CHAPTER 4 // Radio Frequency Modulation

However, this scheme could easily result in high-slope transitions in the carrier waveform:
if the transition between logic states occurs when the carrier is at its maximum value, the
carrier voltage has to rapidly move to the minimum voltage.

High-slope events such as these are undesirable because they generate higher-frequency
energy that could interfere with other RF signals. Also, amplifiers have limited ability to
produce high-slope changes in output voltage.

If we refine the above implementation with two additional features, we can ensure smooth
transitions between symbols. First, we need to ensure that the digital bit period is equal to
one or more complete carrier cycles. Second, we need to synchronize the digital transitions
with the carrier waveform. With these improvements, we could design the system such that
the 180° phase change occurs when the carrier signal is at (or very near) the zero-crossing.

PAGE 101 // 166 Practical Guide to Radio- Frequency Analysis and Design
CHAPTER 4 // Radio Frequency Modulation

QPSK
BPSK transfers one bit per symbol, which is what we’re accustomed to so far. Everything we’ve
discussed with regard to digital modulation has assumed that the carrier signal is modified
according to whether a digital voltage is logic low or logic high, and the receiver constructs
digital data by interpreting each symbol as either a 0 or a 1.

Before we discuss quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK), we need to introduce the following
important concept: There is no reason why one symbol can transfer only one bit. It’s true that
the world of digital electronics is built around circuitry in which the voltage is at one extreme
or the other, such that the voltage always represents one digital bit. But RF is not digital;
rather, we’re using analog waveforms to transfer digital data, and it is perfectly acceptable to
design a system in which the analog waveforms are encoded and interpreted in a way that
allows one symbol to represent two (or more) bits.

QPSK is a modulation scheme that allows one symbol to transfer two bits of data. There are
four possible two-bit numbers (00, 01, 10, 11), and consequently we need four phase offsets.
Again, we want maximum separation between the phase options, which in this case is 90°.

The advantage is higher data rate: if we maintain the same symbol period, we can double the
rate at which data is moved from transmitter to receiver. The downside is system complexity.
(You might think that QPSK is also significantly more susceptible to bit errors than BPSK, since
there is less separation between the possible phase values. This is a reasonable assumption,
but if you go through the math it turns out that the error probabilities are actually very
similar.)

PAGE 102 // 166 Practical Guide to Radio- Frequency Analysis and Design
CHAPTER 4 // Radio Frequency Modulation

Variants
QPSK is, overall, an effective modulation scheme. But it can be improved.

Phase Jumps

Standard QPSK guarantees that high-slope symbol-to-symbol transitions will occur; because
the phase jumps can be ±90°, we can’t use the approach described for the 180° phase jumps
produced by BPSK modulation.

This problem can be mitigated by using one of two QPSK variants. Offset QPSK, which involves
adding a delay to one of two digital data streams used in the modulation process, reduces the
maximum phase jump to 90°. Another option is π/4-QPSK, which reduces the maximum phase
jump to 135°. Offset QPSK is thus superior with respect to reducing phase discontinuities, but
π/4-QPSK is advantageous because it is compatible with differential encoding (discussed in
the next subsection).

Another way to deal with symbol-to-symbol discontinuities is to implement additional

signal processing that creates smoother transitions between symbols. This approach is
incorporated into a modulation scheme called minimum shift keying (MSK), and there is also
an improvement on MSK known as Gaussian MSK.

Differential Encoding

Another difficulty is that demodulation with PSK waveforms is more difficult than with FSK
waveforms. Frequency is “absolute” in the sense that frequency changes can always be
interpreted by analyzing the signal variations with respect to time. Phase, however, is relative
in the sense that it has no universal reference—the transmitter generates the phase variations
with reference to a point in time, and the receiver might interpret the phase variations with
reference to a separate point in time.

The practical manifestation of this is the following: If there are differences between the
phase (or frequency) of the oscillators used for modulation and demodulation, PSK becomes
unreliable. And we have to assume that there will be phase differences (unless the receiver
incorporates carrier-recovery circuitry).

Differential QPSK (DQPSK) is a variant that is compatible with noncoherent receivers (i.e.,
receivers that don’t synchronize the demodulation oscillator with the modulation oscillator).
Differential QPSK encodes data by producing a certain phase shift relative to the preceding
symbol.

PAGE 103 // 166 Practical Guide to Radio- Frequency Analysis and Design
CHAPTER 4 // Radio Frequency Modulation

By using the phase of the preceding symbol in this way, the demodulation circuitry analyzes
the phase of a symbol using a reference that is common to the receiver and the transmitter.

Summary

• Binary phase shift keying is a straightforward modulation scheme that can transfer one
bit per symbol.
• Quadrature phase shift keying is more complex but doubles the data rate (or achieves the
same data rate with half the bandwidth).
• Offset QPSK, π/4-QPSK, and minimum shift keying are modulation schemes that mitigate
the effects of high-slope symbol-to-symbol voltage changes.
• Differential QPSK uses the phase difference between adjacent symbols to avoid problems
associated with a lack of phase synchronization between the transmitter and receiver.

PAGE 104 // 166 Practical Guide to Radio- Frequency Analysis and Design
CHAPTER 4 // Radio Frequency Modulation

Comparing and Contrasting Amplitude,

Frequency, and Phase Modulation
How do the different modulation schemes compare in terms of performance and applications?
Let’s take a look.

It’s important to understand the salient characteristics of the three types of RF modulation. But
this information doesn’t exist in isolation—the goal is to design real systems that effectively
and efficiently meet the performance objectives. Thus, we need to have a general idea of
which modulation scheme is appropriate for a particular application.

Amplitude Modulation
Amplitude modulation is straightforward in terms of implementation and analysis. Also,
AM waveforms are fairly easy to demodulate. Overall, then, AM can be viewed as a simple,
low-cost modulation scheme. As usual, though, simplicity and low cost are accompanied by
performance compromises—we never expect the easier, cheaper solution to be the best one.

It may not be accurate to describe AM systems as “rare,” since countless vehicles all over the
world include AM receivers. However, the applications of analog amplitude modulation are
currently quite limited, because AM has two significant disadvantages.

In addition to AM radio broadcasting, analog amplitude modulation is used in civil aviation.

Amplitude Noise
Noise is a perpetual difficulty in wireless communication systems. In a certain sense, the
quality of an RF design can be summarized by the signal-to-noise ratio of the demodulated
signal: less noise in the received signal means higher quality output (for analog systems) or
fewer bit errors (for digital systems). Noise is always present, and we always have to recognize

PAGE 105 // 166 Practical Guide to Radio- Frequency Analysis and Design
CHAPTER 4 // Radio Frequency Modulation

it as a fundamental threat to the overall performance of the system.

Noise—random electrical noise, interference, electrical and mechanical transients—operates

on the magnitude of a signal. In other words, noise can create amplitude modulation. This
is a problem, since the random amplitude modulation resulting from noise cannot be
distinguished from the intentional amplitude modulation performed by the transmitter.
Noise is a problem for any RF signal, but AM systems are particularly susceptible.

Amplifier Linearity
One of the primary challenges in the design of RF power amplifiers is linearity. (More
specifically, it is difficult to achieve both high efficiency and high linearity.) A linear amplifier
applies a certain fixed gain to the input signal; in graphical terms, the transfer function of a
linear amplifier is simply a straight line, with the slope corresponding to the gain.

A straight line represents the response of a perfectly linear amplifier: the output voltage is always the input
voltage multiplied by a fixed gain.

PAGE 106 // 166 Practical Guide to Radio- Frequency Analysis and Design
CHAPTER 4 // Radio Frequency Modulation

Real-life amplifiers always have some degree of nonlinearity, meaning that the gain applied
to the input signal is affected by the characteristics of the input signal. The result of nonlinear
amplification is distortion, i.e., the creation of spectral energy at harmonic frequencies.

We can also say that nonlinear amplification is a form of amplitude modulation. If the
gain of an amplifier varies according to the frequency of the input signal, or according to
external factors such as temperature or power-supply conditions, the transmitted signal
is experiencing unintended (and undesirable) amplitude modulation. This is a problem in
AM systems because the spurious amplitude modulation interferes with the intentional
amplitude modulation.

Any modulation scheme that incorporates amplitude variations is more susceptible to the
effects of nonlinearity. This includes both ordinary analog amplitude modulation and the
widely used digital schemes known collectively as quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM).

Angle Modulation
Frequency and phase modulation encode information in the temporal characteristics of the
transmitted signal, and consequently they are robust against amplitude noise and amplifier
nonlinearity. The frequency of a signal cannot be changed by noise or distortion. Additional
frequency content may be added, but the original frequency will still be present. Noise does,
of course, have negative effects on FM and PM systems, but the noise is not directly corrupting
the signal characteristics that were used to encode the baseband data.

As mentioned above, power-amplifier design involves a trade-off between efficiency and

linearity. Angle modulation is compatible with low-linearity amplifiers, and these low-linearity
amplifiers are more efficient in terms of power consumption. Thus, angle modulation is a
good choice for low-power RF systems.

Bandwidth
The frequency-domain effects of amplitude modulation are more straightforward than
those of frequency and phase modulation. This can be considered an advantage of AM: it’s
important to be able to predict the bandwidth occupied by the modulated signal.

However, the difficulty of predicting the spectral characteristics of FM and PM is more

relevant to the theoretical portion of the design. If we focus on practical considerations, angle
modulation could be considered advantageous because it can translate a given baseband
bandwidth to a somewhat smaller (compared to AM) transmission bandwidth.

PAGE 107 // 166 Practical Guide to Radio- Frequency Analysis and Design
CHAPTER 4 // Radio Frequency Modulation

Frequency vs. Phase

Frequency modulation and phase modulation are closely related; nevertheless, there are
situations in which one is a better choice than the other. The differences between the two are
more pronounced with digital modulation.

Analog Frequency and Phase Modulation

As we saw in the page on phase modulation, when the baseband signal is a sinusoid, a PM
waveform is simply a shifted version of a corresponding FM waveform. It’s not surprising,
then, that there are no major FM vs. PM pros and cons related to spectral characteristics or
noise susceptibility.

However, analog FM is much more common than analog PM, and the reason is that FM
modulation and demodulation circuitry is more straightforward. For example, frequency
modulation can be accomplished with something as simple as an oscillator built around an
inductor and a voltage-controlled capacitor (i.e., a capacitor that experiences capacitance
variations in response to the voltage of a baseband signal).

Digital Frequency and Phase Modulation

The differences between PM and FM become quite significant when we enter the realm of
digital modulation. The first consideration is bit error rate. Obviously the bit error rate of any
system will depend on various factors, but if we mathematically compare a binary PSK system
to an equivalent binary FSK system, we find that binary FSK needs significantly more transmit
energy to achieve the same bit error rate. This is an advantage of digital phase modulation.

But ordinary digital PM also has two significant disadvantages.

• As discussed in the digital phase modulation page, ordinary (i.e., non-differential) PSK is
not compatible with noncoherent receivers. FSK, in contrast, does not require coherent
detection.
• Ordinary PSK schemes, especially QPSK, involve abrupt phase changes that result in high-
slope signal variations, and high-slope sections of the waveform decrease in amplitude
when the signal is processed by a low-pass filter. These amplitude variations combined
with nonlinear amplification lead to a problem called spectral regrowth. To mitigate
spectral regrowth we can either use a more linear (and thus less efficient) power amplifier
or implement a specialized version of PSK. Or we can switch to FSK, which doesn’t require
abrupt phase changes.

PAGE 108 // 166 Practical Guide to Radio- Frequency Analysis and Design
CHAPTER 4 // Radio Frequency Modulation

Here you can see amplitude variations caused by low-pass filtering a PSK signal.

Summary

• Amplitude modulation is simple, but it is susceptible to noise and requires a high-linearity

power amplifier.
• Frequency modulation is less susceptible to amplitude noise and can be used with higher-
efficiency, lower-linearity amplifiers.
• Digital phase modulation offers better theoretical performance in terms of bit error rate
than digital frequency modulation, but digital FM is advantageous in low-power systems
because it does not require a high-linearity amplifier.

PAGE 109 // 166 Practical Guide to Radio- Frequency Analysis and Design
CHAPTER 5

Radio Frequency
Demodulation

• How to Demodulate an AM Waveform

• How to Demodulate an FM Waveform

• How to Demodulate Digital Phase Modulation

• Understanding I/Q Signals and Quadrature Modulation

• Understanding Quadrature Demodulation

• Quadrature Frequency and Phase Demodulation

PAGE 110 // 166 Practical Guide to Radio- Frequency Analysis and Design
CHAPTER 5 // Radio Frequency Demodulation

How to Demodulate an AM Waveform

Learn about two circuits that can extract the original information from an amplitude-
modulated carrier signal.

At this point we know that modulation refers to intentionally modifying a sinusoid such that it
can carry lower-frequency information from a transmitter to a receiver. We also have covered
many details related to the different methods—amplitude, frequency, phase, analog, digital—
of encoding information in a carrier wave.

But there is no reason to integrate data into a transmitted signal if we cannot extract that
data from the received signal, and this is why we need to study demodulation. Demodulation
circuitry ranges from something as simple as a modified peak detector to something as
complex as coherent quadrature downconversion combined with sophisticated decoding
algorithms performed by a digital signal processor.

Creating the Signal

We’ll use LTspice to study techniques for demodulating an AM waveform. But before we
demodulate we need something that is modulated.

In the AM modulation page, we saw that four things are needed to generate an AM waveform.
First, we need a baseband waveform and a carrier waveform. Then we need a circuit that
can add an appropriate DC offset to the baseband signal. And finally, we need a multiplier,
since the mathematical relationship corresponding to amplitude modulation is multiplying
the shifted baseband signal by the carrier.

The following LTspice circuit will generate an AM waveform.

PAGE 111 // 166 Practical Guide to Radio- Frequency Analysis and Design
CHAPTER 5 // Radio Frequency Demodulation

• V1 is a 1 MHz sine wave voltage source that provides the original baseband signal.
• V3 produces a 100 MHz sine wave for the carrier.
• The op-amp circuit is a level shifter (it also reduces the input amplitude by half). The signal
coming from V1 is a sine wave that swings from –1 V to +1 V, and the output of the op-amp
is a sine wave that swings from 0 V to +1 V.
• B1 is an “arbitrary behavioral voltage source.” Its “value” field is a formula rather than a
constant; in this case the formula is the shifted baseband signal multiplied by the carrier
waveform. In this way B1 can be used to perform amplitude modulation.

Here is the shifted baseband signal:

And here you can see how the AM variations correspond to the baseband signal (i.e., the
orange trace that is mostly obscured by the blue waveform):

PAGE 112 // 166 Practical Guide to Radio- Frequency Analysis and Design
CHAPTER 5 // Radio Frequency Demodulation

Zooming in reveals the individual cycles of the 100 MHz carrier frequency.

Demodulation
As discussed in the AM modulation page, the multiplication operation used to perform
amplitude modulation has the effect of transferring the baseband spectrum to a band
surrounding the positive carrier frequency (+fC) and the negative carrier frequency (–fC).
Thus, we can think of amplitude modulation as shifting the original spectrum upward by fC
and downward by fC. It follows, then, that multiplying the modulated signal by the carrier
frequency will transfer the spectrum back to its original position—i.e., it will shift the spectrum
downward by fC such that it is once again centered around 0 Hz.

Option 1: Multiplication and Filtering

The following LTspice
schematic includes a
demodulating arbitrary
behavioral voltage source;
B2 multiplies the AM signal
by the carrier.

PAGE 113 // 166 Practical Guide to Radio- Frequency Analysis and Design
CHAPTER 5 // Radio Frequency Demodulation

And here is the result:

This definitely does not look correct. If we zoom in, we see the following:

And this reveals the problem. After amplitude modulation, the baseband spectrum is centered
around +fC. Multiplying the AM waveform by the carrier shifts the baseband spectrum down
to 0 Hz, but it also shifts it up to 2fC (in this case 200 MHz), because (as stated above)
multiplication moves the existing spectrum up by fC and down by fC.

It is clear, then, that multiplication alone is not sufficient for proper demodulation. What
we need is multiplication and a low-pass filter; the filter suppresses the spectrum that was
shifted up to 2fC.

PAGE 114 // 166 Practical Guide to Radio- Frequency Analysis and Design
CHAPTER 5 // Radio Frequency Demodulation

The following schematic includes an RC low-pass filter with a cutoff .frequency of ~1.5 MHz.

And here is the demodulated signal:

This technique is actually more complicated than it appears because the phase of the receiver’s
carrier-frequency waveform must be synchronized with the phase of the transmitter’s carrier.
This is discussed further in page 5 of this chapter (Understanding Quadrature Demodulation).

PAGE 115 // 166 Practical Guide to Radio- Frequency Analysis and Design
CHAPTER 5 // Radio Frequency Demodulation

Option 2: Peak Detector

As you can see above in the plot that shows the AM waveform (in blue) and the shifted
baseband waveform (in orange), the positive portion of the AM “envelope” matches the
baseband signal. The term “envelope” refers to the carrier’s variations in sinusoidal amplitude
(as opposed to the variations in the instantaneous value of the waveform itself). If we could
somehow extract the positive portion of the AM envelope, we could reproduce the baseband
signal without using a multiplier.

It turns out that it is quite easy to convert the positive envelope into a normal signal. We start
with a peak detector, which is just a diode followed by a capacitor. The diode conducts when
the input signal is at least ~0.7 V above the voltage on the capacitor, and otherwise it acts like
an open circuit. Thus, the capacitor maintains the peak voltage: if the current input voltage is
lower than the capacitor voltage, the capacitor voltage doesn’t decrease because the reverse-
biased diode prevents discharge.

However, we don’t want a peak detector that will retain the peak voltage for a long period of
time. Instead, we want a circuit that retains the peak relative to the high-frequency variations
of the carrier waveform, but does not retain the peak relative to the lower-frequency variations
of the envelope. In other words, we want a peak detector that holds the peak only for a short
period of time. We accomplish this by adding parallel resistance that allows the capacitor to
discharge. (This type of circuit is called a “leaky peak detector,” where “leaky” refers to the
discharge path provided by the resistor.) The resistance is chosen such that the discharge is
slow enough to smooth out the carrier frequency and fast enough to not smooth out the
envelope frequency.

Here is an example of a leaky peak detector for AM demodulation:

Note that I have amplified the AM signal by a factor of five in order to make the peak detector’s
input signal larger relative to the diode’s forward voltage. The following plot conveys the
general result that we are trying to achieve with the leaky peak detector.

PAGE 116 // 166 Practical Guide to Radio- Frequency Analysis and Design
CHAPTER 5 // Radio Frequency Demodulation

The final signal exhibits the expected charge/discharge characteristic:

A low-pass filter could be used to smooth out these variations.

PAGE 117 // 166 Practical Guide to Radio- Frequency Analysis and Design
CHAPTER 5 // Radio Frequency Demodulation

Summary

• In LTspice, an arbitrary behavioral voltage source can be used to create an AM waveform.

• AM waveforms can be demodulated using a multiplier followed by a low-pass filter.
• A simpler (and lower-cost) approach is to use a leaky peak detector, i.e., a peak detector
with parallel resistance that allows the capacitor to discharge at an appropriate rate.

PAGE 118 // 166 Practical Guide to Radio- Frequency Analysis and Design
CHAPTER 5 // Radio Frequency Demodulation

How to Demodulate an FM Waveform

Learn about two techniques for recovering the baseband signal from a frequency-modulated
carrier.

Frequency modulation offers improved performance over amplitude modulation, but it is

somewhat more difficult to extract the original information from an FM waveform. There are
a few different ways to demodulate FM; in this page we’ll discuss two. One of these is quite
straightforward, and the other is more complex.

Creating the Signal

As in How to Demodulate an AM Waveform, we’ll use LTspice to explore FM demodulation,
and once again we need to first perform frequency modulation so that we have something to
demodulate. If you look back at the page on analog frequency modulation, you will see that
the mathematical relationship is less straightforward than that of amplitude modulation.
With AM, we simply added an offset and then performed ordinary multiplication. With FM,
we need to add continuously varying values to the quantity inside a sine (or cosine) function,
and furthermore, these continuously varying values are not the baseband signal but rather
the integral of the baseband signal.

Consequently, we can’t generate an FM waveform using an arbitrary behavioral voltage

source and a simple mathematical relationship, as we did with AM. It turns out, though, that
it is actually easier to generate an FM signal. We simply use the SFFM option for a normal
voltage source:

PAGE 119 // 166 Practical Guide to Radio- Frequency Analysis and Design
CHAPTER 5 // Radio Frequency Demodulation

The following “circuit” is all we need for creating an FM waveform consisting of a 10 MHz
carrier and a 1 MHz sinusoidal baseband signal:

Note that the modulation index is five; a higher modulation index makes it easier to see the
frequency variations. The following plot shows the waveform created by the SFFM voltage
source.

PAGE 120 // 166 Practical Guide to Radio- Frequency Analysis and Design
CHAPTER 5 // Radio Frequency Demodulation

Demodulation: The High-Pass Filter

The first demodulation technique that we’ll look at begins with a high-pass filter. We’ll assume
that we’re dealing with narrowband FM (which is discussed briefly in this page). We need to
design the high-pass filter such that the attenuation will vary significantly within a frequency
band whose width is twice the bandwidth of the baseband signal. Let’s explore this concept
more thoroughly.

The received FM signal will have a spectrum that is centered around the carrier frequency. The
width of the spectrum is approximately equal to twice the bandwidth of the baseband signal;
the factor of two results from the shifting of the positive and negative baseband frequencies
(as discussed here), and it is “approximately” equal because the integration applied to the
baseband signal can affect the shape of the modulated spectrum. Thus, the lowest frequency
in the modulated signal is approximately equal to the carrier frequency minus the highest
frequency in the baseband signal, and the highest frequency in the modulated signal is
approximately equal to the carrier frequency plus the highest frequency in the baseband
signal.

Our high-pass filter needs to have a frequency response that causes the lowest frequency in
the modulated signal to be attenuated significantly more than the highest frequency in the
modulated signal. If we apply this filter to an FM waveform, what will be the result? It will be
something like this:

PAGE 121 // 166 Practical Guide to Radio- Frequency Analysis and Design
CHAPTER 5 // Radio Frequency Demodulation

This plot shows both the original FM waveform and the high-pass-filtered waveform, for
purposes of comparison. The next plot shows just the filtered waveform, so that you can see
it more clearly.

By applying the filter, we have turned frequency modulation into amplitude modulation. This
is a convenient approach to FM demodulation, because it allows us to benefit from envelope-
detector circuitry that has been developed for use with amplitude modulation. The filter used
to produce this waveform was nothing more than an RC high-pass with a cutoff frequency
approximately equal to the carrier frequency.

Amplitude Noise
The simplicity of this demodulation scheme naturally makes us think that it is not the highest-
performance option, and in fact this approach does have a major weakness: it is sensitive to
amplitude variations. The transmitted signal will have a constant envelope because frequency
modulation does not involve changes to the amplitude of the carrier, but the received signal
will not have a constant envelope because amplitude is inevitably affected by error sources.

Consequently, we cannot design an acceptable FM demodulator simply by adding a high-

pass filter to an AM demodulator. We also need a limiter, which is a circuit that mitigates
amplitude variations by restricting the received signal to a certain amplitude. The existence

PAGE 122 // 166 Practical Guide to Radio- Frequency Analysis and Design
CHAPTER 5 // Radio Frequency Demodulation

of this simple and effective remedy for amplitude variations enables FM to maintain its
greater (compared to AM) robustness against amplitude noise: We cannot use a limiter with
AM signals because restricting the amplitude corrupts the information encoded in the carrier.
FM, on the other hand, encodes all of the information in the temporal characteristics of the
transmitted signal.

Demodulation: The Phase-Locked Loop

A phase-locked loop (PLL) can be used to create a complex but high-performance circuit for
FM demodulation. A PLL can “lock onto” the frequency of an incoming waveform. It does this
by combining a phase detector, a low-pass filter (aka “loop filter”), and a voltage-controlled
oscillator (VCO) into a negative-feedback system, as follows:

After the PLL has locked, it can create an output sinusoid that follows frequency variations
in the incoming sinusoid. This output waveform would be taken from the output of the VCO.
In an FM-demodulator application, however, we don’t need an output sinusoid that has the
same frequency as the input signal. Instead, we use the output from the loop filter as a
demodulated signal. Let’s look at why this is possible.

The phase detector produces a signal that is proportional to the phase difference between
the incoming waveform and the output of the VCO. The loop filter smooths this signal, which
then becomes the control signal for the VCO. Thus, if the frequency of the incoming signal is
constantly increasing and decreasing, the VCO control signal has to increase and decrease
accordingly to ensure that the VCO output frequency remains equal to the input frequency.
In other words, the output of the loop filter is a signal whose amplitude variations correspond
to the input-frequency variations. This is how a PLL accomplishes frequency demodulation.

PAGE 123 // 166 Practical Guide to Radio- Frequency Analysis and Design
CHAPTER 5 // Radio Frequency Demodulation

Summary

• In LTspice, a frequency-modulated sinusoid can be generated by using the SFFM option

for standard voltage sources.
• A simple and effective FM demodulation technique involves a high-pass filter (for FM-to-
AM conversion) followed by an AM demodulator.
• A high-pass-filter-based FM demodulator is preceded by a limiter to prevent amplitude
variations from contributing error to the demodulated signal.
• A phase-locked loop can be used to achieve high-performance FM demodulation. The use
of integrated-circuit PLLs makes this approach less complex than it might seem.

PAGE 124 // 166 Practical Guide to Radio- Frequency Analysis and Design
CHAPTER 5 // Radio Frequency Demodulation

How to Demodulate Digital Phase Modulation

Learn about how to extract the original digital data from a phase-shift-keying waveform.

In the previous two pages we discussed systems for performing demodulation of AM and
FM signals that carry analog data, such as (non-digitized) audio. Now we are ready to look
at how to recover original information that has been encoded via the third general type of
modulation, namely, phase modulation.

However, analog phase modulation is not common, whereas digital phase modulation is very
common. Thus, it makes more sense to explore PM demodulation in the context of digital
RF communication. We’ll explore this topic using binary phase shift keying (BPSK); however,
it’s good to be aware that quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) is more relevant to modern
wireless systems.

As the name implies, binary phase shift keying represents digital data by assigning one phase
to binary 0 and a different phase to binary 1. The two phases are separated by 180° to
optimize demodulation accuracy—more separation between the two phase values makes it
easier to decode the symbols.

Multiply and Integrate—and Synchronize

A BPSK demodulator consists primarily of two functional blocks : a multiplier and an integrator.
These two components will produce a signal that corresponds to the original binary data.
However, synchronization circuitry is also needed, because the receiver must be able to
identify the boundary between bit periods. This is an important difference between analog
demodulation and digital demodulation, so let’s take a closer look.

This diagram shows a frequency-shift-keying signal, but the same concept applies to digital phase
modulation and digital amplitude modulation.

PAGE 125 // 166 Practical Guide to Radio- Frequency Analysis and Design