Introduction to Pulse Modulation * * * * * * * * * * *

7.7
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T o combat the effect of aliasing, the following measures are employed.

is used to attenuate
(i) Prior to sampling, a low-pass anti-aliasing filter
those high frequency components of the signal.
at a rate slightly higher than the
(ii) The filtered signal is sampled
Nyquist rate.
. =
2/m sasmples/sec Nyquist rate and this is normally not used
is called
in practice as it is not possible to isolate the original spectrum easily,
because it requires filters with infinite cut-off characteristics.
When the sampling rate used is higher than required Nyquist rate, the

original signal can be recovered from samples using relatively simple,

practical filters.

3 PULSE AMPLITUDE MODULATION (PAM)

7:3.1 Introduction
Definiton:
with the
The amplitude of the pulse carrier changed in proportion is

instantaneous amplitude ofthe modulating signat

Types of PAM:

Depending upon the shape of the PAM pulse .There are two types of PAM
(G) Natural PAM, and
i) Flat top PAM.
The flat top pulses have a constant amplitude within the pulse interval

Why flat top PAM is widely used?

) During the transmission, the noise interferes with the flat top of the
transmitted pulses and this noise can be easily removed.
(i) In natural samples PAM, the pulse has varying top in accordance with the
signal variation. When Such type of pulse is received by the receiver, it
7.8 Principles of**Communication
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always seems to he contaminated by noise. Then, it becomes quite

diflicult to dctemine the shape of the top of the pulse and therefore

amplitude detection of those pulses is not exact. As a result of this, errors

introduced in the received signal

(ii) The electronic circuitry nceded to pecrlorm natural sampling is somewhat

complicated because the pulsc top shape is to be maintained. These

PAM.
complications are reduced by flat-top
7.3.2 Natural PAM

Generation of Natural PAM:

The modulating signal x(t) is passed through a low pass filter which will
band limit this signal to fm. That means all the frequency components

than the frequency fm removed. Band limiting is necessary to

higher are

avoid the "aliasing" effect in the sampling process.

The pulse train generator generates a pulse train of frequency f, such that

f2fm. thus the Nyquist criteria is satisfied..

The uniform sampling takes place at the multiplier block to generate the

PAM signal.
&The information in the modulating signal is contained in the "amplitude
variations" of the pulsed carrier.

Continuous o- Low pass

Multiplier -o PAM signal
filter
modulating
signal x(t)

Is
Pulse train
generator

Figure.7.6. Generation of PAM

Introduction to Pulse Modulation
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7.9
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TT*T**
Modulating signal

time

Pulsed carrier

time
Double polarity PAM signal

time

.
Figure 7.7. Wave forms of Natural PAM generation

Detection ofNatural PAM:

The PAM signal can be detected by passing it through a low pass filter,
which is tuned to fm. So all high frequency ripples is removed and original

modulating signal is recovered back.

PAM Low pass Demodulated

signal flter PAM signal
PAM detector
(a) Detection of Natural PAM
 7.10 Principles of Communication
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PAM signal at the detectorinput

Time

Demodulated output

Time

Figure 7.8. Waveforms of Natural PAM detection

3.3 Flat Top PAM

Generation of flat top PAM:

A sample and hold circuit is used to produce flat top sampled PAM.
The sample and hold circuit consists of the two field effect transistors
(FET) switches and a capacitor,
Flap top PAM signals are generated by applying the input modulating
signal x(t) to charging(sampling) switch.
A t the sampling instant, sampling switch is closed for a short duration by a
short pulse applied to a gate Gi of the transistor.
During this period, the capacitor "C" quickly charged upto a voltage equal
to the instantaneous
sample value of the incoming signal x(t).
Now, the sampling switch is opened and capacitor 'C' holds the charge.
The discharge switch is then closed
by a pulse applied to gate G2. Due to
this, the capacitor "C" is discharged to zero volts.
The discharges switch is then
opened and thus capacitor has no voltage.
 Introduction to Pulse Modulation 7.11

Charging switch

Flat top
x(t) PAM

Discharge
switch

(a) Circuit to generateflat top PAMM

Flat top PAM

Input x()

L
(b) Flat top PAM signal

Figure 7.9. Generation of flat top PAM

Aperture effect:

During flat top sampling, to convert varying amplitudes ofpulses to flat

top pulses we use a sinc function. Because ofthis, there would be decrease in
amplitude. This is named as apertureeffect

&Detection offlat top PAM:

PAM
signal Reconstruction Equalizer message
filter signal x(t)

Figure 7.10. Detection of flat top PAM

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Principles of Communication *********

Detector contains a loW-pass reconstruction filter with cut off frequenc

slightly higher than the maximum frequency present in the message signal

x(t).
T h e equalizer compensates for the aperture effect. It also compensates for

the attenuation by a low-pass filter

7.3:4 Advantages and Disadvantages of PAM

Advantages:
Simple generation and detection.

Disadvantages:
(i) The effect of additive noise is high in PAM. Since the amplitude of the
PAM pulses is varied in accordance with the amplitude of modulating
signal. Therefore the interference of the noise is maximum in a PAM
signal. This noise cannot be removed easily.
i) The transmission bandwidth required is too large.
ii) The transmission power is not constant due to the changes in amplitudes
of PAM pulses.

7.4 PULSE TIME MODULATION

In pulse time modulation, amplitude of pulse is held constant, whereas |

position of pulse or ide of pulse is made proportional to the amplitude
ofsignal at the sampling instant.

There are two

types of pulse time modulation
(i) Pulse width modulation
(ii) Pulse position modulation
.
Introduction to Pulse Modulation
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7.19

3. Noise Interference Maximum Minimum Minimum

Information is Amplitude Position
Width variations
contained in. variations variation
Necessary of
5. synchronization Not necessary Not necessary Necessary
pulses.
Complexity in
0. generation and Complex Simple Simple
detection.
Varies with Varies with
7. Transmitter power Constant.
amplitude of pulses.| variation in width.
8. Similarity with other AM FM PM
modulation system.
9 Types of carrier Train of pulses Train of pulses Train of pulses

10 Output waveform

7.6. Pulse Code Modulatior

7.6.1. Introduction:
T h e simplest form of pulse digital modulation is called pulse code

modulation (PCM)._
I n PCM system, the message signal is first sampled and then amplitude of
each sample is rounded off to the nearest one of a finite set of allowable
values known as quantization levels, so that both time and amplitude are in
the discrete form.
PCM is essentially an analog to digital conversion process, where the
information contained in the instantaneous sample of analog signal are
represented hy digital codesand are transmitted as a serial bit stream.
 7.20 Principles of Communication ***

L7.6.2. PCM SYSTEM

A pulse code modulation system includes the following basic element
oO Transmitter
o Transmissionpath
o Receiver

76.21 PCM Transmitter

The basic operations performed in the transmitter of a PCM system are

sampling, quantizing and encoding.
T h e quantizing and encoding operations are usually performed in the same
circuit which is called an analog-to-digital converter.

Source of PCM signal

Continuous Low-pass Quantizer Encoder applied to
time message filter Sampler
channel input
signal

Figure 7.18. PCM Transmitter

Low pass filter:

The low pass filter are used to prevent aliasing of the message signal by
attenuate the frequencies greater than fm. So that, a proper sampling rate
can be obtained at PCM transmitter.

Sampler:
A train of narrow rectangular pulses are used to sample the message signal.
The obtained sampled signal is approximated by the instantaneous

sampling.
To ensure perfect reconstruction of the message signal at the receiver, the
sampling frequency f, must be greater than twice the highest frequency
Tetroduction to Pulse Modulation
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component of the message signal fm in accordance with the sampling

theorem.

Quantizer:
f,22f
The process of making the signal discrete in amplitude by approximating
the sampled signal to the nearest predefined or representation level is
called quantization.
I n quantization, when step size between any two adjacent levels is same
throughout the signal range is called uniform quantization.
Generally non-uniform quantization is preferred for most of the practical
purposes because it provides the production for low level signals which are
more precious than large amplitude samples.
Encoder:

The function of encoder is to encode the discrete set of samples. The

process of allocating some digital code to each level is called encoding.
The obtained codes are transmitted as a bit steam.
F o r the transmission, gray code is preferred, because it has only 1-bit
change for each step in the quantized level noise component.
due
Generally minimum errors are obtained in the recovered analog signal
to the single error in the received PCM code word.

7.6:22 PCM Transmission Path

The PCM transmission path is referred as "the path between PCM

transmitter and PCM receiver over which the PCM signal travel"

The ability of controlling the effects caused by distortion and noise in the
transmission of PCM wave is the important feature of PCM system. PCM
achieves this capacity with the help of a chain of regenerative repeaters.
7.22 rinciples of Communication.
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PCM +noise
Regenerated 1
Distorted PCM Regenerate Regenerate PCM signal
signal repeater repeater 0
Clean POCM

o m-

PCM+noise

Figure 7.19. Transmission path

Repeaters:
The three basic operations performed by regenerated repeaters are,
)Equalization
(ii) Timing and
(iii) Decision making

Distorted
PCM wave Amplifier Decision- Regenerated
equalizer making PCM wave
device

Timing 0 0
circuit

Figure 7.20. Block diagram of regenerative repeater

The equalizer shapes the received pulses so as to

compensate for the
effects of amplitude and phase distortions produced by non-ideal
transmission characteristics of the channel.
The timing circuitry provides a
periodic pulse train which is derived from
the received pulses, for
sampling the equalized pulses at the instants of
time where the signal-to-noise ratio is a maximum.
The decision device makes a decision about whether the equalized PCM
wave at its input has a 0 value or 1 value at the instant of sampling. Such a
decision is made by comparing equalized PCM with a reference level
called decision threshold.
 Introduction to Pulse Modulation
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A t the output of the decision device, we get a clean PCM signal without

any trace of noise

76.213.PCM Receiver
Distorted Message
PCM Regeneration Decoder ReconstruciOnDestinationsigna
Circuit fiter
signal
Figure 7.21. PCM Reeiver
&The regeneration circuit
of the PCM receiver reshapes the pulse by
removing the noise. Then the noise removed pulses are applied to decoder
A sample and hold circuit in the decoder can be used to convert the

digitized word into its analog value.

Message signal is recovered by passing the decoder output through a low-
pass reconstruction filer whose cutoff frequency is equal to the message
bandwidth fm

Z-7 QUANTIZATION PROCESS

Each sampled value at the input of the quantizer is approximated or
rounded off to the nearest standard
predicted yoltage level. These
standard levels are known as "quantization
levels"
The input signal x(t) is assumed to have a
peak to peak swing of VL to VH
volts. This entire voltage range has been divided
into "Q" equal intervals
each of size "s".
sis called as the step size and its value is
given as,

s V-V
Q (1)
7.424
Principles of Comnmunication
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Amplitude
Quantized Input
signal x) signal x(t)

47

S
. . U5

A4Different
amplitude
S
... 3 3ranges
2

s
.do Time
V -Quantization noise (error)

Figure 7.22. Process of quantization

A t the center of these ranges, the quantization levels Go. 91, . 97are placed.
Thus the number of quantization levels is Q = 8.These are also called as

decision thresholds.
A t the output of quantizer, xa(t) represents the quantized version of x(t).

When x(t) is in the range A,,then corresponding to any value of x(t),the

quantizer output will be equal to "qo".

Quantization error (or) Quantization noise:

The diference berween the instantaneous values of the quantized signal

and input signal is called as Quantization error (or) Quantization noise.

E Xq()-x(1) ..(2)

This be
error should as small as possible. To minimize the quantization
error we need to reduce the step size "s" by increasing the nunmber o
quantization levels Q.
 Introduction to Pulse Modulation
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Signal to quantization noise ratio (SNRq):

This is the figure of merit for
the PCM systems.
Maximum signal to quantization noise ratio for a PCM system with a
sinusoidal input is given by

SNR (1.8+6N) dB ..(3)

Maximum signal to quantization noise ratio for a PCM system with a non
sinusoidal input is given by

SNR=(4.8+6N) dB .. (4)

This equation shows that the signal to quantization noise is solely

dependent on the number of bits per word. i.e., N.
This ratio should be as high as possible, which can be achieved by
increasing N. But this increases the bit rate and bandwidth of the PCM

system.
Therefore the number of bits per word is a compromise between high
SNR and bandwidth requirements.

78ADVANTAGES, DISADVANTAGES AND APPLICATIONS OF PCM

Advantages of PCM:
PCM is a very popular technique because of the many advantages over
other digital techniques. They are
i) PCM systems have very high noise immunity compared to other

digital techniques.
ii) In long distance digital telephone systems, PCM technique uses
repeaters, which regenerates a clean PCM waveform at the output by
removing the distortion and noise.
(ii) Due to the digital nature of PCM signal, it can be easily stored.
iv) Multiplexing of various PCM signals is easily possible.
 7.26
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(v) Relatively inexpensive digital circuitry which can be used

extensively in the system.
(vi) The probability of error for the system output can be reduced even
further.
(vii) It is possible to use various coding techniques, so that only the
desired person can decode the received signal.
Disadvantages of PCM:
(i) Due to encoding, decoding, and circuitry, the PCM systems are complex.
(i) PCM requires large bandwidth because of digital coding of analog pulses.

Applications:
(i) In long distance digital telephone systems.
(ii) In the space communication, space craft transmits signals to earth. Here
the transmitted power is very low (10 to 15W) and the distances are huge
(a few million km).Still due to the high noise immunity, only PCM
systems can be used in such applications.

7.9 POSSIBLE TWO MARKSs

Problem 1
In a binary PCM system, the output signal to quantization noise ratio is to be held to
a minimum of 40 dB. First caleculate the number of binary digits per word, necessary
to meet this requirement and then find the actual value of the output signal t0
quantization noise ratio.

Solution:
Assume the signal to be sinusoidal,

SNR= (1.8 + 6N) dB

The mininmum value of signal to noise ratio is 40 dB
SNR 240dB