Understanding the 'Phasing Method' of Single

Sideband Demodulation
by Richard Lyons
There are four ways to demodulate a transmitted single sideband (SSB) signal.
Those four methods are:

synchronous detection,
phasing method,
Weaver method, and
filtering method.

Here we review synchronous detection in preparation for explaining, in

detail, how the phasing method works. This blog contains lots of preliminary
information, so if you're already familiar with SSB signals you might want to
scroll down to the 'SSB DEMODULATION BY SYNCHRONOUS DETECTION' section.
BACKGROUND
I was recently involved in trying to understand the operation of a discrete
SSB demodulation system that was being proposed to replace an older analog
SSB demodulation system. Having never built an SSB system, I wanted to
understand how the "phasing method" of SSB demodulation works.
However, in searching the Internet for tutorial SSB demodulation information
I was shocked at how little information was available. The web's wikipedia
'single-sideband modulation' gives the mathematical details of SSB generation
[1]. But SSB demodulation information at that web site was terribly sparse.
In my Internet searching, I found the SSB information available on the net to
be either badly confusing in its notation or downright ambiguous. That webbased material showed SSB demodulation block diagrams, but they didn't show
spectra at various stages in the diagrams to help me understand the details
of the processing.
A typical example of what was frustrating me about the web-based SSB
information is given in the analog SSB generation network shown in Figure 1.
x(t)
cos(ct)
+
90o

90o

y(t)

sin(ct)
Meant to
represent the
Hilbert
Transformer.

Is this sin(ct)
or sin(ct)

Figure 1
In reading the text associated with that figure, the left 90o rectangle was
meant to represent a Hilbert transform. Well, in that case, the "90o" label
should more correctly be "-90o because in the time domain a Hilbert
transformer shifts a sinusoid by 90o." In Figure 1, assuming the rightmost
90o rectangle means some sort of 90o phase-delay element, then it's output
would not be sin(ct), it would be -sin(ct). Ambiguous "90o" notation often
occurs in the literature of SSB systems. (Reading Internet SSB material is

Copyright Richard Lyons, August 2012

like reading a medical billing statement; the information is confusing! So

much of it doesn't "add up.") OK, enough of my ranting.
TRANSMITTED SSB SIGNALS
Before we illustrate SSB demodulation, it's useful to quickly review the
nature of standard double-sideband amplitude modulation (AM) commercial
broadcast transmissions that your car radio is designed to receive. In
standard AM communication systems, an analog real-valued baseband input
signal may have a spectral magnitude, for example, like that shown in Figure
2(a). Such a signal might well be a 4 kHz-wide audio output of a microphone
having no spectral energy at DC (zero Hz). This baseband audio signal is
multiplied, in the time domain, by a pure-tone carrier to generate what's
called the modulated signal whose spectral magnitude content is given in
Figure 2(b).
In this example the carrier frequency is 80 kHz, thus the transmitted AM
signal contains pure-tone carrier spectral energy at 80 kHz. The purpose of
a remote AM receiver, then, is to demodulate that transmitted DSB AM signal
and generate the baseband signal given in Figure 2(c). The analog demodulated
audio signal could then be amplified and routed to a loudspeaker. We note at
this point that the two transmitted sidebands, on either side of 80 kHz,
each contain the same audio information.
Double sideband AM modulation
and demodulation spectra
Lower
sideband

Upper
sideband

Transmitter input
baseband signal

(a)
kHz

4 0 4

(b)

(c)

80

4 0

80

kHz

kHz

Transmitted
(modulated)
AM signal
Demodulated
receiver baseband
signal

Figure 2
In an SSB communication system the baseband audio signal modulates a carrier,
in what's called the "upper sideband" (USB) mode of transmission, such that
the transmitted analog signal would have the spectrum shown in Figure 3(b).
Notice in this scenario, the lower (upper) frequency edge of the baseband
signals USB (LSB) has been translated in frequency so that its located at
80 kHz (-80 kHz). (The phasing method of SSB radio frequency (RF) generation
is given in Appendix A.)

Copyright Richard Lyons, August 2012

Upper sideband (USB) modulation

and demodulation spectra
Lower
sideband

Upper
sideband

Transmitter input
baseband signal

(a)
4 0

(b)

80

(c)

4 0

kHz

kHz

80

kHz

Transmitted
(modulated) SSB
signal in "upper
sideband" (USB) mode
Demodulated
receiver baseband
signal

Figure 3
The purpose of a remote SSB receiver is to demodulate that transmitted SSB
signal, generating the baseband audio signal given in Figure 3(c). The analog
demodulated baseband signal can then be amplified and drive a loudspeaker.
In a "lower sideband" (LSB) mode of SSB transmission, the transmitted analog
signal would have the spectrum shown in Figure 4(b). In this case, the upper
(lower) frequency edge of the baseband signals LSB (USB) has been translated
in frequency so that its located at 80 kHz (-80 kHz). The baseband signal in
Figure 4(a) is real-valued, so the positive-frequency portion of its spectrum
is the complex conjugate of the negative-frequency portion. Both sidebands
contain the same information, and that's why LSB transmission and USB
transmission communicate identical information.
And again, in the LSB mode of transmission, the remote receiver must
demodulate that transmitted LSB SSB signal and generate the baseband audio
signal given in Figure 4(c).
Lower sideband (LSB) modulation
and demodulation spectra
Lower
sideband

Upper
sideband

Transmitter input
baseband signal

(a)
4 0

(b)

(c)

80

4 0

kHz

80

kHz

kHz

Transmitted
(modulated) SSB
signal in "lower
sideband" (LSB) mode
Demodulated
receiver baseband
signal

Figure 4
WHY BOTHER USING SSB SYSTEMS?
Standard broadcast AM signal transmission, Figure 2, wastes a lot of
transmitter power. At a minimum, two thirds of an AM transmitter's power is
used to transmit the 80 kHz carrier signal which contains no information. And
half of the remaining one third of the transmitted power is wasted by
Copyright Richard Lyons, August 2012

radiating a redundant sideband. So why are standard commercial AM broadcast

systems used at all? It's because DSB AM broadcast receivers are simple and
inexpensive.
In SSB transmission systems, 100% of their transmitter power is used to
transmit a single baseband sideband. Thus they exhibit no wasted transmitter
power as do AM systems. In addition, due to their narrower bandwidth, SSB
systems can have twice the number of transmitted signals over a given RF
range than standard double-sideband AM signals. The disadvantage of SSB
communications, however, is that the remote receiver's demodulation circuitry
is more complicated than that needed by AM receivers.
SSB DEMODULATION BY SYNCHRONOUS DETECTION
One method, called "synchronous detection", to implement the demodulation
process in Figure 3 is shown in Figure 5. This method is relatively simple.
In Figure 5 the analog RF input USB SSB signal has a carrier frequency of 80
kHz, so c = 280000 radians/second. We multiply that input SSB signal by
whats called a beat frequency oscillator (BFO) signal, cos(ct), to
translate the SSB signals USB (LSB) down (up) in frequency toward zero Hz.
That multiplication also produces spectral energy in the vicinity of 160
kHz. The analog lowpass filter (LPF), whose frequency magnitude response is
shown at the upper right side of Figure 5, attenuates the high frequency
spectral energy producing our desired baseband audio signal.
Analog USB demodulation (synchronous detection)
160

160

Transmitted USB SSB

signal, (bandwidth = 4
kHz), at RF freq = 80
kHz
4 kHz

80

kHz

kHz

4 0 4

Demodulated
baseband signal

LPF
cos(ct)

80

kHz
4
c = 280000 rad./sec.

kHz

Figure 5
A DSP version of our simple Figure 5 USB demodulation process is shown in
Figure 6 where, for example, we chose the A/D converters sample rate to be
200 kHz. Notice the spectral wrap-around that occurs at half the sample rate,
100 kHz, in the multipliers output signal. The digital LPF, having a cutoff
frequency of just a bit greater than 4 kHz, serves two purposes. It
attenuates any unwanted out-of-baseband spectral energy in the down-converted
signal, and eliminates any spectral aliasing caused by decimation. The
decimation-by-10 process reduces the baseband signals sample rate to 20 kHz.

Copyright Richard Lyons, August 2012

Discrete-signal USB demodulation (synchronous detection)

Transmitted USB
SSB signal,
(bandwidth = 4
kHz), at RF freq
= 80 kHz

40

0 4

kHz

0 4

0 4

10

analog
LPF

D/A

Demodulated
analog
baseband
signal

cos(cnts)
kHz

80

kHz

Sample rate = 20 kHz

digital
LPF

A/D
fs = 1/ts
= 200 kHz

80

kHz

40

Sample rate = 200 kHz

4 0 4

kHz

0 4

kHz

Sample rate = 200 kHz

Sample rate = 200 kHz

c = 280000 rad./sec.

Figure 6
The analog LPF in Figure 6 attenuates the unwanted high-frequency analog
spectral images that are produced, at multiples of 20 kHz, by the D/A
conversion process.
Returning to the analog demod process in Figure 5, had the incoming SSB
signal been a lower sideband (LSB) transmission our analog processing would
be that shown in Figure 7. The processing performed in Figure 7 is identical
to that shown in Figure 5. So, happily, our simple down-convert and lowpass
filter synchronous detection demodulation process works for both USB and LSB
transmitted signals.
Analog LSB demodulation (synchronous detection)
160

Transmitted LSB
SSB signal,
(bandwidth = 4
kHz), at RF freq =
80 kHz

80

160

kHz

Demodulated
baseband signal
LPF
cos(ct)

80

kHz

0 4

kHz

c = 280000 rad./sec.

Figure 7
THERE'S TROUBLE IN PARADISE
The simple demodulation process in Figure 7 has one unpleasant shortcoming
that renders it impractical in real-world SSB communications. Heres the
story.
In the United States commercial AM radio broadcasting is carefully restricted
in that radio stations are assigned a specific RF carrier frequency at which
they can transmit their radio programs. Those carrier frequencies are always
at multiples of 10 kHz. So its possible for us the receive one AM radio
signal at a carrier frequency of, say, 1200 kHz while another AM radio
station is transmitting its program at a carrier frequency of 1210 kHz.
(Other parts of the world use a 9 kHz carrier spacing for their commercial
radio broadcasts.)
[In the States, those commercial AM broadcast carrier frequencies are
monitored with excruciating rigor. Many years ago while attending college I
worked part time at a commercial radio station in Ohio. One of my
responsibilities was to monitor the stations transmitters output power
Copyright Richard Lyons, August 2012

level and carrier frequency, and record those values in a log book. Those
power and frequency measurements, by law, had to be performed every 15
minutes, 24 hours a day!]
That careful control of transmitted signal carrier frequencies does not exist
in todays world of SSB communications. Think about the situation where two
independent, unrelated, SSB Users are transmitting their signals as shown in
Figure 8(a). User# 1 is transmitting a USB signal at a carrier frequency of
80 kHz and User# 2 is transmitting an LSB signal at a carrier frequency of 80
kHz. The operation of our simple down-convert and lowpass filter demod
process is given in Figure 8(b). There we see that spectral overlap prevents
us from demodulating either of the two SSB signals.
Dual User SSB scenario
User# 1

(a)

80

80

kHz

Transmitted
RF signals

User# 2

160

160

LPF

(b)

kHz

Demodulated
baseband
signals

cos(ct)

80

80

kHz

0 4

kHz

Figure 8
This troublesome overlapped-spectra problem in Figure 8(b) can be solved by a
clever quadrature processing scheme. Here's how.
QUADRATURE PROCESSING TO THE RESCUE
Our dual-User SSB problem has been solved by a quadrature processing
technique, called the phasing method, which makes use of the Hilbert
transform. See Appendix B for brief explanation of the Hilbert transform.
To explain the details of that process, lets assume that a User#1 and a
User# 2 have transmitted two sinusoidal signals whose baseband spectra are
those shown in Figure 9(a). User# 1s baseband signal is a sinewave tone
whose frequency is 3 kHz and its transmitted as an USB signal at a carrier
frequency of 80 kHz, as shown in Figure 9(b). Lets also assume that User#
2s baseband signal is a lower-amplitude cosine wave tone whose frequency is
1 kHz, and its transmitted as an LSB signal also at a carrier frequency of
80 kHz.

Copyright Richard Lyons, August 2012

Dual User SSB scenario

User# 1

User# 2

Real

(a)

Baseband
spectral
amplitude

Real
kHz

Imag

kHz

kHz

Imag

3
3

1 0 1

kHz

User# 2
Legend:

Real
RF
spectral
amplitude

79

79

User# 1
high-level
USB
sinewave

kHz

User# 1
Imag

83
83

(b)

User# 2
low-level
LSB cosine
wave

kHz

0
User# 1
User# 2

RF spectral
magnitude
83 79

79 83

kHz

Figure 9
To understand the phasing method of SSB demodulation, we must pay attention
to the real and imaginary parts of our spectra, as is done in Figure 9(b).
Figure 10 presents the block diagram of a phasing method demodulator.
Analog phasing method of SSB demodulation
i(t)

To receive a
transmitted
USB

LPF

Input RF
SSB
signal(s)

cos(ct)
+

q(t)

sin(ct)

HT

LPF

Hilbert
Transformer

To receive a
transmitted
LSB

c = 280,000 rad./sec.

Figure 10
What the Figure 10 quadrature processing does for us, to eliminate the
overlapped-spectral component problem in Figure 8, is to generate two downconverted signals (i(t) and q(t)) with appropriate phase relationships so
that selected spectral components either reinforce or cancel each other at
the final output addition and subtraction operations. Let's see how this all
works.
The real and imaginary parts of the transmitted RF spectra from the bottom of
Figure 9 are shown at the lower left side of Figure 11.

Copyright Richard Lyons, August 2012

Real

Real
159

1 1

Imag

159

159
Imag

163

163

kHz

kHz

i(t)

kHz

cos(ct)
q(t)

+
HT

LPF

Imag

79

163

kHz

Imag 159

83
0

Hilbert
Transformer
Real

Real

83

160

To receive a
transmitted
USB

LPF

sin(ct)

79

kHz

163
i(t) + jq(t)

Transmitted
SSB signals
[83 kHz USB
sinewave and
79 kHz LSB
cosine wave]

160

kHz

To receive a
transmitted
LSB

3
163

kHz

1
1

159

kHz

Figure 11
In the phasing method of SSB demodulation, we perform a complex down

conversion of the real-valued RF input, using a complex-valued BFO of e-j( ct)

= cos(ct) -jsin(ct), to generate a complex i(t) + jq(t) signal whose
spectrum is shown at the upper right side of Figure 11. That spectrum of a
complex-valued time sequence, is merely the demodulator's input spectrum
shifted down in frequency by 80 kHz.
Figure 12 shows the spectra at the output of the mixers, the output of the
Hilbert transformer, and the final baseband spectra. There we see that the
output of the upper signal path produces User# 1s baseband signal, with no
interference from User# 2. And the output of the lower signal path yields
User# 2s baseband signal with no interference from User# 1. Thats the
phasing method of SSB demodulation.

Copyright Richard Lyons, August 2012

Real

Real
1 1

kHz

kHz

User# 1's
baseband

kHz

4 0 4

Imag

Imag

3
3

kHz

LPF

i(t)

3
3

kHz

To receive a
transmitted
USB

cos(ct)
+

q(t)

Real

Real
kHz

1 1

kHz

To receive a
transmitted
LSB

Hilbert
Transformer

sin(ct)
Real 3

HT

LPF

1 1

kHz

Imag
Imag

Imag 3

1
0

kHz

kHz

kHz

User# 2's
baseband

Figure 12
A DSP SSB DEMODULATOR
Figure 13 shows an example of a DSP SSB phasing method demodulator. Once the

complex-valued BFO of e-j( cnts) = cos(cnts) - jsin(cnts) down-converts the RF

SSB to zero Hz, its sensible to decimate the multipliers outputs to a lower
fs sample rate to reduce the processing workload of the Hilbert transformer.
We could have performed decimation by a factor greater than 10, but doing so
would make the design of the post-D/A analog lowpass filter more complicated.
The digital LPFs, whose positive-frequency cutoff frequency is slightly
greater than 4 kHz, attenuate any unwanted out-of-baseband spectral energy in
the down-converted signal and eliminate any spectral aliasing caused by
decimation.
Decimation
digital
LPF
Transmitted USB
SSB signal,
cos(cnts)
A/D
(bandwidth = 4
fs = 1/ts
kHz), at RF
digital
= 200 kHz
freq = 80 kHz.
LPF
c = 280,000 rad./sec.

10

USB

Digital
baseband

fs = 20 kHz
+
10

HT

LSB

Hilbert
Transformer

sin(cnts)

Digital
baseband

Delay

D/A

analog
LPF

Speaker
Buffer
amplifier

Figure 13
The Delay element in
synchronization with
the bottom path. For
used, then the upper

the upper path in Figure 13 is needed to maintain data

the time-delayed Hilbert transformer output sequence in
example, if a 21-tap digital Hilbert transformer is
paths Delay element would be a 10-stage delay line [2].

Copyright Richard Lyons, August 2012

With DSP techniques enabling us to implement high performance, guaranteed

linear-phase, Hilbert transformation, the phasing method of SSB demodulation
has become popular in modern times.
LISTENING TO DONALD DUCK
Youll notice that the phasing method of SSB demodulation assumes we have a
BFO available in our receiver thats identical in frequency and phase with
the c oscillator in the SSB transmitter. If this not the case, then our
demodulated baseband signals may have both frequency and phase errors. Those
potential errors can be described as follows:
Let's assume an SSB transmitter baseband signal contains a single sinusoid of
cos(mt + ). If the demodulators local BFO, the cos() and -sin() oscillator
combination, has a frequency error of radians/second and a phase error of
radians, then the SSB demodulated baseband sinusoids will be
USB demod sinusoid = cos[(m - )t + - ],
and an LSB mode demodulated baseband signal will be
LSB demod sinusoid = cos[(m + )t + + ].
The origin of those expressions is given in Appendix C.
If = 0, a constant phase error of radians over the demodulated baseband
signals full frequency range is not a problem in voice communications. The
human ear/brain combination can tolerate audio phase errors, so we can
correctly interpret such demodulated speech signals. Im not a digital
communications guy but I imagine that a few degrees of BFO phase error would
render any sort of digital phase-modulated baseband signal useless in an SSB
receiver.
When = 0, a BFOs + frequency error causes pitch shifting in that the
demodulated baseband signal will be shifted in frequency. Figure 14(b) shows
the situation where a BFOs frequency error causes the positive- and
negative-frequency components of the baseband signal to overlap at zero Hz.
In this situation a + frequency error greater than roughly 75 Hz to- 100
Hz renders the demodulated voice baseband unintelligible.

(a)
4

(b)
4

(c)

kHz

kHz

kHz

Desired
demodulated
baseband

Demodulated USB
when > 0.
Demodulated LSB
when < 0.
Demodulated USB
when < 0.
Demodulated LSB
when > 0.

Figure 14
Figure 14(c) shows the demodulated baseband spectrum when a BFOs -
frequency error causes the positive- and negative-frequency components of the
baseband signal to be shifted away from zero Hz. This distorts the harmonic
relation between baseband voice spectral components. In this scenario a -
Copyright Richard Lyons, August 2012

10

frequency error greater than roughly 150 Hz to- 200 Hz causes a demodulated
voice baseband signal to sound like Donald Duck.
Intelligibility tests indicate that a Figure 14(c) BFO - frequency error of
less than, say, 150 Hz can be tolerated. The bottom line here is that using
modern day high-precision frequency synthesis techniques, the error of
receiver BFOs can be kept small making SSB systems, with their narrow RF
bandwidth requirement and transmission power efficiency, quite useful for
voice communications over radio links.
CONCLUSION
So now we know how the synchronous detection and phasing methods of SSB
demodulation work. We'll leave the "Weaver method" of SSB demodulation,
itself a form of quadrature processing, as a topic for another blog. The
"filtering method", as far as I can tell, doesn't seem to be used in modern
digital implementations of SSB communications systems. If you'd like to
review the mathematics of SSB systems, I recommend you check out the Internet
references [3] and [4].
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I say Thanks to Tauno Voipio and Mark Goldberg for explaining so much SSB
theory to me. You guys rock! Without your help this blog would not exist.

REFERENCES
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-sideband_modulation
[2] R. Lyons, Understanding Digital Signal Processing, 2nd & 3rd
Editions, Prentice Hall Publishing, Chapter 9.
[3] http://local.eleceng.uct.ac.za/courses/EEE3086F/notes/508-AM_SSB_2up.pdf
[4] http://www.ece.umd.edu/~tretter/commlab/c6713slides/ch7.pdf
APPENDIX A GENERATING SSB SIGNALS
The phasing method of SSB generation is shown in Figure A-1(a), where m(t) is
some generic baseband modulating signal. Some people call Figure A-1(a) a
"Hartley modulator." A specific SSB generation example is given in Figure A1(b). In that figure the baseband input is a single low-frequency analog
cosine wave whose frequency is m radians/second. The output carrier frequency
is c = 280000 radians/second (80 kHz).

Copyright Richard Lyons, August 2012

11

Analog SSB generation

m(t)cos(ct)
+

m(t)

cos(ct)

(a)
HT

mHT(t)sin(c)t

mHT(t)

m(t)cos(ct) mHT(t)sin(c)t for USB

+

m(t)cos(ct) + mHT(t)sin(c)t for LSB

sin(ct)

Example analog SSB generation

0.5cos[(c m)t] + 0.5cos[(c + m)t]
+

cos(mt)
sin(mt)

cos(ct)
+

(b)
HT
c = 280,000 rad./sec.

+ for (c m) LSB
for (c + m) USB

0.5cos[(c m)t] 0.5cos[(c + m)t]

sin(ct)

Figure A-1
A real-world example of a DSP version of this SSB generation method is shown
in Figure A-2, where interpolation is needed so that multiplication by the
high-frequency oscillator signals does not cause spectral wrap-around errors,
as would happen if no interpolation was performed.
DSP SSB generation
Interpolation
3000

LPF
+

m(n)
fs = 12 kHz

c = 29,000,000 rad./sec.

mHT(n)
HT

fs = 1/ts
= 36 MHz
3000

cos(cnts)
+

LPF

Hilbert
Transformer

D/A

analog
LPF

upper or
lower RF
sideband

sin(cnts)

Figure A-2
The baseband input sequence m(n) had a one-sided bandwidth of 3 kHz, and the
final SSB output carrier frequency is 9 MHz. The interpolation by 3000 was
performed by a cascade of three interpolation stages (interpolation factors
15, 25, and 8), with each stage using CIC lowpass filters. The output sample
rate was chosen to be 36 MHz so that the oscillators' cos() and sin()
sequences were [1,0,-1,0,...] and [0,1,0,-1,...], which eliminated the need
for high-frequency multiplication.
APPENDIX B THE HILBERT TRANSFORM AS A TRANSFER FUNCTION
In the time domain, the Hilbert transform (HT) of a real-valued cosine wave
is a real-valued sinewave of the same frequency. And the HT of a real-valued
sinewave is a real-valued negative cosine wave of the same frequency. Stated
in different words, in the time domain the HT of a real-valued sinusoid is
another real-valued sinusoid of the same frequency whose phase has been
shifted by -90o relative to the original sinusoid. We validate these
statements as follows:

Copyright Richard Lyons, August 2012

12

If we treat the HT as a frequency-domain H() transfer function, its |H()|

magnitude response is unity as shown in Figure B-1(b).
Magnitude response
of H()

Phase response of
H(), radians
/2

1
x(t)

xH(t)

H()

Freq

Freq

/2
(a)

(c)

(b)

Figure B-1
The phase response of H() is that shown in Figure B-1(c), which we can
describe using
j = e j / 2 for 0

arg {H ()} =

j = e j / 2

for < 0.

where "arg" means the argument, or angle, of H(). This means that the HT of
a real-valued cosine wave is
HT{cos(ot) =
=

e jot
2

je

e jot

jot

je

= -j

e jot
2

jot

+ j

e jot
2

= sin(ot).

And the HT of a real-valued sinewave is

HT{sin(ot) =

je jot
2

= -

je

je jot

jot

= j

jot

je jot
2

- (-j)

je jot
2

= -cos(ot).

A detailed description of the HT and techniques for designing digital Hilbert

transformers are given in reference [5].
I'll briefly mention that there are three reasonable ways to depict the HT in
block diagrams. Those ways are shown in Figure B-2, where signal xH(t)
represents the HT of input x(t) signal.
x(t)

90o

xH(t)

x(t)

(a)

HT

xH(t)

(b)

x(t)

jsignum()

xH(t)

(c)

Figure B-2
Although I understand why an author might use it, I don't particularly like
the Figure B-2(a) notation. I prefer the notation in Figure B-2(b). By the
way, I encountered the interesting Figure B-2(c) depiction of the HT on a web
page produced by a professor at the University of Maryland. (It shows the
professor's inclination to describe things in strictly mathematical terms.)
APPENDIX C THE EFFECT OF LOCAL BFO FREQUENCY AND PHASE ERRORS
Using the phrase "BFO" to represent our phasing method demodulator's cos()
and -sin() oscillators, Figure C-1 shows the USB-mode demodulated output
baseband signal under the conditions:

Copyright Richard Lyons, August 2012

13

 The transmitter's baseband signal is a single cos(mt + ) sinusoid,

The transmitted USB RF signal is a cos[(c + m)t + ] sinusoid,
The demodulator's BFO has a frequency error of radians/second and a
phase error of radians.
USB demodulation with BFO frequency error
of and phase offset = radians/second
0.5cos[(m )t + ]

0.5cos[(2c + m + )t + + ]
+ 0.5cos[(m )t + ]

cos[(m )t + ]

cos[(c + m)t + ]

Demodulated
output

LPF

cos[(c+)t+]
+
LPF

sin[(c+)t+]

HT

0.5sin[(m )t + ]

0.5sin[(2c + m + )t + + ]
+ 0.5sin[(m )t + ]

0.5cos[(m )t + ]

Figure C-1
If = 0 and = 0, then the demodulated output signal would be the original
cos(mt + ) baseband signal.
Figure C-2 gives a graphical derivation of a demodulated LSB-mode output
signal when frequency and phase errors exist in the local BFO. Notice in the
LSB-mode case, if an LSB transmitter's baseband signal contains a single
sinusoid of cos(mt + ), the transmitted RF LSB signal will be cos(mt - )
having a negative initial phase angle.
LSB demodulation with BFO frequency error
of and phase offset = radians/second
0.5cos[(2c m + )t + ]
+ 0.5cos[(m + )t + + ]

0.5cos[(m + )t + + ]

LPF
cos[(c m)t ]

cos[(c+)t+]
+
LPF

sin[(c+)t+]

HT

0.5sin[(m + )t + + ]

0.5sin[(2c m + )t + ]
0.5sin[(m + )t + + ]

Demodulated
output

cos[(m + )t + + ]

0.5cos[(m + )t + + ]

Figure C-2

Copyright Richard Lyons, August 2012

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