1

Amplitude
Modulation

By: Durgesh Suthar

En. No: 11115027
What is Modulation 2

 Modulation
 In the modulation process, some characteristic of
a high-frequency carrier signal (bandpass), is
changed according to the instantaneous
amplitude of the information (baseband) signal.
 Why Modulation is used
 Suitable for signal transmission (distance…etc)
 Multiple signals transmitted on the same channel
 Capacitive or inductive devices require high
frequency AC input (carrier) to operate.
 Stability and noise rejection
About Modulation 3

 Application Examples
 broadcasting of both audio
and video signals.
 Mobile radio communications,
such as cell phone.

• Basic modulation types

– Amplitude Modulation: changes the amplitude.
– Frequency Modulation: changes the frequency.
– Phase Modulation: changes the phase.
Modulation Theory 4

 A sine wave is represented as follows

 c(t)= Ac cos(2πfct +φ(t)

 Here Ac, fc and φ(t) all represent parameters

that can be modulated in the carrier waveform
in order to carry information. The modulation
schèmes are known as :
 Ac -> Amplitude Modulation
 fc -> Frequency Modulation
 Φ(t) -> Phase Modulation
Basic Amplitude
Modulation
 Amplitude
Modulation is the
simplest and earliest
form of transmitters
 The information signal
varies the
instantaneous
amplitude of the
carrier
Benefits of Modulation 6

 Modulation can shift the spectral content of a message signal

into a band which is better suited to the channel
 Antennas only efficiently radiate and admit signals whose
wavelength is similar to their physical aperture.
 Hence, to transmit and receive, say, voice, by radio we need to shift
the voice signal to a much higher frequency band.
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 Modulation permits the use of

multiplexing
 Multiplexing means allowing simultaneous
communication by multiple users on the same
channel.
 For instance, the radio frequency spectrum must be
shared and modulation allows users to separate
themselves into bands.
AMPLITUDE MODULATION (AM)8

 In amplitude modulation, the message signal m(t) is impressed

on the amplitude of the carrier signal c(t) = Accos(2fct)
 This results in a sinusoidal signal whose amplitude is a function
of the message signal m(t)
 There are several different ways of amplitude modulating
the carrier signal by m(t)
 Each results in different spectral characteristics for the
transmitted signal
 Mainly these methods are used for AM:
(a) Double Sideband with Large carrier AM (DSB-LC AM)
(b) Double sideband, suppressed-carrier AM (DSB-SC AM)
(c) Single-sideband AM (SSB AM)
(d) Vestigial Sideband (VSB) modulation
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10
Full AM modulation ( DSB-LC) 11

1 The carrier signal is

sc (t )  Ac cos( c t ) where  c  2f c
2 In the same way, a modulating signal (information
signal) can also be expressed as

sm (t )  Am cos  m t
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3 The amplitude-modulated wave can be expressed as

s(t )  Ac  sm (t )cos(c t )

4 By substitution

s (t )  Ac  Am cos( mt )cos( c t )

5 The modulation index.

Am
m 
Ac
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6 Therefore The full AM signal may be
written as

s(t )  Ac (1  m cos( mt )) cos( c t )

cos A cos B  1 / 2[cos(A  B)  cos(A  B)]

mAc mAc
s(t )  Ac (cos ct )  cos( c   m )t  cos( c   m )t
2 2
Double-Sideband Suppressed-Carrier AM
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 A double-sideband, suppressed-carrier (DSB-SC) AM signal is

obtained by multiplying the message signal m(t) with the carrier
signal c(t) = Accos(2fct)

 Amplitude-modulated signal
u (t )  m(t )c(t )  Ac m(t ) cos(2 f c t )

 An example of the message signal m(t), the carrier c(t), and the
modulated signal u (t) are shown in fig in next slide.

 This figure shows that a relatively slowly varying message signal m(t) is
changed into a rapidly varying modulated signal u(t), and due to its
rapid changes with time, it contains higher frequency components

 At the same time, the modulated signal retains the main characteristics
of the message signal; therefore, it can be used to retrieve the message
signal at the receiver
Double-Sideband Suppressed-Carrier
AM 15

 Figure : An example of message, carrier, and DSB-SC modulated

signals
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Single-Sideband AM
 The two sidebands of an AM signal are
mirror images of one another
 As a result, one of the sidebands is
redundant
 Using single-sideband suppressed-carrier
transmission results in reduced bandwidth
and therefore twice as many signals may be
transmitted in the same spectrum allotment
Single-Sideband AM 17

.
 A method, illustrated in
Figure, generates a
DSB-SC AM signal and
then employs a filter
that selects either the
Figure : Generation of a single-
upper sideband or the sideband AM signal by filtering one of
the sidebands of a DSB-SC AM signal.
lower sideband of the
double-sideband AM
signal
Sideband and carrier power 18

 Carrier term does not carry information, and hence the carrier
power is wasted

 AM (t )  A cos ct  m(t ) cos ct  carrier  sidebands

 The carrier power Pc is the mean sq. value of
A cos c t which is A2 / 2
 The sideband power P is the mean sq. value
s
of m(t ) cos  c t which is m (t ) / 2
2
Advantages/disadvantages
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Advantages of Amplitude Modulation, AM
There are several advantages of amplitude modulation, and some of these
reasons have meant that it is still in widespread use today:
 It is simple to implement
 it can be demodulated using a circuit consisting of very few components
 AM receivers are very cheap as no specialized components are needed.

Disadvantages of amplitude modulation

Amplitude modulation is a very basic form of modulation, and although its
simplicity is one of its major advantages, other more sophisticated systems
provide a number of advantages. Accordingly it is worth looking at some of
the disadvantages of amplitude modulation.
 It is not efficient in terms of its power usage
 It is not efficient in terms of its use of bandwidth, requiring a bandwidth equal
to twice that of the highest audio frequency
 It is prone to high levels of noise because most noise is amplitude based and
obviously AM detectors are sensitive to it.