Delta Modulation

By
Dr.R.Hemalatha,
Assoc.Prof./ECE

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 Objectives

Delta modulation

Advantages

Quantization errors

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 Delta Modulation
• An incoming message signal is oversampled to purposely to
increase the correlation between adjacent samples of the
signal
• The difference between the input signal and its
approximation is quantized into only two levels -
corresponding to positive and negative differences
• The output is a staircase approximation.

e(n)  m(n)  mq (n  1) m(n) input sample

mq(n-1)latest approximation
eq (n)   sgn[ e(n)]
e(n)error signal
mq (n)  mq (n  1)  eq (n) Sgn signum function

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Illustration

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 System Details
Comparator
• Computes the difference between its two inputs
m(n)  mq (n)   
m(n)  mq (n)  
Quantizer
• Consists of a hard limiter with an input-output characteristic
that is a scaled version of the signum function
Accumulator
• Operates on the quantizer output so as to produce an
approximation to the message signal.
n
mq (n)    sgn e(i )
i 1
n
  eq (i )
i 1 5/29
Block Diagram

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 Advantages

• One bit codeword for the input eliminates the

need for framing
• Simplicity of design

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 Quantization Error q(n)

mq (n)  m( n)  q ( n) Derivative of the

e(n)  m( n)  mq ( n  1) input signal

 m(n)  m(n  1)  q (n  1)

• For the step approximation to be as fast as input sequence of

samples

 d m(t )
 max
Ts dt

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 Quantization Errors
Slope-overload distortion
• The step size is too small for the staircase approximation to
follow a steep segment of the original message signal
• The result that the approximation signal falls behind the
message signal
Granular noise
• When the step size is too large relative to the local slope
characteristic of the original message signal
• The staircase approximation has to hunt around a relatively
flat segment of the message signal.
Large Δwide dynamic range Trade-off to decide the optimum
small Δaccurate representation step size that reduces error

of low level signals 9/29

Quantization Errors-Contd..

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 Summary

• The concept of Delta modulation and its advantages

were discussed.
• Slope overload and granular noise were discussed.

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