Introduction to Communication Systems (ECEg-3152)

Chapter Two
Amplitude Modulation and Demodulation
Before an information-bearing signal is transmitted through a communication channel, some type
of modulation process is typically utilized to produce a signal that can easily be accommodated by
the channel. Modulation is defined as the process by which some characteristic of a carrier wave
is varied in accordance with an information-bearing signal. The carrier is needed to facilitate the
transportation of the modulated signal across a band-pass channel from the transmitter to the
receiver. A commonly used carrier is a sinusoidal wave, the source of which is physically
independent of the source of the information-bearing signal.
The modulation process is important for the following reasons:
 To radiate from an antenna of reasonable size.
 To enable more than one user to communicate over a channel at one time by
selecting different carrier frequency (FDM).
 To increase range of communication
 For effective radiation.
There are three different types of modulation techniques:
1. Analog Modulation: - is a process of changing amplitude, frequency or phase of an analog
carrier in accordance with analog message signal. It has three different forms: Amplitude
Modulation (AM), Frequency Modulation (FM), Phase Modulation (PM).
2. Pulse Modulation: - is method of converting message signal in to pulse forms for
transferring pulses from a source to a destination. The predominant methods are; Pulse
Amplitude Modulation (PAM), Pulse Position Modulation (PPM), Pulse Width
Modulation (PWM) and Pulse Code Modulation (PCM), Differential PCM (DPCM), Delta
Modulation (DM).
3. Digital Modulation: - is the same as analog modulations but the modulating signals are
digital signals and thus the modulation type is different. The predominant methods in
digital modulation are Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK), Frequency Shift Keying (FSK),
Phase Shift Keying (PSK), and Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM).
Amplitude Modulation (AM)
AM is analog modulation, which is the process of changing the amplitude of a relatively high
frequency carrier signal in accordance with the amplitude of the modulating message signal. AM

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is a relatively inexpensive, low quality form of modulation that is used for broadcasting of both
audio and video signals.
There are four types of AM:
1. Double Side Band-with carrier (DSB-with carrier) AM
2. Double Side Band-Suppressed Carrier (DSB-SC) AM
3. Single Side Band (SSB) AM
4. Vestigial Side Band (VSB) AM
These four types of modulation differ from each other by virtue of their spectral characteristics.
2.1 DSB-with Carrier Amplitude Modulation - Standard AM

This is the form of modulation used for commercial AM broadcasting. It has the advantage that
the receiver is extremely simple (good for commercial applications, since radio receivers can be
made very cheaply). However, we will see the power efficiency at the transmitter is very poor.
Let the carrier be 𝑐(𝑡) = 𝐴𝑐 cos 2𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡 and message signal be 𝑚(𝑡) = 𝐴𝑚 cos 2𝜋𝑓𝑚 𝑡. The block
diagram of an AM modulation system is shown in Fig. 2.1.

AM Modulator 𝑠(𝑡)
𝑐(𝑡)

𝑚(𝑡)

Fig. 2.1: Double-sideband modulation

Mathematically, standard AM wave 𝑠(𝑡) is described by
s(t )  Ac [1  ka m(t )]cos 2f ct (2.1)
   
envelop carrier

Where 𝐴𝑐 is un-modulated carrier amplitude, 𝑚(𝑡) is the message signal (voice, music, data,
etc.), 𝑓𝑐 is carrier frequency and 𝑘𝑎 is a constant called amplitude sensitivity of the modulator
responsible for the generation of the modulated signal.

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Fig 2.2: amplitude modulation

The amplitude of the envelope, 𝑎(𝑡) is given as
𝑎(𝑡) = 𝐴𝑐 [1 + 𝑘𝑎 𝑚(𝑡)] (2.2)
Which as we see varies in accordance with the message signal 𝑚(𝑡). Here, we assume
k a m(t )  1 for all t. (2.3)

Fig 2.2 shows a typical baseband message waveform 𝑚(𝑡) (part a), a high frequency carrier
waveform 𝑐(𝑡) (part b) and the resulting AM wave (part c), in which sine wave is used to represent
both the message and carrier signals. Note the envelope (amplitude) of the resulting AM wave
varies in accordance with 𝑚(𝑡), hence, 𝑚(𝑡) can be recovered from the envelope of 𝑠(𝑡). Note
also that the envelope function from Eq. (2.2) may be generated in the following way:
1. Multiply the message waveform 𝑚(𝑡) by a suitably small constant 𝑘𝑎 so that the value
𝑘𝑎 𝑚(𝑡) is small in comparison to unity for all time.
2. Add a DC value of 1 Volt to 𝑘𝑎 𝑚(𝑡).
3. Multiply (scale) the resulting signal [1 + 𝑘𝑎 𝑚(𝑡)] by a content Ac to bring the signal up
to a desired level.
4. The envelope from part 3 is then multiplied by a carrier (cosine wave) at the desired
frequency.

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Fig 2.3 shows the case where Eq. (2.3) is violated; i.e. 𝑘𝑎 𝑚(𝑡) > 1, when 𝑚(𝑡) < 0. This causes
the amplitude of 𝑠(𝑡) to go negative during this interval, which results in a 1800 phase reversal in
the carrier waveform. Note that this condition results in distortion of the envelope of 𝑠(𝑡).

Fig. 2.3: Phase reversal of AM modulated wave

The envelop of the modulated wave has the same shape as the baseband signal 𝑚(𝑡) provided two
requirements are satisfied:
i. |𝑘𝑎 𝑚(𝑡)| < 1 for all t. This assure that [1 + 𝑘𝑎 𝑚(𝑡)] > 1, avoiding phase reversal
of 𝑐(𝑡).
ii. 𝑓𝑐 >> 𝑤, where 𝑤 is the highest frequency component of 𝑚(𝑡). Otherwise, the
envelope cannot be visualized and hence, cannot be detected satisfactorily.
Modulation Index and Percentage of Modulation
The maximum absolute value of the quantity 𝑘𝑎 𝑚(𝑡) is called modulation index. If it is multiplied
by 100, the result is referred to as the percentage modulation. Modulation index is a factor that
shows the degree of modulation. If modulation index is greater than 1, the message signal is said
to be over-modulated and the process is called over-modulation. If it is 1 the message signal is said
to be 100% modulated and the process is called 100% modulation. Else if the modulation index is
less than 1, the message signal is said to be under-modulated and the process is called under-
modulation. Fig. 2.4 shows examples of under-modulated (part a), 100% modulated (part b), and
over- modulated (part c) waveforms.
The ideal condition for AM is at 100 percent modulation which results in the greatest output power
at the transmitter and the greatest output voltage at the receiver, with no distortion. Over
modulation however, causes distortion and affects the performance of a communication system.
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Fig. 2.4: examples of under modulated, 100% modulated and over modulated waveforms
Frequency Domain Description
Let 𝑠(𝑡) ⇔ 𝑆(𝑓) and 𝑚(𝑡) ⇔ 𝑀(𝑓) be Fourier transform pairs and also 𝑚(𝑡) be a band limited
signal, what does the spectrum 𝑆(𝑓) look like for a specific message spectrum 𝑀(𝑓)?
Rewriting the definition of 𝑠(𝑡), we have;
𝑠(𝑡) = 𝐴𝑐 [1 + 𝑘𝑎 𝑚(𝑡)]𝑐𝑜𝑠 2𝑓𝑐 𝑡 = A𝑐 cos2f𝑐 t + A𝑐 k 𝑎 m(t)cos 2f𝑐 t (2.4)

𝐴𝑐
The frequency domain representation of the first term is a set of -functions of amplitude at
2

frequencies 𝑓𝑐 . Using the frequency-shifting property of the Fourier transform for the second
term, we have;
𝐴𝑐 (2.5)
𝐴𝑐 𝑘𝑎 𝑚(𝑡) cos 2𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡 ⇔ 𝑘 [𝑀(𝑓 − 𝑓𝑐 ) + 𝑀(𝑓 + 𝑓𝑐 )]
2 𝑎
This is very important result: multiplication of 𝑚(𝑡) in the time domain by 𝑐𝑜𝑠2𝑓𝑐 𝑡 shifts 𝑀(𝑓)
upwards and downwards by 𝑓𝑐 Hz. Combining these two terms together, we have:
𝐴𝑐 𝐴𝑐 𝑘𝑎 (2.6)
𝑆(𝑓) = [𝛿(𝑓 − 𝑓𝑐 ) + 𝛿(𝑓 + 𝑓𝑐 )] + [𝑀(𝑓 − 𝑓𝑐 ) + 𝑀(𝑓 + 𝑓𝑐 )]
2 2
This spectrum is shown in Fig 2.5 for a generic-type spectrum 𝑀(𝑓). This spectrum contains the
𝐴𝑐 𝑘𝑎
message spectrum shifted upwards and downwards by 𝑓𝑐 , weighted by the factor . It also
2
𝐴𝑐
contains two delta-functions of weight at frequencies  𝑓𝑐 . These -functions are the most
2

predominant components present, yet they carry no information. Thus, we see that an AM
modulation is wasteful in terms of the power of the overall modulated signal to power in the
message component, i.e. 𝑀(𝑓) only.

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Fig 2.5 (a) Spectrum of message signal (b) Spectrum of AM wave.

As shown in Fig. 2.5(b), the portion of the spectrum of an AM wave above 𝑓𝑐 for positive frequency
and below −𝑓𝑐 for negative frequencies is referred to as upper side band (USB) and the portion
of the spectrum of an AM wave below 𝑓𝑐 for positive frequency and above −𝑓𝑐 for negative
frequencies is referred to as lower side band (LSB).
For positive frequencies, the highest frequency component of the AM wave is 𝑓𝑐 + 𝑊 and the
lowest frequency component is 𝑓𝑐 − 𝑊. The difference between these two frequencies define the
transmission bandwidth of the AM wave and it is exactly equal to twice the highest frequency of
the message signal i.e., 𝐵𝑇 = 2𝑊.
Single Tone Modulation
To visualize the AM process further, we examine the time and frequency domain representations
of 𝑠(𝑡) when the message signal 𝑚(𝑡) is a sinusoid. Let 𝑚(𝑡) = 𝐴𝑚 𝑐𝑜𝑠(2𝑓𝑚 𝑡), where 𝑓𝑐 >>
𝑓𝑚 . The resulting AM waveform is then,
𝑠(𝑡) = 𝐴𝑐 [1 + 𝐴𝑚 𝑘𝑎 cos 2𝜋𝑓𝑚 𝑡] cos 2𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡 (2.7)
Using the standard trigonometric expansion for the cos (A) cos (B) term in Eq. (2.7), we have
𝑠(𝑡) = 𝐴𝑐 cos 2𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡 + 𝐴𝑐 𝐴𝑚 𝑘𝑎 cos(2𝜋𝑓𝑚 𝑡) cos(2𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡)

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𝐴𝑐 𝐴𝑚 𝑘𝑎 𝐴𝑐 𝐴𝑚 𝑘𝑎 (2.8)
𝑠(𝑡) = 𝐴𝑐 cos 2𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡 + cos 2𝜋(𝑓𝑐 − 𝑓𝑚 )𝑡 + cos 2𝜋(𝑓𝑐 + 𝑓𝑚 )𝑡
2 2
Thus, we see that an AM waveform, modulated by a single-tone message 𝑚(𝑡), consists of three
components:
i. The carrier component (sinusoidal in time domain) at 𝑓𝑐 of weight 𝐴𝑐 (or two -
𝐴𝑐
functions in frequency domain at  𝑓 each with weight .
2
𝐴𝑐 𝐴𝑚 𝑘𝑎
ii. A message component at 𝑓𝑐 − 𝑓𝑚 with weight in time domain (LSB).
2
𝐴𝑐 𝐴𝑚 𝑘𝑎
iii. A message component at 𝑓𝑐 + 𝑓𝑚 with weight in time domain (USB).
2

Taking the Fourier transform Eq. (2.8) gives;

1 1 (2.9)
𝑆(𝑓) = 𝐴𝑐 [𝛿(𝑓 − 𝑓𝑐 ) + 𝛿(𝑓 + 𝑓𝑐 )] + 𝐴𝑐 𝐴𝑚 𝑘𝑎 [𝛿(𝑓 − 𝑓𝑐 − 𝑓𝑚 ) + 𝛿(𝑓 + 𝑓𝑐 + 𝑓𝑚 )]
2 4
1
+ 𝐴𝑐 𝐴𝑚 𝑘𝑎 [𝛿(𝑓 − 𝑓𝑐 + 𝑓𝑚 ) + 𝛿(𝑓 + 𝑓𝑐 − 𝑓𝑚 )]
4
Thus, the spectrum of an AM wave, for the special case of sinusoidal modulation, consists of delta
functions at ±𝑓𝑐 , 𝑓𝑐 ± 𝑓𝑚 , and −𝑓𝑐 ± 𝑓𝑚 as shown in Fig. 2.6 (c). The signals 𝑠(𝑡), 𝑚(𝑡) and the
carrier are also shown in Fig. 2.6 (a) - (c) both in time-domain and frequency-domain.

Fig. 2.6: time-domain and frequency-domain characteristics of AM waves produced by a

single tone modulation.

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For single-tone modulation, the modulation index can be obtained by definition,

1
𝑚 = max(|𝑘𝑎 𝑚(𝑡)|). Assuming 𝑘𝑎 = 𝐴 , and taking the single-tone message signal 𝑚(𝑡).
𝑐

𝐴𝑚 cos 2𝜋𝑓𝑚 𝑡 𝐴𝑚 (2.10)

𝑚 = max (| |) =
𝐴𝑐 𝐴𝑐

Fig. 2.7: AM wave

It is also possible to compute the modulation index from measurements taken on the modulated
wave itself. Whenever the message signal is displayed on an oscilloscope, the modulation index
can be computed from 𝑉𝑚𝑎𝑥 and 𝑉𝑚𝑖𝑛 of the modulated wave as shown in Fig. 2.7. The peak value
of the modulating signal 𝐴𝑚 is one-half the difference of the peak and trough values:
𝑉𝑚𝑎𝑥 − 𝑉𝑚𝑖𝑛
𝐴𝑚 =
2
The peak value of the carrier signal 𝐴𝑐 is also the average of the 𝑉𝑚𝑎𝑥 and 𝑉𝑚𝑖𝑛 values:
𝑉𝑚𝑎𝑥 + 𝑉𝑚𝑖𝑛
𝐴𝑐 =
2
Hence, the modulation index in Eq. (2.10) could be modified as;
𝑉𝑚𝑎𝑥 − 𝑉𝑚𝑖𝑛 (2.11)
𝑚=
𝑉𝑚𝑎𝑥 + 𝑉𝑚𝑖𝑛
Two-sided frequency spectrum of a single tone modulated wave is shown in Fig. 2.8 with
corresponding weight for each delta-function.

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Fig. 2.8: Frequency spectrum of single tone AM wave

AM Power Distribution of a carrier modulated by a single-tone message signal
In practice, the AM wave 𝑠(𝑡) is a voltage or current wave. In either case, the total power in the
amplitude-modulated wave consists of the sum of three components i.e. the power in the carrier,
in the USB and in the LSB. Considering the spectrum depicted in Fig. 2.8,
2
(𝐴𝑐 ⁄√2) 𝐴2𝑐
𝑃𝑐 = =
𝑅 2𝑅
2
(𝑚𝐴𝑐 ⁄2√2) 𝑚2 𝐴2𝑐 𝑚2 𝑃𝑐
𝑃𝑈𝑆𝐵 = 𝑃𝐿𝑆𝐵 = = =
𝑅 8𝑅 4 (2.12)
2
𝑚
𝑃𝑡 = 𝑃𝑐 + 𝑃𝐿𝑆𝐵 + 𝑃𝑈𝑆𝐵 = (1 + ) 𝑃𝑐
2
The power in the side bands depends upon the value of the modulation index. The greater the
modulation index, the higher the sideband power.
AM current Relations
In many cases the power output from an AM transmitter is not measured directly. Instead the
output current in the antenna is measured and the power is calculated. The total modulated current
𝐼𝑡 is determined by the un-modulated carrier current 𝐼𝑐 , and the modulation index m.
𝑃𝑡 𝐼𝑡2 𝑅 𝐼𝑡2 𝑚2 (2.13)
= = = (1 + ) ⇒ 𝐼𝑡 = 𝐼𝑐 √1 + 𝑚2 ⁄2
𝑃𝑐 𝐼𝑐2 𝑅 𝐼𝑐2 2
Efficiency of AM Transmitter
The carrier doesn’t contain message. The message is in the side bands and both the upper and
lower side bands contain the same information. Therefore the efficiency of an AM signal is power
in sidebands divided by the total power.

PUSB  PLSB m2 (2.14)

  2
PT m 2

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This has a maximum value of 33.3%, i.e., DSB-with carrier modulation has a very low efficiency.
This is one of the disadvantages of DSB-with carrier AM. Another disadvantage is that it requires
wide bandwidth ( BT  2W ). However, it is inherently easy to modulate and demodulate.
Example: - An audio frequency signal 10 sin 2𝜋 × 500𝑡 is used to amplitude modulate a carrier
of 50 sin 2𝜋 × 105 𝑡.
i) Sketch the waveforms of the message, carrier and amplitude modulated waves
ii) Calculate the modulation index
iii) Find the side band frequencies
iv) Find the amplitude of each sideband frequencies
v) What is the required bandwidth to transmit this AM signal?
vi) Calculate the total power delivered to a load of 600Ω
vii) Find the efficiency of the modulator
Solution: i) Waveforms of the message, carrier and AM signal are left for the student
ii) The given modulating signal is 𝑚(𝑡) = 10 sin 2𝜋 × 500𝑡. Hence, 𝐴𝑚 = 10. The given carrier
signal is 𝑐(𝑡) = 50 sin 2𝜋 × 105 𝑡, hence 𝐴𝑐 = 50. Therefore the modulation index will be,
𝐴𝑚 10
𝑚= = = 0.2 𝑜𝑟 20%
𝐴𝑐 50
iii) From the given equations,
𝜔𝑚 = 2𝜋 × 500, ℎ𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒, 𝑓𝑚 = 500𝐻𝑧 𝑎𝑛𝑑
𝜔𝑐 = 2𝜋 × 105 , ℎ𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒, 𝑓𝑐 = 100𝐾𝐻𝑧
We know that 𝑓𝑈𝑆𝐵 = 𝑓𝑐 + 𝑓𝑚 = 100𝐾𝐻𝑧 + 500𝐻𝑧 = 100.5𝐾𝐻𝑧
𝑓𝐿𝑆𝐵 = 𝑓𝑐 − 𝑓𝑚 = 100𝐾𝐻𝑧 − 500𝐻𝑧 = 99.5𝐾𝐻𝑧
𝑚𝐴𝑐 0.2×50
iv) Amplitude of upper and lower side bands is; = = = 5𝑉
2 2

v) Bandwidth requirement of the AM signal,

𝐵𝑊 𝑜𝑓 𝐴𝑀 = 2 × 𝑓𝑚 = 2 × 500𝐻𝑧 = 1𝐾𝐻𝑧
vi) Total power delivered by to the load is;
𝐴2𝑐 𝑚2 502 0.22
𝑃𝑡𝑜𝑡 = (1 + )= (1 + ) = 2.125 𝑊
2𝑅 2 2 × 600 2
vii) Efficiency of the modulator is given by;
𝑚2 0.22
𝜂= 2 = = 1.9%
𝑚 + 2 0.22 + 2

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Generation of AM waves
So far we have studied the basic concepts of amplitude modulation. In this section, we study the
techniques to generate amplitude modulated wave. These techniques can be classified as
Low level modulation and
High level modulation

In low-level modulation, the modulation takes place at low power level prior to the output element
of the final stage of the transmitter and the modulated signal passes through series of linear
amplifiers. Whereas, in high-level modulators, the modulation takes place in the final element of
the final stage at high power levels. Despite their complex design due-to the high power involved,
relatively highly efficient class C amplifiers are used in high level modulators.
When we look at the expression for 𝑠(𝑡) in Eq. (2.1), it is clear that we need a circuit that can
multiply the carrier by the modulating signal and then add the carrier. A block diagram of such a
circuit is shown in Fig. 2.9.

Fig. 2.9: Block diagram of a circuit to produce AM.

There are two basic ways to produce amplitude modulation. The first is to multiply the carrier by
a gain or attenuation factor that varies with the modulating signal. The second is to linearly mix or
add the carrier and the modulating signals and then apply the composite signal to a nonlinear device
or circuit.
1. A square-law modulator (Switching modulator)

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. 2.10.

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Fig. 2.10: Square law modulator circuit

The voltage applied to the diode is then;
𝑉 = 𝑉𝑐 + 𝑉𝑚 (2.15)
The diode current in the resistor is
𝑖 = 𝑎(𝑉𝑐 + 𝑉𝑚 ) + 𝑏(𝑉𝑐 + 𝑉𝑚 )2 (2.16)
Expanding Eq. (2.16), we get
𝑖 = 𝑎(𝑉𝑐 + 𝑉𝑚 ) + 𝑏(𝑉𝑐2 + 2𝑉𝑐 𝑉𝑚 + 𝑉𝑚2 ) (2.17)
If we let 𝑉𝑐 = 𝑣𝑐 sin 𝜔𝑐 𝑡 and 𝑉𝑚 = 𝑣𝑚 sin 𝜔𝑚 𝑡, substituting the these expressions in Eq. (2.17) for
the carrier and modulating signals will result in;
𝑖 = 𝑎𝑣𝑐 sin 𝜔𝑐 𝑡 + 𝑎𝑣𝑚 sin 𝜔𝑚 𝑡 + 𝑏𝑣𝑐2 sin2 𝜔𝑐 𝑡 (2.18)
2
+ 2𝑏𝑣𝑐 𝑣𝑚 sin 𝜔𝑐 𝑡 sin 𝜔𝑚 𝑡 + 𝑏𝑣𝑚 sin2 𝜔𝑚 𝑡
The first term is the carrier sine wave, which is a key part of the AM wave; the second term is the
modulating signal sine wave. Normally, this is not part of the AM wave. It is substantially lower
in frequency than the carrier, so it could be easily filtered out. The fourth term, which is the product
of the carrier and modulating signal sine waves, defines the AM wave. The third term sin2 𝜔𝑐 𝑡 is
a sine wave at two times the frequency of the carrier, i.e., the second harmonic of the carrier. The
last term sin2 𝜔𝑚 𝑡 is also the second harmonic of the modulating sine wave. These components
are undesirable, but are relatively easy to be filtered out.
Hence, the current expression could be modified as,
𝑖 = 𝑎𝑣𝑐 sin 𝜔𝑐 𝑡 + 2𝑏𝑣𝑐 𝑣𝑚 sin 𝜔𝑐 𝑡 sin 𝜔𝑚 𝑡 + 𝑢𝑛𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑠
2𝑏𝑣𝑚 sin 𝜔𝑚 𝑡 (2.19)
𝑖 = 𝑎𝑣𝑐 (1 + ) sin 𝜔𝑐 𝑡 + 𝑢𝑛𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑠
𝑎
Comparing Eq. (2.19) with the expression of 𝑠(𝑡) in Eq. (2.1) which describes AM wave, we can
observe that the two expressions are identical. This indicates that Eq. (2.19) also describes an AM
waveform.

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2. Diode Modulator
Another AM modulator implementation using diode is shown in Fig. 2.11 which consists of a
resistive mixing network, a diode rectifier, and an LC tuned circuit. The carrier (Fig. 2.11(b)) is
applied to one input resistor and the modulating signal (Fig. 2.11 (a)) to the other. The mixed
signals appear across 𝑅3 . This network causes the two signals to be linearly mixed, i.e.,
algebraically added. If both the carrier and the modulating signal are sine waves, the waveform
resulting at the junction of the two resistors will be like that shown in Fig. 2.11(c), where the carrier
wave is riding on the modulating signal.
The composite waveform is applied to a diode rectifier. The diode is connected so that it is forward-
biased by the positive-going half-cycles of the input wave. During the negative portions of the
wave, the diode is cut off and no signal passes. The current through the diode is a series of positive-
going pulses whose amplitude varies in proportion to the amplitude of the modulating signal [see
Fig. 2.11(d)]. These positive-going pulses are applied to the parallel-tuned circuit made up of L
and C, which are resonant at the carrier frequency. Each time the diode conducts, a pulse of current
flows through the tuned circuit. The coil and capacitor repeatedly exchange energy, causing an
oscillation, or “ringing,” at the resonant frequency. The oscillation of the tuned circuit creates one
negative half-cycle for every positive input pulse. High amplitude positive pulses cause the tuned
circuit to produce high- amplitude negative pulses. Low-amplitude positive pulses produce
corresponding low-amplitude negative pulses. The resulting waveform across the tuned circuit is
an AM signal, as Fig. 2.11(e) illustrates.

Fig. 2.11: Resistive mixing network and resulting waveforms

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3. Op amp as AM modulator
Another simple amplitude modulator is shown in Fig. 2.12. It consists of an operational amplifier
(op amp) and a field-effect transistor (FET) used as a variable resistor. The op amp is connected
as a non-inverting amplifier for the carrier signal. The gain A of the circuit for the oscillator signal
𝑅𝑓
is given by the expression Gain 𝐴 = 1 + .
𝑅𝑖

Fig. 2.12: Using a JFET to vary the gain of an op amp: Op-amp modulator
In the absence of modulating signal FET provides a fixed resistance and therefore the gain of the
non-inverting amplifier is constant, giving steady carrier output. On the application of modulating
signal the resistance of FET will vary. A positive going modulating input signal will cause the FET
resistance to decrease, where as a negative going modulating signal will cause it to increase.
Increasing the FET resistance causes the op-amp circuit gain to decrease and vice versa. This
results in an AM signal at the output of op-amp.
4. Emitter modulator
A small signal class-A amplifier such as the one shown in Fig. 2.13 can also be used to perform
amplitude modulation. In this case, the carrier signal is given to the base of the amplifier and
modulating signal is given to the emitter. In absence of modulating signal, the circuit simply
operates as linear class A amplifier. When modulating signal is applied to an emitter, the gain of
the amplifier varies according to voltage of modulating signal. Depending upon the gain variations,
carrier signal is amplified. Thus amplitude of carrier signal is modulated by the modulating signal.
The voltage gain of emitter modulator is given as;
𝐴𝑣 = 𝐴𝑞 [1 + 𝑚 sin(2𝜋𝑓𝑚 𝑡)] (2.20)
Where 𝐴𝑣 is voltage gain with modulation, and 𝐴𝑞 is quiescent voltage gain

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Fig. 2.13: Class A amplifier as AM

The primary disadvantage of emitter modulation is the amplifier operates in class A, which is
extremely inefficient. Emitter modulators are also incapable of producing high-power output
waveforms.
5.4 Collector Modulator - Medium and High Power AM Modulator
One example of a high-level modulator circuit is the collector modulator shown in Fig. 2.14. The
output stage of the transmitter is a high-power class C amplifier. Class C amplifiers conduct for
only a portion of the positive half-cycle of their input signal. The collector current pulses cause
the tuned circuit to oscillate (ring) at the desired output frequency. The tuned circuit, therefore,
reproduces the negative portion of the carrier signal.
The modulator is a linear power amplifier that takes the low-level modulating signal and amplifies
it to a high-power level. The modulating output signal is coupled through modulation transformer
𝑇1 to the class C amplifier. The secondary winding of the modulation transformer is connected in
series with the collector supply voltage 𝑉𝑐𝑐 of the class C amplifier. With a zero-modulation input
signal, there is zero-modulation voltage across the secondary of 𝑇1 , the collector supply voltage is
applied directly to the class C amplifier, and the output carrier is a steady sine wave.
When the modulating signal occurs, the AC voltage of the modulating signal across the secondary
of the modulation transformer is added to and subtracted from the dc collector supply voltage. This
varying supply voltage is then applied to the class C amplifier, causing the amplitude of the current
pulses through transistor 𝑄1 to vary. As a result, the amplitude of the carrier sine wave varies in
accordance with the modulated signal. When the modulation signal goes positive, it adds to the
collector supply voltage, thereby increasing its value and causing higher current pulses and a
higher-amplitude carrier. When the modulating signal goes negative, it subtracts from the collector

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supply voltage, decreasing it. For that reason, the class C amplifier current pulses are smaller,
resulting in a lower-amplitude carrier output.

Fig. 2.14: A high-level collector modulator

5. Linear IC AM Modulators
Linear IC AM modulators are also available and offer excellent frequency stability, symmetrical
modulation characteristics, circuit miniaturization, fewer components, temperature immunity, and
simplicity of design and troubleshooting. They are low level type modulators.
Reading assignment: Please investigate and read about linear IC AM modulators and differential
amplifier modulator.
Demodulation of AM wave
The function of AM detector or demodulator is to recover or reproduce modulating signal or the
original source information/message signal from the modulated wave at the receiver.
1. Envelope Detector (Peak detector or Diode Detector)
The simplest and most widely used amplitude demodulator is the diode detector shown in Fig.
2.15. In order to recover 𝑚(𝑡) from an AM wave 𝑠(𝑡) with envelope detector,
i. M ( f )  0, f  w ⇒ 𝑚(𝑡) must be band limited.

ii. f c  w ⇒ 𝑚(𝑡) must vary very little over one period of the carrier.

For proper operation the time constant also matters:

1
i. Charging time of 𝐶1 must be small compared to
fc
ii. 𝐶1 must discharge very little between periods of the carrier for voltage across it to follow
the envelope, but not so long that the capacitor will not discharge at maximum rate of 𝑠(𝑡);
1 1
i.e.,  R1C1  where w is the highest frequency component of 𝑚(𝑡).
fc w

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The resulting output usually has small ripple at 𝑓𝑐 which could be easily removed by low pass
filter.

Fig.2.15: Envelope detector (a), and corresponding waveforms (b)

2.2 DSB-SC Modulation and Demodulation
Conventional AM have an inherent disadvantage that carrier power constitutes two-third or more
power of the total power. This is a major drawback because the carrier contains no information.
To overcome this shortcoming of AM we may suppress the carrier component from the modulated
wave resulting in DSB-SC modulation. Thus by suppressing the carrier one will get a DSB-SC
wave, which is given by
𝑆𝐷𝑆𝐵−𝑆𝐶 (𝑡) = 𝑘𝑎 𝐴𝑐 𝐴𝑚 cos 2𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡 cos 2𝜋𝑓𝑚 𝑡
𝑘𝑎 𝐴𝑐 𝐴𝑚 𝑘𝑎 𝐴𝑐 𝐴𝑚 (2.21)
𝑆𝐷𝑆𝐵−𝑆𝐶 (𝑡) = cos(2𝜋(𝑓𝑐 + 𝑓𝑚 )𝑡) + cos(2𝜋(𝑓𝑐 − 𝑓𝑚 )𝑡)
2 2
This modulated wave undergoes phase reversal whenever the baseband signal 𝑚(𝑡) crosses zero.
Therefore unlike AM, the envelope of DSB-SC wave is different from the base band signal. The
main advantage of DSB-SC over conventional AM is that it has a higher power efficiency. Yet its
bandwidth is the same as that of the conventional AM.
DSB-SC Modulators
The DSB-SC consists of simply the product of the baseband and the carrier wave. A device
performing the multiplication is called product modulator. This can be implemented using
balanced or ring modulator.
Balanced modulator (Ring Modulator)
A balanced modulator is a circuit that generates a DSB signal, suppressing the carrier and leaving
only the sum and difference frequencies at the output. One of the most popular and widely used

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balanced modulators is the diode ring or lattice modulator as shown in Fig. 2.16, consisting of an
input transformer 𝑇1 , an output transformer 𝑇2 , and four diodes connected in a bridge circuit. The
circuit can be in one of the two similar connections shown in Fig. 2.16 (a) and (b).

Fig. 2.16: Lattice-type balanced modulator.

The carrier signal is applied to the center taps of the input and output transformers, and the
modulating signal is applied to the input transformer 𝑇1 . The DSB output is collected at the
secondary of transformer 𝑇2 . Let us consider that modulating input is zero. In the positive half
cycle of the carrier signal diodes 𝐷1 and 𝐷2 are forward biased, and diodes 𝐷3 and 𝐷4 are reverse
biased as illustrated in Fig. 2.17 (a).

Fig. 2.17: Operation of the lattice modulator.

It is clear from Fig. 2.17 (a) that the current divides equally in the upper and lower portions of the
primary winding of 𝑇2 . The current in the upper part of the winding produces a magnetic field that
that is equal and opposite to the magnetic field produced by the current in the lower half of the
secondary. As magnetic fields are equal and opposite, they cancel each other, producing no output
at the secondary of 𝑇2 . Thus, the carrier is suppressed. In the negative half cycle, 𝐷1 and 𝐷2 are
reverse biased, and diodes 𝐷3 and 𝐷4 are forward biased as shown in Fig. 2.15 (b). Similar to

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positive half cycle, here also magnetic fields in primary winding of 𝑇2 are equal and opposite
cancelling each other. Therefore there is no output produced at the secondary of 𝑇2 .
Consider that a sinusoidal modulating signal is applied to the primary of 𝑇1 . This signal will also
appear across the 𝑇1 secondary. In the positive half cycle of the carrier, the diodes 𝐷1 and 𝐷2 are
forward biased and they will connect the secondary of 𝑇1 to the primary of 𝑇2 . As a result, the
modulating signal at the secondary of 𝑇1 is applied to primary of 𝑇2 through diodes 𝐷1 and 𝐷2 . In
the negative half cycle of the carrier, diodes 𝐷3 and 𝐷4 are forward biased and they will connect
the secondary of 𝑇1 to the primary of 𝑇2 with reverse connections. This inverts the polarity of
modulating signal when it is applied to primary of 𝑇2 . Fig. 2.18 (c) shows DSB signal at the
primary of 𝑇2 . Thus when 𝐷3 and 𝐷4 conduct, the polarity of the signal is opposite to that of
modulating signal. Fig. 2.18 (d) shows the DSB output at the secondary of 𝑇2 . Thus carrier is
totally suppressed in this signal.

Fig. 2.18: Waveforms in the lattice-type balanced modulator. (a) Carrier. (b) Modulating
signal. (c) DSB signal primary 𝑇2 . (d) DSB output.
1.3 SSB Modulation and Demodulation
Conventional AM and DSB-SC are wasteful of bandwidth because they both require transmission
bandwidth equal to twice the message bandwidth. As far as the transmission of information is
concerned, only one sideband is necessary. Thus, it is possible to transmit only one of the side
bands because the lower side band and upper sideband carries the same information. When only

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one sideband is transmitted, the modulation system is referred to as single sideband system (SSB).
It provides the following advantages as compared to conventional AM and DSB-SC.
1. It conserves frequency spectrum since only one of the side bands is transmitted.
2. It requires relatively low power as compared to conventional AM.
3. Noise decrease since the BW has decreased by half.
The benefit of using SSB is therefore derived from the reduced bandwidth requirement and the
elimination of the high power carrier wave. The principal disadvantage of the SSB system is its
cost and complexity.
Mathematically- SSB wave is given by
1 1 (2.22)
𝑆𝑆𝑆𝐵 (𝑡) = 𝑘𝑎 𝐴𝑐 𝐴𝑚 cos(2𝜋𝑓𝑚 𝑡) cos(2𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡) ± 𝑘𝑎 𝐴𝑐 𝐴𝑚 sin(2𝜋𝑓𝑚 𝑡) sin(2𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡)
2 2
where the plus sign applies to lower SSB and the minus sign applies to upper SSB.
SSB Modulators
The are two methods of generating SSB
1. Frequency discrimination method (filter method)
2. Phase discrimination method
 Frequency Discrimination Method (Filter Method)
An SSB modulator based on frequency discrimination consists basically a ring modulator and a
filter, which is designed to pass the desired sideband of the DSB-SC wave.

Fig. 2.19: An SSB transmitter using the filter method.

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In designing the band-pass filter in the SSB generator system in Fig.2.19, the filter must have a
pass band at the same frequency range as the spectrum of the desired sideband. This type of
frequency discrimination can be satisfied only by using highly selective filter, which can be
realized using crystal and ceramic filters.
 Phase Discriminator Method
This method uses two balanced modulators, which effectively eliminate the carrier. The carrier
oscillator is applied directly to the upper balanced modulator along with the audio modulating
signal as shown in Fig. 2.20. The carrier and modulating signal are then both shifted in phase by
90° and applied to the second, lower, balanced modulator. The phase-shifting action causes one
sideband to be canceled out when the two balanced modulator outputs are added to produce the
output. If the carrier signal is 𝐴𝑐 sin 2𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡 and the modulating signal is 𝐴𝑚 sin 2𝜋𝑓𝑚 𝑡, balanced
modulator 1 produces the product of these two signals:
1 (2.23)
𝐴𝑐 sin 2𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡 𝐴𝑚 sin 2𝜋𝑓𝑚 𝑡 = 𝐴𝑚 𝐴𝑐 [cos 2𝜋(𝑓𝑐 − 𝑓𝑚 )𝑡 − cos 2𝜋(𝑓𝑐 + 𝑓𝑚 )𝑡]
2
The 90° phase shifters in Fig. 2.20 create cosine waves of the carrier and modulating signals that
are multiplied in balanced modulator 2 to produce
1 (2.24)
(𝐴𝑐 cos 2𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡) (𝐴𝑚 cos 2𝜋𝑓𝑚 𝑡) = 𝐴 𝐴 [cos 2𝜋(𝑓𝑐 − 𝑓𝑚 )𝑡 + cos 2𝜋(𝑓𝑐 + 𝑓𝑚 )𝑡]
2 𝑚 𝑐
Adding the sine expression in Eq. (2.23) to the cosine expression in (2.24), the sum frequencies
cancel and the difference frequencies add, producing only the lower sideband cos 2𝜋(𝑓𝑐 − 𝑓𝑚 )𝑡.

Fig. 2.20: Phase discriminator method of generating SSB signal

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Demodulation of DSB-SC and SSB signals (coherent detection)

To recover the baseband signal in a DSB or SSB AM, the carrier that was suppressed at the
modulator must be reinserted at the receiver. This is called coherent detection and it involves
applying the DSB/SSB wave, together with a locally generated sinusoidal carrier wave to a
balanced modulator as shown in Fig 2.21 below. The balanced modulator is called a product
detector because it is used to recover the modulating signal. In this modulator, the carrier is
suppressed, but the sum and difference signals are generated. As an example the sum and
difference frequencies produced by the product detector for the case of DSB-SC AM could be
given as;
Sum for USB: 𝑓𝑐 + 𝑓𝑚 + 𝑓𝑐 = 2𝑓𝑐 + 𝑓𝑚 , and sum for LSB: 𝑓𝑐 − 𝑓𝑚 + 𝑓𝑐 = 2𝑓𝑐 − 𝑓𝑚
Difference for USB: 𝑓𝑐 + 𝑓𝑚 − 𝑓𝑐 = 𝑓𝑚 and difference for LSB: 𝑓𝑐 − 𝑓𝑚 − 𝑓𝑐 = −𝑓𝑚
The difference is, of course, the original modulating signal, while the sum signals have no
importance. Since these frequencies are so far apart, the higher undesired frequency components
can be easily filtered out by a low-pass filter that keeps the required baseband signal but suppresses
everything above it.

Fig. 2.21: Demodulation of DSB/SSB signal using product detector

1.4 Vestigial (VSB) AM
When the information signal contains significant components at extremely low frequencies as in
TV signals, the SSB modulation is inappropriate in transmitting such baseband signals. This is due
to the difficulty of isolating one side band as sideband filters are only approximately realizable.
Despite its simpler generation, DSB-SC has also a disadvantage bandwidth inefficiency since it
requires twice the signal bandwidth. These difficulties suggest another scheme known as VSB
modulation, which is a compromise between SSB and DSB-SC modulation techniques. It inherits
the advantages of DSB-SC and SSB techniques avoiding their disadvantages at the small cost.

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VSB signals are relatively easy to generate and at the same time their bandwidth is only a little
greater than that of SSB signals.
VSB modulation distinguishes itself from SSB modulation in two practical respects:
1. Instead of completely removing a sideband, a trace or vestige of that sideband is
transmitted; hence, the name “vestigial sideband.”
2. Instead of transmitting the other sideband in full, almost the whole of this second band
is also transmitted.

Accordingly, the transmission bandwidth of a VSB modulated signal is defined by

𝐵𝑇 = 𝑓𝑣 + 𝑓𝑚
where 𝑓𝑣 is the vestige bandwidth and 𝑓𝑚 is the message bandwidth. Typically, 𝑓𝑣 is 25% of 𝑓𝑚 ,
which means that the VSB bandwidth lies between the SSB bandwidth 𝑓𝑚 , and DSB-SC
bandwidth, 2𝑓𝑚 .
VSB wave Generation
The block diagram of VSB modulator is shown in Fig 2.23. The modulating signal 𝑚(𝑡) and the
carrier 𝑐(𝑡) are applied to the product modulator.

Fig. 2.23: Generation of VSB AM signal

The output of the product modulator in time domain is given by
𝑠𝑐 (𝑡) = 𝑚(𝑡)𝑐(𝑡) = 𝑘𝑎 𝐴𝑐 𝑚(𝑡) cos 2𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡 (2.25)
This represents a DSB-SC modulated wave. This signal is then applied to a sideband shaping
filter 𝐻(𝑓) whose design depends on the desired spectrum of the VSB modulated signal. It will
pass the required sideband (say USB) and the vestige of the other (LSB) sideband. If the impulse
response of the filter is ℎ(𝑡), then the output of the filter will be given by;
𝑆𝑉𝑆𝐵 (𝑡) = 𝑠𝑐 (𝑡) ∗ ℎ(𝑡) = 𝑘𝑎 𝐴𝑐 𝑚(𝑡) cos 2𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡 ∗ ℎ(𝑡) (2.26)
Then the spectrum of VSB modulated signal is given by

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𝐴𝑐 𝑘𝑎 (2.27)
𝑆𝑉𝑆𝐵 (𝑓) = [𝑀(𝑓𝑐 + 𝑓𝑚 ) + 𝑀(𝑓𝑐 − 𝑓𝑚 )]𝐻(𝑓)
2

The only requirement that the sideband shaping performed by 𝐻(𝑓) must satisfy is that the
transmitted vestige compensates for the spectral portion missing from the other sideband. This
requirement ensures that coherent detection of the VSB modulated wave recovers a replica of the
message signal, except for amplitude scaling.
By imposing this requirement on the VSB demodulation process, it turns out that the sideband
shaping filter must itself satisfy the following condition:
𝐻(𝑓 + 𝑓𝑐 ) + 𝐻(𝑓 − 𝑓𝑐 ) = 1 𝑓𝑜𝑟 − 𝑓𝑚 ≤ 𝑓 ≤ 𝑓𝑚 (2.28)
The term 𝐻(𝑓 + 𝑓𝑐 ) is the positive-frequency part of the band-pass transfer function shifted to the
left by 𝑓𝑐 and 𝐻(𝑓 − 𝑓𝑐 ) is the negative frequency part shifted to the right by 𝑓𝑐 .
For the case of sinusoidal VSB modulation produced by the sinusoidal modulating wave, let
𝑚(𝑡) = 𝐴𝑚 cos(2𝜋𝑓𝑚 𝑡) and carrier wave 𝑐(𝑡) = 𝐴𝑐 cos(2𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡). If the upper side-frequency
at 𝑓𝑐 + 𝑓𝑚 as well as its image at −(𝑓𝑐 + 𝑓𝑚 ) be attenuated by the factor 𝑘. To satisfy the condition
of Eq. (2.28), the lower side-frequency at 𝑓𝑐 − 𝑓𝑚 and its image −(𝑓𝑐 − 𝑓𝑚 ) must be attenuated by
the factor 1 − 𝑘. The VSB spectrum is therefore;
1 1 (2.29)
𝑠(𝑡) = 𝑘𝐴𝑐 𝐴𝑚 cos(2𝜋(𝑓𝑐 + 𝑓𝑚 )𝑡) + (1 − 𝑘)𝐴𝑐 𝐴𝑚 cos(2𝜋(𝑓𝑐 − 𝑓𝑚 )𝑡)
2 2
Using well-known trigonometric identities to expand the cosine terms;
1 1 (2.30)
𝑠(𝑡) = 𝐴𝑐 𝐴𝑚 cos(2𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡) cos(2𝜋𝑓𝑚 𝑡) + (1 − 2𝑘)𝐴𝑐 𝐴𝑚 sin(2𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡) sin(2𝜋𝑓𝑚 𝑡)
2 2
Depending on how the attenuation factor 𝑘 in Eq. (2.30) is defined in the interval [0, 1], we may
identify three modulated waves.
1
1. When 𝑘 = 2 , 𝑠(𝑡) reduces to DSB-SC.

2. When 𝑘 = 0, 𝑠(𝑡) reduces to lower SSB, and When 𝑘 = 1, 𝑠(𝑡) reduces to upper SSB
1
3. For 0 < 𝑘 < 2, the attenuated version of the upper side-frequency defines the vestige
1
of 𝑠(𝑡), and for 2 < 𝑘 < 1, attenuated version of the lower side-frequency defines the

vestige of 𝑠(𝑡).
Demodulation of VSB AM
Similar to DSB-SC and SSB demodulations studied previously, the demodulation of VSB consists
of multiplying 𝑠(𝑡) with a locally generated sinusoid and then low-pass filtering the resulting

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product signal 𝑣(𝑡). It is assumed that the local sinusoid in the coherent detector of Fig. 2.24 is in
perfect synchronism with the carrier in the modulator responsible for generating the VSB-
modulated wave.

Fig. 2.24: Coherent detection of VSB AM

Multiplying 𝑠(𝑡) in Eq. (2.30) by 𝐴′𝑐 cos(2𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡) in accordanc+e with perfect coherent detection
yields the product signal
1 (2.31)
𝑣(𝑡) = 𝑠(𝑡)𝐴′𝑐 cos(2𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡) = 𝐴 𝐴 𝐴′ cos2 (2𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡) cos(2𝜋𝑓𝑚 𝑡) +
2 𝑐 𝑚 𝑐
1
(1 − 2𝑘)𝐴𝑐 𝐴𝑚 𝐴′𝑐 sin(2𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡) sin(2𝜋𝑓𝑚 𝑡) cos(2𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡)
2
Next, using the trigonometric identities,
1 1
cos2 (2𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡) = 2 [1 + cos(4𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡)] and sin(2𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡) cos(2𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡) = 2 sin(4𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡)

We may redefine as;

1 1 (2.32)
𝑣(𝑡) = 𝐴𝑐 𝐴𝑚 𝐴′𝑐 [cos(2𝜋𝑓𝑚 𝑡) + 𝐴𝑐 𝐴𝑚 𝐴′𝑐 [cos(2𝜋𝑓𝑚 𝑡) cos(4𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡)
4 4
1
+ (1 − 2𝑘) sin(2𝜋𝑓𝑚 𝑡) sin(4𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡)]
2
The first term on the right-hand side of Eq. (2.32) is a scaled version of the message signal 𝑚(𝑡),
while the second term is a new sinusoid which represents the high-frequency components. This
high-frequency component can be removed by the low-pass filter in the detector of Fig. 2.24,
provided that the cutoff frequency of the filter is just slightly greater than the message frequency.
2.5 AM Transmitters
The transmitter is a part of communication system that accepts the message signal to be transmitted
and converts it into an RF signal capable of being transmitted over long distances. Every
transmitter has three basic functions. First, the transmitter must generate a signal of the correct
frequency at a desired point in the spectrum. Second, it must provide some form of modulation
that causes the information signal to modify the carrier signal. Third, it must provide sufficient

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power amplification to ensure that the signal level is high enough so that it will carry over the
desired distance.
An AM transmitter is shown in Fig. 2.25 below. An oscillator generates the final carrier frequency.
In most applications, this will be a crystal oscillator due to high frequency stability of the crystal.
The carrier signal is then fed to a buffer amplifier whose primary purpose is to isolate the oscillator
from the remaining power amplifier stages. The signal from the buffer is applied to the driver
amplifier which is a class C amplifier designed to provide an intermediate level of power
amplification. The purpose of this circuit is to generate sufficient output power to drive the final
power amplifier stage. The final power amplifier, also operates in class C at very high power. The
actual amount of power depends upon the intended application. Assuming it as a voice transmitter,
the voice from the microphone is amplified and processed by the speech processor. The speech
processor is basically used for two main purposes: filtering (frequency control) and amplitude
control to avoid out of band radiation and distortion due-to over-modulation respectively.

Fig. 2.25: An AM transmitter using high-level collector modulation

To design an AM transmitter one should know about the main blocks of the transmitter. These
include RF oscillators, Buffer amplifiers, Driver amplifiers, power amplifiers, filters and
impedance matching.
2.6 AM receiver
A sensitive and selective receiver can be made using only amplifiers, selective filters, and a
demodulator. This is called a tuned radio frequency receiver. Early radios used this design.

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However, such a receiver does not usually deliver the kind of performance expected in modern
communications applications. One type of receiver that can provide that performance is the
superheterodyne receiver. It converts all incoming signals to a lower frequency, known as the
intermediate frequency (IF), at which a single set of amplifiers and filters is used to provide a fixed
level of sensitivity and selectivity. Most of the gain and selectivity in a superheterodyne receiver
are obtained in the IF amplifiers. The key circuit is the mixer, which acts as a simple amplitude
modulator to produce sum and difference frequencies. The incoming signal is mixed with a local
oscillator signal to produce this conversion. Fig. 2.26 below shows a general block diagram of a
superhetrodyne receiver.

Fig. 2.26: Block diagram of a superheterodyne receiver.

RF amplifier: the antenna picks up weak radio signal and feeds it to the RF amplifier, also called
a low-noise amplifier (LNA). Because RF amplifiers provide some initial gain and selectivity, they
are sometimes referred to as pre-selectors. The RF amplifier between the mixer and the antenna
also isolates the two, significantly reducing any local oscillator radiation.
Mixers and Local Oscillators: output of the RF amplifier is applied to the input of the mixer,
which may also receive an input from a local oscillator. Its output is the input signal, the local
oscillator signal, and the sum and difference frequencies of these signals. Usually a tuned circuit
at the output of the mixer selects the difference frequency, or IF. The sum frequency may also be
selected as the IF in some applications.
IF Amplifiers: output of the mixer is amplified by one or more IF amplifier stages, and most of
the receiver gain is obtained in these stages.

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Demodulators: the highly amplified IF signal is applied to the demodulator, or detector, which
recovers the original modulating information. Its output is then usually fed to an audio amplifier
with sufficient voltage and power gain to operate a speaker. For non-voice signals, the detector
output may be sent elsewhere, to a TV, tablet, cell phone screen, computer, or some other device.
Automatic Gain Control (AGC): with AGC, the overall gain of the receiver is automatically
adjusted depending on the input signal level.
Noise in AM receivers
Noise can broadly be defined as any unknown signal that affects the recovery of the desired signal.
It is an electronic signal which is a mixture of many random frequencies at many amplitudes that
gets added to a radio or information signal as it is transmitted from one place to another. There
may be many sources of noise in a communication system, but often the major sources are the
communication devices themselves or interference encountered during the course of transmission.
There are also several ways that noise can affect the desired signal, and for proper analysis of its
effect on the performance of the receiver, we need appropriate receiver models. The customary
practice is to model the receiver noise (channel noise) as additive, white, and Gaussian.

Fig. 2.26: receiver model

As shown in Fig. 2.26 above, the received signal is modeled as
𝑟(𝑡) = 𝑠(𝑡) + 𝑤(𝑡) (2.33)
Where 𝑠(𝑡) denotes the incoming modulated signal and 𝑤(𝑡) denotes front-end receiver noise.
The power spectral density of the noise 𝑤(𝑡) is denoted by 𝑁0 /2, defined for both positive and
negative frequencies. 𝑁0 is the average noise power per unit bandwidth measured at the front end
of the receiver. The bandwidth of the band-pass filter used in the model is just wide enough to pass
the modulated signal without distortion. We assume the band-pass filter is ideal, having a
bandwidth equal to the transmission bandwidth 𝐵𝑇 of the modulated signal 𝑠(𝑡), and a mid-band
frequency equal to the carrier frequency 𝑓𝑐 , 𝑓𝑐 >> 𝐵𝑇 .

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Fig. 2.27: Power spectral density of band-pass noise.

The filtered noise 𝑛(𝑡) may be treated as a narrow band noise represented in the canonical form:
𝑛(𝑡) = 𝑛𝐼 (𝑡) cos(2𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡) − 𝑛𝑄 (𝑡) sin(2𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡) (2.34)
where 𝑛𝐼 (𝑡) is the in-phase noise component and 𝑛𝑄 (𝑡) is the quadrature noise component, both
measured with respect to the carrier wave 𝐴𝑐 cos(2𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡). The filtered signal 𝑥(𝑡) available for
demodulation can be defined by
𝑥(𝑡) = 𝑠(𝑡) + 𝑛(𝑡) (2.35)
The average noise power at the demodulator input is equal to the total area under the curve of the
power spectral density 𝑆𝑁 (𝑓):
𝑁0 (2.36)
𝑃𝑎𝑣𝑔−𝑛𝑜𝑖𝑠𝑒 = 2 × 𝐵𝑇 × = 𝐵𝑇 𝑁0
2
Signal-To-Noise Ratios (SNR)
Both of the terms on the right-hand side of Eq. (2.35) are random. It is due to the unpredictability
of both its information content and the noise. For partially describing a random variable mean and
variance parameters are used where both information and noise signals have zero mean and
constant variance. Consequently, for zero-mean processes, a simple measure of the signal quality
is the ratio of the variances of the desired and undesired signals. On this basis, the signal-to-noise
ratio is formally defined by
𝐸[𝑠 2 (𝑡)] (2.37)
𝑆𝑁𝑅 =
𝐸[𝑛2 (𝑡)]
where E is the expectation operator and for a communication signal, a squared signal level is
usually proportional to power. Consequently, the SNR is often considered to be a ratio of the
average signal power to the average noise power. SNR is measured at the receiver, but there are
several points in the receiver where the measurement can be carried out. In fact, measurements at
particular points in the receiver have their own particular importance and value.
For instance:

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If the SNR is measured at the front-end of the receiver, then it is usually a measure of the
quality of the transmission link and the receiver front-end.
If it is measured at the output of the receiver, it is a measure of the quality of the recovered
information-bearing signal.
If we consider the block diagram of a typical analog communication receiver in Fig. 2.26, the SNR
measured at the input to the demodulator is referred to as the pre-detection SNR. Of equal or
greater importance is the SNR of the recovered message at the output of the demodulator. This
metric defines the quality of the signal that is delivered to the end user. We refer to this output
SNR as the post-detection SNR. It should be noted that the signal and noise characteristics may
differ significantly between the pre-detection and post-detection calculations.
In order to compare different analog modulation-demodulation schemes, we introduce the idea of
a reference transmission model as depicted in Fig. 2.28. This reference model is equivalent to
transmitting the message at baseband. In this model, two assumptions are made:
The message power is the same as the modulated signal power of the modulation scheme
under study.
The baseband low-pass filter passes the message signal and rejects out-of-band noise.
Accordingly, we may define the reference SNR, as
average power of the modulated mesage signal (2.38)
𝑆𝑁𝑅𝑟𝑒𝑓 =
average power of noise in the message bandwidth

Fig. 2.28: Reference transmission model for analog communications.

Figure of merit: for the purpose of comparing different continuous-wave (CW) modulation
systems, we normalize the receiver performance by dividing the post detection SNR by the
reference SNR. That is called figure of merit for it is defined as follows:
𝑃𝑜𝑠𝑡 − 𝑑𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑆𝑁𝑅 (2.39)
𝐹𝑖𝑔𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑡 =
𝑅𝑒𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑆𝑁𝑅
Clearly, the higher the value of the figure of merit, the better will the noise performance of the
receiver be. It is dimensionless metric which can have a value equal to 1, less than 1, or greater
than 1, depending on the type of modulation used.
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Noise in DSB-SC Receiver

The model of a DSB-SC receiver using a coherent detector can be given as shown in Fig. 2.29.

Fig. 2.29: model of DSB-SC receiver using coherent demodulation.

For the demodulation scheme to operate satisfactorily, it is necessary that the local oscillator be
synchronized both in phase and in frequency with the oscillator generating the carrier wave in the
transmitter. We assume that this synchronization has been achieved. The DSB-SC component of
the modulated signal 𝑠(𝑡) is expressed as
𝑠(𝑡) = 𝐴𝑐 𝑚(𝑡) cos(2𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡) (2.40)
Pre-detection SNR
For the signal 𝑠(𝑡) of Eq. (2.40), the average power of the signal component is given by expected
value of the squared magnitude. Since the carrier and modulating signal are independent, this can
be broken down into two components as follows:
𝐸[𝑠 2 (𝑡)] = 𝐸[(𝐴𝑐 cos 2𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡)2 ]𝐸[𝑚2 (𝑡)] (2.41)
If we let, 𝑃 = 𝐸[𝑚2 (𝑡)]
be the average signal (message) power, we have

2
𝐴2𝑐 𝑃 (2.42)
𝐸[𝑠 (𝑡)] =
2
𝐴2𝑐 𝑃
That is, the average received signal power due to the modulated component is . If the band-pass
2

filter has a noise bandwidth 𝐵𝑇 , then the noise power passed by this filter is by definition 𝑁0 𝐵𝑇 .
Consequently, the SNR of the signal is

𝐷𝑆𝐵−𝑆𝐶
𝐴2𝑐 𝑃 (2.43)
𝑆𝑁𝑅𝑝𝑟𝑒 =
2𝑁0 𝐵𝑇
Post-detection SNR
Next, we wish to determine the post-detection SNR of the DSB-SC system. Using the narrowband
representation of the band-pass noise, the signal at the input to the coherent detector of Fig. 2.29
may be represented as

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𝑥(𝑡) = 𝑠(𝑡) + 𝑛𝐼 (𝑡) cos 2𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡 − 𝑛𝑄 (𝑡) sin 2𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡 (2.44)

Where 𝑛𝐼 (𝑡) and 𝑛𝑄 (𝑡) are the in-phase and quadrature components of 𝑛(𝑡) with respect to the
carrier. The output of the product modulator in Fig. 2.29 is given by
1 1 (2.45)
𝐴𝑐 𝑚(𝑡) + 𝑛𝐼 (𝑡)
𝑣(𝑡) = 𝑥(𝑡) cos(2𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡) =
2 2
1 1
+ [𝐴𝑐 𝑚(𝑡) + 𝑛𝐼 (𝑡)] cos(4𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡) − 𝑛𝑄 (𝑡) sin(4𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡)
2 2
Where we have used the double-angle formula
1 + cos 2𝜃 sin 2𝜃
cos 𝜃 cos 𝜃 = 𝑎𝑛𝑑 cos 𝜃 sin 𝜃 =
2 2
After the low-pass filter, the output 𝑦(𝑡) will become;
1 1 (2.46)
𝐴𝑐 𝑚(𝑡) + 𝑛𝐼 (𝑡)
𝑦(𝑡) =
2 2
This equation indicates the following points:
The message signal 𝑚(𝑡) and in-phase noise component 𝑛𝐼 (𝑡) of the filtered noise 𝑛(𝑡)
appear additively at the receiver output.
The quadrature component 𝑛𝑄 (𝑡) of the noise 𝑛(𝑡) is completely rejected by the coherent
detector.
From Eq. (2.46), we may compute the post-detection SNR by noting the following:
1
The message component is 2 𝐴𝑐 𝑚(𝑡), so analogous to the computation of the pre-detection
1
signal power, the post-detection signal power is 4 𝐴2𝑐 𝑃, where 𝑃 is the average message

power.
1
The noise component is 𝑛𝐼 (𝑡) after low-pass filtering and this in-phase component has a
2

noise spectral density of 𝑁0 over the bandwidth from −𝐵𝑇 ⁄2 to 𝐵𝑇 ⁄2. If the low-pass filter
has a noise bandwidth 𝑊, corresponding to the message bandwidth, which is less than or
equal to 𝐵𝑇 ⁄2, then the output noise power is
𝑊 (2.47)
𝐸[𝑛𝐼2 (𝑡)] = ∫ 𝑁0 𝑑𝑓 = 2𝑁0 𝑊
−𝑊

Combining these observations, we obtain the post-detection SNR of

𝐷𝑆𝐵−𝑆𝐶
𝐴2𝑐 𝑃 ⁄4 𝐴2𝑐 𝑃 (2.48)
𝑆𝑁𝑅𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑡 = =
2𝑊𝑁0 ⁄4 2𝑊𝑁0

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Consequently, if 𝑊 ≈ 𝐵𝑇 ⁄2, the post-detection SNR is twice the pre-detection SNR. This is due
to the fact that the quadrature component of the noise has been discarded by the synchronous
demodulator.
Figure of merit
For DSB-SC modulation the average modulated message power is given by Eq. (2.42), and the
average noise power for a message of bandwidth W is 𝑁0 𝑊. Consequently the reference SNR
for this transmission scheme is 𝑆𝑁𝑅𝑟𝑒𝑓 = 𝐴2𝑐 𝑃⁄2𝑁0 𝑊 . The corresponding figure of merit for this
receiver is;
𝐷𝑆𝐵−𝑆𝐶
𝑆𝑁𝑅𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑡 (2.49)
𝐹𝑖𝑔𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑡 = =1
𝑆𝑁𝑅𝑟𝑒𝑓
This illustrates that we lose nothing in performance by using a band-pass modulation scheme
compared to the baseband scheme, even though the bandwidth of the former is twice as wide.
Noise in AM receivers using envelop detection
Recall that the envelope-modulated signal is represented by
𝑠(𝑡) = 𝐴𝑐 (1 + 𝑘𝑎 𝑚(𝑡)) cos 2𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡 (2.50)
Now we would like to perform noise analysis for an AM system using an envelope detector. The
receiver model is depicted in Fig. 2.30;

Fig. 2.30: Model of AM receiver using envelope detection.

Pre-detection SNR
In expression of 𝑠(𝑡) for standard AM, the average power of the carrier component is 𝐴2𝑐 ⁄2 due to
the sinusoidal nature of the carrier. The power in the modulated part of the signal is
𝐸[(1 + 𝑘𝑎 𝑚(𝑡))2 ] = 𝐸[1 + 2𝑘𝑎 𝑚(𝑡) + 𝑘𝑎2 𝑚2 (𝑡)] (2.51)
1 + 2𝑘𝑎 𝐸[𝑚(𝑡)] + 𝑘𝑎2 𝐸[𝑚2 (𝑡)] = 1 + 𝑘𝑎2 𝑃
where we assume the message signal 𝑚(𝑡) has zero mean, and the message power 𝑃 = 𝐸[𝑚2 (𝑡)].
Consequently, the received signal power is 𝐴2𝑐 (1 + 𝑘𝑎2 𝑃)⁄2.
The pre-detection signal-to-noise ratio is given by

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𝐴𝑀
𝐴2𝑐 (1 + 𝑘𝑎2 𝑃) (2.52)
𝑆𝑁𝑅𝑝𝑟𝑒 =
2𝑁0 𝐵𝑇
Where 𝐵𝑇 is the noise bandwidth of the band-pass filter.
Post-detection SNR
We can represent the noise in terms of its in-phase and quadrature components, and consequently
model the input to the envelope detector as
𝑥(𝑡) = 𝑠(𝑡) + 𝑛(𝑡) = [𝐴𝑐 + 𝐴𝑐 𝑘𝑎 𝑚(𝑡) + 𝑛𝐼 (𝑡)] cos 2𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡 − 𝑛𝑄 (𝑡) sin 2𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡 (2.53)
Conceptually, this can be represented in a phasor diagram as shown in Fig. 2.31, where the signal
component of the phasor is 𝐴𝑐 (1 + 𝑘𝑎 𝑚(𝑡)), and the noise has two orthogonal phasor components,
𝑛𝐼 (𝑡) and 𝑛𝑄 (𝑡).

Fig. 2.31: Phasor diagram for AM wave plus narrowband noise.

From Fig. 2.31, the output of the envelope detector is the amplitude of the phasor representing
𝑥(𝑡) and it is given by
1⁄2 (2.54)
𝑦(𝑡) = 𝑒𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑝 𝑜𝑓 𝑥(𝑡) = {[𝐴𝑐 (1 + 𝑘𝑎 𝑚(𝑡) + 𝑛𝐼 (𝑡))]2 + 𝑛𝑄2 (𝑡)}
If we assume that the signal is much larger than the noise, then using the approximation when we
may write √𝐴2 + 𝐵 2 ≈ 𝐴 when 𝐴 ≫ 𝐵, hence;
𝑦(𝑡) = 𝐴𝑐 + 𝐴𝑐 𝑘𝑎 𝑚(𝑡) + 𝑛𝐼 (𝑡) (2.55)
The dc component (𝐴𝑐 ), could be easily removed by dc-blocking capacitor. Accordingly, the
post-detection SNR for the envelope detection of AM, using a message bandwidth W, is given
by

𝐴𝑀
𝐴2𝑐 𝑘𝑎2 𝑃 (2.56)
𝑆𝑁𝑅𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑡 =
2𝑁0 𝑊
Figure of merit
For AM modulation, the average transmitted power is given by 𝐴2𝑐 (1 + 𝑘𝑎2 𝑃)⁄2, consequently the
𝐴2𝑐 (1+𝑘𝑎
2 𝑃)
reference SNR is . Combining this result with Eq. (2.56), the figure of merit for this AM
2𝑁0 𝑊

modulation-demodulation scheme becomes;

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𝐴𝑀
𝑆𝑁𝑅𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑘𝑎2 𝑃 (2.57)
𝐹𝑖𝑔𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑡 = =
𝑆𝑁𝑅𝑟𝑒𝑓 1 + 𝑘𝑎2 𝑃
2
Since the product 𝑘𝑎 𝑃 is always less than unity (otherwise the signal would be over modulated),
the figure of merit for this system is always less than 0.5. Hence, the noise performance of an
envelope-detector receiver is always inferior to a DSB-SC receiver, the reason is that part of the
power is wasted transmitting the carrier as a component of the modulated (transmitted) signal.
Noise in SSB Receivers
Using the definitions of SSB modulation, we assume that only one sideband is transmitted, so that
we may express the modulated wave as
1 1 (2.58)
𝑆𝑆𝑆𝐵 (𝑡) = 𝐴𝑐 𝑚(𝑡) cos(2𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡) + 𝐴𝑐 𝑚
̂ (𝑡) sin(2𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡)
2 2
̂ (𝑡) is the Hilbert transform of the message signal. Proceeding in a manner similar to that
where 𝑚
for the DSB-SC receiver, we find that the in-phase and quadrature components of the SSB
modulated wave contribute an average power of 𝐴2𝑐 𝑃 ⁄8 each. The average power of 𝑠(𝑡) is
therefore 𝐴2𝑐 𝑃⁄4. This result is half that of the DSB-SC case.
Pre-detection SNR
For SSB signal, the transmission bandwidth 𝐵𝑇 is approximately equal to the message
bandwidth 𝑊. Consequently, using the signal power calculation of the previous section, the pre-
detection SNR of a coherent receiver with SSB modulation is

𝑆𝑆𝐵
𝐴2𝑐 𝑃 (2.59)
𝑆𝑁𝑅𝑝𝑟𝑒 =
4𝑁0 𝑊
Post-detection SNR
Using the same receiver of Fig. 2.29, the band-pass signal after multiplication with the
synchronous oscillator output is
1 𝐴𝑐 1 𝐴𝑐 (2.60)
𝑣(𝑡) = 𝑥(𝑡) cos(2𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡) = ( 𝑚(𝑡) + 𝑛𝐼 (𝑡)) + ( 𝑚(𝑡) + 𝑛𝐼 (𝑡)) cos(4𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡)
2 2 2 2
1 𝐴𝑐
− ( 𝑚 ̂ (𝑡) + 𝑛𝑄 (𝑡)) cos(4𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡)
2 2
After low-pass filtering 𝑣(𝑡), we are left with
1 𝐴𝑐 (2.61)
𝑦(𝑡) = ( 𝑚(𝑡) + 𝑛𝐼 (𝑡))
2 2

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 Introduction to Communication Systems (ECEg-3152)

The message component in the receiver output is 𝐴𝑐 𝑚(𝑡)⁄4 so that the average power of the
1
recovered message is 𝐴2𝑐 𝑃 ⁄16 and the corresponding noise power is 4 𝑁0 𝑊. Accordingly, the post-

detection SNR of a system using SSB modulation in the transmitter and coherent detection in the
receiver is the ratio of these two powers; namely,

𝑆𝑆𝐵
𝐴2𝑐 𝑃 (2.62)
𝑆𝑁𝑅𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑡 =
4𝑁0 𝑊
Figure of merit
𝐴2𝑐 𝑃
The average signal power for the SSB system, as discussed above, is . Consequently, the
4
𝐴2 𝑃
reference SNR is 4𝑁𝑐 𝑊. The figure of merit for the SSB system is the ratio of Eq. (2.62) to the
0

reference SNR becomes;

𝑆𝑆𝐵
𝑆𝑁𝑅𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑡 (2.63)
𝐹𝑖𝑔𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑡 = =1
𝑆𝑁𝑅𝑟𝑒𝑓
Consequently, SSB transmission has the same figure of merit as DSB-SC. The performance of
vestigial sideband with coherent detection is also similar to that of SSB.
Comparing the results for the different AM schemes, we find that there are a number of design
tradeoffs. DSB-SC provides the same SNR performance as the baseband reference model but
requires synchronization circuitry to perform coherent detection while standard AM simplifies the
receiver design significantly as it is implemented with an envelope detector. However, standard
AM requires significantly more transmitter power to obtain the same SNR performance as the
baseband reference model. SSB achieves the same SNR performance as the baseband reference
model but only requires half the transmission bandwidth of the DSC-SC system. On the other
hand, it requires more transmitter processing. These observations show that communication system
design involves a tradeoff between power, bandwidth, and processing complexity.

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