[Lecture Six] [DAC Conversion]

Lecture Six
Analog Transmission of Digital Data
(Binary Digital Modulation)

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This Lecture:
The main different digital modulation techniques are introduced as the following:
 Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK)
 Frequency Shift Keying (FSK)
 Phase Shift Keying (ASK)
 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM)  ASK +PSK

1. Why Modulation of Signals?

Modulation is an important transformation of the signal that is used in every
communication system. For these reasons:
 Transmitting signals over large distances, because low-frequency signals have
poor radiation characteristics.
 It is possible to combine a number of baseband signals and send them through the
medium, provided different carrier frequencies are used for different baseband
signals (multiplexing).
 Small antennas can be used if radio is the transmission medium. In transmission
systems using radio as the medium, the higher the frequency of operation, the
smaller the antenna size. So, using high-frequency carrier reduces the antenna size
considerably.

Thus, to transmit a signal over the air, there are three main steps:
1. A pure carrier is generated at the transmitter.
2. The carrier is modulated with the information to be transmitted. Any reliably
detectable change in signal characteristics can carry information.
3. At the receiver the signal modifications or changes are detected and demodulated.

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2. Types of Modulation
Carrier modulation can be broadly divided into two categories:
 Analog Modulation
 Amplitude Modulation (AM)
 Frequency Modulation (FM)
 Phase Modulation (PM)
 Digital Modulation
 Pulse Modulation (PAM, PWM, PPM)
 Pulse Coded Modulation (PCM, DM, DPCM….)
 Shift Keying (ASK, FSK, PSK, QAM)

3. Comparison of Different Modulation Techniques

The performance criteria on which modulation techniques can be compared are:
1. Bandwidth: What is the bandwidth of the modulated wave?
2. Noise immunity: Even if noise is added to the modulated signal on the
transmission medium, can the original modulating signal be obtained by the
demodulator without much distortion?
3. Complexity: What is the complexity involved in implementing the modulator and
demodulator? Generally, the modulator and demodulator are implemented as
hardware, though nowadays, digital signal processors are used for
implementation, and hence a lot of software is also used.

4. Some Important Terms and Bandwidth Calculations

4.1 Data Rate (R) and Symbol Rate (S)
The information transfer rate for a data channel is defined as the speed at which binary
information (bits) can be transferred from source to destination. Bit rate is the frequency
of a system bit stream. It is measured in bit/sec or bps. Take, for example, a radio with an
8 bit sampler, sampling at 10 kHz for voice. The bit rate, the basic bit stream rate in the
radio, would be eight bits multiplied by 10K samples per second, or 80 Kbits per second.

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Data Rate or Bit Rate can be calculated according to the following formula:
1
R Where Tb is the bit duration (in sec)
Tb
To understand and compare different modulation format efficiencies, it is important to
first understand the difference between bit rate and symbol rate. The signal bandwidth for
the communications channel needed depends on the symbol rate, not on the bit rate.
Symbol rate is measured in symbols/sec or (baud).

�㔁�㔢ā ýÿāþ (�㕹)

þ�㔲þĀĀý ýÿāþ (þ) =
ÿĂþĀþÿ Āÿ Ā�㔢āĀ āÿÿÿĀþ�㔢āāþý āþÿ Ā�㔲þĀĀý (ÿ)

Figure below is an example of a state diagram of QPSK, BPSK and 8PSK signals.
According to the above equation, the symbol rate is the bit rate divided by the number of
bits that can be transmitted with each symbol. If one bit is transmitted per symbol, as with
BPSK, then the symbol rate would be the same as the bit rate of 80 Kbits per second
(80Kbps). If two bits are transmitted per symbol, as in QPSK, then the symbol rate
would be half of the bit rate or 40 Kbits per second. Symbol rate is sometimes called
Baud Rate or Signaling Rate. Note that baud rate is not the same as bit rate.

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NOTE:
Each symbol represents n bits, and has M signal states, where M = 2n .

The maximum rate of information transfer through a baseband channel is given by:

Capacity fb = 2 W log2M bits per second

Where:
W = bandwidth of modulating baseband signal

4.2 Bandwidth Efficiency

The bandwidth efficiency of a communications link is a measure of how well a
particular modulation format (and coding scheme) is making use of the available
bandwidth. Bandwidth efficiency is measured in bits/seconds/Hz.

1
For NRZ encoding BW efficiency is 2 bits/sec/Hz Then BW= = 0.5 R
2Tb

1
For RZ encoding BW efficiency is 1 bits/sec/Hz Then
BW= =R
Tb

5. Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK)

Amplitude shift keying (ASK) is also known as on-off-keying (OOK). In ASK, two
amplitudes of the carrier represent the binary values (1 and 0) while keeping the
frequency and phase of the carrier constant. Generally, one of the amplitudes is taken as
zero. ASK is used to transmit digital data over optical fiber. Similar to AM but only need
to choose one of two values.

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Figure 1: OOK Signal

5.1 Bandwidth Consideration:

B = S (1+D)
Where:
S= Baud Rate
D= Modulation Factor 0  d  1

5.2 Bit Rate:

Bit Rate = Baud Rate (one bit is sent per symbol)

5.3 BASK Modulator:

The output of the modulator is:

cos m t  cos c t = 0.5 cos (c - m) t + 0.5 cos (c + m) t

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5.4 Demodulation of ASK Signals:

1. Non-Coherent Method:
With ASK, the information is conveyed in the amplitude or envelope of the modulated
carrier signal and the data can thus be recovered using an envelope detector. The simplest
implementation of an envelope detector comprises a diode rectifier and smoothing filter
and is classed as a non-coherent detector.

If quadrature versions of the modulated carrier signal are available in the receiver, that is,
a(t) cos wct and a(t) sin wct (where a(t) represents the data imposed amplitude
modulation), then an alternative form of envelope detector can be used based on squaring
and adding the two quadrature signals and then taking the square root. Mathematically we
get:

a(t)2 cos2wct + a(t)2 sin2wct = a(t)2 (cos2wct + sin2wct) = a(t)2

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X2

+ 

Y2
Figure 2. Demodulation Using Non Coherent Method

2. Coherent Detection
A coherent detector operates by mixing the incoming data signal with a locally generated
carrier reference.

What is the meaning of phase and frequency mismatch distortion?????

6. Frequency Shift Keying (FSK):

In frequency shift keying Binary FSK (BFSK), 1 and 0 are represented by two different
frequencies of the carrier. FSK is used widely in cable and radio communication systems.
FSK (Frequency Shift Keying) is used in many applications including cordless and
paging systems.

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VFSK(t) = A sin (2f1t) for binary 1

= A sin (2f2t) for binary 0

f1 can be fC+fm and f2 can be fC -fm where fC is the carrier frequency and fm is the
information frequency.

The frequency which is used to represent the binary 819 is called Mark Frequency (fma),
and the frequency used to represent binary 809 is called Space frequency (fS). The rest
frequency is the median of the Mark frequency and the Space Frequency

ö f ma  f s ö
fr = ÷ ÷
ø 2 ø

Figure 3: Frequency Shift Keying (FSK)

6.1 Calculations Associated with FSK Technique:

BW Calculations:
B =2(∆f + 2fm) =2(∆f+ R) Carson’s Rule

OR

B = S (1+d) +2f

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Modulation Index (MI):

f
MI 
fm

f ma  f S
f 
2

Example:
For a binary FSK modulator with space, rest, and mark frequencies of 60, 70, and 80
MHz, respectively and an input bit rate of 20 Mbps, determine the output baud and the
minimum required bandwidth.
Solution:

f ma  f S 80  60
f    10 MHz
2 2

BW = 2 (∆f + R) = 2 (10 + 20 ) = 60MHz

The bits are taken one by one, therefore baud rate is equal to bit rate = 20 Mbaud

6.2 Orthogonal FSK:

If the difference between the carriers f1 and f2 is equal to the bit rate, then we have
orthogonal FSK.

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6.3 BFSK Modulator:

The following circuit is a BFSK modulator that depends on two switches each switched is
turned on either by binary 809 or 819. The circuit consists of two AC sources, each
producing a sine wave but with different frequencies f1 and f2. When the first switch
(SW1) is on the second switch (SW2) is off and then the first carrier f1 passes, and the
second carrier f2 is not passed, and vice versa.

Or simply we can use a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO)

6.4 BFSK Demodulator:

Coherent Method:
In this method, the carriers should be with the same frequency and the same phase.

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Non-Coherent Method:
1. The signal is passed into two band pass filters (BPFs), one filter is adjusted to the
Mark Frequency and the other is adjusted to the space frequency.
2. If the input is binary 819 one filter has a maximum output and the other has a
minimum output and vice versa.
3. The envelope detector on each path converts the pulsed RF signal into a baseband
signal.
4. The final output is the sum of the paths.

6.5 4FSK (4-ary FSK):

In this case we need 4 carriers, and the digital data is taken as pairs (2bits are taken
instead of one). The output bit rate is reduced by half the input bit rate.

Input
Output Frequency

00 F1

01 F2

10 F3

11 F4

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