Communications II

Lecture 5: Eects of Noise on FM

Professor Kin K. Leung

EEE and Computing Departments
Imperial College London
Copyright reserved

Outline
Recap of FM
FM system model in noise
Derivation of output SNR
Pre/de-emphasis
Comparison with AM
Reference: Lathi, Chap. 12.
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Frequency Modulation

Fundamental difference between AM and FM:

AM: message information contained in the signal amplitude Additive
noise: corrupts directly the modulated signal.
FM: message information contained in the signal frequency
the effect of noise on an FM signal is determined by the extent to which
it changes the frequency of the modulated signal.
Consequently, FM signals is less affected by noise than AM signals

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REVISION: Frequency modulation

A carrier waveform
s(t) = A cos[i(t)]
where
i(t): the instantaneous phase angle.

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When
s(t) = A cos(2f t) i(t) = 2f t
We may say that

d
1 d
2f f
dt
2 dt
Generalisation: instantaneous frequency:

1 di (t )
f i (t )
2 dt

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In FM: the instantaneous frequency of the carrier varies linearly with the
message:
fi(t)=fc+kf m(t)
where kf is the frequency sensitivity of the modulator. Hence (assuming
i(0)=0):
t
i (t ) 2 f i ( )d
0

2f ct 2k f m( )d
0

Modulated signal:

s(t ) A cos 2f ct 2k f m( )d

Note:
(a) The envelope is constant
(b) Signal s(t) is a non-linear function of the message signal m(t).
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Bandwidth of FM
mp max |m(t)|: peak message amplitude
fc kf mp < instantaneous frequency < fc + kf mp
Define: frequency deviation= the deviation of the instantaneous
frequency from the carrier frequency:

f kf mp
Define: deviation ratio:

W
where W: the message bandwidth.

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Small : FM bandwidth 2x message bandwidth (narrow-band FM)

Large : FM bandwidth >> 2x message bandwidth (wide-band FM)

Carsons rule of thumb:

BT = 2W(+1) = 2(f + W)

<<1 BT 2W (as in AM)

>>1 BT 2f, independent of W

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Noise in FM

Model of an FM receiver

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Bandpass filter: removes any signals outside the bandwidth of

fc BT/2
the predetection noise at the receiver is bandpass with a bandwidth of
BT.
FM signal has a constant envelope
use a limiter to remove any amplitude variations
Discriminator: a device with output proportional to the deviation in the
instantaneous frequency
it recovers the message signal
Final baseband low-pass filter: has a bandwidth of W
it passes the message signal and removes out-of-band noise.
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Linear argument at high SNR

FM is nonlinear modulation, meaning superposition doesnt hold.

Nonetheless, it can be shown (see Chap. 9, Lathi) that for high SNR, noise
output and message signal are approximately independent of each other:
Output Message + Noise.
Any (smooth) nonlinear systems are locally linear!
Noise does not affect power of the message signal at the output
We can compute the signal power for the case without noise, and
accept that the result holds for the case with noise too.

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Power of signal at the output without noise:

Instantaneous frequency of the input signal:

f i f c k f m(t )
Output of discriminator:

k f m(t )
So, output signal power:

PS k 2f P
where:
P : the average power of the message signal

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In the presence of additive noise, the real predetection signal is

t

x (t ) A cos 2f ct 2k f m( )d

0
nc (t ) cos( 2f c t ) ns (t ) sin( 2f ct )

It can be shown (by linear argument): For high SNR, noise output:
approximately independent of the message signal
We only have the carrier and noise signals present
In order to calculate the power of output noise, we may use:

~
x (t ) A cos(2f ct ) nc (t ) cos(2f ct ) ns (t ) sin(2f ct )
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Phasor diagram of the FM carrier and noise signals

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Instantaneous phase:
i (t ) tan 1

ns ( t )
A nc (t )

For large carrier power (large A):

i (t ) tan 1

ns ( t )
A

ns ( t )
A

Discriminator output = instantaneous frequency:

1 di (t )
2 dt
1 dns (t )

2A dt

f i (t )

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The discriminator output in the presence of signal and noise:

k f m(t )

What is the PSD of

Fourier theory:

1 dns (t )
2A dt

dns (t )
dt

x (t ) X ( f )
dx (t )
then
j 2fX ( f )
dt

if

Differentiation with respect to time = passing the signal through a

system with transfer function of H(f ) = j2 f
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It can be shown:

So ( f ) | H ( f ) |2 Si ( f )
where:
Si(f ): PSD of input signal
So(f ): PSD of output signal
H(f ): transfer function of the system

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dns (t )

2
PSD of
| j 2f | PSD of ns (t )
dt

PSD of ns (t ) N 0 within band BT

2

Then:
dns (t )

2
PSD
of

| j 2f | N 0
dt

1 dns (t ) 1

PSD
of
f
(
t
)
| j 2f | N 0 S D ( f )

i
2A dt 2A

After the baseband LPF, this is restricted in the band W

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Power spectral densities for FM noise analysis

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Average noise power at the receiver output:

W

PN S D ( f )df
W

Thus,
2

3
2
N
W
1
0
PN
| j 2f |2 N 0df

2
W 2A
3
A

Average noise power at the output of a FM receiver

1
carrier power A2

A Noise, called the quieting effect

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SNRO

3 A2 k 2f P
2 N 0W

SNRFM

Transmitted power of an FM waveform:

From

SNRbaseband

A2
PT
2

PT
:
N 0W

SNRFM

3k 2f P
W

SNRbaseband

P
3
SNRbaseband
2
mp
2

Valid when the carrier power is large compared with the noise power

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The FM detector exhibits a (more pronounced) threshold effect like the

AM envelope detector.

The threshold point occurs around when signal power is 10 time noise
A2
power:

2 N 0 BT

10

where
BT = 2W ( + 1) (Carsons rule of thumb)

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Qualitative discussion of threshold effect

Phase noise

(c) phase shift 2 is caused by rotation around the origin

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Pre-emphasis and De-emphasis: An alternative way to

increase SNRFM

PSD of the noise at the detector output square of frequency.

PSD of a typical message typically rolls off at around 6 dB per decade

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To increase SNRFM :
Use a LPF to cut-off high frequencies at the output
Message is attenuated too
Not very satisfactory
Use pre-emphasis and de-emphasis
Message is unchanged
High frequency components of noise are suppressed

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Pre-emphasis and de-emphasis in an FM system

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Hpe(f ): used to artificially emphasize the high frequency components of

the message prior to modulation, and hence, before noise is introduced.
Hde(f ): used to de-emphasize the high frequency components at the
receiver, and restore the original PSD of the message signal.
In theory, Hpe(f ) f , Hde(f ) 1/f .
This can improve the output SNR by around 13 dB.
Dolby noise reduction uses an analogous pre-emphasis technique to
reduce the effects of noise (hissing noise in audiotape recording is also
concentrated on high frequency).
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Simple linear pre-emphasis and de-emphasis circuits

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Comparison of Analogue Communication Systems

Assumptions:

single-tone modulation, ie: m(t) = Am cos(2 fmt)

the message bandwidth W = fm;

for the AM system, = 1;

for the FM system, = 5 (which is what is used in commercial FM

transmission, with f = 75 kHz, and W = 15 kHz).

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With these assumptions, we find that the SNR expressions for the various
modulation schemes become:
SNRDSBSC = SNRbaseband

1
SNRAM SNRbaseband
3

SNRFM

3 2
75
SNRbaseband SNRbaseband
2
2

where we used = 5

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Noise performance of analog communication systems

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Conclusions

AM: The SNR performance is 4.8 dB worse than a baseband system, and
the transmission bandwidth is BT = 2W .
DSB: The SNR performance is identical to a baseband system, and the
transmission bandwidth is BT = 2W (for SSB, the SNR performance is
again identical, but the transmission bandwidth is only BT = W ).
FM: The SNR performance is 15.7 dB better than a baseband system, and
the transmission bandwidth is BT = 2( + 1)W = 12W (with pre- and deemphasis the SNR performance is increased by about 13 dB with the same
transmission bandwidth).

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