Ring Modulator for The Double Sideband Suppressed Carrier Generation

Sasmita December 7, 2015 Amplitude Modulation

Diode Ring Modulator
Fig.1 shows the circuit diagram of a diode ring modulator .

Fig. 1 : Ring Modulator

It consists of four diodes, an audio frequency transformer T 1 and an RF
transformer T2 .
The carrier signal is assumed to be a square wave with frequency f c and it
is connected between the centre taps of the two transformers .
The DSB-SC output is obtained at the secondary of the RF transformer T2 .
Working Operation
The operation of the ring modulator is explained with the assumptions
that the diodes act as perfect switches and that they are switched ON
and OFF by the RF carrier signal . This is because the amplitude and
frequency of the carrier is higher than that of the modulating signal .
The operation can be divided into different modes without the modulating
signal and with the modulating signal as follows :
Mode 1 : Carrier Suppression

To understand how carrier suppression takes place, let us assume that the
modulating signal is absent and only the carrier signal is applied.
Hence x(t) = 0
(i) Operation in the Positive half-cycle of Carrier
The equivalent circuit for this mode of operation is shown in fig.2 .

Fig.2 : Equivalent circuit in Mode 1 (i)

As shown in the fig.2 , the diodes D1 and D2 are forward biased and the
diodes D3 and D4 are reverse biased .
We can observe that the direction of currents flowing through the primary
windings of output transformer T2 are equal and opposite to each other .
Therefore, the magnetic fields produced by these currents are equal and
opposite and cancel each other .
Hence, the induced voltage in secondary winding is zero . Thus, the carrier
is supported in the positive half-cycle .
(ii) Operation in the Negative half-cycle of Carrier
In this mode also let us assume that the modulating signal is zero .
In the negative half-cycle of the carrier, the diodes D3 and D4 are forward
biased and the diodes D1 and D2 are reverse biased .

Fig 3 : Equivalent circuit of in Mode 1 (ii)

In fig.3 , the currents flowing in the upper and lower halves of the primary
winding of T2 are again equak and in opposite directions . This cancels the
magnetic fields as explained in mode 1 (i) .
Thus, the output voltage in this mode also is zero .
Thus, the carrier is suppressed in the negative half-cycle as well .
It is important to note that the perfect cancellation of the carrier will take
place if and only if he characteristics of the diodes are perfectly matched
and the centre tap is placed exactly at the centre of the primary
transformer T2 .
Mode 2 : Operation in Presence of Modulating Signal
Now, let us discuss the operation when RF carrier and modulating signal
both are applied .
(i) Operation in the positive half-cycle of Modulating Signal
As we apply the low frequency modulating signal through the input audio
transformer T1 , there are many cycles of the carrier signal, in the positive
half cycle of the modulating signal .
In the positive half-cycle of the carrier, D1 and D2 are ON and secondary of
T1 is applied as it is across the primary of T2. Hence, during the positive
half cycle of carrier, the output of T2 is positive as shown in fig.4 (a) .

Fig 4 (a)
In the negative half-cycle of the carrier, the diodes D3 and D4 are turned
ON and the secondary of T1 is applied in a reversed manner across the
primary of T2 as shown in equivalent circuit of fig. (b) .
Thus, the primary voltage of T2 is negative and output voltage also
becomes negative .
(ii) Operation in the Negative half-cycle of Modulating Signal
When modulating signal reverses the polarities, the operation of the
circuit is same as that in the positive half-cycle discussed earlier .

Fig 4 (b)
Now, the only difference is that the diode pair D3 D4 will produce a positive
output voltage whereas D1 D2 will produce a negative output voltage as
shown in the waveforms of fig.5 .

DSB-SC output (Output of transformer T2 )

Fig 5
Analysis of Ring Modulator

From the discussion till now, it is clear that in the positive half cycle of the
carrier, the message signal x(t) is multiplied by +1 and in the negative
half-cycle of the carrier, x(t) is multiplied by -1 .
Thus, the ring modulator is an ideal form of product modulator and hence
it produces the desired DSB-SC output .
The square-wave carrier signal can be represented by the Fourier series as
under :

hence, the Ring-modulator output is given by :

It may be noted that there is no output from the modulator at carrier

frequency . Therefore, the carrier is entirely eliminated .

Costas Receiver (Costas loop)

Costas receiver is a synchronous receiver system, suitable for
demodulating
DSBSC waves. It consists of two coherent detectors supplied with the
same input signal,

The frequency of the local oscillator is adjusted to be the same as thhe

carrier frequency fc.
The detector in the upper path is referred to as the in-phase coherent
detector or Ichannel,
and that in the lower path is referred to as the quadrature-phase coherent
detector or Q-channel. These two detector are coupled together to form a

negative feed
back system designed in such a way as to maintain the local oscillator
synchronous with
the carrier wave. Suppose the local oscillator signal is of the same phase
as the carrier
wave used to generate the incoming DSBSC wave.
Then we find that
the I-channel output contains the desired demodulated signal m(t), where
as the Qchannel
output is zero due to quadrature null effect of the Q-channel. Suppose that
the
local oscillator phase drifts from its proper value by a small anglef
radiations. The Ichannel
output will remain essentially unchanged, but there will be some signal
appearing at the Q-channel output, which is proportional to sin(f ) @f for
small f . This
Q-channel output will have same polarity as the I-channel output for one
direction of
local oscillator phase drift and opposite polarity for the opposite direction
of local
oscillator phase drift. Thus by combining the I-channel and Q-channel
outputs in a phase
discriminator (which consists of a multiplier followed by a LPF), a dc
control signal is
obtained that automatically corrects for the local phase errors in the
voltage-controlled
oscillator

Draw and Explain the Block Diagram of

Phase Shift Method for Generating SSB
Signal .
Sasmita December 17, 2015 Uncategorized

Phase Shift Method for the SSB Generation

Fig. 1 shows the block diagram for the phase shift method of SSB generation .

This system is used for the suppression of lower sideband .

This system uses two balanced modulators M1 and M2 and two 90o phase shifting
networks as shown in fig. 1 .

Fig 1: Phase shift method for generating SSB signal

Working Operation
The message signal x(t) is applied to the product modulator M1 and through a
90o phase shifter to the product modulator M2 .
Hence, we get the Hilbert transform

at the output of the wideband 90o phase shifter .

The output of carrier oscillator is applied as it is to modulator M1 whereas it s passed
through a 90o phase shifter and applied to the modulator M2 .

The outputs of M1 and M2 are applied to an adder .

Therefore,

This

expression

represents

the

SSB

signal with only LSB i.e. it rejects the USB .

SSB with Upper Sideband (USB)

The block diagram of the phase shift method to generate SSB with LSB is shown in
fig. 2 .

Fig 2 : Phase shift method to suppress the LSB

Note that the adder polarities for the in-phase is positive and for the quadrature
paths is negative .

Suppression of the upper sideband

We can suppress the LSB and generate the SSB signal consisting of the USB by
arranging the blocks as shown in fig. 2 .

Here, the modulating and the carrier signals are applied to the upper balanced
modulator directly (without any phase shift ) .Whereas, both these signals
are 90o phase shifted and then applied to the lower balanced modulator .

Advantages of Phase Shift Method

The advantages of the phase shift method are as under :
1.

It can generate the SSB signal at any frequency, so the frequency up

converter stage is not required .

2.

It can use the low audio frequencies as modulating signal .(In filter method,
this is not possible ) .

3.

It is easy to switch from one sideband to other .

Drawbacks of Phase Shift Method

1.

The main drawback is that the design of the 90o phase shfting network for the
modulating signal is extremely critical .

2.

This network has to provide a correct phase shift of 90o at all the modulating
frequencies which is practically difficult to achieve .