AMPLITUDE MODULATION FUNDAMENTALS

In the modulation process, the baseband voice, video or digital signal modifies another, higher frequency signal
called carrier.

SINE WAVE CARRIER – can be modified by the intelligence signal through amplitude modulation, frequency modulation,
or phase modulation.

AMPLITUDE MODULATION

- Information signal varies the amplitude of the carrier sine wave.

- The instantaneous value of the carrier amplitude changes in accordance with the amplitude and frequency
variations of the modulating signal.

➢ ENVELOPE – imaginary line connects the positive and negative peaks of the carrier waveform.

- Particularly important that the peak value of the modulating signal be less than the peak value of the carrier.

DISTORTION

- Occurs when the amplitude of the modulating signal is greater than the amplitude of the carrier causing
incorrect information to be transmitted.

MODULATOR

- Circuit used to produce AM

AMPLITUDE MODULATOR

- Compute the product of the carrier

and modulating signals.

Modulating Index and Percentage of Modulation

MODULATION INDEX (m)

- Value that describes the relationship between the amplitude of the modulating signal and
the amplitude of the carrier signal.
- Also known as the modulating factor or coefficient or the degree of modulation
- Its ideal value is 0-1
- Level kung gaano nachachange yung amplitude carrier
- The higher of the modulation index, the greater variation that happens in amplitude carrier at paglaki ng power
requirements

OVERMODULATION AND DISTORTION

The modulation index should be a number 0 and 1.

• If the amplitude of the modulating voltage is higher than the carrier voltage:
- m will be greater than 1
- will cause distortion
If the distortion is great enough, intelligence signal becomes unintelligible.

• Distortion of voice transmissions produces garbled, harsh or unnatural sounds in the speaker.
Distortion of video signals produces scrambled and inaccurate picture on a TV screen.
COMPRESSION CIRCUITS

- Automatic circuits that solve this problem

(distortion) by amplifying the lower level signals
and suppressing or compressing the higher-level
signals.

PERCENTAGE OF MODULATION

- The modulation index is commonly computed from measurements taken on the composite modulated
waveform.

➢ The peak value of the modulating signal Vm is one half the difference of the peak and through values:

➢ The peak value of the carrier signal Vc is the average of the Vmax and Vmin values:

➢ The modulation index is:

➢ When there are two or more sine waves of different, uncorrelated frequencies (frequencies that are not
multiples of each other) modulating a single carrier, with that m is calculated by using the equation:

SAMPLE PROBLEMS
Sidebands and the Frequency Domain

SIDEBAND CALCULATIONS

• Single frequency sine-wave modulation generates two sidebands

• Complex wave (e.g. voice/video) modulation generates a range of sidebands
• The upper sideband (𝑓𝑈𝑆𝐵 ) and the lower sideband (𝑓𝐿𝑆𝐵 ) are calculated:

AMPLITUDE MODULATION WAVE – algebraic sum of the carrier and upper and lower sideband sine waves.

FREQUENCY DOMAIN REPRESENTATION

• FREQUENCY DOMAIN DISPLAY – plot of signal amplitude versus frequency

• SPECTRUM ANALYZER – used to display the frequency domain as a signal
• BANDWIDTH – difference between the upper and lower sideband frequencies
AM Power

- Power requirement ng AM para matransit

In radio transmission, AM signal is amplified by a power amplifier

RADIO ANTENNA—has a characteristic impedance that is ideally almost pure resistance

AM SIGNAL – is composite of the carrier and sideband signal voltages. Each signal produces power in the antenna

• TOTAL TRANSMITTED POWER (𝑷𝑻) – sum of carrier power (𝑃𝐶) and power of the two sidebands (𝑃𝑈𝑆𝐵 and
𝑃𝐿𝑆𝐵)

• There is much LESS POWER in the sidebands when the percentage of modulation is less than the optimum 100.

• OUTPUT POWER – can be calculated by using the formula where IT is measured RF

current and R is antenna impedance.

• The greater the percentage of modulation the higher

the sideband power and the higher the total power.
Power in each sideband is calculated:

• MAXIMUM POWER – appears in the sidebands when the carrier is 100 percent modulated.

• POWER THAT CARRIES INFORMATION – useful power, that is rather small, being a maximum of 1/3 of the total
signal power for 100%
SAMPLE PROBLEMS

Current Relations in the AM Wave

➢ The situation which very often arises in AM is that the modulated and unmodulated currents are easily
measurable, and it is then necessary to calculate the modulation index from them.

➢ This occurs when the antenna current of the transmitter is metered, and the problem may be resolved as
follows:
Sample Problem

Double Sideband Suppressed Carrier

• In amplitude modulation, 2/3 of the transmitted power is in the carrier, which conveys no information.
Signal information is contained within the sidebands.

• SINGLE-SIDEBAND (SSB)
- Form of AM where the carrier is suppressed and one sideband is eliminated

DOUBLE-SIDEBAND SUPPRESSED CARRIER (DSBSC)

- First step in generating SSB signal is to suppress the carrier, leaving the upper and lower sidebands. This type of
signal is called DSBSC

- No power is wasted on the carrier

 - TWICE THE FREQUENCY OF THE MODULATING SIGNAL – bandwidth required for DSBSC in the case of AM

Total power in the DSBSC modulated wave will be

Single Sideband Suppressed Carrier

• Purpose is to minimal the power consumption

BALANCE MODULATOR – circuit used to produce the sum and difference frequencies of a DSBSC signal but to cancel or
balance out the carrier.

DSB – not widely used because the signal is difficult to demodulate (recover) at the receiver.

❖ To get signal sideband, gagamit ng filter para malocate kung upper or lower sideband ang gagamitin
❖ Super tipid nito sa power transmission

SSB signals offer 4 major benefits:

• SPECTRUM SPACE – is conserved and allows more signals to be transmitted in the same frequency range.
• ALL POWER IS CHANNELED INTO A SINGLE SIDEBAND
- This produces a stronger signal that will carry farther and will be more reliably received at
greater distances.
• Occupied bandwidth space is NARROWER
Noise is REDUCED in the signal
• There is LESS SELECTIVE FADING over long distance

Disadvantages of DSB and SSB:

• SINGLE AND DOUBLE-SIDEBAND – not widely used because the signal is difficult to recover (i.e. demodulate) at
the receiver
• PILOT CARRIER – a low power that is sometimes transmitted along with sidebands in order to more easily
recover the signal at the receiver

❖ Sa SSB, pag tinamaan ng interference cancel out agad kasi isang signal lang tina-transmit
 The total power in the SSB modulated wave will be:

SIGNAL POWER CONSIDERATIONS

- In SSB, the transmitter output is expressed in terms of PEAK ENVELOPE POWER (PEP).

PEAK ENVELOPE POWER (PEP)

- The maximum power produced on voice amplitude peaks.

Vestigial Sideband Suppressed Carrier

• The main limitation associated with SSB is the practical difficulty in suppressing the unwanted sideband
frequency components.

• It was observed in practice that such process results in eliminating even some portion of the wanted sideband.
VESTIGIAL SIDEBAND SUPPRESSED CARRIER (VSBSC)

- way to compensate for this loss is to allow a vestige or trace or fraction of unwanted sideband along with the
wanted sideband.

• For generating the SSB

- The DSBSC is passed through the bandpass filter, depending on the cut-off frequencies, either LSB/USB
comes out of the band pass filter, along with the vestige of the other.

➢ If the cut-off frequencies are (fc-fm) and (fc+fv),

where fv – the vestige component frequency,
then LSB and vestige of USB are chosen for transmission.

➢ If the cut-off frequencies are (fc-fv) and (fc+fm),

then LSB and vestige of USB are chosen for transmission.
 • The power and bandwidth requirements in case of VSB will be slightly more than SSB, but less than DSB.

SAMPLE PROBLEMS