Dr.

Ali Hussein Muqaibel

GENERATION OF Electrical Engineering Department
King Fahd University of Petroleum &

WIDEBAND FM/PM Minerals

Ver. 3.1
1
DR. ALI MUQAIBEL
 OUTLINE
1. Direct Method of Generating WB FM Signals
 Features of the Direct Method

2. Armstrong Indirect Method for Wideband FM Generation

Example
System 1
System 2
System 3
Practical FM radio broadcasting
Group Practice (Active Learning)
DR. ALI MUQAIBEL 2
 DIRECT METHOD OF GENERATING WB FM SIGNALS
If the input signal to a VCO is the message
Voltage Controlled Oscillator signal, the output of the VCO will be an
FM modulated signal.
m(t) (VCO) gFM(t)
FM Modulator VCO was used for Carrier Acquisition for
DSBSC systems.

 Features of the Direct Method:

◦ Simple and uses a single component (+ve feature).
◦ Poor frequency stability. (can be improved using feedback. The details are beyond our
scope) (-ve feature)
◦ Less multiplication requirements as compared to the indirect method as will be seen
(+ve feature).

DR. ALI MUQAIBEL 3

 REVISIT:…NON–LINEARITY TO MANIPULATE FM
P BPF
 t

g FM (t ) = A cos  ct + k f  m( )d 
(.) C.F. = PC
BW = 2[P kf mp+Bm]
 
− q (t ) contains the following g FM ( output ) (t ) =
 t

cos  c t + k f  m( )d   t

B cos   Pc  t +  Pk f   m( )d 
 − 
 − 
 t

Passing the FM signal through a cos  2c t + 2k f  m( )d 
non–linear device with a maximum  − 
non–linearity power of 𝑃 will give Assume that the non–linear devices that
 t
 we use in the future examples have
𝑃 different FM signals. cos  Pc t + Pk f  m( )d  built-in BPFs to eliminate the undesired
 − 
FM components.

DR. ALI MUQAIBEL 4

 ARMSTRONG INDIRECT METHOD
FOR WIDEBAND FM GENERATION
Narrowband
m(t)
FM ( . )P gFM (WB) (t)
Modulator

gFM (NB) (t)

Assume a BPF is included in this
block to pass the signal with the
highest carrier freuqnecy and
reject all others
• Both the carrier frequency and the frequency deviation 𝑓 of the narrowband signal are increased by a factor 𝑃.
• Sometimes, the desired increase in the carrier frequency and the desired increase in 𝑓 are different. In this
case, we increase 𝑓 to the desired value and use a frequency shifter (multiplication by a sinusoid followed by a
BPF) to change the carrier frequency to the desired value.

DR. ALI MUQAIBEL 5

 EXAMPLE
A narrowband FM modulator is modulating a message signal 𝑚(𝑡) with bandwidth 5 𝑘𝐻𝑧 and is
producing an FM signal with the following specifications
𝑓𝑐1 = 300𝑘𝐻𝑧
𝑓1 = 35 𝐻𝑧.
We would like to use this signal to generate a wideband FM signal with the following
specifications
𝑓𝑐2 = 135𝑀𝐻𝑧,
𝑓2 = 77 𝑘𝐻𝑧.
Show the block diagram of several systems that will perform this function and specify the
characteristics of each system

DR. ALI MUQAIBEL 6

SOLUTION
The ratio of the carrier frequency
𝑓𝑐2 135×106
= = 450,
𝑓𝑐1 300×103

and the ratio of the frequency variations is

∆𝑓2 77×103
= = 2200.
∆𝑓1 35

Non–linear device with a non–linearity order 𝑜𝑓 ∆𝑓2/𝑓1 = 2200.

The carrier frequency of narrowband FM signal will also increase by a factor of
2200, which is higher than required. This is corrected by frequency shifting.
𝑓
If we feed the narrowband FM signal into a non–linear device of order 𝑐2 , we get
𝑓𝑐1
the correct carrier frequency but the wrong value for 𝑓. There is not a way of
correcting the value of 𝑓 for this signal without affecting the carrier frequency.

DR. ALI MUQAIBEL 7

 SYSTEM 1
Frequency Shifter

Narrowband BPF
m(t) FM ( . )2200 X CF=135 MHz
gFM2 (WB) (t)
BWm = 5 kHz Modulator BW = 164 kHz f2 = 77 kHz
fc2 = 135 MHz
gFM3 (WB) (t) BW2 = 2(f2 + BWm)
gFM (NB) (t)
f3 = 77 kHz
f1 = 35 Hz = 164 kHz
fc3 = 660 MHz
fc1 = 300 kHz cos(2(525M)t)
BW3 = 2(f3 + BWm)
BW = 2*5 = 10 kHz
= 164 kHz

DR. ALI MUQAIBEL 8

 SYSTEM 2 Frequency Shifter

Narrowband BPF
m(t) FM ( . )44 X CF= 2.7 MHz ( . )50 gFM2 (WB) (t)
BWm = 5 kHz Modulator BW = 13.08 kHz f2 = 77 kHz
fc2 = 135 MHz
gFM3 (WB) (t) BW2 = 2(f2 + BWm)
gFM (NB) (t)
f3 = 1540 Hz
f1 = 35 Hz = 164 kHz
fc3 = 13.2 MHz
fc1 = 300 kHz cos(2(10.5M)t)
BW3 = 2(f3 + BWm)
BW = 2*5 = 10 kHz gFM4 (WB) (t)
= 13080 Hz
f4 = 1540 Hz
fc4 = 135/50 = 2.7 MHz
44 and 50 (44 × 50 = 2200) BW4 = 2(f4 + BWm) =
Other possibilities 13080 Hz
2×1100, 4×550, 8×275, 10×220
Depending on the available components

Comparing this system with System 1 shows that the frequency of

the oscillator that is required here is significantly lower (10.5 MHz
compared to 525 MHz), which is generally an advantage.

DR. ALI MUQAIBEL 9

 SYSTEMS 3 Frequency Shifter

Narrowband BPF
m(t) FM X CF= 61.4 kHz ( . )44 ( . )50 gFM2 (WB) (t)
BWm = 5 kHz Modulator BW = 10 kHz f2 = 77 kHz
fc2 = 135 MHz
gFM (NB) (t) BW2 = 2(f2 + BWm)
f1 = 35 Hz gFM3 (WB) (t) = 164 kHz
fc1 = 300 kHz cos(2(238.6k)t) f3 = 35 Hz
BW1 = 2*5 = 10 kHz fc3 = 2.7/44= 61.4 kHz gFM4 (WB) (t)
BW3 = 2(BWm) = f4 = 1540 Hz
10 kHz fc4 = 135/50 = 2.7 MHz
BW4 = 2(f4 + BWm) =
13080 kHz

In general we require a very large factor 𝑛, if we do it in one stage and use excessive
multiplication, we will get noise and distortion especially if ∆𝑓/𝑓𝑚 is not small enough.

DR. ALI MUQAIBEL 10

PRACTICAL FM RADIO BROADCASTING
We start with 200𝑘𝐻𝑧 because it is easy to generate a stable frequency by a crystal oscillator at
low frequency. ∆𝑓 = 25 𝐻𝑧.
𝑓𝑐1 = 200𝑘𝐻𝑧 𝑓𝑐2 = 12.8 𝑀𝐻𝑧 𝑓𝑐3 = 1.9 𝑀𝐻𝑧 𝑓𝑐4 = 91.2 𝑀𝐻𝑧
∆𝑓1 = 25𝐻𝑧 ∆𝑓2 = 1.6 𝑘𝐻𝑧 ∆𝑓3 = 1.6 𝑘𝐻𝑧 ∆𝑓4 = 76.8 𝑘𝐻𝑧

Narrow band FM Generator

For more exercises on this WB FM generation method, refer to the problems at the end of Angle Modulation Chapter in your textbook.

DR. ALI MUQAIBEL 11

 IN CLASS PRACTICE
The figure below shows the simplified diagram of a typical FM transmitter (based on the indirect
method) used to transmit audio signals containing frequencies in the range 𝟏𝟎𝟎𝑯𝒛 to 15𝑘𝐻𝑧. The
narrow-band modulator is supplied with a carrier wave of frequency 𝑓1 = 0.1 𝑀𝐻𝑧 by a crystal-
controlled oscillator. The desired FM wave at the transmitter output has a carrier frequency 𝑓𝐶 =
100𝑀𝐻𝑧 and the frequency deviation ∆𝑓 = 75𝑘𝐻𝑧. Assume 𝛽 = 0.2 for the narrowband modulator.

∆𝑓 = 0.2 100 = 20
75000
𝑛1 𝑛2 = = 3750
20
𝑓𝑐
𝑓2 − 𝑛1 𝑓1 =
𝑛2
100
9.5 − 0.1𝑛1 =
𝑛2
𝑛1 = 75
𝑛2 = 50
DR. ALI MUQAIBEL 12