Digital Modulation Technique

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)

Frequency-shift keying (FSK)

PHASE-SHIFT KEYING (PSK)

1.1Amplitude-Shift Keying
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 𝒔𝟐𝟏 (𝒕) ⅆ𝒕 = ∫𝟎 𝒔𝟐𝟐 (𝒕) ⅆ𝒕 = 𝑬𝒃
𝒃 𝒃
𝑬𝒒(𝟏. 𝟒)

Fig(1.1)

ASK Demodulating diagram :

Fig(1.2)

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.
See fig (1.3)
 Fig(1.3)
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) 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐲𝐦𝐛𝐨𝐥 𝟏 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝒊 = 𝟏
𝐛
𝒆𝒒(𝟏. 𝟏𝟐)
𝟐𝐄𝐛
𝟎 → 𝒔𝟐 (𝒕) = √ 𝐓 𝐜𝐨𝐬(𝟐𝛑𝐟𝟐 𝐭) 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐲𝐦𝐛𝐨𝐥 𝟎 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝒊 = 𝟐
{ 𝐛

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 (t s).
• 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 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) where fa = fb / 2
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):
In the simplest form of frequency-shift keying known as binary frequency-shift keying
(BFSK), symbols 0 and 1 are distinguished from each other by transmitting one of two
sinusoidal waves that differ in frequency by a fixed
amount. A typical pair of sinusoidal waves is described by 𝒔𝒊(𝒕) =

𝟐𝐄𝐛
𝒔𝟏 (𝒕) = √ 𝐜𝐨𝐬(𝟐𝛑𝐟𝐜 𝐭) 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐲𝐦𝐛𝐨𝐥 𝟏 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝒊 = 𝟏
𝐓𝐛
𝑬𝒒(𝟑. 𝟏)
𝟐𝐄𝐛 𝟐𝐄𝐛
𝒔𝟐 (𝒕) = √ 𝐜𝐨𝐬(𝟐𝛑𝐟𝐜 𝐜 + 𝛑) = − √ 𝐜𝐨𝐬(𝟐𝛑𝐟𝐜 𝐭) 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐲𝐦𝐛𝐨𝐥 𝟎 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐢 = 𝟐
{ 𝐓𝐛 𝐓𝐛
𝟏
fc : carrier frequency 𝐟𝐜 >>
𝐓𝐛
Signal Space Representation for BPSK There is one basis
𝟐
function ∅𝟏 (𝒕) = √ 𝐜𝐨𝐬(𝟐𝛑𝐟𝐜 𝐭) Eq(3.2)
𝐓
B = fb
𝐛

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

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

Fig(3.1)

PSK in Simulink
 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

References :
✓ Chapter 8: Digital Modulation Techniques
Selected from Chapter 10 of 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, Los Angeles
✓ Digital Modulation Techniques Second Edition Fuqin Xiong