Higher Colleges of Technology – Dubai

Dubai Men’s Campus

ELE 3203 – Communication Systems
Lab 8: DSBFC AM Demodulation

A. Objectives: The objective of this exercise is to demonstrate the demodulation of DSBFC AM

signal.
B. Introduction
1. Modulation
To communicate over long distance, we can send a radio frequency (RF) signal between two
antennas, one at the transmitting end and the other at the receiver. Frequencies used by AM
transmissions are typically between 200kHz and 25MHz. A typical radio frequency of say, 1MHz
is much higher than the audio frequencies present in the human voice.

We appear to have two incompatible requirements. A radio system uses frequencies like 1MHz
to transmit over long distance, but we wish to send typical voice frequencies of between 300Hz
and 3.4kHz which are quite impossible to transmit by radio signals. This problem can be
overcome by using a process called “modulation”.

A radio system can easily send high frequency signals between a transmitter and a receiver but
this, on its own, conveys no information. Now, if we were to alter the high frequency signals (in
amplitude or frequency or phase or any combination of them) in correspondence with the
variation of the amplitude of the message signal, we could use it to send information.

Modulation is a process where a “carrier wave” is systematically altered (in amplitude or

frequency or phase or any combination of them) in correspondence with the variation of a
modulating signal, the message signal. The resulting modulated signal will carry the message
information in its amplitude or frequency or phase or any combination of them.
2. Amplitude Modulation (AM)
In Amplitude Modulation, the carrier signal
Carrier

is modulated in amplitude by the message signal m(t) to

produce the modulated AM waveform:

Figure 1: Amplitude Modulation (AM) principle

Lab 8: DSBFC AM Demodulation 1

 Higher Colleges of Technology – Dubai
Dubai Men’s Campus
ELE 3203 – Communication Systems
Lab 8: DSBFC AM Demodulation

3. DEMODULATION OF AM SIGNALS

 Restoring (or recovering) the message signal from the received modulated waveform.
 Demodulation is extracting the original information-bearing signal from a modulated carrier
wave.
 A demodulator is an electronic circuit (or computer program in a software-defined radio) that
is used to recover the information content from the modulated carrier wave.
 ENVELOPE DETECTOR • Diode with an RC filter, On positive half-cycle of RF input signal
s(t) the diode is forward biased and the capacitor C charges up rapidly to the peak value of RF
input signal • When RF input falls below the output voltage then the diode becomes reverse-
biased and the capacitor C discharges slowly through the load resistor Rl.
 If 1/fc << RC << 1/fm, then the average value of output voltage is equal to the message signal
Circuit AM wave Demodulated output.

C. Material & Equipment Required

i) Multisim

D. Procedure
i) Use MultiSim to build a model for DSBFC AM demodulator based on block diagram below.

Lab 8: DSBFC AM Demodulation 2

 Higher Colleges of Technology – Dubai
Dubai Men’s Campus
ELE 3203 – Communication Systems
Lab 8: DSBFC AM Demodulation

ii)Capture the AM modulated signal using an oscilloscope (Channel A).

iii) Connect the recovered message signal to (Channel B) of the oscilloscope and use dual mode
to visualize both AM and recovered message signals. Compare the envelope of the AM
modulated signal to the recovered message signal.

We can notice that the modulated amplitude looks like a rectified ac signal.

iv) Vary Amplitude of the message to have different modulation indices. Display three types of
waveforms: under-modulation, 100% modulation, and over-modulation. For which values of
the modulation index the recovered message signal is similar to the original message?

Lab 8: DSBFC AM Demodulation 3

 Higher Colleges of Technology – Dubai
Dubai Men’s Campus
ELE 3203 – Communication Systems
Lab 8: DSBFC AM Demodulation

Modulation index of 0.5 (under modulation)

Modulation index =1

Modulation index of greater than 1

v) In the case of under-modulation, vary the value of resistance and note the recovered message
signal. Display three cases: too large RC, correct RC and too small RC.

for large rc

Lab 8: DSBFC AM Demodulation 4

 Higher Colleges of Technology – Dubai
Dubai Men’s Campus
ELE 3203 – Communication Systems
Lab 8: DSBFC AM Demodulation

For good RC

For small rc

Lab 8: DSBFC AM Demodulation 5

 Higher Colleges of Technology – Dubai
Dubai Men’s Campus
ELE 3203 – Communication Systems
Lab 8: DSBFC AM Demodulation

vi) Capture the recovered message signal in the three cases. What is your conclusion?

At higher RC, the Restored message signal from the received modulated waveform has a
much smoother and better output of the signal's envelope, and its output amplitude is
proportional to the modulated signal's amplitude.

E . Conclusion Questions:
1. Answer Highlighted questions in section G with supporting captured images.
2. Explain your observations.

With the Rc filter, we experimented with a variety of factors in the AM DSB signal. The first was
the modulation index, which we discovered that the lower the modulation index, the better the
recovered message signal is since it looks smoother and clearer than overmodulated and 100%
modulation, and it is filtered better than the others. The second component was the RC value,
which we discovered to be right, Using the formula Fc=1/2pi*RC, we determined that the at the
Correct RC value is preferable for the detection of the modulated signal, since if it is too big, it
would considerably attenuate high frequency.

Lab 8: DSBFC AM Demodulation 6