COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS

BTB15104
Topic 2
Amplitude Modulation
-DSBSC
- SSB

Communication Technology Section

10/04/23 1
10/04/23 2
Revision: AM (Time Domain)
Vmax  Ec  Em
or
Vmax  Ec (1  m)
Em
m
Ec

Vmin  Ec  Em
or
Vmin  Ec (1  m)

so;
Vmax  Vmin
m
Vmax  Vmin

10/04/23 3
Revision: AM (Frequency domain)

 Lets look back at AM wave:

Amplitude The carrier signal does not have
any useful information

f (kHz)

fLSB fC fUSB
All the information are carried by
the sidebands

10/04/23 4
Revision: AM Voltage & Power

Frequency spectrum in
terms of voltage (V)

Frequency spectrum in terms of power (W)

10/04/23 5
Revision: AM Power Efficiency
 At maximum modulation, the sideband power
is at most 33% of the total transmitted power.
100
Pc
PT)

80 m2 m2
Pc Pc
4 4
Percentage of total power (%

60
Power in carrier (Pc)
40

20
Power in sidebands ( PSB)
0
100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
Percentage modulation (% m)

10/04/23 6
Revision: AM Power Efficiency
• Two-thirds of the power is wasted in the carrier.
• Furthermore, 100% modulation only occurs at peaks in
the modulating signal, thus the average sideband
power is considerably worse than the ideal.
100% modulation only occurs
Speech as a modulating signal at peaks
0.3

0.2

0.1
Voltage (V)

-0.1

-0.2

-0.3

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3

T ime (sec)

10/04/23 7
Why it is still widely used?
 AM is still widely used because it is simple and
effective.
 AM broadcast radio
 CB radio
 TV broadcasting
 Air traffic control radios
 Garage door opens, keyless remotes

Aircraft VHF Communications Transceiver

10/04/23 8
Improving on AM
 Besides the 67% power loss due to the carrier, the
sidebands contain redundant information.
 To maximize the efficiency of AM we need to
 Suppress the carrier
 Eliminate one of the sidebands

Upper and lower

sidebands contain the
same information.

AM modulated speech signal

10/04/23 9
Types of AM

1. Double sideband full carrier (DSBFC)

• Contains USB, LSB and Carrier
• This is the most widely used type of AM modulation. In fact,
all radio channels in the AM band use this type of modulation.

2. Double sideband suppressed carrier (DSBSC)

• Contains only USB & LSB
• A circuit that produces DSBSC is Balanced modulator

3. Single sideband (SSBSC)

• In this modulation, only half of the signal of the DSBSC is
used
• Contains either LSB or USB
• Produce efficient system in term of power consumption and
bandwidth

10/04/23 10
Suppressing the carrier
 Eliminating the carrier results in a double-
sideband suppressed carrier (DSBSC) signal
shown below.
Full carrier AM signal Suppressed carrier AM signal (DSBSC)
2 2

1.5 1.5

1 1

0.5 0.5
Voltage (V)

Voltage (V)
0 0

-0.5 -0.5

-1 -1

-1.5 -1.5

-2 -2
T ime (sec) T ime (sec)

Note the phase transitions

10/04/23 11
Double Sideband Suppressed Carrier

 The previous modulated signal (DSBFC) has two

drawbacks; it waste power and bandwidth.
 Power sent as the carrier contains no information and
each sideband carries the same information independently.
 The double sideband suppressed carrier (DSBSC) is
introduced to eliminate carrier hence improve power
efficiency.
 It is a technique where it is transmitting both the sidebands
without the carrier (the carrier is being suppressed).

10/04/23 12
 Double Sideband Suppressed Carrier

 A suppressed carrier amplitude modulation scheme is

three times more power efficient than traditional
DSBFC.

vm(t) DSBSC Modulator v D SBSC ( t )  E m sin  m t sin  c t

vc(t)
* Remember,
VDSBFC (t) = (Ec + Em sin ωmt) sin ωct

10/04/23 13
DSBSC in Frequency Domain
vDSBSC (t )  Em sin c t sin mt
Em Em
 cos(c  m )t  cos(c  m )t
2 2
Amplitude(V ) Ptotal  PUSB  PLSB
Em Em Em Although, the power is
improved, the bandwidth
2 2 2 remain unchanged, that
is BW = 2B = 2 fmax

m c   m  c c   m
Modulating band LSB USB

10/04/23 14
DSBSC in Frequency Domain
Full carrier AM signal Suppressed carrier AM signal (DSB)
2 2

1.5 1.5

1 1

0.5 0.5

Voltage (V)
Voltage (V)

0 0

-0.5 -0.5

-1 -1

-1.5 -1.5

-2 -2
T ime (sec) T ime (sec)

0.5 Frequency domain 0.5 Frequency domain

0.4 0.4
Voltage (V)

Voltage (V)

0.3 0.3

0.2 0.2

0.1 0.1

0 0
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000
Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz)

10/04/23 15
DSBSC Power
PT  PLSB  PUSB
2 2
VLSB VUSB
 rms
 rms
Em2
R R PT 
2 2 4R
 Em   Em 
    PT  PSB
 2 2  2 2
 
R R Therefore the efficiency, η = 100%
Em2 Em2
 
8R 8R
Em2

4R

10/04/23 16
Advantages and Disadvantages of
DSBSC
 Advantage of DSBSC
• Efficient in terms of Power Usage

• Modulation Efficiency is 100%.

 Disadvantage of DSBSC
 Signal is rarely used because the signal is difficult
to recover at the receiver.
 Product Detector is required for demodulation of
DSB signal which is quite expensive.
 Large bandwidth

10/04/23 17
  Because the LSB and USB contain the same
information there is no reason to transmit both.

 One sideband can be suppressed and the remaining

signal is called single-sideband suppressed carrier
(SSBSC or SSB).

 This not only uses less power but also only half of the
bandwidth.

 There are two possible of SSBSC;

 the lower sideband VLSB = Em sin (c- m)t
 the upper sideband VUSB = Em sin (c+ m)t

10/04/23 18
Single Sideband (SSB)
 As both DSB and standard AM waste a lot of power and occupy
large bandwidth, SSB is adopted.
 SSB is a process of transmitting one of the sidebands of the
standard AM by suppressing the carrier and one of the sidebands
(only transmits upper or lower sideband of AM).
 Reduces bandwidth by factor of 2.

LSB USB
LSB USB
fc fc
Frequency spectrum of a SSB system

Total power in SSB; Ptotal  PUSB  PLSB

10/04/23 19
SSBSC Power
PT  PLSB  PUSB We therefore reduced the
2
VLSB 2
VUSB transmitting power by 50%
 rms
 rms compared to amDSB-SC .
R R
2 2 Assume, R = 1 ohm.
 Em   Em 
   
2 2 2 2
  Therefore;
R R Em2
Em2 Em2 PT 
  8
8R 8R PT  PLSB  PUSB
Therefore the efficiency, η = 100%

10/04/23 20
SSB Advantages
 Bandwidth. The spectrum occupied by an
SSB signal is one-half that of DSB signals.
This allows more channels to occupy the same
spectrum.
 Power. All of the power of the transmitter can
be dedicated to the information bearing part of
the signal.
 For the same power, SSB signal can be reliably
received at greater distances.
 Alternatively, SSB transmitters can be made
smaller and lighter.

10/04/23 21
SSB Advantages
 Noise immunity. Because SSB signals
occupy a narrower bandwidth, the amount of
noise in the signal is reduced.
 Fading (attenuation). SSB signals are less
susceptible to selective fading suffered during
long distance transmissions.

10/04/23 22
SSB Disadvantages
 The main disadvantage of DSB and SSB
signal is that they are harder to demodulate at
the receiver.
 Demodulation relies on the presence of a
carrier.
 A carrier can be regenerated in the receiver
but it is difficult to exactly match the original
phase.

10/04/23 23
SSB Applications

 SSB is used in the systems which require minimum

bandwidth such as telephone multiplex system and
it is not used in broadcasting.
 Point to point communications at frequency below
30 MHz – mobile communications, military,
navigation radio etc where power saving is needed.

10/04/23 24
SUMMARY:
SUMMARY
Pc = Vc2 /R
DSBFC AM

Plsb= (m2 Pc /4) Pusb= (m2 Pc /4) PT = Pc[1 + (m2 /2)]

LSB USB

SSBFC AM Pc = Vc2 /R
PT = Pc + (m2 Pc /4)
Pusb= (m2 Pc /4)
Plsb= 0 USB

SSBSC AM Pc = 0
Pusb= (m2 Pc /4)= PT
Plsb= 0 USB
AM Modulator Circuit
 AM Modulator(i.e.switching modulator) circuit is shown below,
where the switching action is provided by a single diode.
 The inputs are Ec cos(ωct) and Emcos(ωmt) with Ec >>Em, so the
switching action is controlled by the carrier, Ec cos(ωct)
 The diode opens and shorts periodically with cos(ωct) , in effect
multiplying the input signals, Ec cos(ωct) and Emcos(ωmt) by

10/04/23 26
AM Transmitter

Transmitter Requirements:
Generate a signal of correct freq with the right
type of modulation at the right carrier freq.
Provide sufficient power amplification to ensure
that signal level is high enough to be carried
over a long distance.

10/04/23 27
AM Transmitter

10/04/23 28
Antenna
 Antenna converts a current or a voltage signal
to an electromagnetic signal which is radiated
throughout space.
 A transmitter needs an antenna to send its
radio signal, and a receiver needs an antenna
to pick up that radio signal.

10/04/23 29