Elements Of

Telecommunication
CHAPTER 6
AMPLITUDE MODULATION
Aim
To equip participants with the fundamental knowledge of
modulation and its applications in telecommunication
equipment.
Objectives
At the end of the chapter participants should be able to:

• Define modulation
• Give reasons why modulation is necessary in telecommunication.
• Differentiate the different types of modulation
• Calculate modulation index, power,
• Compare and contrast conventional AM, DSB-SC AM and SSB-SC AM
What is modulation?
• Modulation is the variation of the carrier components
(amplitude, frequency, phase, angle etc) in accordance to the
amplitude of the modulation signal.
• Carrier wave, carrier signal, or just carrier, is a waveform
(usually sinusoidal) that is modulated (modified) with an input
signal for the purpose of conveying information. This carrier
wave is usually a much higher frequency than the input signal.
• Modulating signal is the information to be transmitted.
Types of modulation
Common modulation methods include the following:
• Amplitude modulation (AM), in which the height (i.e., the
strength or intensity) of the signal carrier is varied to represent
the data being added to the signal.
• Frequency modulation (FM), in which the frequency of the
carrier waveform is varied to reflect the frequency of the data.
• Phase modulation (PM), in which the frequency of the carrier
waveform is varied to reflect changes in the frequency of the
data (similar but not the same as FM).
• Polarization modulation, in which the angle of rotation of an
optical carrier signal is varied to reflect transmitted data.
• Pulse-code modulation, in which an analog signal is sampled to
derive a data stream that is used to modulate a digital carrier
signal.
Reasons for modulation:
• Long range transmission:
• To transmit audio signal (have a relatively short range of
transmission) over a longer distance it is necessary to modulate
the signal before transmission.
• When the frequency is increased energy is increased thus long
range transmission is possible.
Reasons for modulation:
• Practical antenna size:
• For the wireless communication the size of the receiving and
transmitting antenna depends on the frequency of the signal to
be transmitted then the size of the antenna would be very large.
• Thus by the use of modulation technique the antenna size can be
greatly reduced.
• Example: Frequency of audio signal (f) =1000Hz
• For efficient radiation of signal, the length of the antenna should
be about one quarter f its wavelength.

• i.e. λ/4=75 km (practically impossible)

Reasons for modulation:
• After modulation frequency, modulated wave is 100 MHz

• Thus λ/4=3/4m
Reasons for modulation:
• Reduction of noise and interference:
• The noise effect can not be completely eliminated but with the
help of several modulation schemes, the noise and interference
effect can be minimized.
Reasons for modulation:
• Multiplexing
• Broadcasting of audio baseband signals directly without
modulation would interfere with each other because the spectra
of all signals more or less occupy some bandwidth.
• Multiplexing is the technique in which several message signals
are combined to composite signal for transmission over the
common channel.
• In order to transmit no. of these signals over the same channel,
the signal must be kept apart so they do not interfere with each
other and can be separated easily at the receiver end.
Amplitude modulation
• Is the variation of the carrier amplitude in accordance to the
amplitude of the modulation signal.
• During modulation, the carrier amplitude increases when the
modulating voltage increases and it decreases when the
modulating voltage decreases.
• The outline of the amplitude modulated wave is called the
modulation envelope.
• The modulation envelope has the same waveform as the
modulating signal.
Amplitude modulation
Mathematical Representation
• A radio frequency carrier with frequency fc represented by

• A modulating signal with frequency fm represented by

• An AM carrier wave can now be represented mathematically by

• The maximum amplitude of the modulated wave occurs when , and is .

• The minimum amplitude occurs when , and is .
Modulation Factor
• The modulation factor m of an AM wave is defined as:

• and the minimum amplitude is , hence;

• The maximum value of the modulation factor is limited to 1
since this gives a minimum valve to the envelope of zero.

• If a greater value of modulation factor is used, the envelope

will experience distortion (phase reversal).
Example 1

Draw the waveform of a carrier which has been sinusoidal

amplitude modulated to a depth of 25%. If the amplitude of the
unmodulated carrier wave is 100 V determine the modulating
signal voltage.
The Am Spectrum And
Bandwidth
• Multiplying out equation (3) it follows that

• Using trigonometry identity

• Expression can be written as

The Am Spectrum And
Bandwidth
• AM carrier wave contains three frequency components when
modulated with a single frequency.
• The frequency of the first term is the carrier frequency
• The second term the lower side frequency
• The last term, the Upper side frequency
• The side frequencies are above and below the carrier
frequency by an amount equal to, the modulating frequency.
• The amplitude of the carrier is equal to while the amplitudes
of the side frequencies are equal to.
• For a complex modulating signal like speech, numerous
frequency components are produced above and below the
carrier frequency fc. They are called the lower and upper
sidebands.
Bandwidth
• It will be clear from fig. 2.5 that the bandwidth occupied by a
double sideband AM wave equals:

• Where fh =highest modulating frequency.

Example 2

A 4 MHz carrier wave is amplitude modulated by the band of

audio-frequencies 300-3400Hz (normal telephone channel).
Determine:
• The frequencies contained in the modulated wave
• The bandwidth occupied by the signal.
Power Contained In An Am
Wave
• The power developed by an AM wave is the sum of the
powers developed by the carrier frequency, upper side-
frequency and lower side-frequency components.
• For a r.m.s. carrier voltage VC, the carrier power equals:

• And the power developed by each of the side-frequencies in:

Power in AM Wave
• So that the total power is:
• The carrier power and the power in the sidebands are in the
ratio of 1 : .
• Even in the case m=1 (100 % modulation, maximum possible)
the power in the carrier, that carries no information, is twice
as much as the power in the sidebands, which carry the
information.
• It follows that the efficiency concerning the use of energy of a
conventional double sideband AM system is not very good.
• Moreover, both sidebands contain the same information so
the use of the space in the frequency bands is also poor.
Example 3

A 1 kW carrier is amplitude modulated by a sinusoidal signal to a

depth of 50%. Calculate the power at the lower side frequency
and determine what percentage it is of the total power.
Advantages of Conventional
AM
• Simple demodulator circuits can be used i.e. envelope
detector
Disadvantage of conventional
AM
• The greater part of the transmitted power is associated with
the carrier component and this carries no information.
• The information represented by the modulating signal is
contained in both the upper and the lower sidebands, since
each modulating frequency fm produces corresponding upper
and lower side-frequencies.
Modulator

• The function of an AM modulator is to modulate a carrier

wave, which results in sum and difference frequencies,
together with the carrier.
• This may be achieved with a non-linear electronic device such
as a semiconductor diode or a transistor.
• We assume that the non-linear device has a relationship
between applied voltage and resulting current of the following
form:
AM Circuits
c

• The transistor is biased to operate over the non-linear part of

its mutual characteristics.
• The collector circuit is tuned to the carrier frequency and has a
selectivity characteristic such that the required amplitude
modulated waveform appears across it.
• The various unwanted components are at frequencies well
removed from resonance and do not develop a voltage across
the collector load.
AM Circuits
AM Circuits
Demodulation
• The process of extracting or recovering the information from a
modulated signal is known as demodulation or detection.
• The two main types of linear detectors are the envelope
detector and the synchronous detector.
• The envelope detector because of its simplicity is by far the
most common type used for AM Signals.
• Synchronous detectors may also be used for AM signals, but
this type of detector is far more critical in its operation than
the envelope detector, since it depends upon exact carrier
synchronization for its correct operation.
Envelope Detector
• The shape of the envelope of a conventional AM signal is
similar to the modulating signal.
• A circuit which can follow the envelope waveform is the linear
diode detector.
Envelope detector
• If an unmodulated carrier wave of constant amplitude is
applied to the detector, the positive half-cycle of the wave will
causes the diode to conduct.
• The diode current will charge the capacitor to almost the peak
voltage of the input signal.
• At the end of this half-cycle, the diode ceases to conduct and
the capacitor starts to discharge through the load resistor R at
a rate determined by the time constant, RC seconds, of the
discharge circuit .
• A nearly constant D.C. voltage is developed across the load
resistor R; the fluctuations that exist are small and take place
at the frequency of the input carrier signal.
Envelope detector
• If now the input signal is amplitude modulated, the voltage
across the diode load will vary in sympathy with the wave
envelope, provided the time constant is small enough.
• The capacitor must be able to discharge rapidly enough for the
voltage across It to follow those parts of the modulation cycle
when the modulation envelope is decreasing in amplitude
The voltage developed across the diode load resistor has three
components:
• component at the wanted modulating signal frequency.
• a DC component that is proportional to the peak value of the
unmodulated wave, and
• a component at the carrier frequency.
Detector Filter Circuit
• To eliminate the unwanted components b) and c), the detector
output is fed into a resistance-capacitance filter network before
application to the AF amplifier.

• Capacitor C2 acts as a D.C. blocker to remove the D.C. component.

• Capacitor C3 has a low reactance at the carrier frequency and, in
conjunction with R2, filters out this frequency.
• The voltage appearing across R3 is the required modulating Signal.
Ways For AM Improvement

• To enhance power efficiency

• Reduce/ remove carrier DSB-SC
• Remove one sideband SSB-SC
• To enhance bandwidth efficiency
• Remove one sideband
• Use advanced techniques QAM
Am Systems With Suppressed
Carrier
Alternative AM modulation systems with better efficiency
concerning energy consumption and use of frequency space are:
• Double Side Band Suppressed carrier
• Single Side Band Suppressed carrier
Double Side Band Suppressed
Carrier System (DSB- SC)
• The majority of the power contained in an amplitude-
modulated wave is developed by the carrier component.
• Since this component carries no information, it may be
suppressed during the modulation process.
• All the transmitted power is then associated with the upper
and lower sidebands.
DSB-SC
The envelope of the resultant waveform is not sinusoidal and this is an
indication that a DSB-SC signal cannot be demodulated with the simple
envelope detector which is available of double side-band full carrier
demodulation

There difference is the 180 degrees phase reversal whenever the message
signal crosses zero line
Modulator Circuit of DSB-SC
• Circuits used to generate AM signals with suppressed carrier
are called balanced modulators.
• Single balanced modulators produce a spectrum mainly
consisting of the two sidebands plus the modulating frequency
• Double balanced modulators only produce the two sidebands.
Transistor Balanced Modulator
• Transistors are biased to operate on the non-linear part of their
characteristics.
• Since the input transformer is center-tapped, the modulating signal voltages
applied to transistors T1 and T2 are in anti-phase with one another.
• The carrier voltage is introduced into the circuit between the centre tap on
the input transformer and earth, and so applies in-phase voltages to the two
transistors.
• The collector currents of each transistor contain components at a number of
different frequencies, and flow in opposite directions in the primary winding
of the output transformer TR2.
• The phase relationships of the various components of the collector currents
are such that the current flowing in the secondary winding of TR 2 contains
components at the modulating frequency and at the upper and lower side-
frequencies but not at the carrier frequency.
• In practice the two halves of the circuit do not have identical characteristics
and some carrier leak is always present in the output of the circuit.
Single Balanced Diode
Modulator

• During the half period of the carrier where A is positive with respect to B, the diodes are
forward biased.
• During the other half period of the carrier where A is negative in respect to B, the diodes
are reverse biased.
• When reverse biased the impedance of the diodes is very high and the modulating signal
is isolated from the output
• When the two diodes are forward biased

• When the two diodes are reverse biased

• The output signal contains among others the
• modulating signal and
• the two side frequencies,
• but the carrier is absent
Double Balanced Diode
Modulator
• The circuit, also known as ring modulator
• During the half period of the carrier where terminal A is
positive with respect to B, the diodes D1 and D2 are forward
biased while diodes D3 and D4 are reversed biased.
• The modulating signal is hereby directly connected to the
output.
• During the other half period of the carrier where terminal A is
negative with respect to B. the diodes D1 and D2 are reversed
biased while diodes D3 and D4 are forward biased.
• The modulating signal is now inversely connected to the
output.
• The output contains mainly the pair of side frequencies, but
no carrier or modulating signal is present.
Demodulation of DSB-SC
• For demodulation to be achieved, it is necessary for the carrier
component to be re-inserted at the receiver with both the
correct frequency and phase.
• The first of these requirements can be satisfied if the receiver
circuitry includes an Oscillator of sufficiently high stability,
such as a crystal oscillator.
• The second requirement is more difficult to satisfy.
Single sideband suppressed
carrier
Single Side Band Suppressed
Carrier System (SSB-SC)
• The information represented by the modulating signal is
contained in both the upper and the lower sidebands
• It is therefore unnecessary to transmit both sidebands; either
sideband can be suppressed at the transmitter without any
loss of information.
• When the modulating signal is of sinusoidal waveform, the
transmitted side frequency will be a sine wave of constant
amplitude.
• If applied to an envelope detector, a direct voltage output
would be obtained and not the original modulating signal.
• Demodulation using an envelope detector is not possible.
Modulation
• The first step in generating a SSB signal is to suppress the
carrier, leaving the upper and lower sideband.
• This is DSB-SC
• A balance modulator is used to produce a DSB-SC
• One sideband is needed hence an additional circuit is needed
to eliminate another sideband.
Filtering Method
• One way of producing a SSB-SC signal is to obtain a DSB-SC
signal by means of a balanced modulator and to suppress the
unwanted Sideband by a sideband filter.
• The filter output then contains only one sideband.

• difficulties arise in designing a filter with sharp cut-off on

either side
 Phasing Method

• A second method of producing a SSB-SC signal is by adding two DSB-SC signals

of which their carriers and modulation are 90o out of phase. This is called the
phase shift method.
• It consists of two balanced modulators,
• one of which has its carrier and modulation shifted by 90o relative to the other
• the combined outputs yield the SSB-SC signal.
• If v1 and v2 are the output voltages of the modulators, we
have:

• It follows:

• The advantage of this method is that no sharp filters are

needed.
Demodulation/ Detection
• For demodulation to be achieved, the carrier component must
be re-inserted at the correct frequency.
• Now, however, the phase of the re-inserted carrier does not
matter and the design of, the receiver is considerably eased.
Synchronous Detector
• Used for the demodulation of AM signals with suppressed
carriers
• The action of this detector is somewhat similar to that of a
balanced modulator whereby two signals are multiplied by a
non-linear device to give sum and difference frequencies in
the output.
• Hence, in the synchronous detector the in-coming signal,
which is generally a DSB-SC or SSB-SC signal, is multiplied with
a local carrier signal in a non-linear circuit.
• The output is then passed through an appropriate low-pass
filter to yield the modulating signal.
Demodulation Of DSB-SC
• For the case of an incoming DSB-SC signal we have (see expression (22)),

• It follows that;

• Or

• The output signal vo consists of two components.

• The first term represents the modulating signal while the second term is of a
high frequency nature.
• By means of a low-pass filter the modulating signal is obtained.
Demodulation Of SSB-SC
• For the case of an incoming SSB-SC signal we have (see expression 25):

• For the lower side-frequency only, It follows that:-

• Or

•
• Again the output signal consists of the modulating signal plus a high frequency
component.
• By means of a low-pass filter the modulating signal is obtained.
• However, for synchronous detection to be effective synchronization of the locally
injected carrier must be exact.
• The effect of phase or frequency shift is that distortion or phase delay of the
modulating signal can occur.
Any questions?
Thank you!