EEE 309

Communication Systems I
Lecture 4

Dr. Md. Forkan Uddin

Associate Professor
Dept. of EEE, BUET, Dhaka 1205

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Amplitude Modulation Types
 Double-sideband (DSB) modulation
 Double-sideband with carrier (DSB-WC) / AM
 Double-sideband suppressed-carrier (DSB-SC)
 Double-sideband reduced carrier (DSB-RC)
 Single-sideband (SSB) modulation
 SSB with carrier (SSB-WC)
 SSB suppressed carrier (SSB-SC)
 Vestigial sideband (VSB) modulation
 Quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM)

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 DSB-WC / AM
The Carrier Signal: ct   Ac cos ct  Ac cos 2f ct , fc = Carrier frequency (Hz)

The baseband message (modulating) signal: m t 

The AM signal:  AM t   Ac  mt cos ct  Ac cos ct  mt cos ct
(Carrier) (Modulated carrier)

 mt 
 Ac 1   cos ct  Ac 1  ka mt cos ct  1  ka mt ct 
 Ac 

 Thus, we transmit an unmodulated carrier in addition to the modulated carrier

 Ka = 1/Ac: Amplitude sensitivity of the modulator

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 AM: Frequency Domain
 The baseband message (modulating) signal:

LSB USB

- 2πB 0 2πB
 Amplitude spectrum of AM signal:
 AM  f   c   f  f c     f  f c    M  f  f c   M  f  f c  
A 1
2 2
Or,  AM w  Ac  w  wc    w  wc    M w  wc   M w  wc  
1
2
Carrier
Carrier

USB LSB LSB USB

-(ωc +2πB) -ωc -(ωc -2πB) ωc -2πB ωc ωc +2πB

 Bandwidth of AM signal: BAM = 2B, Hz

 BW of message signal= B Hz 4
 Time Domain of AM
 Envelope of the modulated carrier: e(t) = [Ac + m(t)]
 Thus, the carrier component oscillates between the envelope |Ac + m(t)| and its
negative image –|Ac + m(t)|

Envelope detection
can be used

Envelope detection
can’t be used

 The envelope is an accurate representation of the message, provided -

a. fc >> B, B is the message bandwidth
b. Ac + m(t) > = 0, for all t
 Condition a relates to the overlap of the frequency spectrum components
 Condition b ensures that the message can be recovered from the envelope
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 AM: Modulation Index, μ
 max   min φmax = Maximum of φAM(t)
Modulation Index: 
 max   min φmin = Minimum of φAM(t)

mp
Case I: m(t) with zero offset 
(i.e., m(t)|max = - m(t)|min = mp): Ac

mt  |max  mt  |min

Case II: m(t) with non-zero offset (rare 
case) (i.e., m(t)|max ≠ - m(t)|min): 2 Ac  mt  |max  mt  |min

 μ < 1: Undermodulation
 μ = 1: 100% modulation
 μ > 1: Overmodulation => Envelope detection creates distortion

An example of over modulation

For envelope detection:
Ac – mp ≥ 0 => 0 ≤ μ ≤ 1
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 AM: Example
Example for Single Tone Modulation
Let, mt   Am cos mt

Then,  AM t   Ac 1  cos mt cos ct

50% modulation 100% modulation

 Amplitude spectrum ??????????

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 AM: Sideband and Carrier Power
Transmitted signal: AM t   Ac cos ct  mt cos ct
Ac2
Carrier Power: PC  Sideband power:
2

 Power efficiency:

Special Case: Single Tone Modulation

Ac 
 AM t   Ac cos ct  cosc  m t  cosc  m t 
2
Ac2  2 Ac2  2
LSB power:PLSB  
2 2
USB power: PUSB  Ac Total sideband power:PS 
8 8 4
Then This ratio increases monotonically from 0 to 1/3 as μ increases from
0 to 1

 Under the best condition (μ=1):

Thus, for tone modulation, under the best conditions, only one-third of the power is
used for carrying message, which is even lower (less than 25% or worse) under
practical conditions
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 Generation of AM Signal
Switching Modulator:

Input: Ac cosωct + m(t)

Condition: Ac >> m(t): Thus the switching action of the diode is controlled by {Ac cosωct }

 This switching action results in a multiplication of [Ac cosωct + m(t)] by w(t)

Thus,

and vcc ' t 

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 Fourier Series
a0  2nt  2nt
f (t )    an cos   bn sin
2 n1 T n 1 T
Let 0=2/T.
a0  
f (t )    an cos(n0t )   bn sin(n0t )
2 n 1 n 1

2 t 0 T
a0   f (t )dt
T t0
2 t0 T
an   f (t ) cos n0tdt n  1,2,
T 0
t

2 t 0 T
bn   f (t ) sin n0tdt n  1,2,
T t0
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 Demodulation of AM Signals
1. Rectifier Demodulator:
(for μ ≤ 1)

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 Demodulation of AM Signals
2. Envelope Detector:
(for μ ≤ 1)

 For proper operation, the discharge time constant

RC must be chosen properly
 Difference between the rectifier detector and the envelope detector? (Think first and consult with the text
books) 12
 Demodulation of AM Signals
3. Synchronous/ Coherent / Homodyne Detector:
(no restriction on μ)
pt  d t 
 AM t  LPF &
DC blocking

cos ct
p t    AM t  cos ct  Ac  mt cos 2 ct
After LPF and DC blocking:

1
Ac  mt 1  cos 2ct  d t   C mt  C: constant
2
 c  mt   Ac  mt cos 2ct
A 1 1
2 2 2

 Phase and frequency of the local carrier have to be same as those of the carrier:
Synchronization required between transmitter and receiver
 More complex and expensive than an envelop detector
 Rectifier detector is effectively a coherent detector
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 AM: Summary
 Wasteful of transmitted power: power efficiency
very low
 Wasteful of channel bandwidth: twice of the
message bandwidth
 Easy to be affected by noise
 Simpler modulator and demodulator
 Less expensive modulator and demodulator

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