AMPLITUDE MODULATION

(AM)
 In long range communication, sometime its
difficult to use wires because its need more
space and infrastructure.
 proper utilization of communication channel
require a process known as modulation.
 The low frequency information signal
modulates some characteristic(amplitude,
frequency or phase) of a high frequency
analog carrier signal at transmitter end.
 The process known as continuous wave (CW)
modulation or analog modulation.
 In general modulation is the process of
changing some characteristic of a
signal(carrier signal) in proportion with the
instantaneous value of modulating
signal/information signal/baseband signal.

Notes : * frequency of modulating signal is low

* frequency of carrier is much greater
* output signal of a modulation process
is known as modulated signal.
 Definitions:
◦ The process of changing the amplitude of a relatively
high frequency carrier signal in proportion with the
instantaneous value of modulating signal/
information signal/input signal.
◦ A process of translating information signal from low
band frequency to high band
frequency.

 Information signal cannot travel far. It needs

carrier signal of higher frequency for long
distance destination.
Figure 3-3: Amplitude modulator showing input and output signals.
 Amplitude of the carrier signal varies with
the information signal.

 The modulated signal consist of carrier

signal, upper sideband and lower sideband
signals.

 The modulated AM signal Figure 1 & Figure

2 needs to go through demodulation
process to get back the information signal.
 The time varying shape of the amplitude
modulated waveform is known as AM signal
or AM Envelope.
 The outline of the positive and negative
peaks of the carrier frequency re-create the
exact shape of the modulating signal known
as envelope.
 Note that the repetition rate of the envelope
is equal to the frequency of the modulating
signal.
Figure 2
 An AM modulator is a non-linear device.
 Nonlinear mixing results in a complex
output envelope consists of the carrier
frequency and the sum (fc + fm) and
difference (fc – fm) frequencies (called cross-
products).
 The cross-products are displaced from the
carrier frequency by fm on both sides of it.
 AM modulated wave contains no frequency
component of fm.
Figure 3 : AM Spectrum
 The BW of an AM DSBFC wave is equal to
the difference between the highest upper
side frequency and lowest lower side
frequency:
 BW = [fc + fm(max)] – [fc – fm(max)]
= 2fm(max)
 For efficiency transmission the carrier and
sidebands must be high enough to be
propagated thru earth’s atmosphere.
 Used to describe the amount of amplitude
change (modulation) present in an AM
waveform.
 Percentage modulation (%m) is simply the
modulation index (m) stated as a
percentage.
 More specifically percent modulation gives
the percentage change in the amplitude of
the output wave when the carrier is acted
on by a modulating signal.
 Mathematically, the modulation index is
m = modulation index
E
Em = peak change in the amplitude output
waveform (sum of voltages from upper and m m

lower side frequencies)

Ec = peak amplitude of the unmodulated
E c
carrier
 And the percentage of modulation index is

E
% m  m
x 100 %
E c
Figure 4
 If the modulating signal is a pure, single-
frequency sine wave and the process is
symmetrical then the modulation index can
be derived as follows:
1
E  (V  V )
2
m max min

1
E  (V  V )
2
c max min

Therefore,
1
(Vm ax  Vm in )
2 (Vm ax  Vm in )
m 
1 (Vm ax  Vm in )
(Vm ax  Vm in )
2
 Since the peak change of modulated
output wave Em is the sum of the usf and
lsf voltages hence,

E E E
m usf lsf
where E  E usf lsf

 Then
1
(V  V ) Eusf = peak amplitude of
E
2
max min
the upperside frequency
E E  m
(volts)
2 2
usf lsf

Elsf = peak amplitude of

1 the lower side frequency
 (V  V ) (volts)
4
max min
 From the modulated wave displayed in the
previous slide, the maximum and minimum
values of the envelope occurs at :-

+Vmax = Ec + Eusb + Elsb

+Vmin = Ec – Eusb – Elsb
-Vmax = -Ec - Eusb - Elsb
-Vmin = -Ec + Eusb + Elsb
Figure 6
 For proper AM operation, Ec > Em means that
0≤ m ≤ 1.

 If Ec < Em means that m > 1 leads to severe

distortion of the modulate wave.

 If Ec = Em the percentage of modulation index

goes to 100%, means the maximum
information signal is transmitted. In this case,
Vmax = 2Ec and Vmin = 0.
 Representing both the modulating signal Vm(t)
and the carrier signal Vc(t) in trigonometric
functions.
 The AM DSBFC modulator must be able to
produce mathematical multiplication of these two
analog signals
v m (t )  VEmm sin (2f m t )

v am (t )  [VEcc + VEmm sin (2f m t )] sin (2f c t )

Ec sin ( 2f t )
vc (t )  V c c
 Substituting Vm = mVc gives:

c sin ( 2f m t )] sin ( 2f c t )

v am (t )  [VEcc + mVEm sin

 [1  m sin (2f m t )] VEcc sin (2f c t )

Constant + Unmodulated
mod. signal carrier
 The constant in the first term produces the
carrier freq while the sinusoidal component in
the first term produces side bands frequencies

v (t )  VEc sin (2f t )  [mV

am c c
mEc sin ( 2f t )] [sin ( 2f t )]
c m c

mmEcV
 VEc sin (2f t )  cos [2 ( f  f )t ]
c

2
c c c m

Carrier frequency
mmEc
V signal (volts)
 cos [2 ( f  f )t ]
c Upper side frequency
2 signal (volts)
c m

Lower side frequency

signal (volts)
 From the equation it is obvious that the
amplitude of the carrier is unaffected by the
modulation process.
 The amplitude of the side frequencies depend
on the both the carrier amplitude and
modulation index.
 At 100% modulation the amplitudes of side
frequencies are each equal to one-half the
amplitude of the carrier.
Figure 7
Figure 8 : AM Spectrum
 In any electrical circuit, the power dissipated
is equal to the voltage squared (rms) divided
by the resistance.
 Mathematically power in unmodulated carrier
is
2 2
(Vc / 2 ) Vc
Pc  
R 2R
Pc = carrier power (watts)
Vc = peak carrier voltage (volts)
R = load resistance i.e antenna (ohms)
 The upper and lower sideband powers
will be
2 2 2
(mV c / 2) m Vc
Pus b  Plsb  
2R 8R
 Rearranging in terms of Pc,

2  2

m  Vc  m 2
Pus b  Plsb     Pc
4  2R  4
 The total power in an AM wave is

Pt  Pc  Pusb  Plsb
 Substituting the sidebands powers in terms of PC
yields: m 2
m 2
Pt  Pc  Pc  Pc
4 4
2 2
m m
 Pc  Pc  Pc [1  ]
2 2

 Since carrier power in modulated wave is the same as

unmodulated wave, obviously power of the carrier is
unaffected by modulation process.
Figure 9 : Power Spectrum
 With 100% modulation the maximum power
in both sidebands equals to one-half the
carrier power.

 One of the most significant disadvantage of

AM DSBFC is with m = 1, the efficiency of
transmission is only 33.3% of the total
transmitted signal. The less wasted in the
carrier which brings no information signal

 The advantage of DSBFC is the use of

relatively simple, inexpensive demodulator
circuits in the receiver.
Transmitter efficiency,
‫ = תּ‬average power from sideband/total
power absorbed.
= m²/ ( 2+m² )
 Previous examples are all using a single frequency modulation
signal. In practice, however, modulating signal is very often a
complex waveform made up from many sine waves with
different amplitudes and frequencies.
 Example: if a modulating signal contains three frequencies(fm1,
fm2, fm3), the modulated signal will contain the carrier and three
sets of side frequencies, spaced symmetrically about the
carrier: m Vc
v am ( t )  V c sin ( 2  f c t )  cos [ 2  ( f c  f m 1 ) t ] 
2
m Vc m Vc
cos [ 2  ( f c  f m 1 ) t ]  cos [ 2  ( f c  f m 2 ) t ]
2 2
m Vc m Vc
 cos [ 2  ( f c  f m 2 ) t ]  cos [ 2  ( f c  f m 3 ) t ] 
2 2
m Vc
cos [ 2  ( f c  f m 3 ) t ]
2
Fc-fm3 Fc-fm2 Fc-fm1 fc Fc+fm1 Fc+fm2 Fc+fm3

Figure 10 : Complex Spectrum

 When several frequencies simultaneously
amplitude modulate a carrier, the combined
coefficient of modulation is defined as:

m  m  m  m  ...  m
t
2

1
2

2
2

3
2

mt=total modulation index/coefficient of modulation

m1, m2, m3, mn= modulation index/coefficient of
modulation for input 1, 2 ,3 , n
 The combined coefficient of modulation can
be used to determine the total sideband
power and transmitted power, using:

P m 2

P  P  c t

4
usbt lsbt

P m 2

P  c t

2
sbt

 m 
2

P  P 1  t

 2 
t c
 In amplitude modulation, two-thirds of the
transmitted power is in the carrier, which
itself conveys no information. The real
information is contained within the
sidebands.
 One way to improve the efficiency of
amplitude modulation is to suppress the
carrier and eliminate one sideband. The result
is a single-sideband (SSB) signal. SSB is a
form of AM that offers unique benefits in
some types of electronic communication.
 The first step in generating an SSB signal is to
suppress the carrier, leaving the upper and
lower sidebands.
 This type of signal is referred to as a double-
sideband suppressed carrier (DSSC or DSB)
signal.
 The benefit, of course, is that no power is
wasted on the carrier. Double-sideband
suppressed carrier modulation is simply a
special case of AM with no carrier.
 A typical DSB signal is shown in figure 1.
This signal, the algebraic sum of the two
sinusoidal sidebands, is the signal
produced when a carrier is modulated by a
single-tone sine wave information signal.
 The carrier is suppressed, and the time
domain DSB signal is a sine wave at the
carrier frequency, varying in amplitude.

FIGURE 1
 Note that the envelope of this waveform is
not the same as that of the modulating
signal, as it is in a pure AM signal with
carrier.
 A unique characteristic of the DSB signal is
the phase transitions that occur at the lower-
amplitude portions of the wave.
 In Fig. 1,note that there are two adjacent
positive-going half-cycles at the null points
in the wave.
 That is one way to tell from an oscilloscope
display whether the signal shown is a true
DSB signal
 A frequency-domain display of a DSB signal is
given in Fig. 2.
 As shown, the spectrum space occupied by a
DSB signal is the same as that for a
conventional AM
 signal.
 Double-sideband suppressed carrier signals
are generated by a circuit called a balanced
modulator.
 The purpose of the balanced modulator is to
produce the sum and difference frequencies
but to cancel or balance out the carrier.
 FIGURE 2

• Despite the fact that elimination of the carrier in DSB AM

saves considerable power, DSB is not widely used because
the signal is difficult to demodulate (recover) at the receiver.

• One important application for DSB, however, is the

transmission of the color information in a TV signal.
 In DSB transmission, since the sidebands are
the sum and difference of the carrier and
modulating signals, the information is
contained in both sidebands.
 As it turns out, there is no reason to transmit
both sidebands in order to convey the
information.
 One sideband can be suppressed; the
remaining sideband is called a single-
sideband suppressed carrier (SSSC or SSB)
signal.
FIGURE 10
 Less bandwidth requirements . This allow
more number of signals to be transmitted in
the same frequency range .
 Lots of power saving . This is due to the
transmission of only one sideband
component .At 100% modulation, the percent
power saving is 83.33% .
 Reduced interference of noise . This is due to
the reduced bandwidth . As the bandwidth
increases, the amount of noise added to the
signal will increase .
 The generation and reception of SSB signal is
complicated
 The SSB transmitter and receiver need to have
an excellent frequency stability . A slight
change in frequency will hamper the quality
of transmitted and received signal .
Therefore, SSB is not generally used for the
transmission of good quality music. It is used
for speech transmission .
 Both DSB and SSB techniques are widely used
in communication. SSB signals are still used
in some two-way radios.
 Two-way SSB communication is used in
marine applications , in the military, and by
hobbyists known as radio amateurs (hams).
 DSB signals are used in FM and TV
broadcasting to transmit two-channel stereo
signals and to transmit the color information
for a TV picture.