Amplitude Modulator and A linear component or circuit is one in

Demodulator Circuits which the current is a linear function of the

voltage [see Fig. 4-3(a)]. A resistor or linearly
Basic Principles of Amplitude biased transistor is an example of a linear device.
Modulation The current in the device increases in direct
proportion to increases in voltage. The steepness
where the first term is the sine wave carrier and or slope of the line is determined by the
second term is the product of the sine wave coefficient a in the expression i=aυ.
carrier and modulating signals. (Remember that A nonlinear circuit is one in which the
vAM is the instantaneous value of the amplitude current is not directly proportional to the
modulation voltage.) voltage.
A common nonlinear component is a
so,
diode that has the nonlinear parabolic response
shown in Fig. 4-3(b), where increasing the
Substituting, voltage increases the current but not in a straight
line. Instead, the current variation is a square-
law function. A square-law function is one that
varies in proportion to the square of the input
Factoring gives; signals.
The current variation in a typical
semiconductor diode can be approximated by the
AM in the Time Domain equation

To produce AM, the carrier and

modulating signals are added and applied to the
nonlinear device. A simple way to do this is to
connect the carrier and modulating sources in
series and apply them to the diode circuit, as in
Fig. 4-4. The voltage applied to the diode is
then,

Amplitude Modulators
Amplitude modulators are generally
one of two types: low level or high level. Low-
level modulators generate AM with small signals
and thus must be amplified considerably if they
are to be transmitted. High-level modulators
AM in the Frequency Domain
produce AM at high power levels, usually in the low-level modulation, the AM signal is applied
final amplifier stage of a transmitter. to one or more linear amplifiers, to increase its
Low-Level AM power level without distorting the signal. These
 Diode Modulator amplifier circuits—class A, class AB, or class B
One of the simplest amplitude —raise the level of the signal to the desired
modulators is the diode modulator. power level before the AM signal is fed to the
The composite waveform is applied to a antenna.
diode rectifier. The diode is connected so that it
is forward-biased by the positive-going half- High-Level AM
cycles of the input wave. During the negative In high-level AM, the modulator varies
portions of the wave, the diode is cut off and no the voltage and power in the final RF amplifier
signal passes. The current through the diode is a stage of the transmitter. The result is high
series of positive-going pulses whose amplitude efficiency in the RF amplifier and overall high-
varies in proportion to the amplitude of the quality performance.
modulating signal
 Collector Modulator
 Transistor Modulator One example of a high-level modulator
An improved version of the circuit just circuit is the collector modulator shown in Fig.
described is shown in Fig. 4-9. Because it uses a 4-12. The output stage of the transmitter is a
transistor instead of the diode, the circuit has high-power class C amplifier. Class C amplifiers
gain. The emitter-base junction is a diode and a conduct for only a portion of the positive half-
nonlinear device. Modulation occurs as cycle of their input signal. The collector current
described previously, except that the base pulses cause the tuned circuit to oscillate (ring)
current controls a larger collector current, and at the desired output frequency. The tuned
therefore the circuit amplifies. Rectification circuit, therefore, reproduces the negative
occurs because of the emitter-base junction. This portion of the carrier signal.
causes larger half-sine pulses of current in the
tuned circuit. The tuned circuit oscillates (rings)
to generate the missing half-cycle. The output is
a classic AM wave.

 Differential Amplifier
makes an excellent amplitude
modulator.
The output voltage can be taken
between the two collectors, producing a
balanced,or differential, output. The output can
also be taken from the output of either collector
to ground, producing a single-ended output. The
two outputs are 180° out of phase with each
other. If the balanced output is used, the output
voltage across the load is twice the single-ended
output voltage.

 Amplifying Low-Level AM Signals

In low-level modulator circuits such as
those discussed above, the signals are generated
at very low voltage and power amplitudes.
The voltage is typically less than 1 V,
and the power is in milliwatts. In systems using  Series Modulator
 A major disadvantage of collector The crystal component of the crystal
modulators is the need for a modulation radio receivers that were widely used in the past
transformer that connects the audio amplifier to is simply a diode.
the class C amplifier in the transmitter. The
higher the power, the larger and more expensive
the transformer. For very high power
applications, the transformer is eliminated and
the modulation is accomplished at a lower level
with one of the many modulator circuits
described in previous sections. The resulting AM
signal is amplified by a high-power linear
amplifier. Note that the secondary is not a parallel circuit,
because the voltage induced into the secondary
Amplitude Demodulators winding appears as a voltage source in series
Demodulators, or detectors, are circuits with the coil and capacitor.Crystal radio
that accept modulated signals and recover the receivers can easily be built to receive standard
original modulating information. The AM broadcasts.
demodulator circuit is the key circuit in any
radio receiver. In fact, demodulator circuits can  Synchronous Detectors
be used alone as simple radio receivers. use an internal clock signal at the
carrier frequency in the receiver
 Diode Detectors to switch the AM signal off and on, producing
The simplest and most widely used rectification similar to that in a standard diode
amplitude demodulator is the diode detector (see detector (see Fig. 4-19.) The AM signal is
Fig. 4-15). The diode conducts when the applied to a series switch that is opened and
positive half-cycles of the AM signals occur. closed synchronously with the carrier signal.
During the negative half-cycles, the diode is
reverse-biased and no current flows through it.
As a result, the voltage across R1 is a series of
positive pulses whose amplitude varies with the
modulating signal. A capacitor C1 is connected
across resistor R1, effectively filtering out the
carrier and thus recovering the original
modulating signal.

A practical synchronous detector is

shown in Fig. 4-21. A center-tapped transformer
provides the two equal but inverted signals. The
carrier signal is applied to the center tap. Note
Another way to view the operation of the diode that one diode is connected oppositely from the
detector is in the frequency domain. way it would be if used in a full wave rectifier.
In this case, the diode is regarded as a nonlinear These diodes are used as switches, which are
device to which are applied multiple signals turned off and on by the clock, which is used as
where modulation will take place. The multiple the bias voltage.
signals are the carrier and sidebands, which
make up the input AM signal to be demodulated. Balanced Modulators
The components of the AM signal are the carrier A balanced modulator is a circuit that
fc, the upper sideband fc+fm, and the lower generates a DSB signal, suppressing the carrier
sideband fc-fm. The diode detector circuit and leaving only the sum and difference
combines these signals, creating the sum and frequencies at the output. The output of a
difference signals: balanced modulator can be further processed
by filters or phase-shifting circuitry to eliminate
one of the sidebands, resulting in an SSB signal.

Lattice Modulators
One of the most popular and widely used
 Crystal Radio Receivers balanced modulators is the diode ring or
lattice modulator. The output appears across
the secondary of the output.

The operation of the lattice modulator is

relatively simple. The carrier sine wave,
which is usually considerably higher in
frequency and amplitude than the modulating
signal, is used as a source of forward and
reverse bias for the diodes. The carrier turns
the diodes off and on at a high rate of speed,
and the diodes act as switches that connect
the modulating signal at the secondary of T1 to
the primary of T2.