DIGITAL

MODUL ATION
TECHNIQUES
E N G R . J O N A LY N M A E E . A R A N D A
 DIGITAL MODULATION
Outline:

a. Introduction
b. Information capacity, Bits, Bit Rate, Baud,
M-ary Encoding
c. Digital Modulation Techniques
- ASK, FSK, PSK, QAM

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INTRODUCTION :
ANALOG MODULATION AND
DIGITAL MODULATION
Both analog and digital modulation
systems use analog carriers to transport
the information signal.
In analog modulation, the information is
also analog, whereas with digital
modulation, the information is digital
which could be computer generated
data or digitally encoded analog signals.
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Digital modulation

 Is the transmittal of digitally modulated analog

signals between two or more points in a
communications system.
 Can be propagated through Earth’s
atmosphere and used in wireless communication
system - digital radio.
 Offer several outstanding advantages over
traditional analog system.
• Ease of processing
• Ease of multiplexing
• Noise immunity
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CONT’D...

Applications:
 Low speed voice band data comm. modems
 High speed data transmission systems
 Digital microwave & satellite comm. systems
 PCS (personal communication systems)
telephone

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 WHY DIGITAL
MODULATION?
• The modulation of digital signals with analogue
carriers allows an improvement in signal to
noise ratio as compared to analogue
modulating schemes.

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 IMPORTANT CRITERIA
1. High spectral efficiency
2. High power efficiency
3. Robust to multipath
4. Low cost and ease of implementation
5. Low carrier-to-co channel interference ratio
6. Low out-of-band radiation

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 CONT’D…
7. Constant or near constant envelop
8. Bandwidth Efficiency
• Ability to accommodate data within a limited
bandwidth
• Tradeoff between data rate and pulse width
9. Power Efficiency
• To preserve the fidelity of the digital message at
low power levels.
• Can increase noise immunity by increasing
signal power

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FORMS OF DIGITAL MODULATION

v(t )  V sin( 2ft   )

FSK
ASK PSK

QAM

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FORMS OF DIGITAL MODULATION
v(t )  V sin( 2ft   )
 If the amplitude, V of the carrier is varied
proportional to the information signal, a digital
modulated signal is called Amplitude Shift
Keying (ASK)
 If the frequency, f of the carrier is varied
proportional to the information signal, a digital
modulated signal is called Frequency Shift
Keying (FSK)
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CONT’D…
If the phase, θ of the carrier is varied
proportional to the information signal, a digital
modulated signal is called Phase Shift Keying
(PSK)

If both the amplitude and the phase, θ of the

carrier are varied proportional to the information
signal, a digital modulated signal is called
Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM)

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CONT’D...

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EXAMPLE 1

 For the digital message 1101 1100 1010, sketch

the waveform for the following:
a. ASK
b. FSK
c. PSK
d. QAM

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BLOCK DIAGRAM
Simplified block diagram of a digital modulation system

Transmitter Receiver

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 CONT’D…
Precoder performs level conversion &
encodes incoming data into group of bits
that modulate an analog carrier.

Modulated carrier filtered, amplified &

transmitted through transmission medium to
Rx.

In Rx, the incoming signals filtered, amplified

& applied to the demodulator and decoder
circuits which extracts the original source
information from modulated carrier. 15
 Information Capacity, Bits,
Bit Rate, Baud, M-ary Encoding
Information capacity, Bits & Bit Rate
– Information capacity is a measure of how much
information can be propagated through a
communication system and is a function of
bandwidth and transmission time.
– Represents the number of independent symbols
that can be carried through a system in a given
unit of time.
– Basic digital symbol is the binary digit or bit.
– Express the information capacity as a bit rate –
the number of bits transmitted during one second
(bps).
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HARTLEY’S LAW
I  Bt
Where:
I = information capacity (bps)
B = bandwidth (Hz)
t = transmission time (s)

 From the equation, Information capacity is a

linear function of bandwidth and
transmission time and directly proportional
to both.
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 SHANNON’S FORMULA

I  B log 2 (1  NS ) or I  3.32 B log10 (1  NS )

Where:
I = information capacity (bps)
B = bandwidth (Hz)
S = signal to noise power ratio (unitless)
N

The higher S/N the better the performance and the

higher the information capacity

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EXAMPLE 2

By using the Shannon’s Formula, calculate the

information capacity if S/N = 30 dB and B = 2.7
kHz.

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NYQUIST SAMPLING RATE

fs is equal or greater than 2fm

fs >= 2fm
fs = minimum Nyquist sample rate (Hz)
fm = maximum analog input frequency (Hz)

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EXAMPLE 3
Determine the Nyquist sample rate for a maximum
analog input frequency 7.5 kHz.

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EXAMPLE 1

For the digital message 1101 1100 1010, sketch the

waveform for the following:
a. ASK
b. FSK
c. PSK
d. QAM

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Answer

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EXAMPLE 2
By using the Shannon’s Formula, calculate the
information capacity if S/N = 30 dB and B = 2.7
kHz.

I  B log 2 (1  NS )

I  3.32(2700) log 2 (1  1000)  26.9kbps

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EXAMPLE 3
Determine the Nyquist sample rate for a maximum
analog input frequency 7.5 kHz.

fs >= 2fm
fs >= 2(7.5kHz) = 15kHz

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M -ARY ENCODING
It is often advantageous to encode at a level higher than
binary where there are more then two conditions
possible.
The number of bits necessary to produce a given number
of conditions is expressed mathematically as

N  log 2 M OR M 2 N

Where N = number of bits necessary

M = number of conditions, level or combinations
possible with N bits.
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CONT’D…

Each symbol represents n bits, and has M

signal states, where M = 2N.
Example:
A digital signal with four possible
conditions (voltage levels, frequencies, etc) is
an M-ary system with number of possible
conditions, M=4.

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EXAMPLE 4

Find the number of voltage levels which can

represent an analog signal with
a. 3 Bits
b. 8 bits
c. 12 bits

Ans: M=8,256,4096

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CONCEPT OF SIGNAL STATES

8 possible states

3 Bit ADC

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BAUD
• Baud refers to the rate of change of a signal on the
transmission medium after encoding and modulation
have occurred.
1
baud 
ts
ts
Where
baud = symbol rate (symbol per second)
ts = time of one signaling element or symbol
(seconds)
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BIT RATE AND BAUD

Bit rate refers to the rate of change of a digital

information signal, which is usually binary. (bps or
b/s )
Baud, like bit rate, also a rate of change but it
refers to the rate of change of a signal on
transmission medium after encoding and
modulation process.

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MINIMUM BW
Minimum Bandwidth refers to the minimum
bandwidth necessary to pass M-ary digitally
modulated carriers.
From the Nyquist formulation for channel
capacity, fb Then,

f b  B log 2 M
 fb  f
B    
Where fb= channel capacity (bps)
 log 2 M  N
B = minimum Nyquist bandwidth (Hz)
M = number of discrete signal or voltage levels

Where N is the number of bits encoded into each signaling element.

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EXAMPLE 5
Determine the minimum bandwidth
and baud necessary to pass a 10 kbps
binary signal using amplitude shift
keying.
Solution
ASK : N=1, and the minimum bandwidth are
 fb  fb  10,000  f b
B     B   f b  10,000  baud
 log 2 M  N  1  1

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ADDITIONAL NOTE
N=1  1 bit is represented for a signaling
element or symbol.

ts

N=1, gives the following equation becomes

 fb  f
B     = fb , in binary system baud =
 log 2 M  N
bit per second are equal.
In higher system, bps always greater than baud. 34
Digital Modulation Techniques
• Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK)
• Frequency Shift Keying (FSK)
• Phase Shift Keying (PSK)
• Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM)

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AMPLITUDE SHIFT KEYING
(ASK)

 The simplest digital modulation technique

 A binary information signal is directly
modulates the amplitude of an analog
carrier.
 Similar to standard AM except there are
only two output amplitudes possible.

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AMPLITUDE SHIFT KEYING
(ASK) Changes in amplitude
of the carrier signal

• A binary information signal directly modulates the amplitude of

an analog carrier.
• Sometimes called Digital Amplitude Modulation (DAM)

vask (t )  [1  vm (t )] cos(ct ) A
2
Where vask (t) = amplitude shift keying wave The
modulating
vm(t) = digital information signal (volt) signal is the
normalized
A/2 = unmodulated carrier amplitude (volt) binary
ωc = analog carrier radian frequency (rad/s) waveform

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CONT’D...

Digital Amplitude Modulation

 A cos(c t ) for logic '1' , vm (t )  1V

vask (t )  
 0 for logic '0' , vm (t )  1V

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 FREQUENCY SHIFT KEYING
(FSK)
 Also the relatively simple digital modulation
technique
 Similar to standard FM except the modulating
signal is the binary signal that varies between 2
discrete voltage levels rather than a continuously
changing analog waveform.

 Sometimes called as Binary Frequency Shift Keying

(BFSK)

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 FREQUENCY SHIFT KEYING
(FSK) Changes in the freq of
the carrier signal

• The phase shift in carrier frequency (∆f) is proportional to the

amplitude of the binary input signal (vm(t)) and the direction of
the shift is determined by the polarity

v fsk (t )  Vc cos2 [ f c  vm (t )f ]t

Where vfsk(t) = binary FSK waveform
Vc = peak analog carrier amplitude (volt)
The
modulating fc = analog carrier center frequency (Hz)
signal is a
normalized ∆f = peak shift in analog carrier frequency (Hz)
binary vm(t) = binary input signal (volt)
waveform

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 Vc cos2 [ f c  f ]t for logic '1' , vm (t )  1
v fsk (t )  
Vc cos2 [ f c  f ]t for logic '0' , vm (t )  1

lower Higher
frequency frequency

or space or mark
frequency frequency

fm  fs
f  ,
2
where
f  frequency deviation (Hz)
f m  f s  absolute difference between mark & space frequency (Hz)
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 Exercise

P R O V E T H E F O L LO W I N G E Q U AT I O N S T O
REPRESENT BINARY 1 AND 0
R E S P E C T I V E LY .
a)
vask (t )  [1  vm (t )] cos(ct )
A
2
5 marks

b) v fsk (t )  Vc cos2 [ f c  vm (t )f ]t

5 marks
B  ( f m  f b )  ( f s  f b )  f m  f s  2 f b  2(f  f b )

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 Cont’d...

Binary Input Frequency Output

0 Space (fs)

1 Mark (fm)

Baud for FSK determined by setting N=1

fb
baud   fb
1
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EXAMPLE 6

 For an FSK signal, given a mark frequency = 49kHz, a

space frequency = 51kHz and input bit rate =2kbps.

Determine
(a) The peak frequency deviation
(b) Minimum bandwidth
(c) Baud for a binary FSK signal

Ans: 1kHZ,6kHz,2000
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SOLUTION
The peak frequency deviation
| 49kHz  51kHz |
f   1kHz.
2
Minimum bandwidth
B  2(1000  2000 )  6kHz

Baud for a binary FSK signal, for FSK,N=1

2000
Baud   2000
1

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 PHASE SHIFT KEYING (PSK)
Another form of angle-modulated, constant amplitude digital
modulation.
Binary digital signal input & limited number of output
phases possible.
M-ary digital modulation scheme with the number of
output phases defined by M.
The simplest PSK is Binary Phase-Shift Keying (BPSK)
– N= 1, M=2
– Two phases possible for carrier with one phase for logic 1 and another
phase for logic 0
– The output carrier shifts between two angles separated by 180°
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CONT’D...

M=2,
N=1

a) Truth Table b) Phasor Diagram c) Constellation Diagram

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CONT’D...
BPSK Transmitter

• Balanced modulator –
phase reversing switch

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CONT’D...
BPSK Receiver

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CONSTELLATION DIAGRAM
Definition : A graphical representation of the
complex envelope of each possible symbol
state.

 The x-axis represents the in-phase

component and the y-axis the quadrature
component of the complex envelope

 The distance between signals on a

constellation diagram relates to how different
the modulation waveforms are and how
easily a receiver can differentiate between
them.

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CONT’D...

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CONT’D...
M=8
N=3

tribits

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QUADRATURE AMPLITUDE
MODULATION (QAM)
Combine amplitude and phase-shift keying.
Similar with PSK except that it is not a constant
amplitude signal. Both amplitude and phase
change.
Method of voice band data transmission.
QAM = 4-PSK

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CONT’D...

quadbits
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 CONT’D...

Both amplitude Constant

and phase vary amplitude, phase
varies
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 CONT’D...
Amplitude and phase shift keying can be combined to
transmit several bits per symbol.
– Often referred to as linear as they require linear
amplification.
– More bandwidth-efficient, but more susceptible to noise.
For M = 4, 16QAM has the largest distance between points, but
requires very linear amplification. 16PSK has less stringent
linearity requirements, but has less spacing between
constellation points, and is therefore more affected by noise.
High level M-ary schemes (such as 64-QAM) are very
bandwidth-efficient but more susceptible to noise and require
linear amplification

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BANDWIDTH EFFICIENCY
– Used to compare the performance of one
digital modulation technique to another.

Bη = Transmission bit rate (bps)

Minimum bandwidth (Hz)

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CONCLUSION

To decide which modulation method should

be used , we need to make considerations of

a) Bandwidth
b) Speed of Modulation
c) Complexity of Hardware

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