Digital modulation and mobile radio Refresher topic & ROHDE & SCHWARZRefresher topic jj Digital modulation and mobile radio ‘When speech i transmitted using digital mobile radio, iis frst of all digitized and. then source- and channel-coded. On the one hand, this ensures that the date stream from the source coders has a considerably lower bit rate than the original data signal and, on the other, channel coding provides additional error control for transmissions via the radio chonnel. The channel-coded data stream isa sequence of bursts which are transmitted using a combined FDM/TDM method. The mod- Ulation techniques used must be tailored to the radio channel. Our new refresher topic describes how the information to be transmitted is modulated onto on RF carrier and recovered in the receiver with special reference to GSM networks. Due to the nature of the topic, the fundamental relationships will be expressed ‘mathematically using complex numbers where necessary. Rohde & Schwarz has special expertise in the field of digital mobile radio. We are involved in an extensive range of activities from consultation on various technical committees, in porticular the earlier Groupe Spécial Mobile, which gave its nome to the European GSM network, through the development of a complete range of test equipment and systems to the provision of « wide range of system simulators. Rohde & Schwarz also organizes training courses ranging from the practical to the theoretical which are specially tailored to the needs of network operators and system users. This was the starting point for this refresher topic. 1 Modulating signals and RF carriers Initially the information to be trans mitted is in the form of o sequence ala) comprising elements from the set a.€ (0; 1}. The modulator converts this sequence of logical ones and zeros info @ sequence of analog signals which ore suitable for transmission The conversion of this sequence into voltages in the baseband is referred to as baseband modulation ond the conversion of these baseband signals ino RF signals is ermed RF carrier mod- Ulation. In general a block of k bits from the sequence on} can be represented by one of the M = 2 possible states of the baseband signal. For example «@ “block” comprising one bit can be represented by one of two voltages, O or 5V, orby one of two RF frequencies, f+ Af or F— Af. A block comprising two bits (0 dibil] con be represented by cone of four voltages or by one of four frequencies and so on. The staes of the 2 baseband signal and the RF signal can be expressed in an even more general form as signals uit!) ond s(t) respec lively. These signals do not necessarily have to remain constant over the dura- tion of a bit. This means that digital modulation is simply the process of selecting one of the M = 2* possible baseband or RF signals ond assigning this signal foo block of k bits. This pro- cedure is referred to as Mary modula tion (FIG 1), 1.1 Baseband modulation ‘An NRZ signal (non return to zero) is 4 signal that remains at o constant, nonzero value over the duration of FarTeoTaTSoaT TT) oh ron a oa aera LE Mn FIG 1 Neary medultion ere M = 16) bit Ty. The opposite is an RZ signal lretun to zero} which only has a nonzero valve for a fraction of Toe, for example Thir/2, and goes to 0 for the rest of the time. Either signal can be unipolar or bipolar. If they are unipolar, one ofthe two logical symbols is represented by a finite (positive ‘r negative) vollage, the other by 0 V. Bipolar signals represent the two logi cal symbols by voliages with opposite polarities. The sequence a(n) is mapped digitally conto the baseband signols. First of all, the sequence ofa} is replaced by © sequence of weighted Dirac dela functions ofp) - 8{a7) « {0:1}. To pro- duce © unipolar NRZ signal, this sequence is fed info an interpolation filter with the transfer function: Hig = EET sige 1) (19) co with the impulse response hoy Lie-Letet { {sin x/x lowpass filter) 0 elsewhere (1b) To generate a bipolar signol, -0.5 is ‘added before fitering and the sum sig nal [o{n) -0.5} -S{nT)] ¢ {-0.5; +0.5} is muliplied by 2. D/A conversion (FIG 2) is then performed after digital filering. However, the NRZ_ signals generated in this way are not band limited and, theoretically, would give fise to an infinitely wide RF spectrum citer cartier modulation. The sin x/x lowpass filer is, therefore, replaced by © lowpass that provides more clfective bandlimiting (eg with a cos rolloff or Gaussian transfer function. ‘Alter D/A conversion the sampling frequency from the digital section still has fo be removed from the modulating signal by means of an analog lowpass.ennisin = ck hE Hy FG2 Orr nigra 3 Generating cit bosebard signals 1.2 Description of RF signal case for networks using modulation The expression st) = V2Eoi/To- ofl) -cosf2nf.t+t] (2) represents the RF signal as a real func: tion, where Ex is the energy transmit ted per bit. Consequently V2E a/Ten is the voltage drop across a 1-02 resistor. The term alt) gives the amplitude os 4 function of time, fel} the carrier frequency as « function of time and l) the instantaneous phase. To simplify the notation, the expression (2 gi/ Te al is often replaced by Alt or, if alt) is constant, by A; sis olso referred to as the bandpass signal provided its bandwidth is small in com parison with the carrier frequency f. The RF signal con also be described in terms of is | and @ components (ir phase and quadrature). They ore: silt] = Alt» costolt] - cost2nfs) cand sal!) = All)- singel] - E-sin(2xf)] (3) with Alt)-cos|2ntet + oft] =i + salt) This type of representation, which is of course also valid for unmodulated RF signals, makes it @ lot easier to understand modulator operation. The amplitudes of the Wwo modulated 1/Q components are functions of ime = const, or ol = 1, even when At = in other words even when the RF signal has a constant envelope os is the techniques based on the GSM stan- dard (GSM stands ‘or Groupe Spécial Mobile or Global System for Mobile Communications). They can also be thought of as dosblesideband am plitudemodulated RF signals with sup- pressed carrer. The modulating signals ‘re functions such as cosfet] and sing] for example. To dotormine the degree to which the signal is distorted as it passes through the communication channel, all that Better topic needs fo be known is how the commu: nication channel affects the envelope of these two components. Introducing the complex envelope of the complex signa sll) =A ot «eit, (4) which is reloted to the real RF signal by sll) = Re[A - 0). ei) 6 is @ good way of doing this. The complex envelope, which is also referred to as the equivalent baseband signal, then hos the form: ull) = V2E,,7T'- ele =A: corloll] +1A- sinfot]. (6) The similarity between the complex ‘envelopes and the I/Q representation of the real signal is striking Digital Radiocom munication Tester ‘CMDS for GSM, FCN, PCS and DECT mobile phones 3