AM Modulators

Introduction

In the last study material we discussed various scheme of Amplitude Modulation.

In this study material we will discuss different modulator circuits to generate

modulated output. Modulator circuits cause carrier amplitude to be varied in

accordance with modulating signals. Modulator circuits produce AM, DSB, and SSB

transmission methods. Step-by-step discussion covered in this study material is:

 Basic Principles of Amplitude Modulation

 Amplitude Modulators

 Amplitude Demodulators

 Balanced Modulators

 SSB Circuits

Basic Principle

As it is seen in the last study material that the basic equation for an AM signal is:

νAM=Vc sin 2πfct + (Vm sin 2πfmt) (sin 2πfct) (7.1)

In the above equation, the first term is the sine wave carrier and the second term is

theproduct of the sine wave carrier and modulating signal.As it is apparent from Equ.

(7.1) that amplitude modulation voltage can be produced by a circuit that can multiply

the carrier by the modulating signal and then add the carrier. Block diagram realization

of above equation is shown in Fig (7-1). The product of the carrier and modulating

signal can be generated by applying both signals to a nonlinear component such as a

diode. A square law device can be used to generate product term of the expression. A
square-law function is one that varies in proportion to the square of the input signals. A

diode gives a good approximation of a square-law response. Bipolar and field-effect

transistors (FETs) can also be biased to give a square-law response. A square law device

has the input- output characteristics of the form

Fig 7-1 Block

diagram realization of AM signal

Vo = a (Vi) + b(Vi)2

Where, Vi =( Vc sin 2πfct + Vm sin 2πfmt).

Two conditions must be met in a circuit for heterodyning to occur. First, at least

two different frequencies must be applied to the circuit. Second, these signals must be

applied to a nonlinear impedance (Like transistor or diodes). These two conditions will

result in new frequencies (sum and difference) being produced. Any one of the

frequencies can be selected by placing a frequency-selective device (such as a tuned

tank circuit) in series with the nonlinear impedance in the circuit.

The way in which this can be applied, is shown in Fig 7-2. The diode serves as the

nonlinear impedance in the circuit. Generators Vc and Vm are signal sources of

different frequencies. The primary of transformer, with its associated capacitance,

serves as the frequency-selective device

 Fig 7-2 A Diode Square-Law Modulator

= a Vc sin 2πfct + a Vm sin 2πfmt + bV2c sin 22πfct + bV2m sin2 2πfmt + 2b Vc sin 2πfct. Vm sin

2πfmt

Combining the terms in bold letter

= a Vc sin 2πfct + 2b Vc sin2πfct. Vm sin 2πfmt + a Vm sin 2πfmt + bV2c sin 22πfct + bV2m

sin2 2πfmt

The output of square-law device contains frequency component at and around fc ,

The other undesired harmonics as shown in Fig 7-3. The terms which are not bold in

above expression, can be deselected using a tank circuit which is tuned at frequency fC

as shown in Fig 7-4.

 Fig 7-3 Frequency component present at the output of diode

Fig 7-4 Modulated signal at the output of tank circuit

Therefore,

* ( ) + ( 7.2)

Equation (7.2) is the desired expression of AM signal where modulation index m

=( ) . In order to avoid over modulation we make

( ) ≤ 1.
Low Level and High Level Modulation

There are two levels of modulation: low-level modulation and high-level

modulation. With low-level modulation, the modulation takes place prior to the output

element of the final stage of transmitter. In high-level modulators, the modulation takes

place in the final element of the final stage of transmitter.

Low-level versus high-level modulation:

 With low-level modulation, less modulating signal power is required to achieve

a high percentage of modulation. For high-level modulation, the carrier signal is

at its maximum amplitude at the final element, therefore much higher amplitude

modulating signal is required to achieve high percent modulation

 However, low-level modulation is not suitable for high-power applications

when all the amplifiers that follow the modulator stage must be linear

Low-Level AM: Diode Modulator

In low level modulator, little power is associated with either the carrier or the

information signal; consequently the output power of modulator is low. As shown in

Fig (7-5), diode modulation consists of a resistive mixing network, a diode rectifier, and

an LC tuned circuit. The carrier is applied to one of the input resistor and the

modulating signal to another input resistor. This resistive network causes the two

signals to be linearly mixed (i.e. algebraically added). A diode passes half cycles when

forward biased. The carrier amplitude controls the operating region of piecewise-linear

device. The carrier, in fact, would control the conducting stage of the diode described as

follows:

a) When the carrier is positive, the diode operates in the conducting region so that

it has low forward resistance. It acts as low resistance to the incoming signal.
 b) When the carrier is negative, diode offers high resistance to the incoming signal

because of being reverse biased.

The coil and capacitor repeatedly exchange energy, causing an oscillation or ringing at

the resonant frequency

Fig 7-5 Low level diode modulator.

The abovementioned operation requires the amplitude of the carrier to be much

greater than that of the modulating signal, i.e. , Vc >> Vm. Now, the input signal to the

modulator is:

Vi(t) =( Vc cos ωct + Vm cosωmt)

Since Vc controls the ON and OFF state of the diode, it acts like a switch. Thus, the

action of the carrier can be described by a switching function which can be written as

S(t) = o o o

Where, n = odd(1, 3, 5, 7………..)

The output signal would be the product of the input signal Vi(t) and switching function

S(t). Therefore,
 Vo(t) = Vi(t) × S(t)

= ( Vc cos ωct + Vm cosωmt) o o o

= ( Vc cos ωct + Vm cosωmt) + ( Vc cos ωct + Vm cosωmt) cos ωct +

+ ( Vc cos ωct + Vm cosωmt) cos3ωct

+ ( Vc cos ωct + Vm cosωmt) cos nωct

= cos ωct + cosωmt cos ωc t + cos ωmt + Vccos2 ωc t + Vc cosωct cos 3 ωc t

+ Vm cosωmt cos 3 ωc t +……

The amplitude modulated output will be contributed by the bold written terms in the

expression. Other terms will be blocked by an L-C tuned circuit which is tuned at

frequency ωc. Therefore,

VAM(t) = cos ωct + cosωmt cos ωc t

= ( cos ωct + cosωmt cos ωc t)

= (1+ cosωmt ) cos ωct

= (1+ cosωmt ) cos ωct (7-5)

Where, m = is the modulation index. Equation (7-5) gives the desired output of AM.
Transistor Modulator (Basic Principle)
To perform modulation, we use non linear circuits. These circuits can be passive or

active. Besides providing modulation active circuits also gives power gain. Transistor is

an active device, whereas diode is passive. In practice, Transistor modulator is

preferred over diode modulator. Transistor modulation consists of a resistive mixing

network, a transistor, and an LC tuned circuit as shown in Fig (7-6). The emitter-base

junction of the transistor serves as a diode and nonlinear device. Modulation and

amplification occur as base current controls a larger collector current. The LC tuned

circuit oscillates (rings) to generate the missing half cycle.

Fig (7-6) A Basic Transistor modulator

Emitter Modulator
The emitter modulator is basically a small signal amplifier, and is shown by Fig (7-7)

Fig (7-7) Single Transistor AM Modulator

When no modulating signal is present, the circuit operates as a linear amplifier. The

output is simply the carrier amplified by the quiescent voltage gain. When a

modulating signal is applied, the amplifier operates nonlinearly, and signal

multiplication occurs. The modulating signal varies the gain of the amplifier at a

sinusoidal rate equal to the frequency of the modulating signal and can be expressed as:

Av = Aq [1 + m cos (ωm t)]

where Av = amplifier voltage gain with modulation

Aq = amplifier quiescent (without modulation) voltage gain

As cosine function goes from a maximum of +1 to a minimum of -1, above equation can

be reduced to
 Av = Aq (1 ± m)

At 100% modulation,

Av(max) = 2 Aq, and

Av (min) = 0

Operation of the modulator is briefly described below:

Modulating signal is applied through isolation transformer to the emitter of transistor

and the carrier is applied directly to the base. The modulating signal drives the circuit

into both saturation and cut-off states, producing the nonlinear amplification necessary

for modulation to occur. The collector waveform includes the carrier, upper and lower

side frequencies as well as a component at the modulating frequency. Coupling

capacitor C2 removes the modulating signal frequency from the waveform, producing a
symmetrical AM envelope at Vout .
 Fig 7-8 Emitter AM Modulator waveforms.

Following characteristics is to be noted with the operation of this circuit.

1. Amplitude of the output signal depends on the amplitude of input carrier and

the voltage gain of amplifier

2. Coefficient of modulation depends entirely on the amplitude of modulating

signal

3. Simple but incapable of producing high-power output waveforms

Collector Modulator

Similar to emitter modulator, the collector modulator is practically a transistor amplifier

with the modulating signal is applied to the collector. The schematic diagram for the

collector modulator is shown in Fig (7-9).

 Fig (7-9) A simplified collector modulator

The RFC is a radio-frequency choke that acts as a short to DC and an open to high

frequencies. Therefore, it isolates the DC power supply from high-frequency carrier and

side frequencies while allowing low-frequency modulating signal to modulate the

collector of the transistor

Operation of the circuit:

1. Without an applied modulating signal

  When the amplitude of carrier exceeds the barrier potential of the base-emitter

junction (approximately 0.7V), the transistor turns on and the collector current

flows.

 Similarly, when the amplitude drops below 0.7V, the transistor turns off and the

collector current ceases. I.e. the transistor switches between saturation and cut-

off controlled by the carrier signal.

 During each time where the transistor is on, the negative going waveform is

produced at the collector. The waveform resembles a repetitive half-wave

rectified signal with a fundamental frequency equal to fc.

Fig (7-10) Collector waveform with no modulating signal.

2. with an applied modulating signal

 The modulating signal adds to and subtracts from the DC supply VCC and the

output voltage waveform swings from a maximum value (2VCC) to a minimum

value V CE (sat ≈ 0).

  The circuit operates as before and the waveform produced again resembles a

half-wave rectified carrier superimposed onto a low-frequency AC information

signal.

Since the transistor operates nonlinearly, the collector waveform contains the two

original input frequencies (fc and fm ), the sum and difference frequencies ( fc ± fm ) as

well as the higher-order harmonics and inter-modulation components, it must be band-

limited (filtered) to fc ± fm before being transmitted.

A much more practical collector modulator circuit for producing a medium-power AM DSBFC
signal is discussed in the next section

High-Level AM: Collector Modulator

The collector modulator is a linear power amplifier that takes the low-level modulating

signals and amplifies them to a high-power level. The operation of collector modulator

is similar to that of the plate modulator. The circuit configuration most often employed

for a collector modulator is the common-emitter amplifier .The transistor is biased in

class C mode. A modulating output signal is coupled through a modulation transformer

to a class C amplifier. The secondary winding of the modulation transformer is

 Fig (7-11) Collector waveform with an applied modulating signal

connected in series with the collector supply voltage of the class C amplifier. A circuit of

a collector modulator is shown in Fig (7-12).

 Fig

(7-12) Collector Class C Modulator

The operation of this circuit is almost identical to the previous circuit except the

addition of a tank circuit in the collector of the transistor. The waveforms of the circuit

are shown below:

 Fig (7-12) Waveform of collector modulator

The waveforms for the modulating signal, carrier and collector current are

identical as before and the output is symmetrical AM DSBFC signal The positive half-

cycle of the envelope is produced in the tank circuit by the flywheel action. As the

transistor is conducting, capacitor C1 charges to VCC +V m = 2VCC . When the transistor is

off, C1 discharges through L1 . When L1 discharges, C1 charges to a minimum value of

− 2Vcc. The resonant frequency of the tank circuit is equal to fc , and the bandwidth

extends from fc − fm to fc + fm . Consequently, the modulating signal, the harmonics

and all the higher-order cross products are removed leaving a symmetrical AM DSBFC

wave.

Comparisons between emitter modulator and collector modulator

Emitter Modulator Collector Modulator

1. Less symmetrical envelope 1. More symmetrical envelope

2. Less power efficienc 2. Higher power efficiency

3. Low output power 3. Higher output power

4. Require only small modulating 4.Need higher amplitude modulating

signal drive power signal

5. Simpler circuit 5. Complex circuit

Vander Bijl Modulator (Emitter Injection Modulator)

Hendrik van der Bijl

This is the transistor equivalent of the cathode modulator. The EMITTER-

INJECTION MODULATOR has the same characteristics as the base-injection modulator

discussed earlier. It is an extremely low-level modulator that is useful in portable

equipment. In emitter-injection modulation, the gain of the RF amplifier is varied by the

changing voltage on the emitter. The changing voltage is caused by the injection of the

modulating signal into the emitter circuitry of Q1, as shown in figure 7-13. Here the

modulating voltage adds to or subtracts from transistor biasing. The change in bias

causes a change in collector current and results in a heterodyning action. The

modulation envelope is developed across the collector-tank circuit.

 Figure 7-13 Emitter-injection modulator.

AM Transmitter
Low-Level Transmitters
Figure 7.14 shows a block diagram for a low-level AM DSBFC transmitter
 Fig 7-14 low-level AM DSBFC transmitter

Function of different blocks is given below:

The function of preamplifier (linear voltage amplifier with high input impedance) is to

raise source signal amplitude to a usable level with minimum nonlinear distortion and

as little thermal noise as possible.

Modulating signal driver (linear amplifier) amplifies the information signal to an

adequate level to sufficiently drive the modulator.

RF carrier oscillator is used to generate the carrier signal, for this purpose usually

crystal-controlled oscillators are used.

The buffer amplifier (low-gain, high-input impedance linear amplifier) is used to isolate

the oscillator from the high-power amplifiers.

The modulator can use either emitter or collector modulation

The intermediate and final power amplifiers (push-pull modulators) are required with

low-level transmitters to maintain symmetry in the AM envelope

The coupling network matches output impedance of the final amplifier to the

transmission line/antenna. Application of this transmission is in low-power, low-

capacity systems: wireless intercoms, remote-control units, pagers and short-range

walkie-talkie.
High-Level Transmitters

The block diagram for a high-level AM DSBFC transmitter:

Modulating signal is processed similarly as in low-level transmitter except for the

addition of power amplifier to provide higher power modulating signal necessary to

achieve 100% modulation (carrier power is maximum at the high-level modulation

point). Same circuit as before, for carrier oscillator, buffer and driver but with addition

of power amplifier is also applied here. The modulator circuit has three primary

functions:

 Provide the circuitry necessary for modulation to occur

 It is the final power amplifier

 Frequency up-converter: translates low-frequency information signals to radio-

frequency signals that can be efficiently radiated from an antenna and

propagated through free space

 You have studied six methods of amplitude modulation. These are not the only

methods available, but they are the most common. All methods of AM modulation use

the same theory of heterodyning across a nonlinear device. AM modulation is one of

the easiest and least expensive types of modulation to achieve. The primary

disadvantages of AM modulation are susceptibility to noise interference and the

inefficiency of the transmitter. Power is wasted in the transmission of the carrier

frequency because it contains no AM intelligence. Conventional AM DSB

communication systems have two inherent disadvantages.

 First, with conventional AM, carrier power constitutes two thirds or more of the

total transmitted power .This is a major drawback because the carrier contains

no information.

 Conventional AM systems utilize twice as much bandwidth as needed with SSB

systems. With SSB transmission, the information contained in the USB is

identical the information contained in the LSB. Therefore, transmitting both

sidebands is redundant.

 Consequently, Conventional AM is both power and bandwidth inefficient,

which are the two predominant considerations when designing modern

electronic communication systems.

In the next section, you will study other forms of modulation that have been

developed to overcome these disadvantages.

DSB-SC Modulators
Double sideband-suppressed carrier (DSB-SC) is a type of modulation, in which the

transmitted wave consists of only the upper and lower sidebands. Transmitted power is

saved through the suppression of the carrier wave, but the channel bandwidth

requirement is same as in AM (i.e. twice the bandwidth of the message signal).

Basically, double sideband-suppressed (DSB-SC) modulation consists of the product of

both the message signal m (t) and the carrier signal, as follows:

 The modulated signal s (t) undergoes a phase reversal whenever the message

signal m (t) crosses zero. The envelope of a DSB-SC modulated signal is different

from the message signal.

 The transmission bandwidth required by DSB-SC modulation is the same as that

for amplitude modulation which is twice the bandwidth of the message signal,

2ωm.

There are three methods to generate DSB-SC waves. They are:

1. Product Modulator

2. Balanced modulator

3. Ring modulator

Product Modulator

A Product modulator is a circuit that generates a DSB-SC signal, suppressing the

carrier and leaving only the sum and difference frequencies at the output. This

modulation process does not introduce sinusoid at fc and as a result, it is called Double-

sideband, suppressed-carrier (DSB-SC modulation). The output of a DSB-SC modulator

can be further processed by filters or phase-shifting circuitry to eliminate one of the

sidebands, resulting in a SSB signal.

In the time domain, for the baseband signal m(t) = Vm cosωmt, the DSB-SC signal

DSB (t) = m(t) × cosωct

= Vm cosωmt × Vc cosωct

= [ o o ]
When the baseband is a single sinusoid of frequency fm, the modulated signal consists

of two sinusoids; the component of frequency ωc+ωm (USB) and the component of

frequency ωc+ωm (LSB).

Fig 7-14 Product modulator to generate DSB-SC signal

Fig 7-14 shows the schematic diagram of product modulator for the realization of DSB-

SC signal. This scheme is also known as heterodyning. The operation of frequency

mixing/conversion is known as heterodyning. This is basically a shifting of spectra by

an additional ωc. This is also equivalent to the operation of modulation with

modulating carrier frequency that differs from incoming carrier frequency by ωm.

Balance Modulator

One possible scheme for generating a DSBSC wave is to use two AM modulators

arranged in a balanced configuration so as to suppress the carrier wave, as shown in

Fig. 7-14. Assume that two AM modulators are identical, except for the sign reversal of

the modulating signal applied to the input of one of the modulators. Thus the outputs

of the two AM modulators can be expressed as follows

S1(t) = Ac [1+kam (t)] cos ωct

and
 S2 (t) = Ac [1- kam (t)] cos ωct

Subtracting S2 (t) from S1 (t), we obtain

S (t) = S1 (t) – S2 (t)

S (t) = 2Ac ka m(t) cos ωct

Fig 7-14 Balanced Modulator

Hence, except for the scaling factor 2ka the balanced modulator output is equal to

product of the modulating signal and the carrier signal as in product modulator.

Ring Modulator

The DSB-SC can be generated using either the balanced modulator or and the

‘ring-modulator’. The balanced modulator uses two identical AM generators along with
an adder. The two amplitude modulators have a common carrier with one of them

modulating the input message, and the other modulating the inverted message.

Generation of AM is not simple, and to have two AM generators with identical

operating conditions is extremely difficult. Hence, laboratory implementation of the

DSB-SC is usually using the ‘ring-modulator’, shown in figure (7-15)

Ring modulator is one of the most useful product modulator, well suited for

generating a DSB-SC wave. The diodes are controlled by a square-wave carrier of

frequency fc, which is applied longitudinally by means of two center-tapped

transformers. If the transformers are perfectly balanced and the diodes are identical,

there is no leakage of the modulation frequency into the modulation output . To

understand the operation of the circuit, assume that the diodes have a constant forward

resistance rf when switched on and a constant backward resistance rb when switched off;

and they switch as the carrier wave crosses through zero axis. On one half-cycle of the

carrier wave, the outer diodes ( D1-D3) are switched to their forward resistance rf and

the inner diodes (D2-D4) are switched to their backward resistance rb. On other half-

cycle of the carrier wave, the diodes operate in the opposite condition
 Fig (7-15) The ring modulator used for the generation of DSB-SC

X(t) = ∑ o

W0(t) = o o o )

Vi(t) = m(t) × w0(t )

= o o o )

The output of band-pass filter will be:

 = o

The modulator output consists of modulation products. The ring modulator is

sometimes referred to as a double-balanced modulator, because it is balanced with

respect to both the message signal and the square wave carrier signal.

Single-Sideband Suppressed Carrier ( SSB-SC) Modulator

There are two methods used for SSB Transmission.

 Filter Method

 Phase Shift Method

Filter Method

Conceptually, the generation of a SSB signal is straightforward. This can be generated

with two easy steps:

– Generate a DSB signal.

– Apply an ideal band‐pass filter.

The filter method is the simplest and most widely used method of generating

SSB signals. The modulating signal is first applied to the audio amplifier. The amplifier’s

output is fed to one input of a balanced modulator. A crystal oscillator provides the

carrier signal which is also applied to the balanced modulator . The output of the

balanced modulator is a double- sideband (DSB) signal. An SSB signal is produced by

passing the DSB signal through a highly selective band-pass filter. With the filter

method, it is necessary to select either the upper or the lower sideband. Practically, the
construction of ideal filter is very difficult. The modulating signal is assumed to be a

single-frequency sine wave. The passband for the output filter is indicated on the

diagram for the upper sideband. The lower sideband also could be selected, if desired,

rather than the upper sideband. The sideband-suppression filter must have very sharp

cutoff characteristics, and the IF must be quite low for most SSB applications.

In a typical example, the filter’s response must change from near zero

attenuation to near full (30 dB or more) attenuation over a range of only 600 Hz. To

obtain a filter response curve with skirts as steep as those suggested, the Q of the filter

(reactance/resistance) must be very high. Possible filter types include LC filters, crystal

filters, ceramic filters, mechanical filters, and SAW filters. Because of Q limitations, LC

filters cannot be used for IF values greater than about 100 kHz. Mechanical filters have

been used at frequencies up to 500 kHz and crystal filters and ceramic filters up to

about 30 MHz. SAW filters can be used up to 2 GHz.

 Fig 7-16 SSB Generation using Filter- Method

Phase-Shift Method
The phase-shift method of producing SSB suppressed-carrier signal is shown in

Figure 7-16. This method avoids filters and some of their attendant disadvantages.
 Fig 7-16 SSB-SC Generation using Phase Shift Method

The audio input signal is applied to two all-pass networks with phase shifts that differ

by 90 degrees over the frequency range of interest. The signals are then applied to two

balanced modulators along with in-phase and quadrature (90-degree out of phase)

signals of the desired RF frequency. The in-phase and quadrature signals can be

obtained by digital frequency division of the output of a variable-frequency oscillator

operating at four times the output frequency. The outputs of the two balance

modulators are summed and then amplified to the desired level. The operation of an

SSB modulator that uses the phase shift method is demonstrated as follows:

The equation of a wave with the carrier removed is

VoBM1 = Vm cosωmt × Vc cosωct

 = [ o o ] (7.3)

This is the case for the output of the first modulator. When both modulating and carrier

frequencies are shifted 90 degrees, as in the case of the second balanced modulator, the

equation for a wave with the carrier removed is

VoBM2 = Vm cos(ωmt + π/2) × Vc cos (ωct + π/2)

= * o ( ) o ( )+

= [ o o ] (7.4)

On the application of equation (7.3) and (7.4) to adder, the output of adder will be

VSSB(t) = VmVc cos(ωc -ωm) (7.5)

Output corresponds to the equation of the lower sideband. If the polarity of one of the

modulating voltages or one of the RF voltages is reversed, the other sideband would

appear at the output terminals. Possible variations of SSB are SSB with full carrier and

SSB with reduced carrier. The carrier can be added after generation of the SSB signal.

The advantages of single side band SSB transmission are as follows.

Advantages

 It allows better management of the frequency spectrum. More transmission can

fit into a given frequency range than would be possible with double side band

DSB signals.

 All of the transmitted power is message power none is dissipate as carrier power.
  The noise content of a signal is an exponential function of the bandwidth: the

noise will decrease by 3dB when the bandwidth is reduced by half. There fore,

single side band SSB signals have less noise contamination than DSB double side

band.

Disadvantages

 The cost of a single side band SSB reciver is higher than the double side band

DSB counterpart be a ratio of about 3:1.

 The average radio user wants only to flip a power switch and dial a station.

Single side band SSB recievers require several precise frequency control settings

to minimize distortion and may require continual readjustment during the use of

the system.

AM Demodulation
So far, we have discussed various scheme of amplitude modulation. The basic

process involved in any AM system is frequency shift of baseband signal around carrier

signal. At the receiver end the modulated signal becomes meaningful for human use, if

it is brought back, further, to its original position in frequency domain as it is shown in

fig 7.17.
 Fig 7.17 Pcocess involved in modulation and demodulation

Thus, Demodulation or detection is the process of recovering the intelligence

contained in the modulated carrier. It is reverse of the modulation process. Both,

modulation and demodulation involve frequency shifting, which requires the

incorporation of nonlinear element.

Demodulators, or detectors, are circuits that accept modulated signals and

recover the original modulating information. The circuit used for modulation and

demodulation are quite similar. In demodulation as in modulation, it is necessary that

detection process be linear. Any new terms appearing in the frequency spectrum of the

detected signal produces distortion.

The difference between detection and demodulation is subtle, and virtually

indicate the same process. If the recovery of information signal involves the

reintroduction of the carrier, either internally as part of the applied modulated signal or

externally as produced by a local oscillator, and through converter action sum and

difference frequency terms are produced , then the process is technically demodulation.
DSB-SC and SSB-SC signal require a demodulation process. If frequency translation is

not essential to the recovery of the information signal, the process technically is

detection. The detector reproduces the signal frequency by producing a distortion of a

desirable kind. When the output of the detector is impressed upon a low-pass filter, the

radio frequencies are suppressed and only the low-frequency intelligence signal and dc

components are left.

There are mainly three methods to demodulate AM signals, they are

 Square-Law Detection

 Envelope Detection

 Coherent Detection

Square-Law Detection (Non-Linear Demodulator)

A Square-law modulator requires nonlinear element and a low pass filter for

extracting the desired message signal. Semi-conductor diodes and transistors are the

most common nonlinear devices used for implementing square law modulators. The

filtering requirement is usually satisfied by using a single or double tuned filters. When

a nonlinear element such as a diode is suitably biased and operated in a restricted

portion of its characteristic curve, that is ,the signal applied to the diode is relatively

weak, we find that transfer characteristic of diode-load resistor combination can be

represented closely by a square law. In the square law region, the output voltage Vo is

proportional to the square of the input voltage Vi, thus Vo is proportional to the input

power.
 Fig 7.18 Block Diagram of Square-Law Detector

It utilizes the non-linear portion of the dynamic current-voltage characteristic of a

diode. It differs from the linear diode detector is that in this case the applied input

carrier voltage is of small magnitude and hence is restricted to the excessively non

linear portion of the dynamic characteristic, whereas in linear diode detector, a large

amplitude modulated carrier voltage is applied to the diode and most of the operation

takes place over the linear region of the

The basic circuit of square law diode detector is shown in Fig 7.19. The

diode is biased positively to shift the zero-signal operating point to the small current

non linear region of the dynamic current-voltage characteristic. The capacitor-resistor

combination constitutes the load. To study the operation of this detector, we may

consider first only the resistor R to constitute the load impedance. Then the dynamic

current-voltage characteristic ofthe diode. Superposition of modulated carrier voltage

on the dynamic characteristic is also illustrated. This results in the output current

waveform. Since the operation takes place over the non linear region of the

characteristic the current waveform has its lower half compressed.

A square law device has the input- output characteristics of the form

Vo = a (Vi) + b(Vi)2 (7.7)

Where, Vi = Vc *1 + m cos ωmt+ cos ωct (7.8)

The first term in equation (7.7) contains terms in frequency ωc, (ωc - ωm), (ωc + ωm).

Evidently, the second term in equation (7.7) gives terms in frequencies 2ωc, 2(ωc - ωm),

2(ωc + ωm), ωm and 2ωm

Fig7.19 Squarelaw diode detector and its input-outpur behavior with applied RF input

This average current consists of a steady or D C component and a time varying

component at the modulation frequency. The shunt capacitor C bypasses all the radio

frequency components like ωc, (ωc - ωm), (ωc + ωm), 2ωc, 2(ωc - ωm), 2(ωc + ωm) leaving only

the average component like ωm and 2ωm to flow through the load resistor R producing

the detected output. The term in frequency ωm constitute the desired output whereas

the term in frequency 2 ωm forms the distortion term.

Linear Diode Detector

There are various ways to detect the amplitude of a modulated waveform. Here we'll

consider one of the simplest, used by most portable radios, etc, the Envelope Detector.

Envelope detector is used to detect high level modulated levels, whereas square -law

detector is used to detect low level modulated signals (i.e., below 1v). It is also based on

the switching action or switching characteristics of a diode. It consists of a diode and a

resistor-capacitor filter as shown in Fig 7.20.

Fig 7.20 Envelope Detector

The operation of the envelope detector is as follows. On a positive half cycle of the input

signal, the diode is forward biased and the capacitor C charges up rapidly to the peak

value of the input signal. When the input signal falls below this value, the diode

becomes reverse biased and the capacitor C discharges slowly through the ‘bleed’

resistor R. The discharging process continues until the next positive half cycle. When

the input signal becomes greater than the voltage across the capacitor, the diode

conducts again and the process is repeated. The main advantage of this form of AM

Demodulator is that it is very simple and cheap! Just one diode, one capacitor, and one

resistor. That's why it is used so often. However, it does suffer from some practical

problems.

The circuit relies upon the behavior of the diode — allowing current

through when the input is +ve with respect to the capacitor voltage, hence ‘topping up’
the capacitor voltage to the peak level, but blocking any current from flowing back out

through the diode when the input voltage is below the capacitor voltage. Unfortunately,

all real diodes are non-linear. The current they pass varies with the applied voltage. As

a result, the demodulated output is slightly distorted in a way which depends upon the

diode's I/V characteristic. For example, most AM transistor radios produce output signals

like music with about 5-10% distortion. OK for casual listening, but hardly Hi-Fi! As a

result, this simple type of AM demodulator isn't any good if we want the recovered

waveform to be an accurate representation of the original modulating waveform. The

circuit also suffers from the problems known as Ripple and Negative Peak Clipping. These

effects are illustrated in figure (7.21). The ripple effect happens because the capacitor

will be discharged a small amount in between successive peaks of the input AM wave.

Fig 7.21 Ripple and Peak Clipping effect

The illustration shows what happens in the worst possible situation where the

modulating signal is a square wave whose frequency isn't much lower than the carrier

frequency. Similar, but less severe, problems can arise with other modulating signals.
 Fig 7.22 Different value of RC affecting output of envelope detector

Consider what happens when we have a carrier frequency, ωc , and use an envelope

detector whose time constant, τ = RC. The time between successive peaks of the carrier

will be

Each peak will charge the capacitor to some voltage, Vpeak, which is proportional to the

modulated amplitude of the AM wave. Between each peak and the next the capacitor

voltage will therefore be discharged to

which, provided that T<< τ , is approximately the same as

[ ]

The peak-to-peak size of the ripple, , will therefore be

=
A sudden, large reduction in the amplitude of the input AM wave means that capacitor

charge isn't being ‘topped up’ by each cycle peak. The capacitor voltage therefore falls

exponentially until it reaches the new, smaller, peak value. To assess this effect,

consider what happens when the AM wave's amplitude suddenly reduces from Vpeak to

a much smaller value. The capacitor voltage then declines according to

This produces the negative peak clipping effect where any swift reductions in the AM

wave's amplitude are ‘rounded off’ and the output is distorted. Here we've chosen the

worst possible case of square wave modulation. In practice the modulating signal is

normally restricted to a specific frequency range. This limits the maximum rate of fall of

the AM wave's amplitude. We can therefore hope to avoid negative peak clipping by

arranging that the detector's time constant τ << tm, where

Here, is the highest modulation frequency used in a given situation.

The above implies that we can avoid negative peak clipping by choosing a small value

of . However, to minimize ripple it is desired to make as large as possible. In practice

we should therefore choose a value

Therefore, to minimize the signal distortion caused by these effects. This is possible only

if the modulation frequency . Envelope detectors only work satisfactorily when

we ensure this inequality is true.

Advantages:

 It is very simple to design.

 It is inexpensive.

 Efficiency is very high when compared to Square Law detector.

Disadvantage:

 Due to large time constant, some distortion occurs which is known as diagonal

clipping i.e., selection of time constant is somewhat difficult.

Application:

 It is most commonly used in almost all commercial AM Radio receivers.

Coherent Detector

The base band signal m (t) can be recovered from a DSB-SC wave by multiplying it

with a locally generated sinusoidal signal and then low pass filtering the product. It is

assumed that local oscillator signal is coherent or synchronized, in both frequency and

phase ,with the carrier signal Vc(t) used in the product modulator to generate DSB-SC.

This method of demodulation is known as coherent detection or synchronous

demodulation shown in Fig 7.22. For DSB-SC, we can no longer use the ‚envelope

detector‛ (as used for DSB-FC), in which no local carrier is required for the receiver. The

key to making the synchronous detector work is to ensure that the signal producing the

switching action is perfectly in phase with the received AM carrier. An internally

generated carrier signal from an oscillator will not work. Synchronous detectors use an

internal clock signal at the carrier frequency in the receiver to switch the AM signal off

and on, producing rectification similar to that in a standard diode detector.

Synchronous detectors or coherent detectors have less distortion and a better signal-to-

noise ratio than standard diode detectors

Fig 7.22 Coherent detector

The output of product modulator is

= [ o ] .

At the output of low pass filter

Which is the desired baseband signal.

 Fig 7- 23 A practical synchronous detector.

Points to Remember

 In commercial AM radio broadcast systems standard AM is used in preference to

DSBSC or SSB modulation.

 Suppressed carrier modulation systems require the minimum transmitter power

and minimum transmission bandwidth

 Suppressed carrier systems are well suited for point –to-point communications.

 SSB is the preferred method of modulation for long-distance transmission of

voice signals over metallic circuits, because it permits longer spacing between the

repeaters.

 VSB modulation requires a transmission bandwidth that is intermediate between

that required for SSB or DSBSC.

 VSB modulation technique is used in TV transmission.

 DSBSC, SSB, and VSB are examples of linear modulation.

 In Commercial TV broadcasting, the VSB occupies a width of about 1.25MHz, or

about one-quarter of a full sideband.

  The basic operation of SSB modulation is simply a special case of frequency

translation. So SSB modulation is sometimes referred to as frequency changing,

mixing, or heterodyning. The mixer is a device that consists of a product

modulator followed by a band-pass filter, which is exactly what SSB modulation

does.

 Multiplexing is a technique to combine a number of independent signals into a

composite signal suitable for transmission.

 Advantages of Amplitude modulation

 Generation and detection of AM signals are very easy

 It is very cheap to build, due to this reason it I most commonly used in

AM radio broad casting

 Disadvantages of Amplitude of modulation:-

 Amplitude modulation is wasteful of power

 Amplitude modulation is wasteful of band width

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Questions

1. Explain Amplitude modulation with spectrum. Show that a nonlinear device can
be used for generating AM signal. What are its limitations?
2. Explain the generation of AM wave using a) Square law modulator b) Switching
modulator.
3. Explain the DSB-SC wave modulation with spectrum.
4. Explain the generation of DSB-SC wave using a) Balanced modulator b) Ring
modulator.
5. Explain SSB Modulation with its Spectral characteristics? What are the

Advantages of SSB systems?

 6. How to Generate SSB using a) Filter method & b) Phase shift method?

7. Explain Demodulation of SSB wave using Coherent detection?

8. Compare different AM systems?

9. Explain VSB: generation, spectra and demodulation?

10. List Application of different AM systems?

11. What is Multiplexing? Explain FDM

Problems

1. The antenna current of an AM transmitter is 8A when only the carrier is sent,

but it increases to 8.93A when the carrier is modulated by a sine wave .Find
the percentage modulation. Determine the antenna current when the depth of
modulation changes to 0.8?
2. A 360W carrier is simultaneously Amplitude modulated by two audio waves
with modulation percentages of 55 and 65 respectively. What is the total
sideband power radiated?
3. A transmitter supplies 8kw to the antenna when unmodulated. Determine
the total power radiated when modulated to 30%? The rms value of the
antenna current before modulation is 10A and after modulation is 12A.
Calculate the percentage modulation employed assuming no distortion.
4. A Radio transmitter using AM has unmodulated carrier output power of
10kw and can be modulated to a maximum depth of 90% by a sinusoidal
modulating voltage without causing overloading. find the value to which
unmodulated carrier power may be increased without resulting in
overloading if the maximum permitted modulation index is restricted to
40%?
5. A Certain AM transmitter is coupled to an antenna. The input power to the
antenna is measured although monitoring of the input current , when there is
no modulation ,the current is 10.8A.With modulation ,the current rises to
12.5A. Determine the depth of modulation?
6. A 1000 KHz carrier is simultaneously modulated with 300HZ audio sine
wave. What will be the frequencies present in the output?
7. A broad cast AM transmitter radiates 50KW of carrier power. What will be
the radiated power at 85% modulation?
8. When the modulation percentage is 75%, an AM transmitter produces 10KW.
How much of this is carrier power?
9. When the modulation percentage is 75% an AM transmitter produces 10KW.
What would be the percentage power saving if the carrier and one of the side
bands were suppressed before the transmission took place?
10. A 360W carrier is simultaneously modulated by two audio waves with
modulation percentage of 55 & 65 respectively. What is the total sideband
power radiated?
11. When a broadcast AM transmitter is 50% modulated its antenna current is
12A. What will the current be when the modulation depth is increased to 0.9?
12. The output current of a 60% modulated AM Generator is 1.5A.To what value
will this current rise if the generator is modulated additionally by another
audio wave, whose modulation index is 0.7?
13. A m ag ignal m t o 000πt o 4000πt modulat th carrier
t 00 o πfct where fc=1MHz to produce the DSB signal m(t)c(t).
a) Determine the expression for the upper sideband signal?
b) Determine and sketch the spectrum of the USB signal?
14. An AM signal has the form
u t [ 0 o 000πt 0 o 6000πt] o πfct
Where fc = 105Hz.
 a. Sketch the spectrum of u (t)?
b. Determine the power in each of the frequency components?
c. Determine the modulation index?
d. Determine the power in the sidebands, the total power, and the ratio of
the sidebands power to the total power?