TEL312 Electronic Communications Fundamentals

Angle Modulation Basic Concepts

Reference: Tomasi, Chapters 7 - 8

TEL312 Electronic Communications Fundamentals

General Angle-Modulated Signal

s (t ) = Vc cos(2f c t + (t ) )

(t ) = Phase Deviation
in radians

If the modulating signal is proportional to the phase deviation, then

we have phase modulation (PM):

(t ) = k p m(t )

where k p is the phase deviation sensitivity

of the modulator, in radians/volt.

If the modulating signal is proportional to the angular frequency

deviation, then we have frequency modulation (FM):

f (t ) =

d (t )
= 2 k f m(t ) = instantaneous frequency
dt

where k f is the frequency deviation sensitivity of the modulator, in Hz/volt.

TEL312 Electronic Communications Fundamentals

Frequency Modulation
Frequency modulation implies that

d
dt

is proportional to the modulating signal.

d = 2 k m(t )
f
dt
Thus, in FM the instantaneous frequency varies linearly with the message signal.

d (t )
f (t ) = f c + 1
2 dt
= f c + 1 (2k f m(t ) )
2
= f c + k f m(t )

k f is the deviation sensitivity of

the FM modulator and has
units of Hz per volt

TEL312 Electronic Communications Fundamentals

The phase deviation (t) of FM signal is given by
t

(t ) = d = 2 k f m( )d =2 k f m( )d
0

dt

Therefore, an FM signal can be expressed as:

s(t ) = Vc cos(2f c t + (t ) )

= Vc cos 2f c t + 2k f m( )d
0

where Ec is the amplitude in volts, f c is the carrier frequency in Hz

k f is the deviation sensitivity of the FM modulator in Hz/volt
m(t) is the message signal in volts

TEL312 Electronic Communications Fundamentals

Frequency deviation
Consider a sinusoidal modulating information signal given by

m(t ) = Am cos(2f mt )
The instantaneous frequency of the resulting FM signal equals

f (t ) = f c + k f m(t ) = f c + k f Am cos(2f mt )
The maximum change in instantaneous frequency f(t) from the carrier frequency fc,
is known as frequency deviation f. In the case of m(t ) = Am cos( 2f m t ) , the
peak frequency deviation is

f = k f Am

The frequency deviation is a useful parameter for determining

the bandwidth of the FM-signals

TEL312 Electronic Communications Fundamentals

Phase deviation of FM signal
In the case where
the message signal
is a sinusoid, the
phase deviation is:

(t ) = 2 k f m( )d = 2 k f Am cos(2f m )d
0

0
t

= 2 k f Am cos(2f m )d = 2 k f Am
0

k f Am
fm

sin (2f mt ) =

sin (2f mt )
2f m

f
sin (2f mt ) = sin (2f mt )
fm

The ratio of the frequency deviation f to the message frequency fm is called the
modulation index of the FM signal. We denote it by:
f = peak frequency deviation in Hz
f m = message frequency in Hz

f
f
m

is unitless. For FM, it represents the depth of modulation achieved for a

given modulating signal frequency.

TEL312 Electronic Communications Fundamentals

TEL312 Electronic Communications Fundamentals

The FM signal is given by

s (t ) = Ac cos(2f c t + (t ) )

In the case where the message signal

is a sinusoid, the phase deviation is:

(t ) = sin (2f mt )

The resulting FM signal is:

s (t ) = Ac cos(2f c t + (t ) )

= Ac cos(2f c t + sin (2f mt ))

Depending on the value of the modulation index , we may distinguish

two cases of frequency modulation:
-Narrow-Band FM
-Wide-Band FM.

TEL312 Electronic Communications Fundamentals

Narrow-band Frequency Modulation

For small values of ,
cos( sin(2 fm t)) ~ 1
sin( sin(2 fm t)) ~ sin(2 fm t)
Thus the expression for FM signal can be expanded as:
x ( t ) = Ac cos( 2 f c t ) Ac sin( 2 f c t ) sin( 2 f m t )
because
cos( A + B ) = cos A cos B sin A sin B
which may be written as follows

x ( t ) = Ac cos( 2 f c t ) + 1 Ac cos[ 2 ( f c + f m ) t ] cos[ 2 ( f c f m ) t ]

2
because

sin A sin B =

1
[cos( A B ) cos( A + B )]
2

TEL312 Electronic Communications Fundamentals

Amplitude spectrum (single-sided plot)

Ac

1
Ac
2

1
Ac
2
f

fc -fm

fc

fc +fm

Bandwidth=2fm

TEL312 Electronic Communications Fundamentals

Wide-band Frequency Modulation

The general expression for FM signal can be analyzed to give the spectral
components of wide-band FM signal.
In order to compute the spectrum of an angle-modulated signal with a
sinusoidal message signal, let

(t) =

f
fm

s in (2 f m t )

The corresponding FM signal

x(t ) = Ac cos(2f ct + sin(2f mt ))

and may alternatively be written as

x(t ) = Ac Re(e

j c t j sin 2f mt
e
)

where Re(x) denotes the real part of x.

The parameter is known as the modulation index and is the maximum value of phase deviation of the FM signal.