( − c ) +  ( + c )

M()

0 →

()
− c 0
c  →

⚫ With this type of AM the demodulation can be performed with/without a

local oscillator synchronized with the transmitter.
 AM Example
• m(t) has a minimum value of about -0.4. Adding a dc offset of A=1 results in
A+m(t) being always positive. Therefore the positive envelope of is just
A+m(t). An envelope detector can be used to retrieve this.

A=1
m(t)
A+m(t)

0.7
1.

0.
-0.4 t→
t→

 AM (t ) = [ A + m(t )] cos(c t )

t→
 AM Example (cont.)
⚫ The choice of dc offset should be such that A+m(t) should always be
positive. Otherwise envelope detector cannot be used, but coherent still ok
⚫ For example, the minimum value of m(t) = -0.4 . Therefore A > |min(m(t))|
for successful envelope detection. What if A< |m(t) |.
⚫ In the previous example let A=0.3.
A+m(t)

m(t)

0.7

0
0.
t→ t→
-0.4

 AM (t ) = [ A + m(t )] cos(c t )

t→
 Modulation Index
• Let mp be the absolute negative peak of m(t).
⚫ EXAMPLE : Single-tone modulation. Let m(t)=2sin(20t)

A  mp A is the carrier amplitude.

mp
MODULATION INDEX :  =
A
Then we see that for A  m p , 0    1

When   1 (or A  m p ) the signal is overmodula ted, and envelope detection can not be used.
(However, we can still use synchronou s demodulati on).
m(t)

mp 2
mp = 2;  = = . i)  = 0.5 A = 4 ii)  = 1 A = 2 t→
A A
For dc offset of 1  = 2.
 =1 =2
 = 0.5

t→ t→ t→
 Sideband and Carrier Power
 AM ( t ) = A cos(c t ) + m( t ) cos(c t )
The first term is the carrier and the second term is sidebands which contain the signal itself.
The total AM signal power is the sum of carrier power and the sideband power.
A2
Carrier power Pc =
2
Sideband power Ps = 21 Pm where Pm is the power of m(t).
The sideband power is the useful power.
useful power Ps Pm
Efficiency :  = = = .
Total power Pc + Ps A 2 + Pm

For example , let m(t) = Bcos(m t )

mp = B,  = B
A
or B = A.
B2 2A 2 2
Pm = 2
= 2
 = x100 %
2
2+
1
For  = 1, max = x100 % = 33%
2 +1
Coherent detector for demodulating DSB-SC
modulated wave.
 AM Nocoherent Decoder
⚫ Rectifier Detector: synchronous
⚫ Envelope Detector: asynchronous

t→ t→ t→

AM signal R vc(t)
C

t→
 QAM
⚫ AM signal BANDWIDTH : AM signal bandwidth is twice the bandwidth
of the modulating signal. A 5kHz signal requires 10kHz bandwidth for AM
transmission. If the carrier frequency is 1000 kHz, the AM signal spectrum
is in the frequency range of 995kHz to 1005 kHz.
⚫ QUADRARTURE AMPLITUDE MODULATION is a scheme that allows
two signals to be transmitted over the same frequency range.
⚫ Coherent in frequency
and phase. Expensive
⚫ TV for analog
⚫ Most modems
 Single Sideband (SSB)
• Purpose : to reduce the bandwidth requirement of AM by one-half. This is
achieved by transmitting only the upper sideband or the lower sidebband of
the DSB AM signal.
 SSB Frequency

M()

baseband

−2B 2B →
0

DSB
−c c →
0

 SSB () SSB (Upper sideband)

SSB
−c c →
0
 SSB Generator
• Selective Filtering using filters with sharp cutoff characteristics. Sharp cutoff
filters are difficult to design. The audio signal spectrum has no dc
component, therefore , the spectrum of the modulated audio signal has a null
around the carrier frequency. This means a less than perfect filter can do a
reasonably good job of filtering the DSB to produce SSB signals.
• Baseband signal must be bandpass
• Filter design challenges
• No low frequency components

0
−c c →
 SSB Demodulation
Synchronous, SSB-SC demodulation
 SSB ( t ) cos(c t ) = m( t ) cos(c t )  jm h ( t ) sin( c t )cos(n(c t ) = 1
2
m(t )(1 + cos(c t ))  jm h (t ) sin( 2c t )

A lowpass filter can be used to get 1 m( t ).

2

SSB+C, envelop detection

 SSB+C ( t ) = A cos(c t ) + m( t ) cos( c t )  m h ( t ) sin( c t )
An envelope detector can be used to demodulate such SSB signals .
What is the envelope of  SSB+C ( t ) = ( A + m( t )) cos( c t )) + m h ( t ) sin(  c t ) = E( t ) cos( c t + ) ?

( )
1

{Recall Acos( ) + Bsin(  ) = A 2 + B 2 2

cos( + ),  = −tan -1( B
A
))
E(t) = (( A + m( t )) 2 + m h2 ( t )) = (( A 2 + m 2 ( t )) + m h2 ( t ) + 2Am( t ))
1 1
2 2

= A 1 + A + A + A 
2
m (t) m (t)
2
2m( t )
h

 
2 2

 A + m( t ) for A  m(t) , A  m h (t) .

The efficiency of this scheme is very low since A has to be large.
 SSB vs. AM
⚫ Since the carrier is not transmitted, there is a reduction by
67% of the transmitted power (-4.7dBm). --In AM @100%
modulation: 2/3 of the power is comprised of the carrier; with
the remaining (1/3) power in both sidebands.
⚫ Because in SSB, only one sideband is transmitted, there is a
further reduction by 50% in transmitted power
⚫ Finally, because only one sideband is received, the receiver's
needed bandwidth is reduced by one half--thus effectively
reducing the required power by the transmitter another 50%
⚫ (-4.7dBm (+) -3dBm (+) -3dBm = -10.7dBm).
⚫ Relative expensive receiver
 Vestigial Sideband (VSB)
• VSB is a compromise between DSB and SSB. To produce SSB signal from
DSB signal ideal filters should be used to split the spectrum in the middle so
that the bandwidth of bandpass signal is reduced by one half. In VSB system
one sideband and a vestige of other sideband are transmitted together. The
resulting signal has a bandwidth > the bandwidth of the modulating
(baseband) signal but < the DSB signal bandwidth.
DSB

−c c →
0
 SSB () SSB (Upper sideband)

−c c →
0
 VSB () VSB Spectrum

−c c →
Filtering scheme for the generation of VSB modulated wave.
 VSB Transceiver
m(t)  VSB () e(t)
 VSB () M()
H i ( ) LPF
Ho()

2cos(c t )
2cos(c t )
Transmitter Receiver

M() is bandlimite d to 2B rad/sec

 VSB () = [M( − c ) + M( +  c )]Hi ()
E() = [ VSB ( − c ) +  VSB ( + c )]
= [Hi ( − c )M( − 2c ) + Hi ( +  c )M() + Hi ( −  c )M() + Hi ( +  c )M( + 2c )]
High freq. term High freq. term
 M() = E()Ho () = Hi ( +  c ) + Hi ( −  c )M()Ho ()
+ [Hi ( −  c )M( − 2c ) + Hi ( + c )M( + 2 c )]Ho ()
Lowpass filter removes this.
Thus we should have Hi ( + c ) + Hi ( − c )Ho () = 1 for   2B
1
OR Ho () =
Hi (  +  c ) + Hi (  −  c )
Block diagram of FDM system.
FMA of SSB for Telephone Systems
Illustrating the modulation steps in an FDM system
 AM Broadcasting
⚫ History
⚫ Frequency
– Long wave: 153-270kHz
– Medium wave: 520-1,710kHz, AM radio
– Short wave: 2,300-26,100kHz, long distance, SSB, VOA
⚫ Limitation
– Susceptibility to atmospheric interference
– Lower-fidelity sound, news and talk radio
– Better at night, ionosphere.
 Superheterodyne vs. homodyne
⚫ Move all frequencies of different channels to one medium freq.
– In AM receivers, that frequency is 455 kHz,
– for FM receivers, it is usually 10.7 MHz.

– Filter Design Concern

– Accommodate more radio stations
– Edwin Howard Armstrong
 Carrier Recover Error
⚫ DSB: e(t)=2m(t)cos(wct)cos((wc+ w)t+)
e(t)=m(t) cos((w)t+)
– Phase error: if fixed, attenuation. If not, shortwave radio
– Frequency error: catastrophic beating effect
⚫ SSB, only frequency changes, f<30Hz.
– Donald Duck Effect
⚫ Crystal oscillator, atoms oscillator, GPS, …
⚫ Pilot: a signal, usually a single frequency, transmitted over a
communications system for supervisory, control, equalization,
continuity, synchronization, or reference purposes.
 Phase-Locked Loop
⚫ Can be a whole course. The most important part of receiver.
⚫ Definition: a closed-loop feedback control system that generates and outputs
a signal in relation to the frequency and phase of an input ("reference") signal
⚫ A phase-locked loop circuit responds both to the frequency and phase of the
input signals, automatically raising or lowering the frequency of a controlled
oscillator until it is matched to the reference in both frequency and phase.
 Ideal Model
⚫ Model

Si Sp So
LPF

Sv
VCO

– Si=Acos(wct+1(t)), Sv=Avcos(wct+c(t))
– Sp=0.5AAv[sin(2wct+1+c)+sin(1-c)]
– So=0.5AAvsin(1-c)=AAv(1-c)
⚫ Capture Range and Lock Range
 Carrier Acquisition in DSB-SC
⚫ Signal Squaring method

1 1
⚫ Costas Loop v1 (t ) = Ac Al m(t ) cos  , v2 (t ) = Ac Al m(t ) sin 
2 2

v4 (t ) = K sin 2
2 2
1  1  1
v3 (t ) =  Ac Al m(t )  cos  sin  =  Ac Al m(t )  sin 2
2  2  2
⚫ SSB-SC not working