COMPUTER NETWORKS ASSIGNMENT 1

P. Anil Reddy
M.Tech (CS)
200905002

MODULATION TECHNIQUES

Modulation is the process of varying some characteristic of a periodic wave with

an external signal. Typically modulation refers to the altering of a carrier wave in order
to transmit a data signal (text, voice, audio, video, etc.) from one location to another via
a discrete channel.

There are two types of signals they are digital and analog signal. Most electronic
devices are either analog or digital devices. Same type devices communicated by using
same type of signals. If they are different type devices then must to convert from one
type to other signal.

Modulation can be classified into three types amplitude modulation (AM),

frequency modulation (FM), phase modulation (PM).Broadly, modulation is done in two
ways: Digital modulation and Analog modulation.

ANALOG MODULATION

In analog modulation, the modulation is applied continuously in

response to the analog signal. For example a limited radio frequency band or a cable
TV network channels. Any information may be conveyed by an analog signal; often
such a signal is a measured response to changes in physical phenomena, such
as sound, light, temperature, position, or pressure, and is achieved using a transducer.

Theoretically an analog signal has infinite resolution. An analog signal is subject

to noise and a finite slow rate. Therefore analog is subject to limitations in resolution
and bandwidth.

As analog systems become more complex, effects such as non-linearity and

noise ultimately degrade analog resolution to such an extent that the performance of
digital systems may passing it. Similarly, as digital systems become more complex,
errors can occur in the digital data stream. Any information may be conveyed by an
analog signal; often such a signal is a measured response to changes in physical
phenomena, such as sound, light, temperature, position, or pressure, and is achieved
using a transducer.
Analog modulation can be done in three ways:
1) Amplitude Modulation
2) Frequency Modulation
3) Phase Modulation

Amplitude Modulation (AM)

Amplitude modulation (AM) is used in electronic communication, most commonly

for transmitting information via a radio carrier wave. AM works by varying the strength of
the transmitted signal in relation to the information being sent. For example, changes in
the signal strength can be used to reflect the sounds to be reproduced by a speaker, or
to specify the light intensity of television pixels.

In AM transmission carrier signal is modulated so that its amplitude varies with

the changing amplitudes of the modulating signal. The frequency and phase of the
carrier remains the same, only amplitude changes to follow variations in the information.

Frequency Modulation (FM)

In this the frequency of the carrier wave is varied this is contrast with amplitude
modulation, in which the amplitude of the carrier is varied while its frequency remains
constant. The peak amplitude and phase of the carrier signal will remain constant.
Phase Modulation (PM)

PM is used in some systems as an alternative to frequency modulation.

In PM transmission the phase of the carrier is modulated to follow the changing voltage
level of the modulating signal

Digital Modulation
In digital modulation an analog signal is modulated by a digital bit stream.
The changes in the carrier signal are chosen from a finite number of M alternative
symbols. Digital modulation methods can be considered as digital-to-analog conversion,
and the corresponding demodulation or detection as analog-to-digital conversion.
Example: memory of a computer.

Digital modulation is modulated signal is a digital signal, and according to

another definition, the modulation is a form of digital-to-analog conversion. Digital
modulation schemes as a form of digital transmission,synonymous to data transmission.
Very few consider it as analog transmission.

These are the most fundamental digital modulation techniques:

1) Amplitude shift keying.

2) Frequency shift keying.
3) Phase shift Keying.
4) Quadrature amplitude modulation

Amplitude shift keying (ASK)

In this the strength of the carrier signal is varied to represent binary 1 or 0. Both
frequency and phase remain constant while the amplitude changes. The peak amplitude
of the signal during each bit duration is constant and its value depends on the bit (0 or
1). ASK transmission is highly susceptible to noise interference

Frequency Shift Keying (FSK)

In which digital information is transmitted through discrete frequency changes of
a carrier wave. The simplest FSK is binary FSK (BFSK). BFSK literally implies using a
pair of discrete frequencies to transmit binary (0s and 1s) information. In this the "1" is
called the mark frequency and the "0" is called the space frequency.

Phase shift Keying (PSK)

In this a finite number of phases are used. Various kinds of Phase-shift keying
includes binary PSK (M=2), quadrature PSK (M=4), 8PSK (M=8 symbols), Differential
PSK, Differential QPSK, Offset QPSK. In PSK, the phase of the carrier is varied to
represent binary 1 or 0. Both peak amplitude and frequency remain constant as the
phase changes.

Quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM)

It conveys two analog message signals, or two digital bit streams, by changing
the amplitudes of two carrier waves, using the amplitude-shift keying (ASK) digital
modulation scheme or amplitude modulation (AM) analog modulation scheme. QAM
means combining ASK and PSK in such a way that we have maximum contrast
between each bit, dibit, tribit, quadbit and so on. Any measurable number of changes in
amplitude can be combined with any measurable number of changes in phase.

COMPARISONS BETWEEN ANALOG AND DIGITAL SIGNALS

Analog signals are continuous where digital signals are discrete. Since data is
sent using variable currents in an analog system, it is very difficult to remove noise and
wave distortions during the transmission. For this reason, analog signals cannot perform
high-quality data transmission. But in case of digital signals use binary data strings (0
and 1) to reproduce data being transmitted. Noise and distortions have little effect,
making high-quality data transmission possible. INS-Net's high-quality digital data
transmission at high speeds.

Analog systems are less expensive in many cases than digital ones for the
same application, digital systems offer much more efficiency, better performance, and
much greater flexibility.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modulation

http://www.techweb.com/encyclopedia/defineterm.jhtml?term=Modulation

http://www.complextoreal.com/chapters/mod1.pdf