Communication Systems Lecture-5:

Pulse Amplitude Modulation

Chadi Abou-Rjeily

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Lebanese American University
chadi.abourjeily@lau.edu.lb

September 13, 2017

Chadi Abou-Rjeily Communication Systems Lecture-5: Pulse Amplitude Modulation

Introduction

Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM): corresponds to the

conversion of an analog signal to a pulse-type signal in which the
amplitude of the pulse denotes the analog information.
There are two classes of PAM signals:
Natural Sampling (or gating):
Easy to generate.
Instantaneous Sampling that produces flat-top pulses:
Useful for analog-to-digital conversion.

Chadi Abou-Rjeily Communication Systems Lecture-5: Pulse Amplitude Modulation

Natural Sampling (1)

If w (t) is an analog signal bandlimited to B Hz, the PAM signal

that uses natural sampling is:

ws (t) = w (t)s(t)
+∞  
X t − kTs
, w (t) rect
τ
k=−∞

1
where fs = Ts ≥ 2B.
The duty cycle of the rectangular wave switching waveform
s(t) is:
τ
d= <1
Ts

Chadi Abou-Rjeily Communication Systems Lecture-5: Pulse Amplitude Modulation

Natural Sampling (2)

Chadi Abou-Rjeily Communication Systems Lecture-5: Pulse Amplitude Modulation

Natural Sampling (3)
Since ws (t) = w (t)s(t), the Fourier transform of ws (t) can
be calculated from:
Ws (f ) = F[ws (t)] = W (f ) ∗ S(f )

Since s(t) is periodic (with period Ts ), it has the following

Fourier series representation:
X
s(t) = cn e j2πnfs t
n∈Z
The Fourier coefficients can be calculated from:
Z Ts /2
1
cn = s(t)e −j2πnfs t dt
Ts −Ts /2
Z τ /2
1 1 h iτ /2
= e −j2πnfs t dt = e −j2πnfs t
Ts −τ /2 −j2πnfs Ts −τ /2
1 h i
= e jπnfs τ − e −jπnfs τ
j2πn
Chadi Abou-Rjeily Communication Systems Lecture-5: Pulse Amplitude Modulation
Natural Sampling (4)

Since fs τ = τ /Ts = d, then:

1 h jπnd i d h jπnd i
cn = e − e −jπnd = e − e −jπnd
j2πn j2πnd
d
= sin (πnd) = dsinc (nd)
πnd
Finally: X
s(t) = dsinc (nd) e j2πnfs t
n∈Z

This implies that the Fourier transform of s(t) is given by:

X
S(f ) = d sinc (nd) δ(f − nfs )
n∈Z

Chadi Abou-Rjeily Communication Systems Lecture-5: Pulse Amplitude Modulation

Natural Sampling (5)

Finding S(f ), second method:

It was possible to evaluate S(f ) as follows:
 
t  1 t
s(t) = rect ∗ comb
τ Ts Ts
⇒ S(f ) = τ sinc(τ f )comb(Ts f )
1 X
= τ sinc(τ f ) δ(f − nfs )
Ts
n∈Z
τ X
= sinc(τ nfs )δ(f − nfs )
Ts
n∈Z
X
=d sinc (nd) δ(f − nfs )
n∈Z

since τ /Ts = τ fs = d.

Chadi Abou-Rjeily Communication Systems Lecture-5: Pulse Amplitude Modulation

Natural Sampling (6)

Consequently:
X
Ws (f ) = W (f ) ∗ d sinc (nd) δ(f − nfs )
n∈Z
X
=d sinc (nd) [W (f ) ∗ δ(f − nfs )]
n∈Z
X
=d sinc (nd) W (f − nfs )
n∈Z

As with impulse sampling, the replicas of W (f ) do not

interfere with each other when fs ≥ 2B (since two consecutive
replicas are separated by fs .)
In this case:
X
|Ws (f )| = d |sinc (nd)| |W (f − nfs )|
n∈Z

Chadi Abou-Rjeily Communication Systems Lecture-5: Pulse Amplitude Modulation

Natural Sampling (7)
The next figure shows |Ws (f )| for fs = 4B and d = 1/3.

Chadi Abou-Rjeily Communication Systems Lecture-5: Pulse Amplitude Modulation

Natural Sampling (8)

Note that sinc (nd) = 0 when n is an integer multiple of

1/d.This implies that there are no replicas of W (f ) around
frequencies that are multiples of fs /d.
From the last figure, the first zero is at 3fs implying that the
null-to-null bandwidth of the PAM signal (with natural
sampling) is 3fs = 12B which is 12 times the bandwidth of
the original analog signal (in this example).
In the general case, the null-to-null bandwidth of a PAM
signal is fs /d (note that d < 1).

Chadi Abou-Rjeily Communication Systems Lecture-5: Pulse Amplitude Modulation

Natural Sampling (9)

The PAM waveform with natural sampling is relatively easy to

generate since it only requires the use of an analog switch.

Chadi Abou-Rjeily Communication Systems Lecture-5: Pulse Amplitude Modulation

Natural Sampling (10)

From the spectrum of the PAM signal, it can be directly seen

that the original analog signal w (t) can be recovered from the
PAM signal ws (t) by passing the PAM signal through a
low-pass filter whose cutoff frequency verifies:
B < fc < fs − B

Note that the recovered spectrum would be identical to the

original spectrum except for a gain factor that is equal to d.
This can be simply compensated for by the use of an amplifier
(d < 1).
Chadi Abou-Rjeily Communication Systems Lecture-5: Pulse Amplitude Modulation
Natural Sampling (11)
Note that if significant noise is present around f = 0, the
following detector can be used.

This shifts the PAM signal that was centered about nfs to
baseband (f = 0).
The spectrum of the signal at the output of the multiplier is:
1 1
Ws (f − nfs ) + Ws (f + nfs )
2 2
Chadi Abou-Rjeily Communication Systems Lecture-5: Pulse Amplitude Modulation
Natural Sampling (12)

Example: for n = 2:

Chadi Abou-Rjeily Communication Systems Lecture-5: Pulse Amplitude Modulation

Instantaneous Sampling (1)

If w (t) is an analog signal bandlimited to B Hz, the instantaneous

sampled PAM signal is given by:
+∞
X
ws (t) = w (kTs )h (t − kTs )
k=−∞

where h(t) denotes the sampling-pulse shape. For flat-top

sampling: t 
h(t) = rect
τ
where fs ≥ 2B and the duty cycle is d = τ /Ts < 1.
Note that another pulse shapes can be used. When h(t) is a
sinc-type function, the modulation equation becomes identical
to the sampling theorem.

Chadi Abou-Rjeily Communication Systems Lecture-5: Pulse Amplitude Modulation

Instantaneous Sampling (2)

Chadi Abou-Rjeily Communication Systems Lecture-5: Pulse Amplitude Modulation

Instantaneous Sampling (3)
The flat-top PAM modulated signal can be written as:
X
ws (t) = w (kTs ) [h(t) ∗ δ(t − kTs )]
k
X
= h(t) ∗ w (kTs )δ(t − kTs )
k
" #
X
= h(t) ∗ w (t) δ(t − kTs )
k
Consequently: " " ##
X
Ws (f ) = H(f ) W (f ) ∗ F δ(t − kTs )
k
" #
1 X
= H(f ) W (f ) ∗ δ(f − kfs )
Ts
k
1 X
= H(f ) W (f − kfs )
Ts
k
Chadi Abou-Rjeily Communication Systems Lecture-5: Pulse Amplitude Modulation
Instantaneous Sampling (4)
As with impulse sampling and naturally-sampled PAM, the
overlap between the replicas of W (f ) can be avoided when
fs ≥ 2B.
In this case:
1 X
|Ws (f )| = |H(f )| |W (f − kfs )|
Ts
k

When h(t) = rect τt , H(f ) = τ sinc (τ f ) and:

τ X
|Ws (f )| = |sinc (τ f )| |W (f − kfs )|
Ts
k
The zero frequency crossings occur at:
1
f =n ; n∈Z
τ
1
⇒ f = n fs ; n ∈ Z
d
τ
since d = Ts = τ fs .
Chadi Abou-Rjeily Communication Systems Lecture-5: Pulse Amplitude Modulation
Instantaneous Sampling (5)
The next figure shows |Ws (f )| for fs = 4B and d = 1/3.

Chadi Abou-Rjeily Communication Systems Lecture-5: Pulse Amplitude Modulation

Instantaneous Sampling (6)

The analog signal can be recovered from the flat-top PAM

signal by the use of a low-pass filter.
In this case, the restored spectrum Wr (f ) is not identical to
the spectrum of the original signal W (f ) because the high
frequency components are attenuated more than lower
frequency components.

Chadi Abou-Rjeily Communication Systems Lecture-5: Pulse Amplitude Modulation

Instantaneous Sampling (7)
This high-frequency loss can be reduced by:
Decreasing τ : In this case H(f ) = τ sinc (τ f ) becomes flatter
in the signal band −B ≤ f ≤ B.
The disadvantage of this approach is an increase in the
bandwidth.
Equalization: In this case, the loss at high frequencies can be
compensated by using a low-pass adapted filter that
introduces more gain at higher frequencies.
In other words, the transfer function of this equalization filter
1
is Heq (f ) = H(f ) for −B ≤ f ≤ B.

Chadi Abou-Rjeily Communication Systems Lecture-5: Pulse Amplitude Modulation

Disadvantages of PAM

The disadvantages of both naturally-sampled and

instantaneously-sampled PAM are:
The bandwidth required is much larger than that of the
original analog signal.
The noise performance is poor.
This renders PAM not suitable for long-distance transmissions.
In general, PAM is used since it provides a means for converting an
analog signal to a PCM signal as will be seen in the next lecture.

Chadi Abou-Rjeily Communication Systems Lecture-5: Pulse Amplitude Modulation