UNIT-3

DIGITAL MODULATION-II 7 HRS

Generation, Reception, Signal Space Representation and Probability of Error Calculation

for Quadrature Amplitude Shift Keying (QASK), M-ary FSK (MFSK), Minimum Shift

Keying (MSK), Pulse Shaping to reduce Interchannel and Intersymbol Interference,

some Issues in transmission and reception, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing

(OFDM), Comparison of digital modulation systems.

Course Objective

▶ To familiarize students with various digital modulation techniques used in

digital communication systems.

▶ To equip students the students with tools required for performance analysis of
digital communication systems.
Course Outcome

▶ CO2: Understand and explain various digital modulation

techniques used in digital communication systems and
analyze their performance in presence of AWGN noise.
M-ary FSK
▶ It is an extension of a binary FSK system

▶ Multiple frequency-shift keying (MFSK) is a variation of frequency-shift

keying (FSK) that uses more than two frequencies.

▶ MFSK is a form of M-ary orthogonal modulation, where each symbol consists of one
element from an alphabet of orthogonal waveforms. M, the size of the alphabet, is
usually a power of two so that each symbol represents log2M bits.

▶ M is usually between 2 and 64

▶ Error Correction is generally also used

M-ary FSK
▶ M-ary FSK
▶ Frequencies are chosen in a special way so that they are easily separated at the
demodulator (orthogonality principle).
▶ M-ary FSK transmitted signals:

▶fc = nc / 2Ts for some integer nc

▶ The M transmitted signals are of equal energy and equal duration

▶ The signal frequencies are separated by 1 /2Ts Hz, making the signals
orthogonal to one another

5
MFSK Transmitter
MFSK Receiver
PSD of MFSK

Bandwidth of M ary FSK is

But fs= fb / N & M = 2N so bandwidth become

Signal Space representation of MFSK

Distance between two signal points is

MFSK…
▶ Probability of error of M-ary FSK

The bandwidth efficiency of an M-ary FSK signal ↓ with M↑ & Power

efficiency ↑ with M↑

Since M signals are orthogonal, there is no crowding in the signal space

QPSK WAVEFORM 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 1
Input binary data
Even binary data
odd binary data

Cosine carrier signal

Sinusoidal carrier signal

Odd BPSK

Even BPSK

QPSK signal
Quadrature Amplitude Shift Keying (QASK)/Quadrature Amplitude
Phase Shift Keying (QAPSK)/ Quadrature Amplitude Modulation
(QAM)

▶ It is possible to combine ASK and PSK.

▶ Advantage is to increase the number of symbols available.
▶ It is rare for all three methods to be combined
▶ Noise immunity can be improved
▶ ASK and PSK to be combined to create QASK / Quadrature amplitude
modulation (QAM)
Quadrature Amplitude Modulation(QAM)
▶ A combination of modulation techniques that change two characteristics of a carrier at the
same time

▶ The most sophisticated technology combines ASK and PSK

▶ One of such is known as Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) or Quadrature

Amplitude Phase Shift Keying (QASK) or QAPSK

▶ the approach uses both change in phase and in amplitude

▶ In PSK method , one symbol is distinguished from the other in phase, but all the symbol
transmitted using BPSK ,QPSK or M-ary PSK are of same amplitude.

▶ Noise immunity will improve if the signal vectors differ not only in phase, but also in
amplitude . Such a system is called as amplitude & phase shift keying system
 ▶ QASK Transmitter(QAM)
2Ps cos wot
MSB

In-phase
bk
D/A converter Ae(t)
bk+1
Serial To Parallel
converter Adder VQASK(t)
b(t)
bk+2 Ao(t)
bk+3 D/A
converter

Clock at every Quadrature phase

LSB
Ts
2Ps sin wot
▶ The QASK signal can be mathematically represented as

VQASK (t)  k1au1 (t) k 2 au2 (t)


Where K1 & K2 are equal to ±1 or ±3
▶ As we know
2
0.1Es
u1 (t)  u2 (t)  2 sin w t
Ts o a
▶ Thus, above equation of QASK become
0.2Es 0.2Es
VQASK (t)  k Ts cos  k2 Ts sin wot
1
wot
VQASK (t)  k1 cos wot  k2 sin wot
▶ From the figure QASK output equation is

VQASK (t)  A (t) cos wo t Ao (t) sin wo t

e
Ps  Ps
▶ So by comparing above two equation of QASK we get

Ae (t) and Ao (t)  or  30.2

 0.2
0.2Ps 0.2Ps
VQASK (t)  k1 cos wot  k2 sin wot
8-QAM waveform
 QASK(QAM) Receiver
r(t)  V (t)  A (t) Ps cos wot Ao (t) Ps sin wot
QASK e

C
arrierrec bk
overy TS
A/D converter
Raise input to 4th power  ()dt bk+1
Parallel to Serial converter
o

Band pass filter

Cos 4wot bk+2

A/D
TS
bk+3
Frequency  ()dt converter
o
divider ÷4

Sin wot
b(t) input
Cos wot
 ▶ Output of carrier recovery section is

[VQASK (t)]4  2 [ (t) cos wot Ao (t)sin w t]4

Ps A 
e o

A 4 (t)  A 4 (t)  6 A 2 (t) A 2

(t) A (t)  A 2

[VQASK (t)]4  2 e o e o
[
Ps

▶ The average value of the coefficient of cos4wot is not zero but sin4wot is zero. Thus a
narrow bandwidth filter centered at 4fo will recover a signal at frequency 4fo
▶ o/p multiplier 2 is

• Output of modulator will be connected as input to integrator & dump filter as well
as to the bit synchronizer.
• It is also called dump filter because it contain capacitor ,whose charging &
discharging will control by bit synchronizer .

Output of integrator 1 is

TS TS

Ve (TS ) A0 (TS Ps cos(wo t) t)dt  Ae (TS Ps sin 2

0 t)dt
 ) sin(wo ) (w
 0
 0b
▶ By using some relation in above equation

▶ We can write above equation as

TS sin(2w t) TS T
1
Ve (TS )  A0 (TS o
dt  A (T ) P
Ps 
)
▶ We can write & after solving above equation

Ve (TS )  Ae (TS ) Ps TS

▶ Similarly for second integrator we get the out put is

V0 (TS )  A0 (TS )Ps TS

▶ This output will be applied as a input to A to D converter then it will generate output bk to bk+1

▶ Similarly Second A to D converter will generate output bk+2 to bk+3

▶ Then bk , bk+1 ,bk+2 and bk+3 applied as input to parallel to serial converter & generate the desired
output.
Power spectral density & Bandwidth of QASK(QAM)
2 2
P T  sin( f  f )T  P T  sin( f  f )T 
SB ( f ) s s
 0 s
  s s 0 s


2  ( f  f o )Ts  2  ( f  f o )Ts 
SB(f)

fc-fs fc fc+fs
Band Width = 2fs =2*1/Ts = 2/N*Tb = 2*fb/N
 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM)
The geometrical representation is also called as signal space representation.
Let us assume that using QPSK, we want to transmit a symbol consisting of 4 bits.
Thus N = 4 & M = 2N =16
Each signal having the energy √Es
The possible geometrical representation for
16 QPSK will be d = 2a (a,3a)
(3a,3a)

d  2a  2 0.4Eb
(a,a)
(3a,a)

.
By moving to a higher-order
constellation, it is possible to
transmit more bits per symbol.
However, if the mean energy of
the constellation is to remain the
same (by way of making a fair
comparison), the points must be
closer together and are thus
more susceptible to noise and
other corruption; this results in a
higher bit error rate and so
higher-order QAM can deliver
more data less reliably than
lower-order QAM, for constant
mean constellation energy. Using
higher-order QAM without
increasing the bit error rate
requires a higher signal-to-noise
ratio (SNR) by increasing signal
energy, reducing noise, or both.
The average energy of associated signal in the first quadrant is
Es1  Es 2  Es  E s 4
Es 
3
So from
fig 4

Thus
a
2
2
a 
2 9a
2
a 2
a 
2 9a 
2 9a  9a 2

Es 
4
E s  10a 2

a  0.1Es
The distance between two signal point d  2a  2 0.1Es
is

Where is the Es is the normalized symbol energy.

For four bit , the symbol energy is Es = 4 Eb ,thus the distance between points
d  2a  2 0.4Eb
Probability of Error of M-ary QAM

Or
 0.4Eb 
Pe  2 erfc 
 No 
 
Or
QPSK WAVEFORM 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 1
Input binary data
Even binary data
odd binary data

Cosine carrier signal

Sinusoidal carrier signal

Odd BPSK

Even BPSK

QPSK signal
▶ It is found that binary data consisting of sharp transitions between "one" and "zero"

states and vice versa potentially creates signals that have sidebands extending out a

long way from the carrier, and this creates problems for many radio communications

systems, as any sidebands outside the allowed bandwidth cause interference to

adjacent channels and any radio communications links that may be using them.

▶ MSK, minimum shift keying has the feature that there are no phase discontinuities,

and this significantly reduces the bandwidth needed over other forms of phase and

frequency shift keying.

1 1 & 0 0 (-1 -1) is
having representing FH
-1 1(01) & 1-1(10) is
having is representing
FL
 Minimum Shift Keying(MSK)
▶ The problem can be overcome in part by filtering the signal but is found that the

transitions in the data become progressively less sharp as the level of filtering is

increased and the bandwidth reduced.

▶ To overcome this problem GMSK is often used, and this is based on Minimum Shift

Keying, MSK modulation.

▶ The advantage of which is what is known as a continuous phase scheme. Here there are

no phase discontinuities because the frequency changes occur at the carrier zero

crossing points.
 Minimum Shift Keying(MSK)
▶ When looking at a plot of a signal using MSK modulation, the modulating data signal
changes the frequency of the signal and there are no phase discontinuities.

▶ This arises as a result of the unique factor of MSK that the frequency difference
between the logical one and logical zero states is always equal to half the data
rate.

▶ This can be expressed in terms of the modulation index, and it is always equal to
0.5.
Minimum Shift Key(MSK)

▶ Minimum Shift Key Modulation is another type of digital modulation technique used to
convert a digital signal into analog signals.

▶ It is also called Minimum-shift keying (MSK) or Advance Frequency Shift Keying

because it is a type of continuous-phase frequency-shift keying.

▶ Minimum-shift keying or MSK was first developed by the Collins Radio employees Melvin
L. Doelz and Earl T. Heald in the late 1950s.
 Minimum Shift Keying(MSK)
• It is encoded with bits alternating between quadrature components, with the Q component
delayed by half the symbol period.

• MSK is the most effective digital modulation technique. It can be implemented for almost
every stream of bits much easier than the PSK, FSK and ASK of digital modulation
technique.

• The MSK concept is based on the positioning of bits such as even bits and odd bits for
the given bitstream and the bit positioning frequency generating table.

• MSK is the most widely used digital modulation technology because of its ability and
flexibility to handle "One(1)" and "Zero(0)" transition of binary bits.
Minimum Shift Keying(MSK)

▶ It is Similar to OQPSK, MSK is encoded with bits alternating between quadrature

components, with the Quadrature (Q) component delayed by half the symbol period.

▶ However, instead of square pulses as OQPSK uses, MSK encodes each bit as a half
sinusoid. This results in a constant-modulus signal (constant envelope signal), which
reduces problems caused by non-linear distortion. In addition to being viewed as
related to OQPSK,

▶ MSK can also be viewed as a continuous phase frequency shift keyed (CPFSK)
signal with a frequency separation of one-half the bit rate.
▶ It possesses properties such as:

▶ constant envelope

▶ spectral efficiency

▶ good BER performance

▶ self-synchronizing capability.
 Minimum Shift Keying(MSK) Transmitter
1  t   t 
 1  f c 1  t 
cos 2fct 
2 
  cos 2 fct 
2T b 

2T b  2 cos 2  4T  t 
cos  2f c t  cos  2T  2P b  t cos  cos2f t 
1  1  1  1   b   b s o   c
 cos 2 fc  2T
2
t cos 2 fc  t  b
  2  4 b
4 b T
T
1
fc 
4Tb  2Ps t 
bo
1  t
fc 
cos2f t  cos

c  2T 
 b 
t 
2P b t sin  sin 2f t 
s e   c
1  1 2T
 b
cos 2 fc    2P b t 
2  4Tb  s e

The MSK signal is defined as:

S(t) = α1(t) cos(t/2Tb) cos2fct + α2(t) sin(t/2Tb) sin2fct.
 2P b t cos cos2f t   2P b t sin sin 2f t 
s o 
  c s e 
  c
2T 2T
 b  b
S (t)
 b t   b  t  cos  2f tc  t   b t   b  t  cos  2f tc  t 
2Ps  o e
  2T  2Ps  o e
  2T
2 2
   b     b

 bo t   be t    bo  t   be  t  
S (t)  2Ps cos2f t   cos2f t 
  H 2Ps   L
 2   2 

S (t) 
2Ps CH (t) cos  2f H t  2Ps CL (t) cos  2f Lt 

▶ Using the trigonometric identity, this can be rewritten in a form where the
phase and frequency modulation are more obvious,

▶ where bk(t) is +1 when ɸ1(t)=ɸ2(t) and −1 if they are of opposite signs, and ɸk is 0
if ɸ1(t) is 1, and π otherwise..
▶ Therefore, the signal is modulated in frequency and phase, and the phase changes
continuously and linearly
Working of Minimum-shift keying (MSK)
•In MSK, bits are separated in even and odd
bits and each bit's duration is doubled.

•After that, frequency is separated into two

types of frequencies f1 and f2. Here, f1
determines/denotes the low frequency, and
f2 denotes the high frequency.

•Original or inverted signals are chosen from

the frequency generating table according to
the bit values if they are even or odd.

•The curve for higher frequency takes a

complete wave from 0 to π, and the curve
for low frequency takes a wave 0 to π/2
within the same interval of time.
 MSK Receiver
r(t)   t   t 
b t  cos cos2f t   b t sin sin 2f t 
2Ps o   c 2Ps e   c
2T 2T
 b  b

 2Ps bo  kTb 
 t 
 cos cos2f t 
  c
2T
 b
 2Ps be  kTb 

 t 
 sin sin 2f t 
  c
2T
 b 
Signal space Representation of MSK

▶ As per equation of MSK

▶ Or

▶ or S (t) cos  2f t  b t t  

2Ps  k 
c
k 2Tb 


▶ So multiply and divide above equation by TS , then we get

S (t)  2
C (t) cos  2f H t   PsT L (t) cos  2f L t 
PsT T H T C
s s
s s

2 2
S (t)  E C
s H (t) cos  2f H t   Es CL (t) cos  2f Lt 
  (t)  2 cos2f t 
L L
Ts

CH (t)  0
CL (t)  1

Es d 2Es

 (t)  2 cos2f t 
Es CH (t) 
H Ts H
C
H (t)  1 Es
CL (t)  0 C
Es

CH (t)  0
CL (t)  1
PSD of MSK

    
cos 2( f  f ) cos 2( f  f )
 c   c 
8   f 2   f 2 
SMSK ( f )   4( f b
 f ) 
b
 4( f  f ) 
2 E
 b 
 1   c 
  f c
   1  f  
  b     b  
 Probability of Error of MSK

The MSK modulation makes the phase change linear and limited to ± (/2) over a bit interval

T. This enables MSK to provide a significant improvement over QPSK.

Because of the effect of the linear phase change, the power spectral density has low side lobes

that help to control adjacent-channel interference. However, the main lobe becomes wider than

the quadrature shift keying.

What is OFDM?
▶ OFDM stands for Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing and is a modulation
technique for transmitting large amounts of digital data over a radio wave.

▶ Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is a digital multi-carrier

modulation scheme that extends the concept of single subcarrier modulation
by using multiple subcarriers within the same single channel.

▶ OFDM is a combination of modulation & Multiplexing

▶ It is a special case of Frequency Division Multiplexing. In FDM different streams of

information are mapped onto separate parallel frequency channels. Each FDM
channel is separated from the others by a frequency guard band to reduce
interference between adjacent channels.
What is OFDM?

▶ The OFDM scheme differs from traditional FDM in the following interrelated ways:

▶ 1. Multiple carriers (called subcarriers) carry the information stream,

▶ 2. The subcarriers are orthogonal to each other, and

▶ 3. A guard interval is added to each symbol to minimize the channel delay spread and

intersymbol interference.
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing

▶ OFDM is a broadband multicarrier modulation method that offers superior

performance and benefits over older, more traditional single-carrier modulation
methods because it is a better fit with today’s high-speed data requirements and
operation in the UHF and microwave spectrum.

▶ It has been known since at least the 1960s and 1970s.

▶ Some early development can be traced back in the 1950s. A U.S. patent was
filled and issued in January, 1970
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing

▶ In the 1980s, OFDM has been studied for high-speed modems .

▶ OFDM was extremely difficult to implement with the electronic hardware of the
time. So, it remained a research curiosity until semiconductor and computer
technology made it a practical method.

▶ Used extensively in broadband wired and wireless communication system.

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing

 Effective solution to the inter symbol interference caused by a dispersive

channel.

 Converts a frequency-selective channel into a parallel collection of frequency

flat sub channels.

 The subcarriers have the minimum frequency separation required to maintain

orthogonality.

 The signal spectra corresponding to the different subcarriers overlap in

frequency.
 Hence, the available bandwidth is used very efficiently.
Subcarriers are orthogonal with overlapping spectra

OFDM spectrum
OFDM Advantages

▶ Efficiently Deals With Multi-path Fading

▶ Efficiently Deals With Channel Delay Spread

▶ Enhanced Channel Capacity

▶ Adaptively Modifies Modulation Density

▶ Robustness to Narrowband Interference

▶ Eliminates ISI and IFI through use of a cyclic prefix.

Advantage of OFDM
▶ Makes efficient use of the spectrum by allowing overlap

▶ By dividing the channel into narrowband flat fading sub channels, OFDM is more
resistant to frequency selective fading than single carrier systems are.

▶ Using adequate channel coding and interleaving one can recover symbols lost due to
the frequency selectivity of the channel.

▶ Channel equalization becomes simpler than by using adaptive equalization techniques

with single carrier systems.

▶ It is possible to use maximum likelihood decoding with reasonable complexity, as

discussed in OFDM is computationally efficient by using FFT techniques to implement
the modulation and demodulation functions.
▶ In conjunction with differential modulation there is no need to implement a channel
estimator.

▶ Is less sensitive to sample timing offsets than single carrier systems are.

▶ Provides good protection against co-channel interference and impulsive parasitic

noise.
Drawbacks of OFDM has the following characteristics:
▶ The OFDM signal has a noise like amplitude with a very large dynamic range, therefore
it requires RF power amplifiers with a high peak to average power ratio.

▶ It is more sensitive to carrier frequency offset and drift than single carrier systems are
due to leakage of the DFT.

▶ Complex system

▶ Phase noise sensitivity

▶ Its spectral efficient but not power efficient

OFDM-Application
▶ First, it is used for digital radio broadcasting—specifically Europe’s DAB and Digital Radio
Mondial.
▶ It is used in the U.S.’s HD Radio.

▶ It is used in TV broadcasting like Europe’s DVB-T and DVB-H. You will also find it in
wireless local-area networks (LANs) like Wi-Fi.

▶ The IEEE 802.11a/g/n standards are based on OFDM.

▶ The wideband wireless metro-area network (MAN) technology WiMAX uses OFDM. And,
the almost completed 4G cellular technology standard Long-Term Evolution (LTE) uses
OFDM.
▶ The high-speed short-range technology known as Ultra-Wideband (UWB) uses an OFDM
standard set by the WiMedia Alliance.
BLOCK DIAGRAM OF OFDM
BLOCK DIAGRAM OF OFDM
 Addition of cyclic
prefix
b(t)
▶ Interleaving is a process or methodology to make a system more efficient, fast
and reliable by arranging data in a noncontiguous manner. There are many uses
for interleaving at the system level, including:

1. Storage: As hard disks and other storage devices are used to store user and system

data, there is always a need to arrange the stored data in an appropriate way.

2. Error Correction: Errors in data communication and memory can be

corrected through interleaving

3. Multi-Dimensional Data Structures

BLOCK DIAGRAM OF OFDM
OFDM…

 OFDM is a block modulation scheme where a N block of information symbols is

transmitted in parallel on N subcarriers.

 The time duration of an OFDM symbol is N times larger than that of a single-
carrier system.

 An OFDM modulator can be implemented as an IFFT on a block of information

N symbols followed by an analog-to-digital converter.

 Each block of N IFFT coefficients is typically preceded by a cyclic prefix or a

guard interval consisting of G samples.

 Mitigate the effect of inter -symbol interference caused by channel time spread
Attenuation, Dispersion Effects: ISI

Inter-symbol interference (ISI)

The main causes of ISI
are −
•Multi-path Propagation
•Non-linear frequency in
channels
ISI and Eye Pattern

▶ When data is being transmitted in the form of pulses(bits), the output produced at the
receiver due to other bits or symbols interferes with the output produced by desired bit.
This is called inter-symbol interference (ISI)
▶ ISI is caused when the channel’s bandwidth is relatively narrow as compared to the
signal's bandwidth
▶ ISI is nothing but Spillover from adjacent pulses or bits
▶ Combined effect of noise and ISI may result in errors in regenerated message
▶ Experimental display on CRO- Eye pattern
 Digital baseband signal transmission, ISI arises due to the dispersive nature of a
communication channel.

 ISI is caused by non ideal channels that are not distortion less over the entire signal
bandwidth.

 ISI is not equivalent to channel noise, but it is due to channel distortion.

 ISI occurs due to the imperfection in the overall frequency response of the digital
communication system.
(a) Baseband transmission system (b) signal-plus-noise waveform
(a) Distorted polar binary signal (b) eye pattern
Baseband binary receiver
Regeneration of a unipolar signal (a) signal plus noise (b) S/H output (c)
comparator output
 How to get ‘Eye Pattern’?
▶ Long-persistence oscilloscope with appropriate synchronization and sweep
time is used to get eye pattern on its display
▶ Connections in experimental setup
V plates- received, distorted
signal H plates –Sweep signal
 Eye Diagram Setup
 Eye diagram is a retrace display of data
waveform
– Data waveform is applied to input
channel
– Scope is triggered by data clock
– Horizontal span is set to cover 2-3
symbol intervals

 Measurement of eye opening is

performed to estimate BER
– BER is reduced because of
additive interference and noise
– Sampling also impacted by jitter
Eye Diagram on CRO/DSO
For analysis of channel’s characteristics
Interpretation of Eye Diagram
Recall: Eye (Analysis Parameters from Eye Diagram)
pattern
▶ Eye pattern: Display on an oscilloscope which sweeps the system response to
a baseband signal at the rate 1/T (T symbol duration)

Distortion
due to ISI
amplitude scale

Noise margin

Sensitivity to
timing error

Timing jitter
 Vertical and Horizontal Eye Openings
 The vertical eye opening or noise margin is related to the
SNR, and thus the BER
– A large eye opening corresponds to a low BER

 The horizontal eye opening relates the jitter and the

sensitivity of the sampling instant to jitter
– The red brace indicates the range of sample instants
with good eye opening

– At other sample instants, the eye opening is greatly

reduced, as governed by the indicated slope
 Eye Diagram
 Eye diagram is a means of evaluating the quality of a received “digital waveform”
– By quality is meant the ability to correctly recover symbols and timing

– The received signal could be examined at the input to a digital receiver or at some
stage within the receiver before the decision stage

 Eye diagrams reveal the impact of ISI and noise

Two major issues are 1) sample value variation, and 2) jitter and sensitivity

of sampling instant

 Eye diagram reveals issues of both

 Eye diagram can also give an estimate of achievable BER

 Check eye diagrams at the end of class for participation

Features identified from eye pattern
▶ Optimum sampling time-maximum eye opening

▶ Noise Margin

▶ Max ISI- Amplitude error

▶ Zero crossing distortion – Time Jitter

▶ Slope of the eye pattern- sensitivity to timing error

▶ Asymmetric eye-nonlinear transmission distortion

 Equalization

Step 1 – waveform to sample transformation Step 2 – decision making

Detect
Demodulate & Sample

Receiving filter Equalizing filter z(T Threshold comparison

mi
r(t) Frequency ) ˆ
down-conversion

For bandpass signals Compensation for

channel induced ISI

Received waveform Baseband pulse (possibly distored) Sample

Baseband pulse
(test statistic)
Equalizer
▶ Sequence of pulse is attenuated as well as distorted during transmission through a
channel.

▶ The signal attenuation can be compensated by the preamplifier at the front –end of
the digital regenerative repeater or receiver.

▶ The function of reshaping the received dispread pulses in order to minimize ISI is
performed by a device known as equalizer.

▶ Equalization helps the demodulator to recover a baseband pulse with the best
possible signal to noise ratio, free of any inter-symbol interference.

▶ To eliminate the effect of amplitude , frequency & phase distortion causing ISI ,
amplitude, delay & phase equalizer are used.
Equalizer

▶ Equalizer is a specially designed filter which is located between the

demodulator & decision-making device at the receiver.

▶ The transfer function of the equalizer should be the inverse of the transfer
function of the channel so that the effect of the channel characteristics at the
input of the decision-making device at the receiver is completely compensated.

▶ It implies that the equalizer is need to eliminate or minimize ISI with

neighboring pulses at their respective sampling instant only because the receiver
decision is based on samples value.
Equalization: Channel is a LTI Filter

▶ ISI due to filtering effect of the communications channel (e.g. wireless channels)
▶ Channels behave like band-limited filters

Hc ( f )  H

Non-constant amplitude Non-linear phase

Amplitude distortion Phase distortion

 Equalizing filters …
▶ Baseband system model

a1
 a  (t  kT ) Tx filter
k Channel
r(t)
Equalizer Rx. filter z(t zk aˆk 
k ht (t) hc (t) he (t) hr (t) Detector
H Hc ( f ) He ( f ) Hr ( f ) t  kT
Ta a
3
n(
t
Equivalent model
H ( f )  Ht ( f )H c ( f )H r ( f )
a1
Equivalent system
 a  (t  kT ) h(t)
k x(t Equalizer z(t
Detector
aˆk 
k
z(t he (t) zk
Ta a H He ( f )
3
t  kT
nˆ
(t
filtered (colored) noise
nˆ(t)  n(t)  hr (t)
Equalization

▶ In telecommunication, the equalizer is a device that attempts to reverse the distortion

incurred by a signal transmitted through a channel.

▶ In digital communications, its purpose is to reduce intersymbol interference to allow

recovery of the transmit symbols.

▶ Equalization is the process of nullifying the adverse effect of a communication channel

▶ Any real channel needs equalization to approach flat frequency response

Equalization
▶ Equalizers need experimental adjustment in the field because we don’t
know the channel characteristics exactly

▶ The residual ISI can be removed by equalization

▶ It Estimate the amount of ISI at each sampling instance and subtract it

 Equalizer Types

Covered later in slideset

Source: Rappaport book, chap 7

Equalizer types
The following are commonly used in digital communications:

▶ Linear Equalizer: Processes the incoming signal with a linear filter

▶ MMSE equalizer: Designs the filter to minimize E[|e|2], where e is the error
signal, which is the filter output minus the transmitted signal.

▶ Zero Forcing Equalizer: Approximates the inverse of the channel with a linear
filter.

▶ Decision Feedback Equalizer: Augments a linear equalizer by adding a filtered

version of previous symbol estimates to the original filter output.

▶ Blind Equalizer: Estimates the transmitted signal without knowledge of the

channel statistics, using only knowledge of the transmitted signal's statistics.

▶ .
Equalizer types
▶ Adaptive Equalizer: Is typically a linear equalizer or a DFE. It updates the equalizer
parameters (such as the filter coefficients) as it is processes the data. Typically, it uses
the MSE cost function; it assumes that it makes the correct symbol decisions, and uses
its estimate of the symbols to compute e, which is defined above

▶ Viterbi Equalizer: Finds the maximum likelihood (ML) optimal solution to the
equalization problem. Its goal is to minimize the probability of making an error over
the entire sequence.

▶ BCJR Equalizer: Uses the BCJR algorithm (also called the Forward-backward
algorithm) to find the maximum a posteriori (MAP) solution. Its goal is to minimize
the probability that a given bit was incorrectly estimated.

▶ Turbo equalizer: Applies turbo decoding while treating the channel as a convolutional
code.
Linear Equalizer
• A linear equalizer effectively inverts the channel.

n(t)
Equalizer
Channel
1
Hc(f) Heq(f)
Hc(f)

• The linear equalizer is usually implemented as a tapped delay line.

• On a channel with deep spectral nulls, this equalizer enhances the

noise. (note: both signal and noise pass thru eq.)

poor performance on frequency-selective fading channels

Transversal Equalizer

1. It is Linear equalizer.
2. It is most popular from of adjustable
equalizing filter consisting of a delay with
T second taps.
3. Here current & past values of signal are
linearly weighted with equalizer
coefficients or tap weight {Cn} & then
summed to produced output.
Equalization by transversal filtering
▶ Transversal filter:
▶ A weighted tap delayed line that reduces the effect of ISI by proper
adjustment of the filter taps.
N

z(t) 
 c x(t  n
n
n
)
n

x(t)
   
c N c N 1 cN 1 cN

z(t)

Coeff.
Transversal equalizing filter …
▶ Zero-forcing (ZF) equalizer:
▶ The filter taps are adjusted such that the equalizer output is forced to be zero at
N sample points on each side:

Adjust z(k)  1 k0


cn N

▶ Mean Square Error (MSE) equalizer:

▶ The filter taps are adjusted such that the MSE of ISI and noise power at the
equalizer output is minimized. (note: noise is whitened before filter)

Adjust
c n n
N
N

min E (z(kT )  ak )2 
 Decision Feedback Equalizer (DFE)
DFE
n(t)
x(t) Hc(f) Forward ^x(t)
+
Filter
-
Feedback Filter

• The DFE determines the ISI from the previously detected symbols and subtracts it from the incoming
symbols.
• This equalizer does not suffer from noise enhancement because it estimates the channel rather
than inverting it.
 The DFE has better performance than the linear equalizer in a frequency-selective fading
channel.
• The DFE is subject to error propagation if decisions are made incorrectly.

▶ => doesn’t work well / low SNR.

▶ Optimal non-linear: MLSE… (complexity grows exponentially w/ delay spread)
 Decision feedback Equalizer(DFE)

1. Transversal equalizer performs poorly on

channel having spectral null. It mostly
observed in Mobile radio applications
2. DFE is nonlinear equalizer that uses previous
detector decisions to remove ISI.

From fig forward filter & feedback filter can be a

linear filter.
 Preset Equalizer
▶ On channel whose frequency response are
known and time invariant ,the channel
characteristics can be measured & filters tap
weight adjusted accordingly.

▶ If weight remain fixed during transmission of

data such type of equalization called preset
equalization

▶ It consist simple method for setting the tap

weights {Cn} according to some average
knowledge of the channel.

▶ It used for data transmission over voice grade

telephone lines less than 2400bit/sec
Adaptive Equalizer
▶ An adaptive equalizer is an equalizer that automatically adapts to time-varying
properties of the communication channel.

▶ It capable of tracking a slowly time –varying channel response , that’s why it is called
adaptive equalizer.

▶ It can be implemented to perform tap-weight adjustment periodically or continually.

▶ Periodic adjustment are accomplished by periodically transmitting a preamble or

short training sequence of digital data that is known in advance by the receiver.
Adaptive Equalizer
▶ The receiver also uses the preamble to detect start of transmission, to set the automatic
gain control (AGC) level & align internal clocks and local oscillator with the received
signal.

▶ Continual adjustments are accomplished by replacing the known training sequence

with a sequence of data symbols estimated from the equalizer output & treated as
known data.

▶ When performed continually and automatically , it referred as decision directed