Modulation Techniques

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1 MODULATION TECHNIQUES
Introduction
Radio communication has been employed as a replacement for copper based cables in
the long distance media for several years. More recent developments in digital radios and
advances in micro-electronic circuits have given rise to wireless in local loop (WILL)
systems and cellular mobile systems.
Modulators have assumed considerable importance in radio communication systems.
Their performance, to a large extent, determines the quality of recovered speech and
acapacity of the system. In Mobile Communications and for fixed wireless applications,
bandwidth is a limited natural resource. Spectrally efficient modulators can accommodate
more information content in the limited available bandwidth. This article describes the
various parameters and factors governing the choice of a modulator for a mobile or fixed
wireless digital cellular radio system.

Frequency Band
Various Micro and Macro cellular digital radio technologies used for cellular
mobile systems & fixed applications i.e. wireless in local loop (WLL) systems available in
different frequency bands and their important parameters are indicated below:
GSM

Global System for Mobile Communication

DAMPS

Digital Advance Mobile Phone Service

CDMA

Code Division Multiple Access

CT-2

Cordless Telephony 2

DECT

Digital Enhanced Cordless Technology

PHS

Personal Handiphone Service

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SYSTEM

Macro Cellular

Micro Cellular

TECHNOLOGY

GSM

DAMPS

CDMA

CT2

DECT

PHS

FREQUENCY

890-915

824-849

824-849

864-868

1895-1918.

935-960

869-894

869-894

18801900
Mhz

Mhz

Mhz

Mhz

Mhz

Cell Size

Large

Large

Large

Small

Small

Small

Multiple Access

TDMA

TDMA

CDMA

FDMA

TDMA

TDMA

RF Channel

271.8Kb/s

48.6Kb/s

1228
Kb/s

72 Kb/s

1152
Kb/s

384 Kb/s

Bit Rate
Fig : 2.1

(A)

QPSK/
Modulation

GMSK

Mhz

OQPSK
OQPSK

2
LEVEL
FSK

GFSK

OQPSK

Fig : 2.1
a)

Amplitude Shift Keying

(ASK)

b)

Frequency Shift Keying

(FSK)

c)

Phase Shift Keying

(PSK)

Sometimes a combination of above basic methods is used for a typical application.

The signal to be transmitted is a stream of 1s and 0s i.e. ON or OFF in the shape of
pulses. Theoretically an infinite bandwidth is required to transmit such stream of pulses.
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Since any communication system has a limited availability of RF Bandwidth, this band
limiting introduces detection errors at the receiver. That is why the filter bandwidth must be
chosen to optimize trade-off between RF bandwidth and error rates. This constraint forms the
basis of design and selection of bandwidth limited digital modulators & demodulators.
A variety of digital modulation schemes are used in wireless communication systems.
We shall discuss the various modulation schemes used particularly in handheld/ cellular
mobile radio environment.

The Cellular Environment

In a Mobile Network it is a challenge to serve thousands of subscribers with a limited
frequency resource at an affordable cost. In order to overcome this problem Cellular radio
systems operates on principles of frequency reuse where the RF carrier frequencies are
simultaneously reused at geographically separated locations. A typical seven cell pattern is
depicted in fig.2.1. Both cells numbered as 1 use same set of RF channels and hence are
termed as co-channel cells.

Fig : 2.2

Frequency Reuse Pattern N=7

Such systems are thus naturally limited by co-channel interference. Hence cellular
radio systems must use modulators that are both bandwidth efficient and are capable of
tolerating relatively higher levels of co-channel interference.

Requirements of a good modulation scheme

To suit the specific requirements of digital cellular radios the modulators should
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preferably satisfy the following properties.

Compact Power Density Spectrum
To minimize the effect of adjacent channel interference it is necessary that the power
radiated into adjacent channels is about 60 dB below as compared to power transmitted in
desired channel. In other words the modulation technique which offers narrow main beam in
the desired channel and fast diminishing side lobes is desirable.
Good Bit Error Rate Performance
Modulators with a low (good) bit error rate performance (BER) in the presence of a
typical cellular environment characterized by appreciable co-channel interference and
channel impairments are desirable.
A Relatively Constant Envelope
Portable and Mobile handsets generally use more efficient amplifiers to minimize the
battery drain. Such amplifiers are non linear (Class C) amplifiers. Such non linear
amplification shall lead to degraded BER performance of modulation schemes that transmit
the information in the amplitude of the carrier. Hence it is desirable that a relatively constant
envelope signal (wherein the modulated signal stays within a constant envelope of amplitude)
is used alongwith non-linear amplifiers to prevent the regrowth of undesirable spectral
sidelobes during non-linear amplification.

Modulation Methods
Let us now discuss the following modulation methods and their suitability for digital
cellular radio environment.
Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK)
In Amplitude Shift Keying we modulate the baseband signal into changes in
amplitude of the transmitter carrier and the frequency of RF carrier remains the same.
Unfortunately the error performance (BER) of ASK signal is inferior to the other forms of
digital modulation particularly when non-linear amplifiers are used as it is the case with
mobile/ WLL systems. However there is a very important use of amplitude modulation
combined with phase modulation e.g, 16 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) in fixed
point to point radio applications.
Frequency Shift Keying
In Frequency Shift Keying, RF frequency is varied in accordance to the amplitude of
the modulating signal and the RF carrier amplitude remains constant. FSK allots one fixed
frequency tone (say) f1 for 0s and another fixed frequency tone (say) f2 for 1s. in other words
the input data sequence is used to switch back and forth between these two frequencies
according to change from 0 to 1 or 1 to 0. (Ref fig 2.2). In this simplest form as depicted in
fig.2.2 it has two frequencies & is called a two level (binary) FSK i.e. (BFSK).
CT2 technology uses BFSK with 25 Khz deviation from nominal RF Carrier

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Fig : 2.3

Binary Frequency Shift Keying

Minimum Shift Keying (MSK)

Continuous phase modulation is a broad class of frequency modulation technique
where the carrier phase varies in a continuous manner. Such Frequency shifted carriers have a
property that the phase of the carrier traces out a continuous phase trajectory in time
according to the modulation sequence. As the carrier phase is integral of carrier frequency,
the BPSK modulated carriers can be decoded by phase modulation also, using the processing
techniques that attempt to track these phase changes. This phase demodulation provides
decoding advantage over standard frequency detection. That is why FM digital carriers of this
type are generally called as Continuous Phase FSK (CPFSK). MSK is a special form of
binary CPFSK. Two level FSK modulation, where transmission bit rate R is exactly four
times the frequency shift (between 1s and 0s) is called Minimum Shift Keying MSK has
following properties.
a)

For a modulation bit rate of R Higher frequency = f + 0.25R and Lower

frequency = f - 0.25R and hence difference between higher and lower
frequency = 0.5R

b)

The signal has a constant envelope.

MSK is attractive because it has relatively compact spectrum and its out-of-band
performance is better than FSK.
An ETSI standard DECT technology uses Gaussian filtered frequency shift keying
(GFSK) with a nominal deviation of 288 Khz. It has properties of a constant envelope and
relatively narrow bandwidth modulation scheme.
Phase Shift Keying
PSK modulation is widely used in Digital Radio Systems. In PSK the phase of the
carrier is varied in accordance with the baseband signal and the amplitude and frequency of
the carrier remains unchanged. Hence PSK is also a constant envelope modulation method. In
its simplest form of two level PSK, the incoming bit stream is given a phase reversal of 180
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every time a 1 changes to a 0 and vice versa. The special cases of PSK are indicated by the
number of levels of digital signal e.g 2PSK, 4PSK and 8PSK etc.
If we use two signals that have phases 0 & 1800 then the modulation method is
called as binary PSK i.e. BPSK (Ref fig 2.3) if we define four signals each with a phase
differing by 900, then the modulation method is termed as four level (Quadrature) PSK i.e.
QPSK (Ref fig 2.4)
2 Phase System (i.e. only one binary stream)
Phase

Binary

Binary Code of Stream

1800

Signal Space Diagram

180

(1)

(0)

Fig : 2.4

Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK)

Since a bit stream is a series of binary digits it requires

Where phases of 00 & 1800 correspond to the 1s and 0s of the bit stream. If the
incoming bit steam is divided into two parallel streams by a serial to parallel converter then
these two bit steams require 22 = 4 bits as shown in fig 2.4. these two bit streams are known
as in phase (1) and the quadrature (Q) bit streams.
4. Phase System (i.e. two binary streams)
Phase

Quaternary

Binary Code of two streams (I&O)

00

900

1800

2700

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Signal Space Diagram

90 (1,0)

180

(1,1)

(0,0)

270 (0,1)

Fig : 2.5

Quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK)

In BPSK each of the two phases convey an information equivalent to a single bit only
where as in QPSK each of the four phases of carrier represent two bits of data. Thus every
phase shift of the carrier (Symbol), now in QPSK contains double the information as
compared to BPSK. In other words since, symbol rate for QPSK is half the bit rate hence
twice the information can be carried in the same RF channel bandwidth as compared to
BPSK.
Offset Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (OQPSK)
It can be seen that in QPSK, phase transition ranges from 00 to 1800 and occurs at an
interval of twice the bit rate 2T. At the same time if we delay Q stream by half bit
interval with respect to I bit stream, then phase transition range is 0 to 900 only & occurs
twice as often (i.e. at T interval as compared to 2T in earlier case). Hence this offsetting
of one stream w.r.t another stream causes limited phase change leading to reduced envelope
fluctuations of the signal making it less susceptible to amplifier non-linearities and reduced
the required dynamic range of the amplifier. It also provides better interference tolerance
capability. This type of QPSK is known as offset QPSK (OQPSK) Modulation scheme. This
effect could have been achieved by filtering a normal QPSK envelope and forces the
undesirable use of highly linear amplifiers.
North American digital cellular standard IS-54 (DAMPS) uses / 4 shifted
Differential PSK modulation scheme.

Gaussain Minimum Shift Keying (GMSK)

MSK can be derived from OQPSK by replacing the rectangular NRZ pulses in
amplitude with a half cycle sinusoidal pulses. MSK modulation makes the phase changes
linear and limited to /2 over a bit interval T . This enables MSK to provide a
significant improvement over QPSK in respect of adjacent channel interference by having
low side lobes. However the main lobe becomes wider than QPSK. One method to improve
the main lobe as well as side lobes is to preshape the data stream with a filter prior to MSK
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modulation. A Gaussian shaped filter which accepts about one percent inter symbol
interference (ISI) has a considerable better out of band performance. That is why this type of
modulation is termed as Gaussian MSK or GMSK modulation.
The relationship between the pre-modulation filter bandwidth B and the bit period
T defines bandwidth of system. If B > 1/T, then the waveform essentially remains a
MSK. When B<1/T, then an ISI occurs. A narrow filter increases the ISI and reduces the
signal power. However a small amount of ISI can be tolerated (traded) for bandwidth
reduction. In GSM a B.T product of 0.3 is used with a channel data rate of 270.8 Kb/s. In
DECT technology, utilizing GFSK modulation, a B.T product of 0.5 is used with a data
rate of 1152 Kb/s.
The spectral efficiency of OQPSK is about 20% more than GMSK modulation. But
out-of-band performance of MSK is significantly better than OQPSK. This makes MSK
carriers somewhat more favourable than QPSK systems where both out of band spectra
control and constant envelope carriers are desired. In GSM technology GMSK modulation
technique is used. A B.T product of 0.3 is a best compromise between bandwidth
occupancy and interference resistance.

Spectral Efficiency & Carrier Power Requirements

In cellular systems excessive demand for limited available bandwidth forces the
modulator to be efficient in use of this RF bandwidth. For this reason, the modulator chosen
must be spectrally efficient. If a digital link transmits R bits/s utilizing BW Hz of RF
bandwidth then the bandwidth efficiency () is measured by the channel throughput defined
as follows:
= R/BW bits/s/Hz
Theoretically bandwidth efficiency () for different modulation schemes can be
calculated to be as follows:
Two level Modulation system 1 bit/s/Hz
Four level Modulation system = 2 bit/s/Hz
Eight level Modulation system = 3 bit/s/Hz
We can also have 8 level PSK (8-PSK) and 16-PSK. But higher the level of
modulation, more the system is vunerable to equipment impairments and atmospheric
disturbances. This leads to degradation in transmission quality. Obviously that means a
higher level modulation scheme shall then need a better signal i.e. more carrier power (more
Eb/No) for same BER performance, at the demodulator input which is again not a desirable
feature in cellular systems. Infact a four level PSK demodulator needs precisely twice (3dB
more) carrier power as compared to a two level PSK demodulator for the same BER
performance. In other words, the higher the level of modulation employed, less robust the
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system is, and higher received signal level is required to achieve a desired BER performance.
The cellular systems being interference limited, shall be more vunerable to co-channel
interference if carrier power level is boosted to overcome transmission distortions. On the
other hand, as indicated above, a higher level modulation scheme is more spectrally efficient
as compared to low level modulation schemes. Hence a careful trading between carrier power
& spectral efficiency has to be adopted while selecting a modulator for cellular systems.
As a practice today a four level PSK systems seems to be more popular choice for
mobile and portable applications. That allows relatively robust and cheap implementation of
several variants of QPSK (e,g OQPSK and GMSK).

Future Trends
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is a modulation technique that
has been recently suggested for use in cellular radios. In this scheme the incoming serial bit
stream is converted into a number of blocks of bits which are then transmitted in parallel by
using a number of sub-carriers which are orthogonal in nature. With this type of block
transmission the symbol rate of these sub-carrier blocks is much less than the incoming serial
bit stream and the effects of delay spread of the RF channel are very much reduced. This has
practical advantages because it may reduce to a great extent the need for channel
equalization.

Conclusion
A variety of digital modulation schemes are employed in digital cellular radio
systems. The prime requirements of a good modulator can be summarised as constant
envelope modulation, compact power spectrum density and good bit error rate performance
in the presence of co-channel interference and fading conditions. The most popular digital
modulation schemes employed in cellular radio systems are four level phase shift keying
(QPSK) and its variants such as GMSK and / 4 shifted QPSK (OQPSK). The selection
criterion being a low cost solution with careful trading between carrier power & spectral
efficiency while providing a good bit error rate performance in interference limited
environment of a digital cellular digital system.

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