Elements Of

Telecommunication
CHAPTER 7
FREQUENCY MODULATION
Aim
To equip participants with the fundamental knowledge of
modulation and its applications in telecommunication
equipment.
Objectives
At the end of the chapter participants should be able to:

• Define frequency modulation

• Give reasons why modulation is necessary in telecommunication.
• State advantages and disadvantages of FM over AM
• Calculate modulation frequency deviation, swing, modulation index
and bandwidth
• Explain the functionality of frequency modulator and demodulator
circuits
Introduction

• Frequency modulation, FM is widely used for a variety of

radio communications applications.
• FM broadcasts on the VHF bands still provide
exceptionally high quality audio, and FM is also used for
a variety of forms of two way radio communications, and
it is especially useful for mobile radio communications.
• The information to be transmitted is added to the carrier
with the help of a process called modulation.
• In this process a certain parameter of the carrier (e.g.
amplitude, frequency, phase) is varied by the signal to be
transmitted, the so called modulating signal.
Frequency Modulation
• It is the variation of the carrier frequency in accordance with the amplitude of
the modulating signal voltage.
• During modulation, the carrier frequency increases when the modulating
voltage increases and it decreases. When the modulating voltage decreases.

• The amplitude of a frequency-modulated wave does not vary

• The total power contained in the wave is constant and equal to the
unmodulated carrier power.
Advantages of FM over AM
• Improved signal to noise ratio (about 25dB) w.r.t. to man made
interference.
• Smaller geographical interference between neighboring
stations.
• Less radiated power.
• Well defined service areas for given transmitter power.
Disadvantages of FM:
• Much more Bandwidth (as much as 20 times as much).
• More complicated receiver and transmitter.
FM CARRIER WAVE
• The unmodulated carrier wave frequency is 3MHz.
• Three complete cycles of the unmodulated carrier wave will occur in 1
microsecond.
• When, at t = 0 to t = 1
• V = 0V
• The frequency remains at 3MHz
• When, at t = 1 to t = 2
• The voltage of the modulating signal increases to +1V,
• The instantaneous carrier frequency increases to 4MHz (for modulator sensitivity =1 MHz/V)
• There are now four complete cycles of the carrier voltage.
• At t = 2 to t=3
• The modulating signal returns to 0V
• The frequency falls to its original 3MHz.
• At t = 3 to t = 4
• The modulating signal voltage is -I V
• The carrier frequency is reduced to.
• When, at t = 4
• The signal voltage is 0V and frequency is 3MHz
• And so on
Frequency Modulated Waves
FM of a Sine wave
• The carrier frequency is made to vary in accordance with the
instantaneous value of the modulating signal.
• The amount by which the carrier deviates from its nominal
value is proportional to the amplitude of the modulating signal
• The number of times per second the carrier deviates is equal
to the modulating frequency.
• It should be noted that the minimum and maximum values of
the modulated carrier frequency are determined when the
modulating voltage is at its peak value.
• The amplitude of the carrier is not changed when frequency
modulation takes place
• There is no change in the amount of power carried by the
wave.
Frequency Deviation

• The magnitude of frequency variation to either side of

the nominal carrier frequency is known as the frequency
deviation of an FM carrier wave
• It is proportional to the amplitude of the modulating
signal voltage.
• There is no inherent maximum value to the frequency
deviation that can be obtained in a FM system,
• Compared with amplitude modulation where the
maximum amplitude deviation possible corresponds to
m=1 (defined by the modulation index)
Rated System Deviation (Fd)
• Is the maximum value of frequency deviation which is
permitted to occur in a particular FM system.
• A maximum allowable frequency deviation must be
specified since the bandwidth occupied by an FM wave
increases with increase in the frequency deviation.
• Frequency deviation is directly proportional to the
modulating signal voltage
• The choice of rated system deviation sets the maximum
allowable modulating signal voltage that can be applied
to the frequency modulator.
Example 1

A frequency modulated system has a rated system

deviation of 30KHz. If the sensitivity of the frequency
modulator is 4KHz/V, what is the maximum allowable
modulating signal voltage?
Frequency Swing
Is the maximum carrier frequency minus the minimum carrier frequency and it
is equal to twice the frequency deviation i.e. 2fd.
Modulating Signal Factor (K)
• Most of the time the amplitude of the modulating signal
voltage will be less than its maximum allowable value.
• Then the frequency deviation of the carrier will be smaller
than the rated system deviation.
• This can be accounted for by introducing a factor k where:

• The frequency deviation of the carrier frequency is then

given by the product k.fd where fd is the rated system
deviation.
• The factor k can have any value between 0 (modulating
signal) and 1 (maximum modulating signal).
Example 2

An FM system has a rated system deviation of 75 KHz and

this is produced by a modulating signal voltage of 10V.
Determine
• The sensitivity of the modulator, and
• The frequency deviation produced by a 2V modulating
signal.
• The frequency deviation of the carrier is proportional to
the amplitude of the modulating signal
• The modulation index will continually vary as the
amplitude and/or frequency of the modulating signal
changes.
Modulation Index
• When a carrier voltage is frequency modulated, its phase
is also caused to vary.
• The peak phase deviation is equal to the ratio of the
frequency deviation to the modulating frequency and is
called the modulation index of the modulated
Modulation Index M Is Equal
To Zero
• With no modulating signal present
• the frequency deviation will be zero and so the modulation index.
• Only the carrier wave with stable frequency fc is left.
Modulation Index M Not Equal To
Zero
• With a modulation signal present, the modulation index
mf actually determines the peak phase deviation of the
carrier wave.
• The value of the cosine function in (1) (varies between +1
and -1, so the phase change of the carrier wave varies
between +mf and -mf radians.
• A change in phase of the carrier wave equals at the same
time a change in frequency of this wave.
EXAMPLE 3

A 100MHz carrier wave is frequency modulated by a 10V,

10 KHz sinusoidal voltage using a linear modulator. The
instantaneous carrier frequency varies between 99.95 and
100.05MHz. Calculate:

• The sensitivity of the modulator

• The modulation index,
• The peak phase deviation of the carrier
EXAMPLE 4

What will be the new values of the peak frequency and

phase deviation in the system of Exercise 3 if the
amplitude an the frequency of the modulating signal are
changed to 20V and 5 KHz respectively?
THE FM SPECTRUM AND
BANDWIDTH

• The bandwidth, spectrum and sidebands are of great

importance when using frequency modulation.
• The sidebands of a frequency modulated signal extend
out either side of the main carrier, and cause the
bandwidth of the overall signal to increase well beyond
that of the unmodulated carrier.
• As the modulation of the carrier varies, so do the
sidebands and hence the bandwidth and overall
spectrum of the signal.
Mathematical Expression
• It can be seen that besides the carrier frequency fc, a set
of side frequencies are generated on a repeated distance
of fm .
• The amplitudes of the side frequencies just as the carrier
frequency depend on the modulation index mf and are
determined by the coefficients Jn (mf) , the so called
Bessel functions of the first kind and order.
• It is enough to know that these functions exist and that
their values for different modulation indices are known.
Bessel Function
• The total spectrum can be seen to consist of the carrier plus
an infinite number of sidebands spreading out on either side
of the carrier at integral multiples of the modulating
frequency.
• The relative levels of the sidebands can be obtained by
referring to a table of Bessel functions.
• It can be seen from the image below that the relative levels
rise and fall according to the different values of modulation
index.
• With increasing modulation index mf more side
frequencies are generated.
• The carrier energy decreases and even vanishes at
modulation index mf= 2.4.
• As the modulation index increases it is found that other
sidebands at twice the modulation frequency start to appear.
• As the index is increased further other sidebands can also be
seen.
Frequencies Contained In An FM Wave

• When a carrier of frequency fc is modulated by a

sinusoidal wave of frequency fm; the resultant waveform
contains components at a number of different frequencies
as follows:-
• The carrier frequency fc
• First-order side frequencies fc ± fm
• Second-order; side frequencies fc ± 2fm
• Third-order side frequencies fc ± 3fm
• etc.
• The number of side frequencies present in a particular
wave depends upon the modulation index;
• The larger the modulation index value the greater the
number of side frequencies generated.
• The amplitudes of the various components including the
carrier itself vary in a complicated manner as the
modulation index increases.
• Any component; again including the carrier; may have
zero amplitude at a particular value of modulation index.
Narrowband And Broadband FM

• For small values of mf (mf < l) there are only one or two
pairs of significant side frequencies.
• These cases correspond to so called narrow band FM. For
values of mf>>1 the side frequencies cover a wide
spectrum.
• They show clearly that an increase in the modulation
index of an FM wave will result in an increase in the
number of side frequencies generated.
• When the number of side frequencies is greater than
about 10, the number of significant side frequencies
does not depend very much on mf.
Frequency modulation
bandwidth
• In the case of an amplitude modulated signal the bandwidth
required is twice the maximum frequency of the modulation.
• Whilst the same is true for a narrowband FM signal, the
situation is not true for a wideband FM signal.
• The required bandwidth can be very much larger, with
detectable sidebands spreading out over large amounts of the
frequency spectrum.
• Usually it is necessary to limit the bandwidth of a signal so that
it does not unduly interfere with stations either side.
• As a frequency modulated signal has sidebands that extend out
to infinity, it is normal accepted practice to determine the
bandwidth as that which contains approximately 98% of the
signal power.
• For the case of fd = 75 KHz and fm(max) = 15 KHz, which
is typical for a normal FM broadcast system, we obtain a
bandwidth of 180KHz.
• A corresponding AM system (2 x fm(max) = 30 KHz and
accounts for the inherent wideband nature of FM.
• The use of a large bandwidth leads to a considerable
improvement in signal-to-noise ratio, which is one of the
main advantage of FM compared to AM.
• Narrowband PM does not possess this property due to
its small frequency deviation.
Key points for frequency modulation
bandwidth and sidebands

• There are a few interesting points of summary relative to frequency modulation

bandwidth:
• The bandwidth of a frequency modulated signal varies with both deviation and
modulating frequency.
• Increasing modulating frequency reduces modulation index - it reduces the number of
sidebands with significant amplitude and hence the bandwidth.
• Increasing modulating frequency increases the frequency separation between
sidebands.
• The frequency modulation bandwidth increases with modulation frequency but it is
not directly proportional to it.
• Frequency modulation bandwidth is of importance as it is with any other form of
signal.
• With band occupancy growing, and pressure on spectrum space, it is necessary to
ensure the bandwidth of a frequency modulated signal falls within its specified
allowance.
• Any undue signal spread outside this is likely to cause interference to other users.
FM Generation/Modulation

• An FM wave is produced by varying the frequency of the

carrier wave in accordance with the amplitude of the
modulating signal.
• A carrier wave itself is generated by means of an
oscillator.
• To vary the frequency of this oscillator one of the
elements of the tuning circuit (mostly a LC circuit) has to
be varied.
• A varicap diode (or varactor) can be well used for this
purpose.
• If the supplied reverse bias voltage across a varicap diode
is changed, so the capacitance will change.
EXAMPLE 5

• A variable capacitance diode has characteristics given by the

following table

• Plot a graph of diode capacitance against diode voltage.

• A 90MHz oscillator employs a parallel-tuned circuit to control
the frequency of oscillation. The circuit consists of a coil of
inductance 0.2 micro-H in parallel with a 10pF c3pacitor, across
which is collected the variable-capacitance diode described
above.
• Using the given characteristic, determine the voltage which
must be applied to the diode for oscillations to occur at 90MHz.
SOLUTION
• The required graph is given below
• The total capacitance needed to tune the inductance to
resonance at 90MHz is:-

• Therefore, the diode must provide a capacitance of

5.63pF. From the graph this capacitance value is obtained
when the applied voltage is -3.3V.
Varicap Modulator
Principle of operation
• The varicap diode is reverse biased by the DC voltage V.
• The capacitance of the diode is placed together with C
across the parallel circuit is the oscillators tuned circuit.
• Capacitor C serves to block the DC bias voltage from the
parallel circuit.
• The modulating signal Vm is superimposed on the reverse
bias voltage V and causes the capacitance of the varicap to
change according to the amplitude of vm.
• When the capacitance of the varicap changes, the total
parallel capacitance of the tuned circuit will change,
• The resonant frequency of the parallel circuit also changes.
• In this way a frequency modulated wave is obtained.
Varicap Modulator with
transistor
Frequency Demodulators
• The function of frequency demodulator is to produce an
output voltage whose magnitude is directly proportional
to the frequency deviation of the input signal.
• The frequency should be equal to the number of times
per second the input signal frequency is varied about its
mean value.
• In simple terms in order to extract the modulation from
an FM wave; changes in frequency must be converted to
corresponding amplitude changes.
• Frequency demodulation can be achieved in several
different ways:
Demodulation detection discr
• Demodulator circuits includes
• ratio detector
• Foster-Seeley discriminator.
• The Foster-Seeley discriminator generally gives a better
linearity but must be preceded by a limiter.
• The ratio detector combines both limiting and
discriminator in the same circuit.
The Foster-Seeley Discriminator
• The tuned circuit C1-L1 acts as the collector load for the final
stage of the i.f. amplifier, which is generally operated as a
limiter.
• Both tuned circuits C1-L1 and L2-C3) are tuned to resonate at
the unmodulated carrier frequency and have bandwidths wide
enough to cover the rated system deviation of the f.m. signal.
• Capacitors C2, C4 and C5 all have negligible reactance at radio
frequencies and so L1 is effectively connected in parallel with
L3.
• Thus the voltage V1developed across L1 also appears across L3.
Unmodulated carrier

• Suppose the voltage appearing across L1 is at the unmodulated carrier

frequency.
• The current flowing in L1 induces an e.m.f. into the secondary winding L2
and this causes an in phase-current to flow in the series circuit L2-C3.
• A voltage is developed across C3 which lags this current, and hence the
induced voltage by 90°.
• Since inductor L2 is accurately center tapped, one-half of this voltage
appears across each half of L2.
• Let the voltage appearing across the upper half of the winding be labeled as
V2 with being the voltage across the lower half.
• The voltages VD1 and VD2 applied across the diodes
D1and D2 are respectively, the phasor sums of the
voltages V1 and V2 and V1 and V3 .
• The phase relationships are such that V2 leads V1 by 90˚
and V3 lags V1 by 90°.
• Since VD1 = VD2, equal amplitude detected voltages appear across
the diode load resistor R1 and R2.
• Because of the diode connections, these two voltages act in
opposite directions and cancel out, so that the voltage appearing
across the output terminals of the circuit is zero.
Fm > Fc
• When the frequency of the signal voltage developed
across L1 above the unmodulated carrier frequency.
• The voltage across C3 will lead the e.m.f. induced into L2
by some angle greater than 90o.
• This results in V2 leading V1 by an angle less than 90°
and V3 lagging V1 by more than 90°
• Now the voltage Vd1 applied across diode D1 is larger
than the voltage VD2 applied to D2
• The voltage developed across load resistor R1 is greater
than the voltage across R2.
• A positive voltage, equal to the difference between the
two load voltages is produced at the output terminals.
• If the frequency deviation of the carrier is increased, the
larger will become the difference between the
magnitudes of the diode voltages VD1 and VD2,
• And the output voltage will increase in the positive
direction.
Fm < Fc
• When the modulated frequency is below its mean value, voltage V2
leads V1 by more than 90°
• V3 lags V1 by less than 90°
• As a result, VD2 is now of greater magnitude than VD1 and the
detected voltage across R2 is bigger than the voltage across R1.
• The output voltage of the circuit is now negative with
respect to earth.
• As before, an increase in the frequency deviation of the
carrier will increase the output voltage.
Output voltage/frequency characteristics of Foster -
Seeley detector
• Operation of the detector should be restricted to the
linear part of the characteristic.
• The turn-over points are produced by the limited
bandwidth of the tuned circuit C1-L2 and C3-L2, reducing
the voltage of the circuit will also vary if the amplitude of
the input signal should vary.
• This is, of course, an undesirable effect and to prevent it
happening the detector should be preceded by one or
more stages of amplitude limiting.
The Ratio Detector
• The main advantage of this circuit over the Foster-Seeley
detector is that it incorporates its own amplitude limiting
action and often a separate limiter is not needed.
• Inductor L1 is inductively coupled to both L2 and L3 but L2 and L3
are not coupled together.
• The tuned circuits C1-L1 and C3-L3 are each tuned to the
unmodulated carrier frequency.
• When a voltage at this frequency appears across L1 voltages are
induced into both L2 and L3.
• Capacitors C2, C4 and C5 have negligible reactance at radio
frequencies and so the voltage applied across diode D1 is the
phasor sum of the voltages across L2 and the upper half of L3.
• Similarly the voltage applied to D1 is the phasor sum of the
voltages across L2 and the lower half of L3.
• If the voltage across L2 is labeled as V1 and the other
two voltages are labeled V2 and V3 respectively.
• The resultant voltages VD1 VD2 applied to the diodes will
vary with frequency to produce voltages across the load
capacitors C4 and C5.
• The voltages across the d.c. load capacitor C7 is the sum
of the voltages across C4 and C5 and since R2= R3, one-
half of this voltage appears across each resistor.
• The time constant C7 (R2 = R3) is sufficiently long to
ensure that the voltage across C7 remains more or less
constant at very nearly the peak voltage appearing
across C3.
• The audio load capacitor C2 is connected between the
junctions of C4/C5 and R2/R3 and this part of the circuit
is re-drawn.
• The voltages across C5 and R5 have the polarities shown and,
when the input signal is at the unmodulated carrier frequency,
are of equal magnitude.
• The two voltages act in opposite directions, with the result that
no current flows, and the voltage across the audio load capacitor
C2 is zero.
• When the input signal frequency increases, the voltage applied
to diode D1 increases and the voltage across D2 falls.
• As a result the voltage across C4 increases while the voltage
across C5 falls; but; since the sum of these voltages remains
constant, the voltage across R3 does not change.
• A positive voltage, equal to the difference between VC5 and VR3
appears across C5 will fall still further and the voltage across C2
will increase.
• Conversely, if the input frequency is reduced, the voltage
across R3 and a current will flow in the opposite
direction to before to produce a negative output voltage.
• When the frequency of the input signal voltage is
modulated, the modulating signal voltage will appear
across C2.
• Components R1 and C6 provide de-emphasis of the
output voltage.
• The output-voltage/input-frequency characteristic of a
ratio detector has the same shape as the Foster-Seeley
curve.
Limiter Circuit
• This is a circuit that precedes the Foster Seeley
discriminator to give the circuit better linearity.
• The output of a limiter has constant amplitude for all
inputs above a critical value.
• Its function is to remove any residual amplitude
modulation and the amplitude variations due to noise.
• The dropping resistor Rc limits the de collector supply
voltage.
• This provides a low d.c collector voltage which makes this
stage very easily overdriven.
• The above shows the desired limiting action and the
effects of feeding the limited signal into an LC parallel
circuit tuned to the signal's center frequency.
• The natural flywheel effect of the circuit removes all
frequencies not near the center frequency and thus
provides a sinusoidal output signal as shown.
THE PHASE-LOCKED LOOP DETECTOR
• If a signal at a constant frequency is applied to the input terminals of the circuit
• the phase detector produces an output voltage that is proportional to the
instantaneous phase difference between the signal and oscillator voltages.
• The error voltage is filtered and amplified before it is applied to the input of the
voltage controlled oscillator.
• The error voltage varies the oscillator frequency in the direction which reduces
the frequency difference between signal and oscillator.
• This action continues until the oscillator frequency is equal to the signal
frequency.
• The oscillator is then said to be locked
• In this condition a small phase difference will exist between the signal and
oscillator voltages in order to generate the error voltage needed to maintain the
lock.
• If the input signal frequency should change, the error
voltage will change also, with the appropriate polarity,
and force the oscillator frequency to follow.
• When the input signal is frequency modulated, the error
voltage will vary in the same way as the required
modulating signal and so the circuit acts as an f.m.
demodulator.
• The circuit can be made using discrete components or
using integrated operational amplifiers but most
convenient is the integrated PLL circuit.
• The PLL detector offers a number of advantages over its
competitors, namely:
• The detector is tuned to the unmodulated carrier frequency by a
single external capacitor
• The upper-frequency limit is high
• It introduces little noise or distortion
• It does not require an inductance.
• The circuitry is complicated and not competitive
economically if discrete components are used.
• The integrated circuit versions also used to be expensive
but their present cost is such that they are employed in
some communication receivers.
Pre - Emphasis And De - Emphasis
• Most of the electrical noise contained in the reception of
an FM signal is at the higher frequencies.
• The signal to noise ratio (S/N) falls at higher frequencies.
• To improve the signal to noise ratio for these frequencies, a
pre-emphasis circuit is used at the transmitting side to
boost the higher frequency components in the modulating
signal.
• On reception; the original signal balance is restored by de-
emphasizing the higher frequency components to the
same extent.
• The de-emphasizing of the higher frequencies at the
receiver side also attenuates a Jot of high frequency noise.
• An improvement of 3dB in the S/N is the result.
CIRCUIT EXAMPLES
• Fig 8:16. is a pre-emphasis circuit which precedes the
modulating stage.
• The load impedance in the collector circuit is inductive
and will rise with increasing frequency.
• The voltage amplification of the circuit is proportional
with the collector impedance; so the amplification will
also rise with increasing frequency.
• Fig. 8.16b gives an example of a de-emphasis circuit.
d
• R and C act as a voltage divider for ac signals.
• The impedance of the capacitor C is inversely
proportional with frequency.
• That means that the output signal will fall with
increasing frequency.
• The voltage amplification of the transmitter circuit is
about one.
• However the impedance of tins circuit is high and it
prevents the R-C voltage divider of being loaded.
ADVANTAGE OF FREQUENCY MODULATION OVER
AMPLITUDE MODULATION
• The range of modulating signal amplitudes from lowest to highest provided
is much higher.
• Selective fading is not a problem in f.m receivers since they do not respond
to any amplitude variations of the input signal.
• An increased output SIN for wideband ~ because of the use of greater than
unity deviation ratio.
• The FM transmitter is more efficient because:-
• Class C amplifiers can be used throughout the r.f section of the transmitter.
• The f.m wave bas a constant amplitude and this allows each r.f stage to be
operated in an optimum manner.
• An f.m receiver has the ability to suppress the weaker of two signals which
are simultaneously present at its antenna terminals at or near the same
frequency.

• The main disadvantage of f.m is the much wider bandwidth required if the
possible S/N improvement is to be realized.
Summary
Any questions?
Thank you!
Exercise
• Define frequency modulation. Use diagram to illustrate the
modulation