CH-2 Amplitude (Linear) Modulation

The transmission of an analog signal is either by

modulation of the amplitude, the phase, or the
frequency of a sinusoidal carrier.
Modulation is the process of putting information
on to a high frequency carrier for transmission
(frequency translation) or
The process by which some characteristics
(amplitude, frequency or phase) of a carrier
signal is varied in accordance with message
signal (i.e. modulating signal).
1
Modulation occurs at the transmitting end of the
system.

Figure 2-1: Block diagram of modulation process

The baseband signal is known as the modulating
signal.
The baseband/modulating signal is low
frequency signal.
The carrier signal is always a high frequency
sinusoidal wave. 2
After modulation ,the carrier is said to be
modulated by the modulating signal.
The output of the modulator is called the
modulated signal.

3
•At the transmitter, modulation process occurs
when the transmission takes place at the high
Frequency carrier, which has been modified to
carry the lower frequency information.
•At the Receiver, demodulation takes place.
Demodulation is the reverse process of
modulation.
•Once this information is received, the lower
frequency Information must be removed from
the high-frequency carrier.

4
Need for modulation
There are several strong reasons why the modulation
is important in analog communication System:
1. To reduce antenna height
• If the communication channel consists of free
space, antennas are required to radiate and receive
the signal.
• The height of the antenna should be the order of ¼
or ½ wave length of the frequency of the transmitted
signal.
h= λ/4 or h= λ/2 5
Example: Voice signal bandwidth f=3 kHz

λ =C/F=3x108/3x103 = 105 m

h = λ/4 =25000m

If we use a modulate carrier at fc = 100 MHz

with the voice signal

λ =C/F=3x108/100x106 = 3 m

h = λ/4 = 0.75 m
6
2. To avoid mixing of signals

7
 All sound signals are concentrated within a range
from 20 Hz to 20 KHz.
 The transmission of baseband signals from various
sources causes the mixing of signal, and then it is
difficult to separate at the receiver end.
 In the figure above s1, s2, s3 are stations which
occupies the same frequency, it is necessary to
translate them to different portions of the
electromagnetic spectrum.
 Each must be given its own bandwidth commonly
known as channel bandwidth.
 This can be achieved by taking different carrier
frequency for different station as shown in the figure
s1, s2, s3 are given F1, F2 & F3 respectively.
8
3. Reception quality improves (Avoids Poor radiation)
 At low frequency, radiation is poor and signal gets
highly attenuated.
 Therefore, baseband signals cannot be transmitted
directly over long distance.
 Modulation effectively increases frequency of the signal
to be radiated, and thus increases the distance over
which signals can be transmitted faithfully.
4. To multiplex different signal & to share common
channel
 Multiplexing means transmission of two or more
signals simultaneously over the same channel.
 The common examples of multiplexing are the
number of television channels operating
simultaneously and transmitting over single cable.
9
5. For frequency Translation
• Adjustment of Bandwidth is allowed
• Narrow band communication
 The process of converting a frequency or a band of
frequencies to another location in the frequency
spectrum is called frequency translation.
 Bandwidth of modulated signals may be made
smaller or larger than the original signal.
 SNR in the receiver which is a function of the
signal bandwidth can thus be improved by proper
control of the bandwidth at the modulating stage.
10
Types of modulation

11
Explanation on Abbreviations
 AM- Amplitude modulation
 PAM-Pulse amplitude modulation
 PPM-Pulse position modulation
 DM-delta modulation
 DPCM-Differential pulse code modulation
 ASK-Amplitude shift keying
 PSK-Phase shift keying
 FSK-Frequency shift keying
 FM-Frequency modulation
 PWM-Pulse width modulation
 PCM-Pulse code modulation
 ADM-Adaptive delta modulation 12
In analog communication systems, we use the
sinusoidal signal as the frequency carrier.
And as the sinusoidal wave can be represented in
three parameters; amplitude, frequency and
phase, these parameters may be varied for the
purpose of transmitting information giving
respectively the modulation methods.
Continuous wave
a) Amplitude Modulation (AM) - the amplitude of
the carrier waveform varies with the Information
signal.
13
14
Angle modulation
(b) Frequency Modulation (FM) - the frequency of the carrier
waveform varies with the Information signal.
(c) Phase Modulation (PM) - the phase of the carrier
waveform varies with the information Signal.
Figure (1) carrier signal, figure (2) modulating signal (3) FM
Signal (4) PM Signal

15
Amplitude Modulation (AM)
 In amplitude modulation, the amplitude of a carrier
signal is varied by the modulating signal. Here,
information signal is the modulating signal and high
frequency signal which is being modulated is the
carrier signal.
 Formally, AM is defined as system of modulation in
which the instantaneous value of the carrier
amplitude changes in accordance with the amplitude
of the modulating signal.
 Looking at Figure below, we can see that the
frequency of the carrier signal remains constant
during modulation process but its amplitude varies
in accordance with the modulating signal. 16
Information signal

AM Modulator

AM Signal

Carrier signal
17
18
AM Modulation/Demodulation

19
Frequency Domain Representation of AM Wave
Time domain mathematical expression for AM signal is:

20
21
Modulation Index of AM Signal

22
23
24
25
26
27
28
Power Content in Multi-Tone AM

29
30
31
32
33
Examples:

34
2.

3.

35
4.

36
5. Given the following AM signal
S(t)= 10cos(20000πt) +5cos(10000πt)cos(20000πt)
Find the following.
a. Modulation index
b. Carrier power
c. Carrier frequency
d. Modulating frequency
e. Sideband power
f. Upper sideband power
g. Lower sideband power
h. Total power
i. Total current
37
Thank U!
38