Digital Modulation Techniques

The primary aim of the Report is to describe some important digital

band-pass modulation techniques used in practice. In particular,
we describe three basic modulation schemes:
• Amplitude-shift keying (ASK) - special case of AM
• Frequency-shift keying (FSK) - special case of FM
• Phase-shift keying (PSK) - special case of PM
Carrier : 𝑐 (𝑡) = 𝐴𝐶 𝑐𝑜𝑠(2𝜋𝑓𝐶 𝑡 + 𝜙𝑐 ) Eq(1.1)
Amplitude shift-keying (ASK)
Phasor representation of modulated wave

Frequency-shift keying (FSK)

Phasor representation of modulated wave

PHASE-SHIFT KEYING (PSK)

Phasor representation of modulated wave

1.1_Amplitude-Shift Keying (ASK)

which the carrier frequency and carrier phase are both maintained
constant, while the carrier amplitude is keyed between the two
possible values used to represent symbols 0 and 1

𝟐𝑬
is defined by: 1 → 𝒔𝟏(𝒕) = √ 𝐜𝐨𝐬(𝟐𝝅𝒇𝒄 𝒕) 𝑬𝒒(𝟏. 𝟏)
𝑻𝒃
0 → 𝒔𝟏(𝒕) = 𝟎 0 ≤ t < Tb 𝑬𝒒(𝟏. 𝟐)
 Average energy per bit
𝑬+𝟎
𝑬𝒃 = 𝒊 ⋅ 𝒆 𝑬 = 𝟐𝑬𝒃 𝑬𝒒(𝟏. 𝟑)
𝟐
Where Eb : transmitted signal energy per bit , Tb : time per bit
𝑻 𝑻
∫𝟎 𝒃 𝒔𝟐𝟏 (𝒕) ⅆ𝒕 = ∫𝟎 𝒃 𝒔𝟐𝟐 (𝒕) ⅆ𝒕 = 𝑬𝒃 𝑬𝒒(𝟏. 𝟒)

Fig(1.1)

Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK) or On-Off Keying (0OK)

• At the Rx, the data stream need to extracted:
• Step 1 Rectify the input ASK waveform to contain only +ve
signal but it will still contain unwanted carrier wave
component.
• Step 2 - Pass through a LPF to remove the carrier
component.
• Step 3 - Pass through a voltage comparator to get a true
copy of the original data stream. Fig(1.2)

Fig( 1.2)
 • ASK in Simulink :

1.2_FREQUENCY-SHIFT KEYING (FSK)

which the carrier amplitude and carrier phase are both maintained
constant, while the carrier frequency is keyed between the two possible
values used to represent symbols 0 and 1.
𝟐𝑬
𝟏 → 𝒔𝟏 (𝒕) = √ 𝑻 𝒃 𝒄𝒐𝒔(𝟐𝝅𝒇𝟏 𝒕 + ∅𝟏 ) 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒚𝒎𝒃𝒐𝒍 𝟏
𝒃
𝑬𝒒(𝟐. 𝟏)
𝟐𝑬𝒃
𝟎 → 𝒔𝟐 (𝒕) = √ 𝑻 𝒄𝒐𝒔(𝟐𝝅𝒇𝟐 𝒕 + ∅𝟐 ) 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒚𝒎𝒃𝒐𝒍 𝟎
{ 𝒃

where Φ1 and Φ2 are initial phases at t = 0

𝒇𝟏 : transmitted frequency with separation ∆𝒇 = 𝒇𝟏 – 𝒇𝟐

∆𝒇 is selected so that and are orthogonal i.e.

𝑻
∫𝟎 𝒃 𝒔𝟏 (𝒕)𝒔𝟐 (𝒕) ⅆ𝒕 = 𝟎 Eq(2.2)

FSK Baud and Bandwidth .

• It can be seen that the time of one bit (tb) is the same as the time the FSK
output is a mark or a space frequency (ts).
• Thus the bit time equals the time of an FSK signaling element and the bit rate
equals the baud.
• The baud for binary FSK can also be determined by substituting N = 1,
𝒇𝒃 𝒇𝒃
𝒃𝒂𝒖ⅆ = = = 𝒇𝒃 Eq(2.3) where fb is the input bit rate
𝑵 𝟏
The worst-case modulation index (deviation ratio) yields the widest BW. The widest
BW occurs when both the freq deviation and the modulating signal freq are at their
maximum values.
B = 2 (n * fa) Eq(2.4) where fa = fb / 2 Eq(2.5)
There are many different ways of generating an FSK waveform. One way is
by combining 2 different ASK
waveform/modulator. (fig2.1)
. Advantage of FSK over
ASK – higher reliability in
term of data accuracy.
Disadvantage – requires
higher BW (the actual
increase depends on the 2
freqs used). The higher the
freq and the more they
differ from each other, the
fig (2.1) wider the BW required.

FSK in Simulink

1.3_PHASE-SHIFT KEYING (PSK):

which the carrier amplitude and carrier frequency are both maintained
constant, while the carrier phase is keyed between the two possible values
(e.g., 0° and 180°) used to represent symbols 0 and 1.
A typical pair of sinusoidal waves is described by 𝒔𝒊(𝒕) =
 𝟐𝑬𝒃
𝒔𝟏 (𝒕) = √ 𝒄𝒐𝒔(𝟐𝝅𝒇𝒄 𝒕) 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒚𝒎𝒃𝒐𝒍 𝟏
𝑻𝒃
𝑬𝒒(𝟑. 𝟏)
𝟐𝑬𝒃 𝟐𝑬𝒃
𝒔𝟐 (𝒕) = √ 𝒄𝒐𝒔(𝟐𝝅𝒇𝒄 𝒄 + 𝝅) = − √ 𝒄𝒐𝒔(𝟐𝝅𝒇𝒄 𝒕) 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒚𝒎𝒃𝒐𝒍 𝟎
{ 𝑻𝒃 𝑻𝒃
𝟏
fc : carrier frequency 𝒇𝒄 >>
𝑻𝒃

Signal Space Representation for BPSK There is one basis function

𝟐
∅𝟏 (𝒕) = √ 𝐜𝐨𝐬(𝟐𝛑𝐟𝐜 𝐭) & 𝟎≤𝒕≤𝑻 Eq(3.2)
𝐓𝐛
𝟐
∅𝟐 (𝒕) = √ 𝐬𝐢𝐧(𝟐𝛑𝐟𝐜 𝐭)
𝐓
𝟎≤𝒕≤𝑻 Eq(3.3) B = fb
𝐛

𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝒔𝟏 (𝒕) = √𝑬𝒃 𝝓𝟏 (𝒕) & 𝒔𝟐 (𝒕) = −√𝑬𝒃 𝝓𝟏 (𝒕) 𝑬𝒒(𝟑. 𝟒)

PSK Transmitter same modulator as in ASK system fig(3.1)

Fig(3.1)

PSK in Simulink
 Summary of difference between the three type:
The carrier phase is set equal to zero for both BASK and BFSK
ASK • demodulation: only the presence or absence of a sinusoid in a
given time interval needs to be determined
• advantage: simplicity
• disadvantage: ASK is very susceptible to noise interference noise
usually (only) affects the amplitude, therefore ASK is the
modulation technique most affected by noise
• application: ASK is used to transmit digital data over optical fiber

FSK • demodulation: demodulator must be able to determine which of two

possible frequencies is present at a given time
• advantage: FSK is less susceptible to errors than ASK -receiver is
looking for specific frequency changes over a number of intervals,
so voltage ( noise) spikes can be ignored o
• disadvantage: FSK spectrum is 2x ASK spectrum
• application: over voice lines, in high-frequency radio transmission,
etc.
PSK • demodulation: demodulator must be able to determine the phase of
received sinusoid with respect to some reference phase
• advantage: (1) PSK is less susceptible to errors than ASK, while it
requires/occupies the same bandwidth as ASK; (2) more efficient
use of bandwidth (higher data-rate) are possible.
• disadvantage: more complex signal detection / recovery process,
than in ASK and FSK.
• Application : This method is broadly used for bio-metric, wireless
LAN along with wireless communications like Bluetooth and RFID
.Local Oscillator Optical Communications Multi-channel WDM
Delay & add demodulator Nonlinear effects for WDM transmission

Probability of Error and the Distance Between Signals

𝟐𝑬𝒃
Note: √ can be replaced by A is the Amplitude of Wave, Since
𝑻𝒃
the energy of a received signal is the key parameter in determining
the error performance of the detection process, it is often more
convenient to use the amplitude notation in Equations because it
facilitates solving directly for the probability of error P E as a
function of signal energy.
 Demodulation diagrams :

ASK

FSK

PSK

References :

✓ Digital Modulation Techniques ,Fundamentals of Communications Systems,

Pearson Prentice Hall 2005, by Proakis & Salehi
✓ Introduction to Analog and Digital CommunicationsSecond EditionSimon
Haykin
✓ DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS Fundamentals and Applications Second
Edition BERNARD SKLAR Communications Engineering Services, Tarzana,
California and University of California,
✓ Digital Modulation Techniques Second Edition Fuqin Xiong.