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Communication Systems
Syllabus: Communication Systems: Introduction, Elements of Communication Systems,
Modulation: Amplitude Modulation, Spectrum Power, AM Detection (Demodulation), Frequency
and Phase Modulation. Amplitude and Frequency Modulation: A comparison. (6 Hours)
Introduction
One of the greatest applications of electrical technology is communication systems.
Communication is the process of transferring information from one point to the other.
Information may be in the form of voice, text, picture or a combination of these.
Modulator Demodulator
Source and Channel and Destination
Transmitter Receiver
Noise
Modulation
Baseband Communication
A signal in its original frequency is called a baseband signal and transfer of these
signals directly over the channel is called baseband communication.
However, the baseband signals are not suitable for transmission, as they get
attenuated and cannot travel longer distances. Hence modulation is used.
Modulation
Modulation is a process in which some characteristic or property of a high frequency
signal called carrier signal is varied in accordance with the instantaneous amplitude of the
message signal. The message signal is called the modulating signal.
The carrier signal is a sinusoidal signal that can be represented as
𝒗𝒄 (𝒕) = 𝑽𝒄 𝐬𝐢𝐧(𝝎𝒄 𝒕 + 𝜽) (1)
where 𝑣𝑐 (𝑡) is instantaneous voltage as a function of time
𝑉𝑐 is peak amplitude
𝜔𝑐 is angular frequency (rad/s), 𝜔𝑐 = 2𝜋𝑓𝑐 where 𝑓𝑐 is carrier frequency in Hz
𝑡 is time in seconds
𝜃 is phase angle in radians
The characteristic of the carrier wave that is modified may be amplitude 𝑉𝑐 , frequency
𝑓𝑐 or phase angle 𝜃. Accordingly, we have three types of modulation:
1. Amplitude Modulation
2. Frequency Modulation
3. Phase Modulation
The modulated signal is not a single frequency signal and it occupies a great
bandwidth. The bandwidth of the modulating signal also depends on the modulating signal
frequency range and the modulating scheme in use. Table 1 gives the commonly used
frequency ranges and their applications.
Table 1 Commonly used frequency ranges and applications
Amplitude Modulation
Amplitude Modulation is a process in which the amplitude of the carrier signal is
varied in accordance with the instantaneous amplitude of the message signal.
Fig. 2 shows a modulating signal, a higher frequency carrier and the amplitude
modulated signal.
The instantaneous value of the message signal (modulating signal) is
𝒗𝒎 (𝒕) = 𝑽𝒎 𝐬𝐢𝐧 𝝎𝒎 𝒕 (2)
where 𝑣𝑚 (𝑡) is instantaneous amplitude of modulating signal
𝑉𝑚 is peak amplitude of modulating signal
𝜔𝑚 is angular frequency (rad/s), 𝜔𝑚 = 2𝜋𝑓𝑚 where 𝑓𝑚 is modulating frequency in Hz
The instantaneous value of the carrier signal is
𝒗𝒄 (𝒕) = 𝑽𝒄 𝐬𝐢𝐧 𝝎𝒄 𝒕 (3)
where 𝑣𝑐 (𝑡) is instantaneous voltage of carrier signal
𝑉𝑐 is peak amplitude of carrier signal
𝜔𝑐 is angular frequency (rad/s), 𝜔𝑐 = 2𝜋𝑓𝑐 where 𝑓𝑐 is carrier frequency in Hz
𝒗𝒎 (𝒕)
𝑉𝑚
𝒗𝒄 (𝒕)
𝑉𝑐
𝒗𝑨𝑴 (𝒕)
𝑉𝑐 + 𝑉𝑚 𝑉𝑚
Modulation Index
Modulation index is defined as the amount by which the carrier amplitude gets
modified by the modulating signal. It is also called modulation factor, modulation coefficient
or the degree of modulation.
For amplitude modulation, the modulation index is given by
𝑽𝒎
𝒎= (8)
𝑽𝒄
Overmodulation
In AM wave, overmodulation takes place when modulation index 𝑚 > 1, i.e. when
𝑉𝑚 > 𝑉𝑐 . In overmodulated AM wave, loss of information takes place and hence it must be
avoided. Fig. 4 shows an overmodulated wave when 𝑚 = 1.25.
Frequency Spectrum
We know that the amplitude modulated signal is
𝒗𝑨𝑴 (𝒕) = (𝑽𝒄 + 𝑽𝒎 𝐬𝐢𝐧 𝝎𝒎 𝒕) 𝐬𝐢𝐧 𝝎𝒄 𝒕
From Eqn. (16) and (17), we can say that the first term represents unmodulated carrier
and two additional terms represent two sidebands. The frequency of lower sideband is
𝑓𝐿𝑆𝐵 = 𝑓𝑐 − 𝑓𝑚 and the frequency of upper sideband is 𝑓𝑈𝑆𝐵 = 𝑓𝑐 + 𝑓𝑚 .
Bandwidth of AM Wave
The bandwidth of an AM wave is given by
𝐵𝑊 = 𝑓𝑈𝑆𝐵 − 𝑓𝐿𝑆𝐵
𝐵𝑊 = (𝑓𝑐 + 𝑓𝑚 ) − (𝑓𝑐 − 𝑓𝑚 )
𝑩𝑾 = 𝟐𝒇𝒎
Spectrum Power
The AM wave has three components: unmodulated carrier, lower sideband and upper
sideband. Therefore, the power of an AM wave is the sum of carrier power 𝑃𝑐 , power in lower
sideband 𝑃𝐿𝑆𝐵 and power in upper sideband 𝑃𝑈𝑆𝐵 .
The total transmitted power is given as
𝑷𝑻𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 = 𝑷𝒄 + 𝑷𝑳𝑺𝑩 + 𝑷𝑼𝑺𝑩 (18)
𝑉
If average carrier voltage is ( 𝑐 ), average carrier power is given by
√2
𝑉 2
( 𝑐)
𝑃𝑐 = √2
𝑅
𝑽𝒄 𝟐
𝑷𝒄 = (19)
𝟐𝑹
𝑚𝑉𝑐
sideband,
𝑚𝑉𝑐 2
( 2 )
√2
𝑃𝐿𝑆𝐵 = 𝑃𝑈𝑆𝐵 =
𝑅
𝒎𝟐 𝑽𝒄 𝟐
𝑷𝑳𝑺𝑩 = 𝑷𝑼𝑺𝑩 = (20)
𝟖𝑹
𝒎𝟐
𝑷𝑳𝑺𝑩 = 𝑷𝑼𝑺𝑩 = 𝑷𝒄 (21)
𝟒
By using Eqn. (19) and (20) in Eqn. (18) , the average total transmitted power is then
given by,
𝑉𝑐 2 𝑚2 𝑉𝑐 2 𝑚2 𝑉𝑐 2
𝑃𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 = + +
2𝑅 8𝑅 8𝑅
𝑉𝑐 2 𝑚2 𝑚2
𝑃𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 = (1 + + )
2𝑅 4 4
𝑉𝑐 2 𝑚2
𝑃𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 = (1 + )
2𝑅 2
𝒎𝟐
∴ 𝑷𝑻𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 = 𝑷𝒄 (𝟏 + ) (22)
𝟐
Transmission Efficiency
The transmission efficiency of AM wave is defined as the ratio of the transmitted
power which contains the information to the total transmitted power. In an AM wave, the
information is contained in the sidebands.
The transmission efficiency is then given by,
𝑷𝑳𝑺𝑩 +𝑷𝑼𝑺𝑩
𝜼= (24)
𝑷𝑻𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍
𝑚2 𝑚2
𝑃𝑐 ( 4 + 4 )
𝜂=
𝑚2
𝑃𝑐 (1 + 2 )
𝑚2 𝑚2
𝜂= 2 = 2
𝑚 2 2 + 𝑚2
1+ 2 2
𝒎𝟐
𝜼= (25)
𝟐+𝒎𝟐
Shrishail Bhat, Dept. of ECE, AITM Bhatkal 9
Communication Systems Basic Electronics
𝑚𝑉𝑐
𝑉𝑚 2
AM Detection (Demodulation)
Detection or demodulation is the process of recovering the original modulating signal
from the received signal at the receiver. The simplest demodulator for AM is the envelope
detector.
Fig. 8 shows a demodulation circuit. It consists of a diode as half wave rectifier and
RC circuit as a low pass filter. The received signal is passed through a diode to cut-off the
lower half and the peaks detected and smoothed out by a parallel RC circuit.
1 𝜔𝑚
𝑇𝑚 is time period of modulating signal, 𝑇𝑚 = 𝑓 =
𝑚 2𝜋
Frequency Modulation
Frequency Modulation is a process in which the frequency of the carrier signal is
varied in accordance with the instantaneous amplitude of the message signal.
Fig. 10 shows a sine wave modulating a higher frequency carrier signal with frequency
modulation.
The frequency modulated signal is represented by
∆𝒇
𝒗(𝒕) = 𝑨 𝒔𝒊𝒏 [𝝎𝒄 𝒕 + 𝒇 𝒔𝒊𝒏 𝝎𝒎 𝒕]
𝒎
𝑉𝑚
𝑉𝑐
𝑉𝑐
Frequency Deviation
The amount of change in carrier frequency produced by the modulating signal is
known as frequency deviation. Maximum frequency deviation occurs at the maximum
amplitude of the modulating signal.
Modulation Index
Modulation index of FM is the ratio of the frequency deviation to the modulating
frequency.
∆𝒇
𝒎𝒇 =
𝒇𝒎
where ∆𝑓 is the frequency deviation
𝑓𝑚 is the modulating frequency
Bandwidth of FM Wave
The bandwidth of an FM signal is given by
𝑩𝑾 = 𝟐[𝒎𝒇 + 𝟏]𝒇𝒎
∆𝑓
𝐵𝑊 = 2 [ + 1] 𝑓𝑚
𝑓𝑚
𝑩𝑾 = 𝟐[∆𝒇 + 𝒇𝒎 ]
Phase Modulation
Phase Modulation is a process in which the phase angle of the carrier signal is varied
in accordance with the instantaneous amplitude of the message signal.
The phase modulated signal is represented by
FM is limited to a small
AM covers more distance than
Area of reception distance; as distance increases,
FM
signal quality becomes poorer
Questions
1. Define communication. (Dec ’17)
2. With a neat block diagram, explain the elements of communication system.
(Dec ’17 – 6M, Jun ’17 – 6M, Dec ’16 – 5M, Jun ’16 – 6M, MQP ’15 – 5M)
3. What are commonly used frequency ranges in communication system? Mention the
application of each range. (Dec ’17 – 4M, Dec ’14 – 5M, MQP ’14 – 4M)
4. What is modulation? Explain the need for modulation. List the different types of
modulation schemes.
(Jun ’17 – 4M, Jun ’16 – 5M, Dec ’15 – 5M, Jun ’15 - 6M, Dec ’14 – 4M)
5. What is amplitude modulation? Explain with neat waveforms and derive the
expression for the AM wave. Also draw the frequency spectrum.
(Dec ’17 – 8M, Jun ’17 – 8M, Dec ’16 – 6M, Jun ’16 – 5M, Dec ’15 – 8M, Jun ’15 – 8M,
Dec ’14, MQP ’15 – 5M, MQP ‘14)
6. Define amplitude modulation. Draw the AM signal and its spectrum. For an
μ2
amplitude modulated wave, prove that total power is given by Pt = Pc [1 + ], where
2
μ is the modulation index. (Dec ’17 – 6M)
7. Define modulation index. Obtain the expression for modulation index of AM wave in
terms of 𝑉𝑚𝑎𝑥 and 𝑉𝑚𝑖𝑛 . (Dec ‘15)
8. Derive an expression for modulation index in AM. (Dec ’16 – 6M)
9. Derive the expression for the total power transmitted in an AM wave.
(Jun ’17, Dec ’14 – 5M, MQP ’14 – 6M)
10. With a neat diagram, explain demodulation (detection) of an AM wave.
(Jun ’17 – 4M, Jun ’16 – 5M)
11. Explain frequency modulation with neat waveforms.
(Jun ’17 – 6M, Dec ’16 – 5M, Dec ’15 – 8M, MQP ’15 – 5M)
12. Mention the advantages of frequency modulation. (Jun ’16 - 5M)
13. Differentiate between amplitude modulation and frequency modulation.
(Dec ’17 – 6M, Jun ’17 – 4M, Dec ’16 – 5M, Dec ’15 – 4M, Jun ’15 – 8M, Dec ’15 – 5M,
MQP ’15 – 6M, MQP ’14 – 4M)
14. A carrier of 10 V peak and frequency 100 kHz is amplitude modulated by a sine wave
of 4 V and frequency 1000 Hz. Determine the modulation index for the modulated
wave and draw the amplitude spectrum. (Dec ’16 – 6M)
15. An audio frequency signal 5 sin 2π(1000)t is used to amplitude modulate a carrier of
100 sin 2π(106 )t. Assume modulation index of 0.4. Find
i) Sideband frequencies
ii) Bandwidth required
iii) Amplitude of each sideband
16 Shrishail Bhat, Dept. of ECE, AITM Bhatkal
Basic Electronics Communication Systems
References
1. D.P. Kothari, I. J. Nagrath, “Basic Electronics”, McGraw Hill Education (India) Private
Limited, 2014.
2. Simon Haykins, “Communication Systems”, 5th Edition, John Willey India Pvt. Ltd.,
2009.
3. Simon Haykins, “An Introduction to Analog and Digital Communication”, John
Wiley India Pvt. Ltd., 2008