EEET2465 Lecture 3 Analogue Communications Amplitude Modulation

EEET2465 Communication Engineering
Analogue Communications: Amplitude Modulation

- Practical Generation and Detection
- Multiplexing
Lecturer: Dr W. F. Lee
Overview
• This lecture will briefly review what we learnt about AM from

last lecture.
• The second part of this lecture will look at aspects of
commercial AM broadcasting and how AM signals are
practically generated, we will look at:
–Conventional AM (DSB AM)
–DSB/SC
–SSB/SC
• We will then compare noise and SNR at baseband and in AM.
• Lastly we will look at several different multiplexing techniques
including:
–Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM)
–Time Division Multiplexing (TDM)
RMIT University© 2014 EEET2465 – Communication Engineering 2
Modulation, what and why?
• Modulation is the process of modifying a baseband information

signal to make it suitable for direct transmission.
• It’s most commonly used when an information signal needs to
be transmitted wirelessly.
• Why do we need modulation?
–To enable wireless transmission of a baseband signal using
suitable length antennas.
–To allow frequency division multiplexing (FDM) of many baseband
signals, as in commercial radio broadcasting (AM and FM).

Modulation
• Modulation involves two signal components:

–A modulating signal, which is the message m(t ) or baseband
signal.
–And a carrier, which is a high frequency sinusoid.
–When modulated the carrier’s amplitude, frequency or phase is
then varied in proportion to the baseband signal m(t ).
m(t )  Am cos(mt )
c(t )  Ac cos(ct )

Amplitude Modulation
• Last lecture we focused on two main types of amplitude

modulation (AM):
–Conventional AM: a.k.a. Double sideband AM (DSB AM), or
Double sideband transmitted carrier AM (DSB/TC).
–Double sideband suppressed carrier AM (DSB/SC).
• You will also be examining these two types of AM in your labs
this week.
• Both types have positives and negatives when it comes to their
usage in different applications.
• The next slides will review these two types of signals and
contrast their main differences.

Conventional AM vs DSB/SC (Modulation)
• AM Equation: • DSB/SC Equation:

y(t )  Ac [1  m(t )] cos(ct ) y(t )  Ac m(t ) cos(ct )
• The amplitude (or envelope) • The amplitude (or envelope)
is proportional to m(t ) . is proportional to m(t ) .
m(t )
y (t )

Conventional AM vs DSB/SC (Modulation)
• Spectrum of AM: • Spectrum of DSB/SC:

–Dominated by carrier spike (i.e. –Carrier spike absent, (i.e
transmitted carrier power). suppressed carrier).
• Power: Power in AM signals is • Power: Power in DSB/SC
given by: signals is given by:
P  Pc [1   2 Pm ] P  1 2Ac2 Pm

Conventional AM vs DSB/SC (Demodulation)
• The envelope detector:

–Since the envelope is proportional to m(t ) in conventional AM,
envelope detection is a simple, effective way of demodulating AM
signals. The output will be: st   Ac  Ac mt .
–Since the envelope in DSB/SC is proportional to m(t ) , envelope
detection is not an effective method for demodulating DSB/SC
signals. The output will be: st   Ac mt   mt .

2 2 2
1 1.5 1
y(t)
s(t)
r(t)
0 0
0.5
-1 -1
0
-2 -0.5 -2
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 0 0.5 1 1.5 2
Time, sec Time, sec Time, sec
2 1.5 2
1 1 1
y(t)
s(t)
r(t)
0 0.5 0
-1 0 -1
-2 -0.5 -2
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 0 0.5 1 1.5 2

• The synchronous detector:

–The synchronous detector (or coherent detector) is an effective
demodulation method for both conventional AM and DSB/SC
signals.
–This method multiplies an AM signal with a local oscillator tuned to
the same frequency as the carrier.
–This method is more complex but works for all AM signals.

2 2 2
1 1.5
1
1
d(t)
y(t)
s(t)
0 0
0.5
-1 0 -1
-2 -0.5
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 0 0.5 1 1.5 2
2
1 1
1
d(t)
y(t)
s(t)
0 0 0
-1
-1 -1
-2
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 0 0.5 1 1.5 2

Practical AM Signal Generation
• Practically it’s difficult to generate AM by taking a low power

AM signal (using multipliers, etc) and amplifying it to the
necessary power levels for transmission.
• This would require linear power amplifiers which are not very
efficient when operating at RF frequencies.
• High power AM transmission is practically achieved by using
several different techniques.
• In this section we will look at the generation of AM using
square-law devices, switching devices and balanced
modulators.

AM Generation with a Square-Law Device
• As well as using square-law devices for demodulation they

can also be used to generate AM signals.
• The carrier and message signals are added together.
• The signal is then processed using a square-law device and
band-pass filtered (BPF) to produce the AM output.

d (t )  m(t )  c(t )
 m(t )  A cos(ct )

z (t )  ad (t )  bd 2 (t )  am(t )  aA cos(ct )  b[m 2 (t )  2 Am(t ) cos(ct )  A2 cos 2 (ct )]

2
2b bA
 aA[1  m(t )] cos(ct )  am(t )  bm 2 (t )  [1  cos(2ct )]
a 2
* For this example : a  1 and b  0.5

y(t ) 2 B BPFf c [ z (t )]  Ac [1  m(t )] cos(ct )

AM Generation with a Switching Device
• Switch modulators are one of the simplest methods of AM

signal generation.
• The carrier and message signals are added together:
d (t )  m(t )  c(t )  m(t )  A cos(ct )
• d (t ) is then sampled with a square wave, ps (t ) of amplitude V0
and frequency equal to that of the carrier.

where p(t )  1  ps (t ) / V0 / 2

 A   4 
y(t )  2 B BPFf c [ z (t )]   1  m(t )  cos(ct )  Ac 1  m(t )cos(ct )
 2   A 
which is DSB AM
DSB/SC Generation with a Balanced Modulator
z1 (t )  Ac [1  m(t )] cos(ct )
y(t )  2 Ac m(t ) cos(ct )
z2 (t )  Ac [1  m(t )] cos(ct )
• Balanced modulators are used to combine two AM signals in
such a way as to cancel out the carrier component leaving a
double sideband suppressed carrier (DSB/SC) AM signal.
• By using a narrow BPF at the output, single sideband
suppressed carrier (SSB/SC) AM can also be achieved.
DSB/SC Generation with a Balanced Modulator
z1 (t )  Ac [1  m(t )] cos(ct )
z2 (t )  Ac [1  m(t )] cos(ct )

Commercial AM Radio Broadcasting
• The most well known application of amplitude modulation is in

AM radio broadcasting.
• The next few slides will look at commercial AM radio
broadcasting in Australia (Melbourne) and talk about some of
the practical aspects that are considered when broadcasting to
the general population.

• Commercial audio broadcasting is usually transmitted as DSB

AM.
• In Australia the AM carrier frequencies range from 531 - 1602
kHz with a separation of 9 kHz between channels (i.e. 2B  9 kHz).
• The modulation index of a broadcast AM signal is   0.8 .
……. …….
526.5 531 535.5 540 544.5 1597.5 1602 1606.5

Frequency, kHz
9 kHz 9 kHz
• From: Broadcasting Services (Technical Planning) Guidelines, Australian Communication
and Media Authority standard, 2007.
• Transmitted power should be compatible with the broadcast

area.
• AM power is normally increased using a power amplifier (PA)
before RF transmission.
• The transmitted power typically ranges from 1 - 50 kW for local
broadcasting up to 0.5 MW for international broadcasting.
• Some local examples are:
–774 3LO Melbourne (national broadcast), power = 50 kW
–693 3AW Melbourne (commercial broadcast), power = 5 kW
–855 3CR Melbourne (community broadcast), power = 2 kW
• From: Radio and Television Broadcasting Stations, Australian Communication and

Media Authority, 2010.
Commercial AM Broadcasting Up-converting
• AM generation circuits generally do not provide a carrier frequency

sufficient for radio transmission.
• The carrier frequency is raised using up-converters before
transmission.
• Commercially two stages of up-conversion are used:
– the first creates a carrier frequency at an intermediate frequency (IF)
(typically in kHz range).
– the second further lifts the carrier to RF frequency in the range of 0.54 to
1.6 MHz.
• Amplification and bandpass filtering are necessary after each
conversion, as every conversion will reduce the carrier power by a
factor of ¼ and produce an unwanted image.
• Commercial AM receivers (called superheterodyne receivers) do
the opposite, i.e. frequency down-conversion in a two step process.

Basic Superheterodyne Receiver
• A basic superheterodyne receiver is shown below, this is a

single stage down-converter type receiver.
• At each mixing stage, harmonics are created from the non-linear
nature of the multiplication process.
• Hence, narrow-band filtering is required after each mixing stage.
yt   Ac 1 mt cosct  d t   Ac 1 mt cosIF t  Kmt 
f LO  f c  f IF
Example 3.1: Superheterodyne Receiver
• Assume an AM superheterodyne receiver requires a signal with

an intermediate frequency of 455 kHz to decode.
• Find the required local oscillator frequencies that will allow the
following radio stations to be demodulated:
–774 kHz: 774 ABC Melbourne
–1026 kHz: ABC News Radio
–693 kHz: 3AW
• What unwanted harmonics are produced during the mixing
phase for these three radio stations?

• Since the local oscillator frequency is related to the RF

frequency by the following formula:
f LO  f c  f IF
• We can find the three oscillator frequencies required as:
f LO1  774  455  1,229 kHz
f LO2  1026  455  1,481 kHz
f LO3  693  455  1,148 kHz

• During the mixing phase harmonics are produced that must be

filtered out using the BPF. These harmonics follow the rule:
r t   Ac 1  mt cosc  LO t   Ac 1  mt cosc  LO t 
• For the three radio stations the harmonics which would be
filtered out are: '
f1  774  1229  2,003 kHz
f 2'  1026  1481  2,507 kHz
f 3'  693  1148  1,841 kHz
r t 

Frequency Selectivity: Superheterodyne Receiver
• Since mixing produces harmonics it’s possible that with poor

frequency selectivity at the input interference can occur with
stations at different frequencies.
• For example, if detecting 3AW at 693 kHz we would use a
local oscillator frequency of 1,148 kHz to produce:
r t   1  mt cos2 693  1148t   1  mt cos2  693  1148 t 
 1  mt cos2 1841t   1  mt cos2 455t 
• But a station located at 1,603 kHz could also be detected since
mixing with that frequency would obtain:
r t   1  mt cos2 1603  1148t   1  mt cos2 1603  1148 t 
 1  mt cos2 2751t   1  mt cos2 455t 
• This is called an image signal and will cause interference.
Advanced Superheterodyne Receiver
• In many practical situations a dual or even tri-stage down-

conversion process is used to further improve the frequency
selectivity of the receiver.
• This just means more mixing stages are added to the receiver
with different local oscillator frequencies and different BPF
centre frequencies.

So far…
• So far we have reviewed amplitude modulation and

demodulation for the two most common types of AM,
conventional AM and DSB/SC.
• We have looked at some of the practical methods used to
modulate signals using AM.
• We’ve also considered how we can practically received these
signals by using a down conversion system called the
superheterodyne receiver.
• In the next part of this lecture we will look at how noise affects
AM signals
• Lastly we will briefly examine several different methods used in
communications for multiplexing messages for transmission.

Signal to Noise Ratio
• In analogue communication systems, performance evaluation

is generally based on the estimation of the received Signal to
Noise Ratio (SNR):
SNR = Signal power / Noise power
• SNR in Baseband Transmission:
–If there is no modulation (e.g. in short-range transmission),
we call the SNR the baseband SNR (SNRb).
• Values of SNR that are high tell us that the signal power is
greater than the noise, so the quality of the received signal is
greater.
• SNR values that are lower mean that the quality of the
received signal would generally be poor.

Noise in AM
• During transmission, noise will also affect AM signals distorting

the information encoded on the carrier.
• Noise can be caused by electrical interference or
environmental factors such as solar radiation.
• In systems utilising modulation the type of noise is what’s
known as bandlimited noise which has an approximately
constant power spectral density (PSD) over the signal
bandwidth:

• SNR in DSB/SC Transmission:

• Additive noise affects the amplitude of a transmitted signal.
• Since in AM the message is encoded on the carrier amplitude,
this means the noise will also affect the encoded message that is
demodulated at a receiver.
• For DSB/SC the received message will then be: s(t )  Ac m(t )  nt 
• The signal component of this will have a power of: Ps  Ac2 Pm
• nt  will be a bandlimited noise process with power: Pn  2BN o .
• This means that for DSB/SC the signal to noise ratio will be:
Ps Ac2 Pm
SNR  
Pn 2 BN o
• SNR in DSB AM Transmission

• In the case of conventional AM we will have a received signal:
s(t )  Ac  Ac m(t )  nt 
• Again the signal power can be found to be: Ps  Ac2  Ac2  2 Pm .
• The noise power is again calculated from the bandlimited noise
process n(t ) : Pn  2BN o
• Which gives a signal to noise ratio for conventional AM as:
Ps Ac2   2 Ac2 Pm
SNR  
Pn 2 BN o
• This is an improvement on the SNR that would be achieved for
DSB/SC due to the extra power contributed from the carrier.
• A reasonable SNR for listening to audio is around 25 dB.
Multiplexing
• Multiplexing is used to allow multiple messages to be

transmitted simultaneously through the same channel with no
interference.
• A good analogy of multiplexing is listening to people talking.
• Consider a large lecture theatre or party with everyone talking
at the same time.
• Would it be easy to hear all the conversations that are
happening in this situation?
• This is what it would be like if we transmitted and received all
message signals all at once, it would be impossible to make
out one message from another.

Time Division Multiplexing
• Time division multiplexing (TDM) is a technique where

multiple messages (in the form of pulse trains) can share a
transmission medium by alternating transmission during
different timeslots.
• TDM is often used to multiplex multiple (24 or 32) telephone
calls on a single four-wire cable in both the T-carrier (USA) and
E-carrier (Europe) telecommunication standards respectively.
• To fit in with the analogy of a room full of people talking, TDM
would be analogous to people speaking at different times (i.e.
one person speaks then the next, then the next and so on).

Time Division Multiplexing (TDM)
• The figure shows two PAM signals being transmitted using

TDM. The blue pulses might be transmitted on the first clock
period followed by the green pulses on the next clock period.
• It’s possible for more than two signals to be transmitted via
TDM; the European E-carrier system for telephone can
multiplex 32 PCM coded conversations at the same time.

Time Division Multiplexing (TDM)
• TDM is relevant for messages that have been encoded as

pulses, e.g. pulse amplitude (PAM) or pulse code (PCM)
modulated signals.
• In TDM the data pulses are transmitted in an alternating
pattern, one source transmits a pulse followed by the next
source, etc. (i.e. data pulses are interleaved in time).
• For TDM, synchronisation is highly important as multiple
messages are being transmitted during different clock cycles.
• In telephone systems that utilise TDM, there are often timeslots
allocated for synchronisation bits to be transmitted on.

Example 3.2: Design of a TDM System
• Design a time-division multiplexing system that will

accommodate the following 3 sources:
–Source 1: Analogue 2 kHz bandwidth
• Include details about the sampling rate needed for each
source and which part of the clock cycle the data could be
multiplexed onto.

• The three sources produce data with different bandwidths (2

kHz and 4 kHz) therefore the 4 kHz source will require 2 x
more TDM timeslots for accurate representation.
• From Nyquist’s criteria, f s  2 B (from EEET2369 – Signals and
Systems) we know that the 2 kHz sources will require a
minimum of 4,000 samples per second to be taken.
• The 4 kHz source will require 8,000 samples taken per second.
• We could design a TDM system that will have a cycle of 4 kHz:
–The system would take one sample per cycle from each of
sources 1 and 3.
–It would take two samples per cycle from source 2.
• This will total 16 ksamples/sec entering the analogue to digital
converter.
• This could be represented as follows:

Note: Source 2 uses every 2nd
timeslot. Other sources use every
source 1 4th timeslot.
source 2
source 3
f1  4 kHz
• We will take a closer look at sampling, pulse amplitude

modulation (PAM) and pulse code modulation (PCM) in the
digital communications unit starting in lecture 6.
Frequency Division Multiplexing
• Frequency division multiplexing (FDM) is a very common

technique where multiple messages are modulated on different
carrier frequencies far enough apart so as to have no spectral
overlap. (e.g. radio and television).
• As far as the talking analogy goes, this could be like people
speaking with different pitches.
• In some situations it can be easier to pick out the higher pitch
of a female voice (or child’s voice) even when other people are
speaking at the same time.

Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM)
• FDM is used to transmit multiple messages on a single

transmission medium (that medium being air in the case of
wireless communication).
• FDM is achieved by modulating each message on individual
carriers of different frequencies.
• Each modulated message must be spectrally isolated to
avoid interference occurring to neighbouring channels.
M
a
g
n
i
t
u
d
e
f c1 fc2 f c3 fc4 Frequency, Hz

Example 3.3: Design of an FDM System
• Design a frequency-division multiplexing (FDM) system that will

accommodate the following two types of signals:
–Signal 1: Voice signals (approx. 4 kHz baseband bandwidth)
–Signal 2: Video signals (2.5 MHz baseband bandwidth)
• Include details about the bandwidth usage and the carrier
spacing required for each type of signal.
• Assume Amplitude Modulation (AM) is the method used to
modulate these data sources.

Example 3.3: Design of an FDM System
• Once modulated, these signals will have a bandwidth equal to

twice their baseband bandwidth :
–Source 1: Voice signals B = 2 x 4 kHz = 8 kHz.
–Source 2: Video signals B = 2 x 2.5 MHz = 5 MHz.
• The voice signals require a carrier spacing of at least 8 kHz
between carriers.
 8 kHz
8 kHz Frequency, Hz
• The video signals require a carrier spacing of at least 5 MHz

between carriers.
 5 MHz
5 MHz Frequency, Hz
Advanced Multiplexing Schemes
• Code Division Multiplexing / Multiple Access, CDM(A): Is a

spread spectrum technique utilised in 3G telecommunications.
• In CDMA multiple users can make phone calls using parts of
the same spectral region.
• Each digitised message is encoded using a fast-rate, pseudo-
random code known to both the transmitter and receiver, only
the receiver that knows the code can decode the message.
• Like a room full of people each speaking different languages,
only people who can speak the same language can understand
each other, other conversations around them sound like noise
and are ignored.

Advanced Multiplexing Schemes
• Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing / Multiple

Access, OFDM(A): Utilised in 4G telecommunications and is
also considered a spread spectrum technique.
• OFDMA allows multiple users to communicate in the same
spectral region by allocating multiple, closely spaced,
orthogonal sub-carriers to users.
• Each sub-carrier transmits part of a conversation/data, the
receiver(s) will know which sub-carriers contain that data.
• Could be considered like many people having conversations at
the same time, but each conversation is separated by walls
between them (separate rooms).
• We will look closer at OFDM in the lecture of week 8.

Finally
• In this lecture we have looked at the generation of practical AM

signals.
• We’ve also looked at practical receiver systems that can be
used to tune into and demodulate different radio stations.
• Lastly we introduced the idea of multiplexing where multiple
transmitted messages can share the same medium without
interfering with each other.
• Multiplexing techniques considered were:
–Time division multiplexing (TDM)
–Frequency division multiplexing (FDM)
–Code division multiple access (CDMA)
–Orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA)

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EEET2465 Communication Engineering

Analogue Communications: Amplitude Modulation

• This lecture will briefly review what we learnt about AM from

• Modulation is the process of modifying a baseband information

RMIT University© 2014 EEET2465 – Communication Engineering 3

• Modulation involves two signal components:

RMIT University© 2014 EEET2465 – Communication Engineering 4

• Last lecture we focused on two main types of amplitude

RMIT University© 2014 EEET2465 – Communication Engineering 5

• AM Equation: • DSB/SC Equation:

RMIT University© 2014 EEET2465 – Communication Engineering 6

• Spectrum of AM: • Spectrum of DSB/SC:

RMIT University© 2014 EEET2465 – Communication Engineering 7

• The envelope detector:

RMIT University© 2014 EEET2465 – Communication Engineering 8

RMIT University© 2014 EEET2465 – Communication Engineering 9

• The synchronous detector:

RMIT University© 2014 EEET2465 – Communication Engineering 10

RMIT University© 2014 EEET2465 – Communication Engineering 11

• Practically it’s difficult to generate AM by taking a low power

RMIT University© 2014 EEET2465 – Communication Engineering 12

• As well as using square-law devices for demodulation they

RMIT University© 2014 EEET2465 – Communication Engineering 13

RMIT University© 2014 EEET2465 – Communication Engineering 14

z (t )  ad (t )  bd 2 (t )  am(t )  aA cos(ct )  b[m 2 (t )  2 Am(t ) cos(ct )  A2 cos 2 (ct )]

* For this example : a  1 and b  0.5

y(t ) 2 B BPFf c [ z (t )]  Ac [1  m(t )] cos(ct )

RMIT University© 2014 EEET2465 – Communication Engineering 16

• Switch modulators are one of the simplest methods of AM

RMIT University© 2014 EEET2465 – Communication Engineering 17

RMIT University© 2014 EEET2465 – Communication Engineering 18

RMIT University© 2014 EEET2465 – Communication Engineering 21

• The most well known application of amplitude modulation is in

RMIT University© 2014 EEET2465 – Communication Engineering 22

• Commercial audio broadcasting is usually transmitted as DSB

526.5 531 535.5 540 544.5 1597.5 1602 1606.5

• Transmitted power should be compatible with the broadcast

• From: Radio and Television Broadcasting Stations, Australian Communication and

• AM generation circuits generally do not provide a carrier frequency

RMIT University© 2014 EEET2465 – Communication Engineering 25

• A basic superheterodyne receiver is shown below, this is a

yt   Ac 1 mt cosct  d t   Ac 1 mt cosIF t  Kmt 

• Assume an AM superheterodyne receiver requires a signal with

RMIT University© 2014 EEET2465 – Communication Engineering 27

• Since the local oscillator frequency is related to the RF

RMIT University© 2014 EEET2465 – Communication Engineering 28

• During the mixing phase harmonics are produced that must be

RMIT University© 2014 EEET2465 – Communication Engineering 29

• Since mixing produces harmonics it’s possible that with poor

• In many practical situations a dual or even tri-stage down-

RMIT University© 2014 EEET2465 – Communication Engineering 31

• So far we have reviewed amplitude modulation and

RMIT University© 2014 EEET2465 – Communication Engineering 32

• In analogue communication systems, performance evaluation

RMIT University© 2014 EEET2465 – Communication Engineering 33

• During transmission, noise will also affect AM signals distorting

RMIT University© 2014 EEET2465 – Communication Engineering 34

• SNR in DSB/SC Transmission:

• SNR in DSB AM Transmission

• Multiplexing is used to allow multiple messages to be

RMIT University© 2014 EEET2465 – Communication Engineering 37

• Time division multiplexing (TDM) is a technique where

RMIT University© 2014 EEET2465 – Communication Engineering 38

• The figure shows two PAM signals being transmitted using