Digital modulation techniques

Modulation is defined as the process by which some characteristics of a carrier is

varied in accordance with a modulating wave. In digital communications, the
modulating wave consists of binary data or an M-ary encoded version of it and the
carrier is sinusoidal wave.
Different Shift keying methods that are used in digital modulation techniques are
 Amplitude shift keying [ASK]
 Frequency shift keying [FSK]
 Phase shift keying [PSK]
Fig shows different modulations
 1. ASK[Amplitude Shift Keying]:

In a binary ASK system symbol ‘1’ and ‘0’ are transmitted as

2Eb
S1(t)  Cos2πf1t for symbol 1
Tb
S 2(t)  0 for symbol 0

2. FSK[Frequency Shift Keying]:

In a binary FSK system symbol ‘1’ and ‘0’ are transmitted as

2Eb
S1(t)  Cos2πf1t for symbol 1
Tb
2Eb
S 2(t)  Cos2πf2t for symbol 0
Tb
3. PSK[Phase Shift Keying]:

In a binary PSK system the pair of signals S1(t) and S2(t) are used to represent
binary symbol ‘1’ and ‘0’ respectively.
2Eb
S1 (t)  Cos2πfct --------- for Symbol ‘1’
Tb

2Eb 2Eb
S2 (t)  Cos(2πfct  π )   Cos2πfct ------- for Symbol ‘0’
Tb Tb

Hierarchy of digital modulation technique

Digital Modulation Technique

Coherent Non - Coherent

Binary M - ary Hybrid Binary M - ary

(m) = 2 (m) = 2

* ASK M-ary ASK M-ary APK * ASK M-ary ASK

* FSK M-ary FSK M-ary QAM * FSK M-ary FSK
* PSK M-ary PSK * DPSK M-ary DPSK
(QPSK)
Coherent Binary PSK:

Non Return to
Zero Level Product
Encoder Modulator
Binary Binary PSK Signal
Data Sequence

2
φ1(t)  Cos2πfct
Tb

Fig(a) Block diagram of BPSK transmitter

x(t) T b
x1 Decision Choose 1 if x1>0

0
dt Device
Choose 0 if x1<0

Correlator
φ1 (t) Threshold λ = 0

Fig (b) Coherent binary PSK receiver

In a Coherent binary PSK system the pair of signals S1(t) and S2(t) are used to
represent binary symbol ‘1’ and ‘0’ respectively.

2Eb
S1 (t)  Cos2πfct --------- for Symbol ‘1’
Tb

2Eb 2Eb
S2 (t)  Cos(2πfct  π )   Cos2πfct ------- for Symbol ‘0’
Tb Tb

Eb0  Eb1
Where Eb= Average energy transmitted per bit Eb 
2
In the case of PSK, there is only one basic function of Unit energy which is given
by
 2
φ1 (t)  Cos2πfct 0  t  Tb
Tb
Therefore the transmitted signals are given by

S1 (t)  Eb φ1 (t) 0  t  Tb for Symbol 1

S2 (t)  Eb φ1 (t) 0  t  Tb for Symbol 0

A Coherent BPSK is characterized by having a signal space that is one

dimensional (N=1) with two message points (M=2)

Tb

S11   S1 (t)φ1 (t) dt  Eb

0

Tb 
S21   S2 (t)φ1 (t) dt  Eb 
0

The message point corresponding to S1(t) is located at S11  Eb and S2(t) is
located at S21  Eb .
To generate a binary PSK signal we have to represent the input binary sequence in
polar form with symbol ‘1’ and ‘0’ represented by constant amplitude levels of
 Eb &  Eb respectively. This signal transmission encoding is performed by a NRZ

level encoder. The resulting binary wave [in polar form] and a sinusoidal carrier φ1(t)
nc
[whose frequency f c ] are applied to a product modulator. The desired BPSK wave
Tb
is obtained at the modulator output.
To detect the original binary sequence of 1’s and 0’s we apply the noisy PSK
signal x(t) to a Correlator, which is also supplied with a locally generated coherent
reference signal φ1(t) as shown in fig (b). The correlator output x1 is compared with a
threshold of zero volt.
If x1 > 0, the receiver decides in favour of symbol 1.
If x1 < 0, the receiver decides in favour of symbol 0.
Probability of Error Calculation ‘Or’
Bit Error rate Calculation [BER Calculation] :-
In BPSK system the basic function is given by
2
φ1 (t)  Cos2πfct 0  t  Tb
Tb
The signals S1(t) and S2(t) are given by

S1 (t)  Eb φ1 (t) 0  t  Tb for Symbol 1

S2 (t)  Eb φ1 (t) 0  t  Tb for Symbol 0

The signal space representation is as shown in fig (N=1 & M=2)

Region R2 Region R1

- Eb Eb

0
Message Point 2 Message Point 1
S2(t) Decision Boundary S1(t)

Fig. Signal Space Representation of BPSK

The observation vector x1 is related to the received signal x(t) by
T

x1   x(t)φ1(t) dt
0

If the observation element falls in the region R1, a decision will be made in favour
of symbol ‘1’. If it falls in region R2 a decision will be made in favour of symbol ‘0’.
The error is of two types
1) Pe(0/1) i.e. transmitted as ‘1’ but received as ‘0’ and
2) Pe(1/0) i.e. transmitted as ‘0’ but received as ‘1’.
Error of 1st kind is given by

1   (x  μ )2 
Pe (1/ 0)  exp 1  dx1 Assuming Gaussian Distribution

2
2
2πσ 0  2σ
 Where μ = mean value =  Eb for the transmission of symbol ‘0’
N
σ 2 = Variance = 0 for additive white Gaussiance noise.
2
Threshold Value λ = 0. [Indicates lower limit in integration]

Therefore the above

1 equation
 becomes
e0 e 

(x  E )2 
1
1 N b
P  P (1/ 0)  πN0 exp  dx
 

0 0

x1  Eb
Put Z 
 N0
 

Pe0  Pe (1/ 0)  1 2
π
1
exp (Z )
( Eb / N0 )
dz
P (1/ 0)  erfc Eb
e
2 N0

1
Similarly P (0 /1)  erfc Eb
e
2 N0

The total probability of error Pe  Pe (1/ 0) Pe (0)  Pe (0 /1) Pe (1) assuming

probability of 1’s and 0’s are equal.
1
P  [P (1/ 0)  P (0 /1) ]
e
2 e e

1
P  erfc Eb
e
2 N0

Coherent Binary FSK

In a binary FSK system symbol ‘1’ and ‘0’ are transmitted as

2Eb
S1(t)  Cos2πf1t for symbol 1
Tb
2Eb
S 2(t)  Cos2πf2t for symbol 0
Tb

nc  i
Frequency f i  for some fixed integer nc and i=1, 2
Tb
The basic functions are given by
 2
φ1 (t)  Cos2πf1t and
Tb
2
φ2 (t)  Cos2πf2t for 0  t  Tb and Zero Otherwise
Tb

Therefore FSK is characterized by two dimensional signal space with two

message points i.e. N=2 and m=2.
The two message points are defined by the signal vector
 Eb 
S  and S  0 
1   2  
0   Eb 


Generation and Detection:-

fig a

fig b

fig: FSK transmitter and receiver

 A binary FSK Transmitter is as shown in fig. (a). The incoming binary
data sequence is applied to on-off level encoder. The output of encoder is Eb volts for

symbol 1 and 0 volts for symbol ‘0’. When we have symbol 1 the upper channel is
switched on with oscillator frequency f1, for symbol ‘0’, because of inverter the lower
channel is switched on with oscillator frequency f2. These two frequencies are combined
using an adder circuit and then transmitted. The transmitted signal is nothing but
required BFSK signal.
The detector consists of two correlators. The incoming noisy BFSK signal x(t) is
common to both correlator. The Coherent reference signal φ1(t) and φ2 (t) are supplied to
upper and lower correlators respectively.
The correlator outputs are then subtracted one from the other and resulting a
random vector ‘l’ (l=x1 - x2). The output ‘l’ is compared with threshold of zero volts.
If l > 0, the receiver decides in favour of symbol 1.
l < 0, the receiver decides in favour of symbol 0.

Probability of Error Calculation:-

In binary FSK system the basic functions are given by

2
φ1 (t)  Cos2πf1t 0  t  Tb
Tb

2
φ2 (t)  Cos2πf2t 0  t  Tb
Tb
The transmitted signals S1(t) and S2(t) are given by
S1(t)  Ebφ1 (t) for symbol 1

S 2(t)  Ebφ2 (t) for symbol 0

Therefore Binary FSK system has 2 dimensional signal space with two messages
S1(t) and S2(t), [N=2 , m=2] they are represented as shown in fig.
Fig. Signal Space diagram of Coherent binary FSK system.

The two message points are defined by the signal vector

 Eb 
S  and S  0 
1   2  
0   b 
E

The observation vector x1 and x2 ( output of upper and lower correlator) are
related to input signal x(t) as

Tb

x1   x(t)φ1(t)dt and
0

Tb

x2   x(t)φ2 (t)dt
0

N0
Assuming zero mean additive white Gaussian noise with input PSD . with
2
N0
variance .
2
The new observation vector ‘l’ is the difference of two random variables x1 & x2.
l = x1 – x2
 When symbol ‘1’ was transmitted x1 and x2 has mean value of 0 and

Eb respectively.

Therefore the conditional mean of random variable ‘l’ for symbol 1 was
transmitted is

E    E  1   E  2 
l x x
1  1   1 
 Eb  0
 Eb


 l 
Similarly for ‘0’ transmission E 
0 Eb

The total variance of random variable ‘l’ is given by

Var[l]  Var[x1 ] Var[x2 ]
 N0
The probability of error is given by


 (l 2NEb ) 2 

e e0 1
P (1/ 0)  P  exp  dl
2πN0 0  0 


 l  Eb
Put Z
2N 0

1
Pe0 
π exp(z 2 )dz
Eb
2 N0

1  
 erfc  Eb 
2  2N 0 

1  
Similarly Pe1  erfc  Eb 
2  2N 0 
 1
The total probability of error = P  [P (1/ 0)  P (0 /1) ]
e
2 e e

Assuming 1’s & 0’s with equal probabilities

1
Pe= [P  P ]
2 e0 e1

P
1
erfc  Eb 
e  
2  2N 0 

BINARY ASK SYSTEM:-

Binary ON-OFF Product Binary ASK

Level Modulator
Data Sequence Signal
Encoder

 2
φ1 (t)  Cos2πfet

Tb

Fig (a) BASK transmitter 



Tb

 dt If x > λ choose symbol 1
x(t) X  Decision
0 Device

If x < λ choose symbol 0

φ1 (t) Threshold λ
Fig (b) Coherent binary ASK demodulator
In Coherent binary ASK system the basic function is given by

2
φ1 (t)  Cos2πfet 0  t  Tb
Tb
The transmitted signals S1(t) and S2(t) are given by
S1 (t)  Eb φ1 (t) for Symbol 1

S2 (t)  0 for Symbol 0

The BASK system has one dimensional signal space with two messages (N=1, M=2)
 Region E2 Region E1

Message
Point 2
Eb

φ1 (t)

0 Eb Message
2 Point 1
Fig. (c) Signal Space representation of BASK signal

In transmitter the binary data sequence is given to an on-off encoder. Which

gives an output Eb volts for symbol 1 and 0 volt for symbol 0. The resulting binary

wave [in unipolar form] and sinusoidal carrier φ1(t) are applied to a product modulator.
The desired BASK wave is obtained at the modulator output.
In demodulator, the received noisy BASK signal x(t) is apply to correlator with
coherent reference signal φ1(t) as shown in fig. (b). The correlator output x is compared
with threshold λ.
If x > λ the receiver decides in favour of symbol 1.
If x < λ the receiver decides in favour of symbol 0.

BER Calculation:
In binary ASK system the basic function is given by

2
φ1 (t)  Cos2πfct 0  t  Tb
Tb
The transmitted signals are given by

S1 (t)  Eb φ 1(t) for Symbol 1

S2 (t)  0 for Symbol 0

A2T
E E 0 b A2T
Therefore the average transmitted energy per bit E  b0 b1
 2  b
b
2 2 4
The probability of error is given by
 1   (x  0)2 
Pe0 
πN0
 exp N dx
Eb  o 
2


Where ‘x’ is the observed random vector. μ = 0, because the average value for symbol ‘0’
transmission is zero (0).

N0 N0
σ2 assuming additive white Gaussian noise with into PSD
2 2

x
Let Z 
N0


1
Pe0 
π  exp(z 2 )dz
Eb
2 N0

1  
 erfc  Eb 
2  2N 0 

1  
similarly Pe1  erfc  Eb 
2  2N 0 
1
The total probability of error = [P  P ]
e0 e1
2

P 
1
erfc  Eb 
e  
2  2N 0 
Incoherent detection:

Fig(a). : Envelope detector for OOK BASK

Incoherent detection as used in analog communication does not require carrier for
reconstruction. The simplest form of incoherent detector is the envelope detector as
shown in figure(a). The output of envelope detector is the baseband signal. Once the
baseband signal is recovered, its samples are taken at regular intervals and compared with
threshold.
If Z(t) is greater than threshold ( λ ) a decision will be made in favour of symbol ‘1’
If Z(t) the sampled value is less than threshold ( λ ) a decision will be made in favour of
symbol ‘0’.
Non- Coherenent FSK Demodulation:-

Fig(b) : Incoherent detection of FSK

Fig(b) shows the block diagram of incoherent type FSK demodulator. The
detector consists of two band pass filters one tuned to each of the two frequencies used to
communicate ‘0’s and ‘1’s., The output of filter is envelope detected and then baseband
detected using an integrate and dump operation. The detector is simply evaluating which
of two possible sinusoids is stronger at the receiver. If we take the difference of the
outputs of the two envelope detectors the result is bipolar baseband.
The resulting envelope detector outputs are sampled at t = kTb and their values are
compared with the threshold and a decision will be made infavour of symbol 1 or 0.

Differential Phase Shift Keying:- [DPSK]

Fig. (a) DPSK Transmitter

Fig. (b) DPSK Receiver

A DPSK system may be viewed as the non coherent version of the PSK. It eliminates
the need for coherent reference signal at the receiver by combining two basic operations
at the transmitter
(1) Differential encoding of the input binary wave and
(2) Phase shift keying
 Hence the name differential phase shift keying [DPSK]. To send symbol ‘0’ we
phase advance the current signal waveform by 1800 and to send symbol 1 we leave the
phase of the current signal waveform unchanged.
The differential encoding process at the transmitter input starts with an arbitrary
first but, securing as reference and thereafter the differentially encoded sequence{dk} is
generated by using the logical equation.

d k
 d b  d b
k 1 k
k 1 k

Where bk is the input binary digit at time kTb and dk-1 is the previous value of the
differentially encoded digit. Table illustrate the logical operation involved in the
generation of DPSK signal.

Input Binary Sequence {bK} 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 1

Differentially Encoded 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 1
sequence {dK}
Transmitted Phase 0 0 Π 0 0 Π 0 0 0
Received Sequence 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 1
(Demodulated Sequence)

A DPSK demodulator is as shown in fig(b). The received signal is first passed

through a BPF centered at carrier frequency fc to limit noise power. The filter output and
its delay version are applied to correlator the resulting output of correlator is proportional
to the cosine of the difference between the carrier phase angles in the two correlator
inputs. The correlator output is finally compared with threshold of ‘0’ volts .
If correlator output is +ve -- A decision is made in favour of symbol ‘1’
If correlator output is -ve --- A decision is made in favour of symbol ‘0’
COHERENT QUADRIPHASE – SHIFT KEYING

Fig. (a) QPSK Transmitter

Fig. (b) QPSK Receiver

In case of QPSK the carrier is given by

2E
si (t)  Cos[2πfct  (2i  1)π / 4] 0t T i  1 to 4
T
2E 2E
si (t)  Cos[(2i  1)π / 4]cos( 2πfct)  sin[(2i  1)π / 4]sin( 2πfct) 0  t  T i  1 to 4
T T
Fig. (c) QPSK Waveform

In QPSK system the information carried by the transmitted signal is contained in

the phase. The transmitted signals are given by

 π 
 
 2E   
S1 (t) cos  2π f c t    for input di bit 10
T  4
(t)  2E  3π 


S2 f
T cos  2π c t   


   for input dibit 00

2E


4 
5π  
S 3 (t)  T cos2π f c t  4      for input dibit 01
 
(t)  2E  7π 


St T cos  2π
f t  

   for input dibit 11

c 4 

Where the carrier frequency f  nC for some fixed integer nc

C 7
 E = the transmitted signal energy per symbol.
T = Symbol duration.
The basic functions φ (t) and φ (t) are given by
1 2

φ (t) 
2

cos 2π f t  0  t T
1
T b
c

φ (t) 
2

sin 2π f t  0  t T
2
T b
c

There are four message points and the associated signal vectors are defined by
  π
cos 2i 1 
 E

Si    i  1,2,3,4
 4 
π
 sin 2i 1 
E


 4  

The table shows the elements of signal vectors, namely Si1 & Si2

Table:-

Input dibit Phase of Coordinates of message

QPSK points
signal(radians) Si1 Si2

10 π  E  E
4 2 2

00 3π  E  E
4 2 2

01 5π  E  E
4 2 2

11 7π  E  E
4 2 2
Therefore a QPSK signal is characterized by having a two dimensional signal
constellation(i.e.N=2)and four message points(i.e. M=4) as illustrated in fig(d)

.Fig (d) Signal-space diagram of coherent QPSK system.

Generation:-
Fig(a) shows a block diagram of a typical QPSK transmitter, the incoming binary
data sequence is first transformed into polar form by a NRZ level encoder. Thus the

symbols 1& 0 are represented by  E b

and  E b
respectively. This binary wave is

next divided by means of a demultiplexer [Serial to parallel conversion] into two separate
binary waves consisting of the odd and even numbered input bits. These two binary
waves are denoted by ao(t) and ae(t)
The two binary waves ao(t) and ae(t) are used to modulate a pair of quadrature
carriers or orthonormal basis functions φ 1
(t) & φ (t) which are given by
2

2
φ 1
(t ) 
T
cos 2π f c
t

&
2
φ 2
(t ) 
T
sin 2π f c
t
 The result is a pair of binary PSK signals, which may be detected independently due to

the orthogonality of φ (t) & φ (t) .

1 2
Finally the two binary PSK signals are added to produce the desired QPSK signal.
Detection:-
The QPSK receiver consists of a pair of correlators with a common input and supplied
with a locally generated pair of coherent reference signals φ (t) & φ (t) as shown in
1 2

fig(b).The correlator outputs x1 and x2 produced in response to the received signal x(t) are
each compared with a threshold value of zero.
The in-phase channel output :
If x1 > 0 a decision is made in favour of symbol 1
x1 < 0 a decision is made in favour of symbol 0
Similarly quadrature channel output:
If x2 >0 a decision is made in favour of symbol 1 and
x2 <0 a decision is made in favour of symbol 0
Finally these two binary sequences at the in phase and quadrature channel outputs are
combined in a multiplexer (Parallel to Serial) to reproduce the original binary sequence.
Probability of error:-
A QPSK system is in fact equivalent to two coherent binary PSK systems
working in parallel and using carriers that are in-phase and quadrature.
The in-phase channel output x1 and the Q-channel output x2 may be viewed as the
individual outputs of the two coherent binary PSK systems. Thus the two binary PSK
systems may be characterized as follows.

- The signal energy per bit E

2

- The noise spectral density is N 0

2
The average probability of bit error in each channel of the coherent QPSK system is
 1
 E   
P  erfc  2  E E
1

2  N 0  2
 
1  E 
 erfc  
2  2N 0 

The bit errors in the I-channel and Q-channel of the QPSK system are statistically
independent . The I-channel makes a decision on one of the two bits constituting a
symbol (di bit) of the QPSK signal and the Q-channel takes care of the other bit.
Therefore, the average probability of a direct decision resulting from the
combined action of the two channels working together is
pc= probability of correct reception
p1= probability of error

P C
 1  P1 
2

 1  E  2
 1  erfc 2No 
 2  
 E  1
1  erfc  erfc2  E 
 
   2No 
2No  4
The average probability of symbol error for coherent QPSK is given by

P  1  P
e
 C  1  
 erfc  E  erfc  E 
2

 2No  4  2No 
In the region where E We may ignore the second term and so the
 1
2N o

approximate formula for the average probability of symbol error for coherent QPSK
system is

E
P e
 erfc
2No