Chapter Two

Amplitude Modulation

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 Introduction
What is Modulation?
Modulation is changing one or more of the characteristics
of a signal (known as the carrier signal) based on the value
of another signal (known as the information or modulating
signal) to produce a modulated signal.
A carrier is a sinusoidal of high frequency with one of its
parameters (amplitude, phase, or frequency) is varied in
proportion to the message m(t)
Modulation is the process of impressing a low-frequency
information signal (baseband signal )onto a higher
frequency carrier signal for transmission
Modulation is done to bring information signals up to the
Radio Frequency (or higher) signal

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Reasons for modulation:
To reduce the size of the antenna required
To prevent mutual interference between stations
To boost the penetration energy of the signal

Types of analog modulation: AM, FM, and PM

Types of digital modulation: ASK, FSK, PSK, and QAM

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Frequency Translation

Translating the signal from one region in the frequency domain to

another region
Suppose a signal is band limited to the frequency range extending
from f1 to f2
The process of frequency translation is one in which
The original signal is replaced by a new signal whose spectrum range extends from f 1 to f 2.
The new signal bears, in recoverable form, the same information as was
borne by the original signal

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Purpose of Frequency Translation
Frequency Multiplexing
A method of transmitting several different signals over a single channel
The signals will be separately recoverable and distinguishable from each
other
Practicability of Antennas
Antennas operate effectively when their dimensions are of the order of
magnitude of the wavelength of the signal being transmitted
A signal of 1KHz(an audio tone) corresponds to a wavelength of 300,000 m,
an entirely impractical length.

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Narrow Banding
Assume an audio range extends from 50 to 104Hz
The ratio of the highest to the lowest is 200
Suppose we translate the audio signal to 106 + 50 Hz to 106+104 Hz. Now the
ratio is 1.01.
Translation used to change wideband signal to narrowband signal which could
easily processed
Common Processing
Leave the processing apparatus to operate in some fixed frequency range and
translate the frequency range of each signal to be in this fixed frequency.

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Method of Frequency Translation
Let us consider a sinusoidal baseband signal of the form:

Where Am is the constant amplitude and fm = wm /2 is the frequency.

Let us multiply the above signal by an auxiliary sinusoidal signal

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Then vm (t).vc (t) becomes:

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A generalization is shown below:

Consider a signal that may not be represented by the superposition of a number of components
Let m(t) be band limited to the frequency range 0 to fm, Its Fourier Transform is M(f) = F{m(t)}
Since m(t) is a real signal, the transform M(f) is symmetric about f=0.

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The spectral range occupied by the original signal is called baseband frequency range or simply
baseband.
The original signal is referred to as the baseband signal

The operation of multiplying a signal with an auxiliary sinusoidal signal is called mixing or
heterodyning.

The range fc to fc+ fm is called upper sideband signal

The range fc - fm to fc is called lower sideband signal

The auxiliary signal of frequency fc is variously referred to as the local oscillator signal , the mixing
signal, the heterodyning signal or the carrier signal depending on the application

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Amplitude Modulation definition and Analysis
Amplitude modulation is the process of varying the amplitude of a
carrier wave in proportion to the amplitude of a baseband signal. The
frequency of the carrier remains constant.

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From Fig(c), we observe that the resultant waveform is one in which
the carrier is modulated in amplitude
The process of generating such a wave form is called amplitude
modulation and the communication system is called amplitude
modulation system or AM.

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The carrier carries the baseband signal as its envelope
The very great merit of the amplitude modulated signal is the ease
with which the baseband signal can be recovered
The recovery of the baseband signal, a process referred to as
demodulation or detection, is accomplished by the simple circuit
shown below

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Frequency domain Analysis of AM
Fourier Transform of V(t):
(+()) ()
F{v(t)}=F{Vc[1+m(t)].cos(. )}= F{Vc [ + () ]}


= [ + + +M(f-fc)+M(f+fc)]

Suppose the spectrum of m(t) is:

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Then the Spectrum of DSB AM(just AM) is obtained by plotting the
above expression as:

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AM demodulation
The carrier carriers the baseband signal as its envelope
The very great merit of the amplitude modulated signal is the ease
with which the baseband signal can be recovered
The recovery of the baseband signal, a process referred to as
demodulation or detection, is accomplished by the simple circuit
shown below

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Assume that the diode is ideal
The capacitor voltage have the form shown below

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The capacitor charges to the peak of each carrier cycle and decays
slightly between cycles
vc follows the carrier envelope except that vc also has superimposed
on it a saw tooth waveform of the carrier frequency.(ripple)
In practical the normal situation is one in which the time interval
between carrier cycles is extremely small in comparison with the time
required for the envelope to make a sizable change.

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Maximum Allowable Modulation
If the diode demodulator is to be used, we must limit the modulation of the
carrier
The diode demodulator yields as an output the positive envelope (or a negative
envelope if the diode is reversed)
Assume the modulating signal is sinusoidal
Hence where m is a constant
The ff figure shows the output waveform when m < 1

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Now suppose m > 1, the ff figure shows the situation for the case m >
1.

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Here the diode demodulator will not produce the sinusoidal
modulating waveform
For m > 1 the modulating waveform is recoverable but not with the
diode demodulator.
Recovery would require the use of coherent demodulation such as
with a signal furnished by a multiplier
Hence with sinusoidal modulation, we require that m 1
The extent to which a carrier has been amplitude modulated is
expressed in terms of a percentage of modulation. Defined by:

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The waveform can not be easily recovered in a similar way as shown
below.

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Spectrum of AM signal for sinusoid message
If m(t ) m1 cos1t m 2 cos 2t m3 cos 3t then
The one sided spectrum of m(t ) and the AM signal, Ac[1 m(t )] cosct

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For an arbitrary signal m(t) whose FT is given in below, its amplitude modulated
spectrum would be:

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Disadvantages of AM(DSB-FC)
Unwanted power consumption
Bandwidth consuming

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Modulators and Balanced Modulators

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Under these circumstances only the sideband signals will remain
For these reason, a product signal is very commonly referred to as a
double side band suppressed carrier signal(DSB-SC)

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Disadvantage
Bandwidth consuming

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Single sideband Modulation

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Generation Methods of SSB signal-Phasing Method

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Vestigial Sideband Modulation

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