Sulaymani polytechnic university

Technical college of engineering

Communication engineering dep.

Digital communication Lab

Amplitude shift keying (ASK)

Experiment no.6

Prepared by :
Nvar jalil
Aland talb
Mhamad omar
Rekar sabr
Raboon azad
THEORY
The most important and interesting concept in communication is Modulation. It
has different types. Modulation is defined as the improving the signal
characteristics amplitude, frequency or phase with reference of the carrier
signal. If the input signal is analog form then such modulation is called as
analog modulation. And if the inputs signal in the form of digital, such
modulation is called Digital modulation. Analog forms of signals are suffered
from distortion, noise and interference effects. Due to these three defects, digital
signals are preferred than analog. And in digital modulation, the input signal is
in the form of digital-only. It has only two voltage levels either high or low. But
in the analog signal, its voltage is continued and affected by some type of noise.
If the input signal in the form of digital and if you try to increase its amplitude
characteristics concerning the carrier signal, this process of modulation is called
as Amplitude Shift Keying. It is also known as ASK. This article discusses what
is ASK, and its importance.
Amplitude Shift Keying Theory

This type of modulation comes under Digital Modulation schemes. Here, the
word keying has some importance, i.e. Keying is indicating the transmission of
digital signal over the channel. By the amplitude shift keying theory, we can
understand the process of ASK technique.

analog-and-digital-signals
In ASK, it requires two input signals, First input is binary sequence signal and
the second input is carrier signal. Here the most important point we need to
always consider the second input which is the carrier signal has the more
amplitude/voltage range than the input binary sequence signal.

Reason for Choosing the High Characteristics Carrier Signal

For example, if you want to go to someplace you can choose the bus for
transportation purpose. Once you reached your destination you come out from
the bus. Here when you reached your destination you are not considering the
bus which you helped to reach your destination. You are using the bus as just
for a medium. So, here also to complete the modulation process, the input
binary sequence signal using the carrier signals to reach its destination point.

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One more important point is to consider here, the carrier signal amplitude is
should be greater than the input binary signal amplitude. Within carrier
amplitude range we are going to modulate the binary input signal amplitude. If
the carrier signal amplitude is less than the input binary signal voltage, then
such a combination modulation process leads to over modulation and under
modulation effects. So to achieve perfect modulation carrier single should have
more amplitude range than input binary signal.

ask-block-diagram
In amplitude shift keying theory, input binary signal amplitude varies according
to the carrier signal voltage. In ASK, the input binary signal is multiplied with
the carrier signal along with its time intervals. Between the first time interval of
input binary signal multiplied with the first time interval of carrier signal
voltage and the same process continues for all time intervals. If the input binary
signal is logic HIGH for certain time interval, then the same should be delivered
at the output ports with increment in voltage level. So the main aim of the
amplitude shift keying modulation is to changing or improving the voltage
characteristics of the input binary signal concerning the carrier signal. The
below diagram indicating the Amplitude shift keying block diagram.

At Mixer Circuit Level

When the switch is closed – for all the logic HIGH time intervals i.e. when the
input signal having logic 1 during those intervals the switch is closed and it is
multiplied with the carrier signal which is generating from the function
generator for the same duration.

When the switch is opened – when the input signal having logic 0, the switch is
opened and there is no output signal will be generated. Because the input binary
signal logic 0 having no voltage, so during these intervals when the carrier

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signal multiples with it, zero output will come. The output is zero for all logic 0
intervals of the input binary signal. Mixer circuit having the pulse shaping
filters and band-limited filters for shaping the ASK output signal.

ask-modulation-waveforms
ASK Circuit Diagram

Amplitude shift keying modulation circuit can be designed with 555timer IC as

an astable mode. Here, the carrier signal can be varied by using the R1, R2 and
C. The carrier frequency can be instantly calculated by the formulae as
0.69*C*(R1+R2). A PIN 4 we will apply the input binary signal and at PIN 3
the circuit will generate the ASK modulated wave.

ask-modulation-circuit
ASK Demodulation Process

Demodulation is the process of reconstructing the original signal at the receiver

level. And it is defined as, whatever the modulated signal received from the
channel at the receiver side by implementing the proper demodulated techniques
to recover/reproduce the original input signal at the output stage of the receiver.
ASK demodulation can be done in two ways. They are,

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 Coherent detection (Synchronous demodulation)
 Noncoherent Detection (Asynchronous demodulation)
We will start the demodulation process with coherent detection which is also
called as synchronous ASK detection.

1). Coherent ASK Detection

In this way of demodulation process, the carrier signal which we are using at the
receiver stage is in the same phase with the carrier signal which we are using at
the transmitter stage. It means the carrier signal at transmitter and receiver
stages are the same values. This type of demodulation is called Synchronous
ASK detection or coherent ASK detection.

coherent-ask-detection-block-diagram

The receiver receives the ASK modulated waveform from the channel but here
this modulated waveform is effected with noise signal because it is forwarded
from the free space channel. So this, noise can be eliminated after the
multiplier stage by the help of a low pass filter. Then it is forwarded from the
sample and hold circuit for converting it into discrete signal form. Then at each
interval, the discrete signal voltage is compared with the reference voltage
(Vref) to reconstruct the original binary signal.
2). Non-coherent ASK Detection

In this, the only difference is the carrier signal which is using at the transmitter
side and receiver side are not in the same phase with each other. By this reason,
this detection is called as Non-coherent ASK detection (Asynchronous ASK
detection). This demodulation process can be completed by using with square
law device. The output signal which is generating from the square-law device
can be forwarded through a low pass filter to reconstruct the original binary
signal.

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non-coherent-ask-detection-block-diagram
Amplitude shift keying is an effective technique to increase the input amplitude
characteristics in communications. But these ASK modulated waveforms are
easily affected by noise. And this leads to amplitude variations. Due to this,
there will be voltage fluctuations in the output waveforms. The second
drawback of the ASK modulation technique is, it has low power efficiency.
Because ASK requires the excessive bandwidth. It leads to power loss in the
spectrum of ASK.

Whenever to modulate two input binary signals, amplitude shift keying

modulation is not preferable. Because it has to take only one input only. So, to
overcome this Quadrature Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK) is preferred. In this
modulation technique, we can modulate two binary signals with two different
carrier signals. Here, these two carrier signals are in opposite phase with
90degrees difference. Sin and cosine signals are used as carriers in quadrature
amplitude shift keying. The advantage of this is, it uses effectively the
bandwidth of the spectrum. It offers more power efficiency than the amplitude
shift keying.

amplitude-shift- keying-Matlab-Simulink
Amplitude shift keying Matlab Simulink can be designed with Matlab tool.
After initializing the tool, by following the proper steps we can draw the ASK
circuit on the work area. By giving the proper signal values we can get the
modulated output waveforms

ASK Applications

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Modulation has an important role in communications. And amplitude shift
keying applications are mentioned below. They are:

 Low-frequency RF applications
 Home automation devices
 Industrial networks devices
 Wireless base stations
 Tire pressuring monitoring systems
Thus, Ask (amplitude shift keying) is a digital modulation technique to increase
the amplitude characteristics of the input binary signal. But its drawbacks make
it so limited. And these drawbacks can be overcome by the other modulation
technique which is FSK.

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PROCEDURE

Test (A)

1. set up the experiment as shown below

ASK Modulator

2. use the following simulation parameters :

Message signal M=2(binary ) , Rb = 5Kbps

Carrier signal A= 5V , fc =50kHz

3. use a scope to observe the message , carrier , and the modulated signals. As
shown below :

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4. use a spectrum analyzer to observe the spectrum of the modulated signal .
as shown the circuit and spectrum below :

Spectrum of Message signal

Spectrum of Modulated signal

signal

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 The null-to null bandwidth is equal to 2Rb =2(5kbps)=10kHZ

Test (b) :ASK demodulator (coherent).

Message signal
M=2 ASK Demodulator (coherent)
Rb=5kbps

LPF setting
Cut of frequency =5e3
Carrier signal Filter order=2
Amplitude=5v Carrier signal
Frequency=50kHz Amplitude =5v
Frequency=50kHz

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 Test (c): ASK demodulator (Non-coherent ).

Message signal
M=2 ASK Demodulator (non-coherent)
Rb=5kbps

LPF setting
Carrier signal
Cut of frequency =5e3
Amplitude=5v
Filter order=2
Frequency=50kHz

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DISCUSSION
Q: what minimum cutoff frequency?
Answer: The output of multiplication between the received signal and carrier
frequency at the receiver side can be expressed as Ef in frequency domain ,
and et in time domain .
Et=AC/2m(t) eJ2πfct +AC/2m(t) e-J2πfct
Ef=AC/2 M(f-fc)+AC/2 M(f+fc)
In our case the value are :
Ef=5/2M(f-50k)+5/2M(f+50k)
Et=5/2m(t)eJ2π50000t+5/2m(t) e-J2π50000t
so to get the original message back we should use coherent ASK demodulator
equation :
y(t) =AC/2m(t) +AC/2 m(t) cos 2π 2fct
in our case the values are
y(t) =5/2m(t) +5/2 m(t) cos 2π 2*50000 t
we should eliminate the second part of equation which is( 5/2 m(t) cos 2π
2*50k t)
We used LPF to do this task with cut off frequency equal to 5kHz( message frequency
fm= 5kHz) which is minimum cutoff frequency that can be used.

Spectrum of Modulated signal

Spectrum of Message signal
signal

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CONCLUSSION
In this experiment, we modulated a digital message signal using digital
modulation technic ASK (Amplitude Shift Keying) at transmitter site and
demodulated the modulated signal in to it is original digital message signal
using ASK demodulator at receiver site. and we take the spectrum of each
digital message signal and modulated signal. Our digital message signal is in
binary format (Unipolar NRZ) which is then multiplied with sinusoidal carrier
signal that has high frequency, which results in a modulated signal in case of
digital signal is 1 then we have sinusoidal carrier signal(carrier sent) and in case
of digital signal is 0 the out put represent by absence of carrier (output
becomes zero). Which like a switch on or off so it is the reason ASK is also
called On-Off Keying (OOK). The ASK technique is also commonly used to
transmit digital data over optical fiber. OOK is used at radio frequencies to
transmit Morse code. In receiver, the message signal is recovered by using
coherent (synchronous) demodulator or non-coherent demodulator, in
coherent demodulator the same carrier signal that used for modulation must
be used in the demodulation( same carrier signal multiplied with the
modulated signal), which can be a disadvantage since the exact carrier signal
must be always used, however this received signal is susceptible to noises and
interference, thus even if the same signal was used it can change resulting in
inaccurate demodulation of the signal,These signal is then passed through Low
pass filter to remove the high frequency components or carrier signal from the
message signal, this signal is then can be passed through gain to amplify back
the signal(if it is necessary, our case is ideal case so we don’t use
amplifier)Then this signal enters a comparator that creates the 1s when the
signal reaching the comparator is greater than or equal to the reference
voltage which is 6.3 in our experiment, and it should create 0 when it’s less
than the 6.3, thus finally the out put signal of the comparator is the recovered
input digital message signal. Another way to demodulation in non-coherent
which Do not require expensive and complex carrier recovery circuit,Coherent
systems need carrier phase information at the receiver and they use matched
filters to detect and decide what data was sent , while noncoherent systems do
not need carrier phase information and use methods like square law to recover
the data, we use saturation block to made the signal half wave rectified and
then pass it to the LPF to smooth the signal and then we pass the signal to a
gain(amplifier) to amplify our signal (gain = 5 in our case) and then use a
comparator with threshold value = 4 in our case if the signal greater than or
equal to this value then it creates 1 and if not it creates 0, and finally we can
recover our digital message signal. We use the spectrum analyzer to see the

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spectrum of the modulated signal, its spectrum is a sinc function with an
impulse at fc=50000 Hz. We can notice that the BW is 2Rb in our experiment
(2*5000) which is 10000Hz, while in base band signal its clear from it’s
spectrum that it is BW= Rb= 5000Hz.

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