Amplitude Modulation Systems

Modulation: is the process by which some characteristic of a carrier c(t ) is varied in

accordance with a message signal m(t ) .

Amplitude modulation is defined as the process in which the amplitude of the carrier c(t ) is
varied linearly with m(t ) . Four types of amplitude modulation will be considered in this
chapter. These are normal amplitude modulation, double sideband suppressed carrier
modulation, single sideband modulation, and vestigial sideband modulation.

A common form of the carrier, in the case of continuous wave modulation, is a sinusoidal
signal of the form
c(t )  AC cos(2f C t   )

The baseband (message) signal m(t ) is referred to as the modulating signal and the result of
the modulation process is referred to as the modulated signal s(t ) . The following block
diagram illustrates the modulation process.

We should point out that modulation is performed at the transmitter and demodulation, which
is the process of extracting m(t ) from s(t ) , is performed at the receiver.

Normal Amplitude Modulation

A normal AM signal is defined as:
s (t )  AC 1  k a m (t )  cos2 f C t
where, ka is the sensitivity of the AM modulator (units in 1/volt). s(t ) can be also be
written in the form:
s(t )  A(t ) cos 2fCt
where, A(t )  AC  AC k a m(t ) . In this representation, we observe that A(t ) is related to
m(t ) in a linear relationship of the form y  a  bx .

The envelope of s(t ) is defined as

A(t )  AC 1  k a m(t )
Notice that the envelope of s(t ) has the same shape as m(t ) provided that:

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 1. 1  k a m(t )  0 or, equivalently, k a m(t )  1 . Over-modulation occurs when
k a m(t )  1, resulting in envelope distortion.
2. f C  w , where w is bandwidth of m(t ) . f C has to be at least 10 w . This ensures
the formation of an envelope, whose shape resembles the message signal.

Matlab Demonstration

The figure below shows the normal AM signal s(t ) (1 0.5 cos 2 t )cos 2 (10)t
a. Make similar plots for the cases (  = 0.5, 1, and 1.5)
b.Show the effect of f C on the envelope. (Take f C = 4 Hz, and f C = 25Hz)

Spectrum of the Normal AM Signal

Let the Fourier transform of m(t ) be as shown (The B.W of m(t ) = w Hz).

s(t )  AC 1  ka m(t ) cos 2fCt (dc + message)*carrier

s(t )  AC cos 2fCt  AC ka m(t ) cos 2f C t (carrier + message*carrier)

Taking the Fourier transform, we get

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 AC A Ak Ak
S( f )   ( f  fC )  C  ( f  fC )  C a M ( f  fC )  C a M ( f  fC )
2 2 2 2
The spectrum of s(t ) is shown below

Remarks
a. The baseband spectrum M ( f ) , of the message has been shifted to the bandpass
region centered around the carrier frequency f C .
b. The spectrum S (f ) consists of two sidebands (upper sideband and lower sideband)
and a carrier.
c. The transmission bandwidth of s(t ) is:
B.W  ( f C  w)  ( f C  w)  2w
Which is twice the message bandwidth.

Power Efficiency

The power efficiency of a normal AM signal is defined as:

power in the sidebands


power in the sidebands  power in the carrier

Now, we find the power efficiency of the AM signal for the single tone modulating signal
m(t ) Am cos(2 fmt ) . Let Amka , then s(t ) can be expressed as

s(t )  AC (1   cos 2f mt ) cos 2f C t

s (t )  AC cos 2f C t  AC  cos 2f C t cos 2f m t
AC  A 
s (t )  AC cos 2f C t  cos 2 ( f C  f m )t  C cos 2 ( f C  f m )t
2 2
Carrier
Upper Lower
Sideband Sideband

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 2
A
Power in carrier  C
2
1 A   1  A  
2 2

Power in sidebands   C    C 
2 2  2 2 
1 2 1 2 1 2
 AC  2  AC  2  AC  2
8 8 4
Therefore,
1 2 2
AC 
2
 2 4  ; 1   0
1 2 2 2
2
AC
 AC 
2 4
The following figure shows the relationship between  and 

0.3

0.25

0.2

 0.15

0.1

0.05

0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1


The maximum efficiency occurs when  = 1, i.e. for a 100% modulation index. The
corresponding maximum efficiency is only  = 1/3. As a result, 2/3 of the transmitted power
is wasted in the carrier.

Remark: Normal AM is not an efficient modulation scheme in terms of the utilization of the
transmitted power.

Exercise:
a. Show that for the general AM signal s(t ) AC 1 kam(t ) cos(2 fct ) , the power
1 2 2
AC ka m(t )2 ka 2m(t )2
efficiency is given by 2 , where
AC 2 1 2 2 2 1 ka 2m(t )2
AC ka m(t )
2 2
ka 2m(t )2 is the average power in ka m(t )
b. Apply the above formula for the single tone modulated signal
s(t )  AC (1   cos 2f mt ) cos 2f C t

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AM Modulation Index

Consider the AM signal

s(t )  AC 1  ka m(t ) cos 2fCt  A(t ) cos 2f C t

The envelope of s(t ) is defined as:

A(t )  AC 1  k a m(t )
The following block diagram illustrate the envelope detection process for a sinusoidal
message signal.

To avoid distortion, the following condition must hold

1  k a m(t )  0 or k a m(t )  1

The modulation index of an AM signal is defined as:

A(t ) max A(t ) min

Modulation Index (M .I )
A(t ) max A(t ) min
Example: (single tone modulation)

Let m(t )  Am cos 2f mt

then, s(t )  AC (1  k a Am cos 2f m t ) cos 2f C t
 AC (1   cos 2f m t ) cos 2f C t where,   k a Am
To avoid distortion k a Am    1
The envelope A(t )  AC 1   cos 2f mt  is plotted below

A(t ) AC (1 ), A(t ) AC (1 )
max min

AC (1 ) AC (1 ) 2AC
M .I
AC (1 ) AC (1 ) 2AC

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Therefore, the modulation index is  .

Over-modulation
When the modulation index   1 , an ideal envelope detector cannot be used to extract m(t )
and distortion takes place.

Example: Let s(t )  AC (1   cos 2f mt ) cos 2f C t be applied to an ideal envelope
detector, sketch the demodulated signal for   0.25, 1.0, and 1.25 .
As was mentioned before, the output of the envelope detector is y(t )  AC 1   cos 2f m t
Case1 : (  = 0.25)
y(t )  AC 1  0.25 cos 2f mt

y (t )

Here, m(t ) can be extracted without distortion.

Case2: (  = 1.0)
y(t )  AC 1  cos 2f mt

Here again, m(t ) can be extracted without distortion.

Case3: (  = 1.25)

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 y(t )  AC 1  1.25 cos 2f mt

Here, m(t ) cannot be recovered without distortion.

Generation of Normal AM:

Square Law Modulator (will not be covered for ENCS students)

Consider the following circuit

For small variations of V1 (t ) around a suitable operating point, V2 (t ) can be expressed as:
V2  1V1   2V1 ; Where  1 and  2 are constants.
2


Let V1 (t )  m(t )  AC cos 2f C t
Substituting V1(t ) into the nonlinear characteristics and arranging terms, we get
  2  2
V2 (t )  1 AC 1  2 m(t ) cos 2f C t  1m(t )   2 m(t ) 2   2 AC cos 2 (2f C t )
 1 
V2 (t ) (1) (2) (3) (4)
The first term is the desired AM signal obtained by passing V2 (t ) through a bandpass filter.
  2 
s (t )  1 AC 1  2 m(t ) cos 2f C t
 1 

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 Note: the numbers shown in above figure represent the number of term in V2 ( f ) .
(1) = The desired normal AM signal
(2) = M ( f )
(3) = M ( f ) * M ( f )
(4) = The cosine square term amounts to a term at 2fc and a DC term.

Limitations of this technique:

a. Variations of V1 (t ) should be small to justify the second order approximation
of the nonlinear characteristic.
b. The bandwidth of the filter should be such that f C  w  2w  f C  3w
When f C  w , a bandpass filter with reasonable edge could be used.
When f C is of the order 3w , a filter with sharp edges should be used.

Generation of Normal AM:

The switching Modulator (will be covered)

Assume that the carrier c(t ) is large in amplitude so that the diode –shown in the figure
below- acts like an ideal switch.

When m(t ) is small compared to c(t ) ,

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  m (t )  AC cos C t ; c (t )  0
V 2 (t )  
 0 ; c (t )  0
Here, the diode opens and closes at a rate equals to the carrier frequency f C . This switching
mechanism can be modeled as:

V2 (t )  AC cosC t  m(t )g P (t )

where g P (t ) is the periodic square function, expanded in a Fourier series as
1 2 1 1 
g P (t )    cosC t  cos 3C t  cos 5C t  ...
2  3 5 

1  2   2 
V2 (t )   AC cos C t  m(t )    cos C t  AC cos C t  m(t )    cos 3C t 
 2    3 
m(t )  AC cos C t   ...

m(t ) AC 2 A A 2
V2 (t )   cos  C t  m(t ) cos  C t  C  C cos 2 C t  m(t ) cos 3 C t
2 2    3
2
 AC cos 2C t  ...
3

2 fC
A bandpass filter with a bandwidth 2 w , centered at f C , passes the second term (a carrier)
and the third term (a carrier multiplied by the message). The filtered signal is

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 AC 2
s(t )  cos C t  m(t ) cos  C t
2 
A  4 
s(t )  C 1  m(t )  cos  C t ; Desired AM signal.
2  AC 
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Modulation Index  M .I  m(t ) max
AC

Demodulation of AM signal: (The Ideal Envelope Detector)

The ideal envelope detector responds to the envelope of the signal, but is insensitive to phase
variation. If
s(t )  AC 1  ka m(t ) cos 2fCt
then, the output of the ideal envelope detector is
y(t )  AC 1  k a m(t )

A simple practical envelope detector

It consists of a diode followed by an RC circuit that forms a low pass filter.

During the positive half cycle of the input, the diode is forward biased and C charges rapidly
to the peak value of the input. When s(t ) falls below the maximum value, the diode
becomes reverse biased and C discharges slowly through RL . To follow the envelope of
s(t ) , the circuit time constant should be chosen such that :
1 1
 RL C 
fC w
Where w is the message B.W and f C is the carrier frequency.

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When a capacitor C is added to a half wave rectifier circuit, the output follows the envelope
of s(t ) . The circuit output (with C connected) follows a curve that connects the tips of the
positive half cycles, which is the envelope of the AM signal.

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Example: (Demodulation of AM signal)
Let s(t )  1  k a m(t ) cos C t be applied to the scheme shown below, find y (t ) .

2
v(t ) s(t )2 1 kam(t ) cos2 C t
1 2 1 2
1 kam(t ) 1 kam(t ) cos 2 C t
2 2

The filter suppresses the second term and passes only the first term. Hence,
1
 (t )  1  k a m(t )2
2
1
y (t )   (t )  1  k a m(t )
2
1
y (t )  k a m(t )
2
Note that the dc term is blocked by capacitor.

Concluding remarks about AM:

i. Modulation is accomplished using a nonlinear device.

ii. Demodulation is accomplished using a simple envelope detector.
iii. AM is wasteful of power; most power resides in the carrier (not in the
sidebands).
iv. The transmission B.W = twice message B.W

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