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COMM1208 Unit3 AM
COMM1208 Unit3 AM
Why Modulate?...................................................................................................................... 2
2.
Amplitude Modulation........................................................................................................3
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5
Time domain..................................................................................................................... 3
Derivation......................................................................................................................... 4
Modulation Index (or Modulation Factor or Depth of Modulation).................................7
Power in an AM waveform................................................................................................9
Peak Instantaneous Power...............................................................................................9
3.
4.
AM Demodulators.............................................................................................................. 11
4.1
Diode Detector................................................................................................................ 11
Page 1 of 13
1.
Why Modulate?
All audio signals occupy the same frequency band i.e. between 0 and 20 kHz. Before being
broadcast an audio signal (speech or music) must be moved, or frequency translated to a
specific frequency range in order to use the available frequency spectrum. To do this the audio
signal (or modulating signal) modulates a much higher radio frequency (the carrier
frequency). Each audio signal is assigned a carrier - defining a channel - so that it is possible
for the receiver to discriminate between all the streams of signals coming in.
There are 3 main reasons to modulate a signal on to a high frequency carrier
1. Audio is in the range approx. 30 - 20000 kHz. If an electromagnetic signal with a frequency
of 30 Hz is transmitted it will have a wavelength of (speed of light /frequency) =
300,000/30 km = 10,000 km. To pick up this signal an aerial of size approx. 2,500 km will
be required - impractical. If this signal is used to modulate a carrier of 1 MHz the
wavelength will be 300,000/1,000,000 km = 300 m, and an aerial of 75 m will suffice. If the
carrier is 100 MHz, the wavelength is 3 m and a 750 cm aerial is sufficient.
2. A large number of radio transmitters are trying to transmit at the same time. It is
necessary for the receiver to pick up only the wanted signal and to reject the rest. One way
to do to this is to assign a carrier with a known frequency to each transmitter, modulate
this carrier with the signal, and then design the receiver to pick up only that known carrier
frequency and reject the rest, using appropriate filtering methods. Then the original signal
is removed from the received carrier. The same concept is used in carrying a large number
of telephone conversations over a single pair of wires or optical fibre.
3. Using appropriate modulation techniques it is possible at the receiver to remove a lot of the
noise and other distortions which the transmission medium would impose on the signal.
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2.
Amplitude Modulation
2.1
Time domain
Page 3 of 13
2.2
Derivation
A carrier is described by
v
=
Vc Sin ( c t + )
To amplitude modulate the carrier its amplitude is changed in accordance with the level of
the audio signal, which is described by
v
=
Vm Sin ( m t )
The amplitude of the carrier varies sinusoidally about a mean of Vc. When the carrier is
modulated its amplitude is varied with the instantaneous value of the modulating signal. The
amplitude of the variation of the carrier amplitude is Vm and the angular frequency of the rate
at which the amplitude varies is m. The amplitude of the carrier is then:
Carrier amplitude = Vc + Vm Sin ( m t )
and the instantaneous value (value at any instant in time) is
v
=
{Vc + Vm Sin ( m t )} * Sin ( c t )
Eqn. 1
=
Page 4 of 13
Eqn. 2
carrier at
c (rad/s)
Frequency is fc = c/2 Hz
Frequency is (c + m)/2 = fm + fc Hz
Frequency is (c - m)/2 = fm - fc Hz
c - m (rad/s)
The bandwidth (the difference between the highest and the lowest frequency) is
BW = (c + m ) - (c - m)
Amplitude (V)
2 * m Rad/s
( = m/ Hz)
Angular
Frequency
c - m
c + m
up of a single frequency.
Bandwidth
= 2 * m
f1
f2
Lower
Sideband
Inverted
fc- f2
fc- f1
Upper
Sideband
Erect
fc fc+ f1
fc+ f2
Page 5 of 13
Example:
contains all frequencies in the range 300 Hz to 5 kHz. What are the frequency bands
which are output? What is the output bandwidth? Draw the spectral diagram of these
signals.
Answer:
The carrier is 1 MHz
The Upper Side Band is all frequencies in the range 1,000,300 to 1,005,000 Hz
The Lower Side Band is all frequencies in the range 995,000 to 999, 700 Hz
The Bandwidth is 1,005,000 - 995,000 = 10,000 Hz = 10 kHz.
Example:
frequency 500 Hz, 800 Hz and 1,400 Hz. What are the frequencies in the AM spectrum?
Answer:
Convert all the frequencies to kHz. 1.5 MHz is 1500 kHz. 500 Hz is
0.5 kHz. 800 Hz is 0.800 kHz. 1400 Hz is 1.4 kHz.
The output frequencies are:
1500 kHz,
1500 0.5 kHz,
1500 0.8 kHz
or
1500,
1500.5 , 1499.5,
1500.8, 1499.2,
Exercise: Draw a diagram showing these frequency bands for the above examples.
Page 6 of 13
2.3
This is defined as m =
In AM, this quantity, also called modulation depth, indicates by how much the modulated
signal varies around its 'original' level. For AM, it relates to the variations in the carrier
amplitude.
So if m = 0.5, the carrier amplitude varies by 50% above and below its unmodulated level, and
for m = 1.0 it varies by 100%. Modulation depth greater than 100% is generally to be avoided
as it creates distortion.
50% Modulation
1.5
1
0.5
0.5
0
-0.5
65
57
49
41
33
25
17
65
57
49
41
33
25
17
0
-0.5
-1.5
Modulating Signal
65
57
49
41
33
25
65
57
49
41
-1.5
-2
33
-1
25
-0.5
0
-0.5
-1
17
0
9
1
0.5
150% Modulation
3
2
1
65
57
49
41
33
25
-1
0
1
0.5
17
100% modulation
2
1.5
17
-1
-1
Eqn. 3
-2
-3
Example:
v=
( 15 + 3 Sin( 2 * 5 * 103 t) ) *
Sin( 2 * 0.5 * 10 6 t) volts
(i) What are the values of the carrier and modulating frequencies?
(ii) What are the amplitudes of the carrier and of the upper and lower side frequencies?
(iii)
What is the modulation index?
(iv)
What is the bandwidth of this signal?
Answer:
Page 7 of 13
c
(= 2 fc)
= 2 * 0.5 * 106
m
(= 2 fm)
= 2 * 5 * 103
Vc
=
15 V
Vm
=
3V
(i) Therefore the carrier frequency
fc is 0.5 * 106
and the modulating frequency
fm is 5 * 103
(iii) The bandwidth
BW = 2 fm
(ii) The modulation index
m = Vm/Vc
From Eqn. 3 the amplitude of each side frequency is
m* Vc /2
= 0.2 * 15 /2 = 1.5 V
Page 8 of 13
= 0.5 MHz
= 5 kHz
= 10 kHz
= 3/15 = 0.2
Variations of modulated signal with percentage modulation are shown below. In each image,
the maximum amplitude is higher than in the previous image. Note that the scale changes
from one image to the next.
Page 9 of 13
2.4
Power in an AM waveform
Assume that the AM signal is dissipated in a load of R . The total power dissipated will be
the sum of the powers in all of the components of the signal.
The power in the carrier will be
Pc
=
Watts
The power in each of the frequencies is
Ps = =
= Pc
The total power is
Pt
= Pc + Ps + Ps = Pc + 2 Ps = Pc ( 1 + 2 ) = Pc ( 1 + ) Watts
The fraction of the power in the carrier is
=
The maximum value for m is 1.0. This means that at most only 1/3 of the power in the signal
will be contained in the sidebands. All of the audio information is contained in either one of
the sidebands, so that, in effect, only one sixth of the power (16.7%) is used to carry
information. The remainder of the signal can in some respects be considered to be redundant!
Example:
2.5
Page 10 of 13
3.
saving if
(a) the carrier is suppressed and
(b) the carrier and one sideband is suppressed?
Answer:
The total power in the signal is Pt = Pc ( 1 + ) .
Therefore the fraction of the total power in the carrier is
1 / ( 1 + ) = 1/(1 + 0.7 2/2) = 1/1.245 = .803 = 80.3%
(a)
In this case if the carrier is suppressed then the power saving will be 80%, the
transmitter will need to transmit only 20% of the power it would otherwise need to
transmit.
(b)
If one of the sidebands is suppressed then only half of the remaining power will
need to be transmitted i.e. 10%.
In this example a transmitter which would have to transmit 10 W of a full wave AM
signal will be able to transmit the same information on 1 W if the carrier and one
sideband are both suppressed.
When the carrier and both side bands are transmitted it is called Full Wave transmission.
If only the carrier is suppressed we have Double Side Band Suppressed Carrier
transmission or DSBSC for short .
If the carrier and one side band are suppressed we have Single Side Band transmission or
SSB.
Radio receivers for receiving Full Wave signals are cheap to produce but the transmitter must
be capable of transmitting a lot of power. It is used for broadcast radio stations in the Medium
Wave band because there will be only one transmitter for a country the size of Ireland but
millions of receivers so that the aim is to keep the receivers as cheap as possible.
Radio receivers for SSB or Carrier Suppressed signals are expensive to produce, but the
transmitter need not be capable of outputting a high power level. It is used for ship to shore
communications (e.g. between a fishing boat and the harbour master) or for other one-to-one
communications. In this case there are as many transmitters as receivers, one per boat, so
that there are no major cost savings if the receiver is made a little cheaper, but there will be
major gains if the transmitter can be made cheaper. In addition the power on the boat (or
Page 11 of 13
plane, or other vehicle) may be limited and will be needed for lighting and other functions, so
that it is desirable that as little of it as possible is needed for communications.
Page 12 of 13
4.
AM Demodulators
4.1
Diode Detector
This is the most commonly used AM demodulator. It is cheap and reasonably accurate. It is
also used as an integral part of many designs of (older) FM detector. The basic circuit is as
below
C2
AM
in
R1
DC
Block
C1
It has limitations.
R2
LPF
C3
Audio
Out
Envelope
Detector
If the time constant R1 *C1 in the envelope detector is too long relative to the period of the
highest frequency modulating signal it will not be it will not be able to follow the peaks and
troughs of the envelope giving rise to diagonal clipping. It is required that
R1*C1 < [(1 -m2)1/2] / (mm) where m is the highest frequency component of the modulating
signal and m is the modulation index. This is derived below.
If R1*C1 is too short than there will excessive RF ripple and the output power will be
reduced.
Because the diode is a non linear device there will be some distortion in the demodulated
signal.
In general R1 C1 must be a lot longer than the period of the carrier and a lot shorter than the
period of the modulating signal.
R1 must be a lot larger than the forward resistance of the diode to maintain detector efficiency.
It must also provide matching to the next (audio) stage.
The Diode detector output signal consists of three components
1. The wanted demodulated audio signal
2. A DC component proportional to the peak amplitude of the RF signal. This is removed by
sending the signal through a capacitor C2 (high pass filter). It is also used to provide an
input into Automatic Gain Control.
3. An unwanted ripple at the carrier frequency and its harmonics. This is blocked from later
stages by using an RC low pass filter (R2 and C3 in this circuit).
Page 13 of 13