EET 207 : SIGNAL A& SYSTEMS

OBJECTIVES
1. To identify the type and waveform of the signals and its characteristics in engineering system. 2. To understand signals and system behavior. 3. To relate and integrate the signals into systems.

INTRODUCTION
In electronics and telecommunications, modulation is the process of varying one or more properties of a high-frequency periodic waveform, called the carrier signal, with a modulating signal which typically contains

information to be transmitted. This is done in a similar fashion to a musician modulating a tone (a periodic waveform) from a musical instrument by varying its volume, timing and pitch. The three key parameters of a periodic waveform are its amplitude (volume), its phase (timing) and

its frequency (pitch). Any of these properties can be modified in accordance with a low frequency signal to obtain the modulated signal. Typically a highfrequency sinusoid waveform is used as carrier signal, but a square wave pulse train may also be used.

In telecommunications, modulation is the process of conveying a message signal, for example a digital bit stream or an analog audio signal,

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inside another signal that can be transmitted. Modulation of a sine waveform is used to physically transform

a baseband message signal into a passband signal, for example lowfrequency audio signal into a radio-frequency signal (RF signal). In radio communications, cable TV systems or the public switched telephone network for instance, electrical signals can only be transferred over a limited passband frequency spectrum, with specific (non-zero) lower and upper cutoff frequencies. Modulating a sine-wave carrier makes it possible to keep the frequency content of the transferred signal as close as possible to the centre frequency (typically the carrier frequency) of the passband.

A device that performs modulation is known as a modulator and a device that performs the inverse operation of modulation is known as demodulator (sometimes detector or demod). A device that can do both operations is a modem (modulatordemodulator).

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Frequency

modulation (FM)

conveys information over

a carrier

wave by varying its instantaneous frequency. This contrasts with amplitude modulation, in which the amplitude of the carrier is varied while its frequency remains constant. In analog applications, the difference between the instantaneous and the base frequency of the carrier is directly proportional to the instantaneous value of the input-signal

amplitude. Digital data can be sent by shifting the carrier's frequency among a range of settings, a technique known as frequency-shift keying. FSK (digital FM) is widely used in data and fax modems. Morse code transmission has been sent this way, and FASK was used in early telephone-line modems. Radio teletype also uses FSK. FM modulation is also used in telemetry, radar, seismic prospecting and newborn EEG seizure monitoring.

Frequency modulation is known as phase modulation when the carrier phase modulation is the time integral of the FM signal. FM is widely used for broadcasting music and speech, two-way radio systems, magnetic taperecording systems and some video-transmission systems. In radio systems, frequency modulation with sufficient bandwidth provides an advantage in cancelling naturally-occurring noise.

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THEORY
FM radio is a popular and well-established technology. Broadcasting FM stations provide almost in anywhere worldwide coverage, while short-range license-free FM transmitters are available at low cost from conventional supermarkets. FM receivers, already embedded in many mobile devices, have low power consumption and do not interfere with sensitive equipment or other wireless technologies. The described features make FM radio an interesting option for a positioning system.

However, there are very few publications which have investigated the suitability of FM radio signals for localization. The achieved accuracy discouraged any indoor applications; no works have been published about indoor positioning using FM radio. The outdoor results, however, cannot be directly projected onto indoor scenario, as indoor and outdoor environments are notably different with regard to signal propagation. The main objective was to determine whether FM radio signals are suitable for indoor positioning. The operational frequencies of FM radio are significantly (9 to 50 times) lower than those of other technologies, such as Wi-Fi or GSM, which results in different properties of signal propagation. Thus, the FM positioning performance cannot be simply predicted from other technologies.

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The main contributions of this task are: identification of FM signal features suitable for localization and discovering limitations; demonstration that indoor positioning using FM signals produced by local short-range their

transmitters is feasible and its accuracy is comparable to Wi-Fi positioning; demonstration that indoor localization using signals transmitted by broadcasting FM

stations (without in-building infrastructure) is feasible and outperforms GSM and, for

confidence levels of up to 90%, Wi-Fi based systems; a novel approach for

maintaining the performance of a finger printing based positioning system accuracy degradation; an analysis of how peoples presence affects the FM and Wi-Fi signal strengths. affected by

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FM radio technology

This

section

provides

background

information

about

FM

radio

technology and its specifics. This material is necessary for complete understanding of some aspects of the proposed approach. Despite its considerable age, FM radio is still very popular. It is widely available across the world, and most households have even more than one receiver. Car manufacturers consider FM radio as a de-facto standard feature . Although currently there are global trends of substituting analog broadcasts by digital ones, the European Radio Spectrum Policy Group notes that there is no indication of any progress anywhere to cease analogue radio in the foreseeable future .

FM radio employs the frequency-division multiple access (FDMA) approach which splits the band into a number of separate frequency channels that are used by stations. FM band ranges and channel separation distances vary in different regions. While the FM part of the FM radio originally refers to frequency modulation of the signals, it is now customarily used as a reference to commercial radio broadcasts occupying their dedicated frequency band. In this thesis, FM generally refers to the radio waves of the corresponding frequencies rather than to the modulation type, unless explicitly stated otherwise. The transmitters employed by broadcasting

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FM stations are powerful: a typical radiated power is 50 kW, while for large stations it may reach 250 kW[82]. High transmission powers and elevated antennas result in high availability of FM signals.

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FINDING
Properties of FM radio signals

The major difference of FM radio signals from other technologies, such as Wi-Fi, GSM or DECT, is defined by the significantly (9 to 50 times) lower operational frequencies. The low frequency provides the FM localization a number of advantages described below.

Firstly, FM signals are less affected by weather conditions. The recommendations of the International Telecommunication Union suggest that rain scatter interference is negligible for frequencies below 1 GHz, while fog and clouds can be ignored for up to 10 GHz . Secondly, low frequency radio waves are less sensitive to the terrain conditions. In particular, the specific attenuation in woodland at 100 MHz is typically about 0.04 dB/m, while for GSM frequencies (0.9/1.8 GHz) the attenuation increases to 0.10.3 dB/m, with additional 20% for trees in leaf. The foliage movement due to wind may produce additional attenuation at higher frequencies . FM signals are thus not affected by these minor influences.

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Thirdly, the attenuation of radio waves by building materials increases with frequency and thus FM signals penetrate walls more easily than Wi-Fi or GSM. This ensures high availability of positioning signals in indoor settings.

Finally, the FM wavelength of about 3 m results in different interaction with most indoor objects, as compared to 0.12 m Wi-Fi waves. At low frequencies, when the obstacles are small compared to wavelength, they do not interact significantly with the electromagnetic fields of the wave. However, when the size of an obstacle is comparable to the wavelength, interaction is very strong and produces complex interference patterns. Ultimately, this means that most indoor objects are transparent for long FM radio waves, but do interact with shorter Wi-Fi and GSM signals. Clearly, this makes FM signals less perceptive to small object movements than Wi-Fi or GSM. The described considerations suggest that FM based indoor positioning has a number of theoretical advantages over the current high-frequency systems.

If the baseband data signal (the message) to be transmitted is and the sinusoidal carrier is , where fc is the carrier's

base frequency and Ac is the carrier's amplitude, the modulator combines the carrier with the baseband data signal to get the transmitted signal:

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In this equation, and

is the instantaneous frequency of the oscillator

is the frequency deviation, which represents the maximum shift away

from fc in one direction, assuming xm(t) is limited to the range 1.

Although it may seem that this limits the frequencies in use to fc f, this neglects the distinction between instantaneous frequency and spectral

frequency. The frequency spectrum of an actual FM signal has components extending infinitely, although they become negligible beyond a certain point.

A signal modifies the frequency of a carrier in FM.

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Sinusoidal baseband signal

Simply stated, a baseband modulated signal may be approximated by a sinusoidal continuous wave signal with a frequency fm. The integral of such a signal is:

In above simplifies to:

this

case,

equation

(1)

Where, the amplitude the peak deviation

of the modulating sinusoid is represented by

(see frequency deviation).

The harmonic distribution of a sine wave carrier modulated by such a sinusoidal signal can be represented with Bessel functions; this provides the basis for a mathematical understanding of frequency modulation in the frequency domain.

Modulation index

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As in other modulation indices, this quantity indicates by how much the modulated variable varies around its unmodulated level. It relates to variations in the carrier frequency:

Where, is the highest frequency component present in the modulating

signal xm(t). is the peak frequency-deviation. If , the modulation is called narrowband FM, and its bandwidth is .

approximately If

, the modulation is called wideband FM and its bandwidth is .

approximately

While wideband FM uses more bandwidth, it can improve the signal-tonoise ratio significantly; for example, doubling the value of keeping , while

constant, results in an eight-fold improvement in the signal-to-

noise ratio. With a tone-modulated FM wave, if the modulation frequency is held constant and the modulation index is increased, the (non-negligible) bandwidth of the FM signal increases but the spacing between spectra remains the same. If the frequency deviation is held constant and the

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modulation frequency increased, the spacing between spectra increases. Frequency modulation can be classified as narrowband if the change in the carrier frequency is about the same as the signal frequency, or as wideband if the change in the carrier frequency is much higher (modulation index >1) than the signal frequency.

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DISCUSSION
FM radio uses frequency modulation, of course. The frequency band for FM radio is about 88 to 108 MHz. The information signal is music and voice which falls in the audio spectrum. The full audio spectrum ranges from 20 to 20,000 Hz, but FM radio limits the upper modulating frequency to 15 kHz (cf. AM radio which limits the upper frequency to 5 kHz). Although, some of the signal may be lost above 15 kHz, most people can't hear it anyway, so there is little loss of fidelity. FM radio maybe appropriately referred to as "highfidelity."

If FM transmitters use a maximum modulation index of about 5.0, so the resulting bandwidth is 180 kHz (roughly 0.2 MHz). The FCC assigns stations 0.2 MHz apart to prevent overlapping signals (coincidence? I think not!). If you were to fill up the FM band with stations, you could get 108 - 88 / .2 = 100 stations, about the same number as AM radio (107). This sounds convincing, but is actually more complicated.

FM radio is broadcast in stereo, meaning two channels of information. In practice, they generate three signals prior to applying the modulation:

the L + R (left + right) signal in the range of 50 to 15,000 Hz.

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a 19 kHz pilot carrier. the L-R signal centered on a 38 kHz pilot carrier (which is suppressed) that ranges from 23 to 53 kHz .

So, the information signal actually has a maximum modulating frequency of 53 kHz, requiring a reduction in the modulation index to about 1.0 to keep the total signal bandwidth about 200 kHz.

As the name implies, wideband FM (WFM) requires a wider signal bandwidth than amplitude modulation by an equivalent modulating signal; this also makes the signal more robust against noise and interference. Frequency modulation is also more robust against signal-amplitude-fading phenomena. As a result, FM was chosen as the modulation standard for high frequency, high radio transmission, hence the term "FM radio".

FM receivers employ a special detector for FM signals and exhibit a phenomenon known as the capture effect, in which the tuner "captures" the stronger of two stations on the same frequency while rejecting the other (compare this with a similar situation on an AM receiver, where both stations can be heard simultaneously). However, frequency drift or a lack

of selectivity may cause one station to be overtaken by another on

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an adjacent channel. Frequency drift was a problem in early (or inexpensive) receivers; inadequate selectivity may affect any tuner. An FM signal can also be used to carry a stereo signal; this is done with multiplexing and demultiplexing before and after the FM process. The FM modulation and demodulation process is identical in stereo and monaural processes. A high-efficiency radio-frequency switching amplifier can be used to transmit FM signals (and other constant-amplitude signals). For a given signal strength (measured at the receiver antenna), switching amplifiers use less battery power and typically cost less than a linear amplifier. This gives FM another advantage over other modulation methods requiring linear amplifiers, such as AM and QAM.

FM

is

commonly

used

at VHF radio

frequencies for high-

fidelity broadcasts of music and speech. Normal (analog) TV sound is also broadcast using FM. Narrowband FM is used for voice communications in commercial and amateur radio settings. In broadcast services, where audio fidelity is important, wideband FM is generally used. In two-way radio, narrowband FM (NBFM) is used to conserve bandwidth for land mobile, marine mobile and other radio services.

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CONCLUSION
Frequency Modulation (FM) is an important modulation scheme both because of its widespread commercial use, and because of its simplicity. As we have seen in this document, frequency modulation can be simplified to angle modulation with a simple integrator. As a result, we can generate frequency modulated signals with the National Instruments vector signal generator, because they require nothing more than an I/Q modulator.

Here, we conclude that FM radio performance. Bandwidth As we have already shown, the bandwidth of a FM signal may be predicted using:
BW = 2 (b + 1 ) fm

where b is the modulation index and fm is the maximum modulating frequency used.

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FM radio has a significantly larger bandwidth than AM radio, but the FM radio band is also larger. The combination keeps the number of available channels about the same. The bandwidth of an FM signal has a more

complicated dependency than in the AM case (recall, the bandwidth of AM signals depend only on the maximum modulation frequency). In FM, both the modulation index and the modulating frequency affect the bandwidth. As the information is made stronger, the bandwidth also grows.

Efficiency The efficiency of a signal is the power in the side-bands as a fraction of the total. In FM signals, because of the considerable side-bands produced, the efficiency is generally high. Recall that conventional AM is limited to about 33 % efficiency to prevent distortion in the receiver when the modulation index was greater than 1. FM has no analogous problem.

The side-band structure is fairly complicated, but it is safe to say that the efficiency is generally improved by making the modulation index larger (as it should be). But if you make the modulation index larger, so make the bandwidth larger (unlike AM) which has its disadvantages. As is typical in engineering, a compromise between efficiency and performance is struck.

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The modulation index is normally limited to a value between 1 and 5, depending on the application.

Noise
FM systems are far better at rejecting noise than AM systems. Noise generally is spread uniformly across the spectrum (the so-called white noise, meaning wide spectrum). The amplitude of the noise varies randomly at these frequencies. The change in amplitude can actually modulate the signal and be picked up in the AM system. As a result, AM systems are very sensitive to random noise. An example might be ignition system noise in your car. Special filters need to be installed to keep the interference out of your car radio.

FM systems are inherently immune to random noise. In order for the noise to interfere, it would have to modulate the frequency somehow. But the noise is distributed uniformly in frequency and varies mostly in amplitude. As a result, there is virtually no interference picked up in the FM receiver. FM is sometimes called "static free, " referring to its superior immunity to random noise.

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REFERENCES
A. Bruce Carlson. Communication Systems, 4th edition. McGraw-Hill Science/Engineering/Math. 2001. Gary L. Frost. Early FM Radio: Incremental Technology in Twentieth-Century America. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010. Ken Seymour, AT&T Wireless (Mobility). Frequency Modulation, The Electronics Handbook, pp 1188-1200, 1st Edition, 1996. 2nd Edition, 2005 CRC Press, Inc., http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FM_broadcasting http://www.rfcafe.com/references/electrical/frequency-modulation.htm

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LIST OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction 2. Theory 3. Finding 4. Discussion 5. Conclusion 6. References

1 4 7 12 15 18

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