Experiment name: Study of Amplitude Modulation(AM) and

Demodulation. [Double Side Band (DSB) Transmission and

Reception]

Objective: The objective of this experiment is to understand

the various aspects of amplitude modulation and to study the
demodulation of DSB signal at the receiver.

Block Diagram:
Report:

1.Question : What is Amplitude Modulation? What is the purpose of

modulation?

Ans: The word modulation means the systematic alteration of

one waveform, called the carrier, according to the
characteristic of another waveform, the modulating signal or
the message. When the amplitude of high frequency carrier
wave is changed in accordance with the intensity of the signal,
it is called amplitude modulation.
the Purpose of Modulation:
• Increase The Signal Strength
The baseband signals transmitted by the sender are not
capable of direct transmission. The strength of the message
signal should be increased so that it can travel longer
distances. This is where modulation is essential. The most
vital need of modulation is to enhance the strength of the
signal without affecting the parameters of the carrier signal.
• Wireless Communication System
Modulation has removed the necessity for using wires in the
communication systems. It is because modulation is widely
used in transmitting signals from one location to another with
faster speed. Thus, the modulation technique has helped in
enhancing wireless communication systems.
 Prevention Of Message Signal From Mixing
Modulation and its types prevent the interference of the
message signal from other signals. It is because a person
sending a message signal through the phone cannot tell such
signals apart. As a result, they will interfere with each other.
However, by using carrier signals having a high frequency, the
mixing of the signals can be prevented. Thus, modulation
ensures that the signals received by the receiver are entirely
perfect.

Modulation and its types prevent the interference of the

message signal from other signals. It is because a person
sending a message signal through the phone cannot tell such
signals apart. As a result, they will interfere with each other.
However, by using carrier signals having a high frequency, the
mixing of the signals can be prevented. Thus, modulation
ensures that the signals received by the receiver are entirely
perfect.
• Size Of The Antenna
The signals within 20 Hz to 20 kHz frequency range can travel
only a few distances. To send the message signal, the length
of the antenna should be a quarter wavelength of the used
frequency. Thus, modulation is required to increase the
frequency of the message signal and to enhance its strength
to reach the receiver.
2.Question: What do you mean by DSB AM? Write equations related

to this signal generation.

Ans:DSB-SC is an amplitude modulated wave transmission

scheme in which only sidebands are transmitted and the carrier is
not transmitted as it gets suppressed. The carrier does not contain
any information and its transmission results in loss of power. Thus
only sidebands are transmitted that contains information. This
results in saving of power used in transmission.
Generation of DSB-SC signal:
Let’s have a look at the block diagram of the DSB-SC
system shown below:

The signal is obtained by the multiplication of baseband signal

x(t) with carrier signal cos ωct. By frequency shifting property of
Fourier transform-
3.Question: What is Modulation Index? What type of modulation index

is required for signal detection and why?

Ans: Modulation index is defined as the ratio of the amplitude

of the modulating wave to that of the carrier wave.
It is thus defined as:

where and are the modulation amplitude and carrier amplitude,

respectively.
Amplitude modulation index is required for signal detection.For
any transmitting station using amplitude modulation, it is
necessary to ensure that the signal is not over-modulated. This is
particularly important for AM broadcast stations where there will
be strict limits on the levels of interference that are generated. If
the modulation levels are too high, then the signal may be over-
modulated and interference caused.

4.Question: Draw the block diagram of the Transmitter block and

comment on the purpose of each and every block.

Ans: Transmitter is an extremely important equipment and is

housed in the broad-casting station. Its purpose is to produce
radio waves for transmission into space. the antenna as an output
to be transmitted. The block diagram transmitter is shown in the
following figure.
(i) Microphone: A microphone is a device which converts sound
waves into electrical waves.When the speaker speaks or a
musical instrument is played, the varying air pressure on the
microphone generates an audio electrical signal which
corresponds in frequency to the original signal. The output of
microphone is fed to a multistage audio amplifier for raising the
strength of weak signal.

(ii) Audio amplifier: The audio signal from the microphone is quite
weak and requires amplification. This job is accomplished by
cascaded audio amplifiers. The amplified output from the last
audio amplifier is fed to the modulator for rendering the process of
modulation.
(iii) Oscillator: The function of oscillator is to produce a high
frequency signal, called a carrier wave. Usually, a crystal
oscillator is used for the purpose. The power level of the carrier
wave is raised to a sufficient level by radio frequency amplifier
stages Most of the broadcasting stations have carrier wave power
of several kilowatts. Such high power is necessary for transmitting
the signal to the required distances.

(iv) Modulator: The amplified audio signal and carrier wave are
fed to the modulator. Here, the audio signal is superimposed on
the carrier wave in a suitable manner. The resultant waves are
called modulated waves or radio waves and the process is called
modulation. The process of modulation permits the transmission
of audio signal at the carrier frequency. As the carrier frequency is
very high, therefore, the audio signal can be transmitted to large
distances. The radio waves from the transmitter are fed to the
transmitting antenna or aerial from where these are radiated into
space.

5.Question: Draw the block diagram of the Receiver block and

comment on the purpose of each and every block

Ans: A receiver is a device that selects a signal from among all

the signals received from a communication channel, recovers the
base band signal and delivers it to the user. The block diagram
receiver is shown in the following figure.
Receiving antenna: A receiving antenna functions opposite to a
transmission antenna and receives the amplitude-modulated
wave and converts it into electric current and feeds it to the
amplifier.
Amplifier: An amplifier is a piece of equipment that is used to
amplify the signal received by the antenna. It also amplifies the
low power electric signals that have become low after the IF stage
and the process of demodulation.
IF stage: In the intermediate-frequency amplifier stage the
intermediate frequencies of the amplified signals are filtered and
amplified before feeding it the demodulator, this makes the
process of demodulation easier.
Detector: It is a device or circuit, used to extract the desired signal
from the carrier wave, a process called demodulation

6.Question: What is a Superheterodyne receiver? Explain the operating

principle of this type of receiver?

Ans:The superheterodyne receiver is the most common

configuration for radio communication. In this type of radio receiver,

the selected radio frequency is converted to a fixed lower value,

called intermediate frequency (IF). This is achieved by a special

electronic circuit called mixer circuit. There is a local oscillator in

the radio receiver itself. This oscillator produces high frequency

waves. The selected radio frequency is mixed with the high

frequency wave by the mixer circuit. In this process, beats are

produced and the mixer produces a frequency equal to the

difference between local oscillator and radio wave frequencies.

The basic operating principle of a Superheterodyne receiver can

be explained as follows:

Signal Reception: The incoming RF signal is captured by an

antenna and then amplified by the RF amplifier. This amplification

is done to increase the strength of the incoming signal and reduce

the amount of noise.

Mixing: The RF signal is then mixed with a local oscillator (LO)

signal, which produces a beat frequency equal to the difference

between the RF and LO frequencies, known as the intermediate

frequency (IF). This process is called heterodyning or mixing.

Filtering: The IF signal is then filtered using one or more tuned

circuits to attenuate any out-of-band interference and amplify the

desired signal.

Amplification and Detection: The filtered IF signal is amplified by

one or more stages of IF amplifiers to increase its strength. Finally,

the IF signal is detected, demodulated, and filtered to recover the

original audio, video, or data signal.

7.Question: Why do we need to tune the frequency of the Local

Oscillator at the receiver end?

Ans: In a typical superheterodyne receiver, the Local Oscillator

(LO) and incoming RF signals are combined in a mixer, the output
of which is filtered by a low pass or bandpass filter. The frequency
of the LO needs to be tuned to a specific value based on the
desired frequency band and the frequency of the incoming RF
signal. If the LO frequency is not matched properly with the RF
frequency, it can result in the mixing of multiple signals or
interference. This can cause distortions and degrade the quality of
the received signal. Therefore, it is essential to tune the frequency
of the LO to match the incoming RF frequency to ensure proper
signal reception.

8.Question: What do you mean by Intermediate Frequency (IF)?

Explain the purpose of it during signal detection? Why do we need

multiple IF Amplifiers?

Ans: The intermediate frequency is the difference between

oscillator frequency and radio frequency i.e.
I.F. = Oscillator frequency − Radio frequency
The purpose of IF during signal detection is to improve the
selectivity and sensitivity of radio receivers. The process of
heterodyning or mixing helps to convert the high-frequency RF
signal into a lower frequency signal that can be processed and
filtered with greater accuracy and efficiency. By converting the RF
signal to a lower frequency, electronic components used in the
receiver such as filters, amplifiers, and detectors can be built with
higher precision and accuracy, leading to an overall higher quality
of signal detection. This allows for better control and management
of interfering signals and noise, resulting in a clearer and more
reliable communication and reception of signals.
IF amplifiers can change the frequency levels in circuits that are
too selective, difficult to tune, and unstable. IF amplifier provides
additional amplification, filtering, and noise reduction to the
received signal to make it more reliable and easier to process.
The use of multiple IF amplifiers helps to improve the frequency
selectivity, dynamic range, and sensitivity of the communication
receiver. Moreover, it also helps to reduce the amount of noise
and distortion present in the received signal.

9.Question: Write different types of AM signal detectors? Which one

we have used in our Lab? Explain its operating principle as well as its

advantages and limitations.

Ans: Different Types of AM signal detectors Straight Diode

Detector:

1.Envelope Detector 6. Homodyne Detector

2.Slope Detector 7. Synchronous Detector
3.Peak Detector 8. Synchronous Detector
4.Phase-Locked Loop (PLL) Detector 9. Single Sideband (SSB) Detector
5.Superheterodyne Detector 10. Double-Diode Detector

In our lab we used AM diode detector.

AM diode detector is a simple circuit used to demodulate
amplitude modulated (AM) signals. The circuit consists of a diode,
a resistor, and a capacitor. The modulated wave of desired
frequency is selected by the parallel tuned circuit L1C1 and is
applied to the vacuum diode. During the positive half-cycles of
modulated wave, the diode conducts while during negative half-
cycles, it does not. The result of this rectifying action is that output
of the diode consists of positive half-cycles of modulated wave.
The rectified modulated wave contains radio frequency and the
signal and cannot be fed to the speaker for sound reproduction. If
done so, no sound will be heard due to the inertia of speaker
diaphragm. The r.f. component is filtered by the capacitor C
shunted across the speaker. The value of this capacitor is
sufficiently large to present low reactance to the r.f. component
while presenting a relatively high reactance to the audio signal.
The result is that the r.f. component is bypassed by the capacitor
C and the signal is passed on to the speaker for sound
reproduction.
10.Question: Write MATLAB code regarding Amplitude Modulation

& Demodulation process.

Ans:
Discussion:
In this experiment we learn the various aspects of
modulation and demodulation. Double Side Band (DSB)
transmission and reception is one of the simplest forms of
AM. In DSB transmission, both the upper and lower
sidebands are transmitted along with the carrier
frequency. The carrier frequency is not necessary for the
transmission of information, but it helps to improve the
quality of the received signal.
The process of demodulation or recovering the original
audio signal from the modulated signal is an
important part of AM.
The study of Amplitude Modulation (AM) and
Demodulation is important for understanding the basic
principles of communication systems. DSB transmission
and reception is a simple form of AM that is widely used in
communication systems.