Understanding

Amplitude Shift Keying

Minh Nhật
Bảo Ngọc
Việt Hoàng
About Amplitude Shift
Keying (ASK)

 Amplitude-shift keying (ASK) encodes digital

data by varying the Amplitude of a carrier
 ASK modulation can be implemented in two
ways:
 Turning the carrier on and off
 Varying the amplitude of a continuous
carrier
Generic amplitude
shift keying

• ASK normally involves two states

• “Binary amplitude shift keying”
(BASK)
• ‘1’ state is defined as 100% amplitude
• ‘0’ state is defined as a lower amplitude
• The “lower” amplitude may be:
• Zero
• N
• on-zero
On-off keying (OOK)

• In on-off keying, information is

transmitted by turning the carrier on and
off
• Very easy to implement
• Morse code
• Transition between on and off states:
• Can be stressful for amplifiers, etc.
• Can leas to undesired effects (spectral
regrowth, excessive bandwidth)
Example: Near Field
Communications (NFC)

• The Near Field Communication (NFC)

standards specify both variants of ASK
for the uplink:
• NFC Type A uses 100% ASK
• NFC Type B and Type F use 10%
ASK
 • ASK shemes with more than two levels (M-ary ASK) are also
possible
M-ary ASK • Rare in practice
• Noise can more easily create bit errors as number of
amplitude states increase
Summary

• Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK) conveys digital

information using different carrier amplitudes
• Used in many different applications
• Most often ASK has two states:
• High state: 100% carrier amplitude
• Low state: less than 100% amplitude
• On-off keying (OOK): no carrier in low state
• Simple to implement
• Can lead to spectral regrowth and
complicates amplifier design / selection