Amplitude modulation is one of the earliest radio modulation techniques.

The receivers used to listed to AM-DSB-C are perhaps the

simplest receivers of any radio modulation technique; which may be why that version of amplitude modulation is still widely used
today. By the end of this module, you will know the most popular versions of amplitude modulation, some popular AM modulation
circuits, and some popular AM demodulation circuits.

Amplitude modulation (AM) occurs when the amplitude of a carrier wave is modulated, to correspond to a source signal. In AM, we
have an equation that looks like this:

Fsignal(t) = A(t)sin(ωt)

AM Double-Sideband (AM-DSB for short) can be broken into two different, distinct types: Carrier, and Suppressed Carrier varieties
(AM-DSB-C and AM-DSB-SC, for short, respectively).

Modulation Index

Amplitude modulation requires a high frequency constant carrier and a low frequency modulation signal.

A sine wave carrier is of the form

A sine wave modulation signal is of the form

Notice that the amplitude of the high frequency carrier takes on the shape of the lower frequency modulation signal, forming what is
called a modulation envelope.

The modulation index is defined as the ratio of the modulation signal amplitude to the carrier amplitude.

where

The overall signal can be described by:

More commonly, the carrier amplitude is normalized to one and the am equation is written as:
 In most literature this expression is simply written as:

If the modulation index is zero (mam = 0) the signal is simply a constant amplitude carrier.
If the modulation index is 1 (mam = 1), the resultant waveform has maximum or 100% amplitude modulation.

Sidebands

Expanding the normalized AM equation:

we obtain:

where:

sinωct represents the carrier

represents the lower sideband

represents the upper sideband

The sidebands are centered on the carrier frequency. The are the sum and difference frequencies of the carrier and modulation signals.
In the above example, they are just single frequencies, but normally the baseband modulation signal is a range of frequencies and
hence two bands are formed.

As a side point, note that multiplication in the time domain causes addition and subtraction in the frequency domain.

AM Modulator

The standard amplitude modulation equation is:

From this we notice that AM involves a multiplication process. (Recall that multiplication in the time domain is equal to addition and
subtraction in the frequency domain). There are several ways to perform this function electronically. The simplest method uses a
switch.

Modulation Index Measurement

It is sometimes difficult to determine the modulation index, particularly for complex signals. However, it is relatively easy to
determine it by observation.

The trapezoidal oscilloscope display can be used to determine the modulation index.

AM modulation index:

The trapezoidal display makes it possible to quickly recognize certain types of problems, which would reduce the AM signal quality.

The highest authorized carrier power for AM broadcast in the US is 50 kilowatts, although directional stations are permitted 52.65
kilowatts to compensate for losses in the phasing system. The ERP can be much higher
C-QUAM

The basic idea behind the C-Quam modulator is actually quite simple. The output stage is an ordinary AM modulator however; the
carrier signal has been replaced by an amplitude limited vector modulator. Therefore, the limiter output is really a phase-modulated
signal.

A standard AM receiver will detect the amplitude variations as L+R. A stereo receiver will also detect the phase variations and to
extract L-R. It will then process these signals to separate the left and right channels.

To enable the stereo decoder, a 25 Hz pilot tone is added to the L-R channel.

AM Receivers

The most common receivers in use today are the super heterodyne type. They consist of:

• Antenna
• RF amplifier
• Local Oscillator and Mixer
• IF Section
• Detector and Amplifier

The need for these subsystems can be seen when one considers the much simpler and inadequate TRF or tuned radio frequency
amplifier.

TRF Amplifier

It is possible to design an RF amplifier to accept only a narrow range of frequencies, such as one radio station on the AM band.
By adjusting the center frequency of the tuned circuit, all other input signals can be excluded.

The AM band ranges from about 500 KHz to 1600 kHz. Each station requires 10 kHz of this spectrum, although the baseband signal is
only 5 KHz.

Recall that for a tuned circuit: . The center or resonant frequency in an RLC network is most often adjusted by varying the
capacitor value. However, the Q remains approximately constant as the center frequency is adjusted. This suggests that as the
bandwidth varies as the circuit is tuned.

For example, the Q required at the lower end of the AM band to select only one radio station would be approximately:

As the tuned circuit is adjusted to the higher end of the AM band, the resulting bandwidth is:

A bandwidth this high could conceivably pass three adjacent stations, thus making meaningful reception impossible.

To prevent this, the incoming RF signal is heterodyned to a fixed IF or intermediate frequency and passed through a constant
bandwidth circuit.

Superheterodyne Receiver

The RF amplifier boosts the RF signal into the mixer. It has broad tuning and amplifies not just one RF station, but many of them
simultaneously. It also amplifies any input noise and even contributes some of its own.

The other mixer input is a high frequency sine wave created by a local oscillator. In AM receivers, it is always 455 kHz above the
desired station carrier frequency. An ideal mixer will combine the incoming carrier with the local oscillator to create sum and
difference frequencies. .
A real mixer combines two signals and creates a host of new frequencies:

• A dc level
• The original two frequencies
• The sum and difference of the two input frequencies
• Harmonics of the two input frequencies
• Sums and differences of all of the harmonics

Since the RF amplifier passes several radio stations at once, the mixer output can be very complex. However, the only signal of real
interest is the difference between the desired station carrier frequency and the local oscillator frequency. This difference frequency,
also called the IF (intermediate frequency) will alway be 455 kHz. By passing this through a 10 kHz BPF (band pass filter) centered at
455 kHz, the bulk of the unwanted signals can be eliminated.

Local Oscillator Frequency

Since the mixer generates sum and difference frequencies, it is possible to generate the 455 KHz IF signal if the local oscillator is
either above or below the IF. The inevitable question is which is preferable.

Case I The local Oscillator is above the IF. This would require that the oscillator tune from (500 + 455) kHz to (1600 +
455) kHz or approximately 1 to 2 MHz. It is normally the capacitor in a tuned RLC circuit, which is varied to adjust the
center frequency while the inductor is left fixed.

Since

solving for C we obtain

When the tuning frequency is a maximum, the tuning capacitor is a minimum and vice versa. Since we know the range of
frequencies to be created, we can deduce the range of capacitance required.

Making a capacitor with a 4:1 value change is well within the realm of possibility.

Case II The local Oscillator is below the IF. This would require that the oscillator tune from (500 - 455) kHz to (1600 -
455) kHz or approximately 45 kHz to 1145 kHz, in which case:
It is not practical to make a tunable capacitor with this type of range. Therefore the local oscillator in a standard AM receiver is above
the radio band.

Image Frequency

Just as there are two oscillator frequencies, which can create the same IF, two different station frequencies can create the IF. The
undesired station frequency is known as the image frequency.

If any circuit in the radio front end exhibits non-linearities, there is a possibility that other combinations may create the intermediate
frequency. Once the image frequency is in the mixer, there is no way to remove it since it is now heterodyned into the same IF band as
the desired station.

AM Demodulation

AM Detection

There are two basic types of AM detection, coherent and non-coherent. Of these two, the non-coherent is the simpler method.

• Non-coherent detection does not rely on regenerating the carrier signal. The information or modulation
envelope can be removed or detected by a diode followed by an audio filter.
• Coherent detection relies on regenerating the carrier and mixing it with the AM signal. This creates sum
and difference frequencies. The difference frequency corresponds to the original modulation signal.

Both of these detection techniques have certain drawbacks. Consequently, most radio receivers use a combination of both.

Envelope Detector

When trying to demodulate an AM signal, it seems like good sense that only the amplitude of the signal needs to be examined. By
only examining the amplitude of the signal at any given time, we can remove the carrier signal from our considerations, and we can
examine the original signal. Luckily, we have a tool in our toolbox that we can use to examine the amplitude of a signal: The Envelope
Detector.
An envelope detector is simply a half wave rectifier followed by a low pass filter. In the case of commercial AM radio receivers, the
detector is placed after the IF section. The carrier at this point is 455 kHz while the maximum envelope frequency is only 5 kHz. Since
the ripple component is nearly 100 times the frequency of the highest baseband signal and does not pass through any subsequent audio
amplifiers.

An AM signal where the carrier frequency is only 10 times the envelope frequency would have considerable ripple:

Synchronous Detector

In a synchronous or coherent detector, the incoming AM signal is mixed with the original carrier frequency.

If you think this looks suspiciously like a mixer, you are absolutely right! A synchronous detector is one where the difference
frequency between the two inputs is zero Hz. Of in other words, the two input frequencies are the same. Let's check the math.

Recall that the AM input is mathematically defined by:

At the multiplier output, we obtain:

The high frequency component can be filtered off leaving only the original modulation signal.

This technique has one serious drawback. The problem is how to create the exact carrier frequency. If the frequency is not exact, the
entire baseband signal will be shifted by the difference. A shift of only 50 Hz will make the human voice unrecognizable. It is possible
to use a PLL (phase locked loop), but making one tunable for the entire AM band is not trivial.
As a result, most radio receivers use an oscillator to create a fixed intermediate frequency. This is then followed by an envelope
detector or a fixed frequency PLL.

AM-DSBSC

AM-DSB-SC is characterized by the following transmission equation:

v(t) = As(t)cos(2πfct)

It is important to notice that s(t) can contain a negative value. AM-DSB-SC requires a coherent receiver, because the modulation data
can go negative, and therefore the receiver needs to know that the signal is negative (and not just phase shifted). AM-DSB-SC systems
are very susceptable to frequency shifting and phase shifting on the receiving end. In this equation, A is the transmission amplitude.

Double side band suppressed carrier modulation is simply AM without the broadcast carrier. Recall that the AM signal is defined by:

The carrier term in the spectrum can be eliminated by removing the dc offset from the modulating signal:

[Double Balanced Ring Modulator

One of the circuits which is capable of creating DSBSC is the double balance ring modulator.

If the carrier is large enough to cause the diodes to switch states, then the circuit acts like a diode switching modulator:

The modulation signal is inverted at the carrier rate. This is essentially multiplication by ±1. Since the transformers cannot pass dc,
there is no term which when multiplied can create an output carrier. Since the diodes will switch equally well on either cycle, the
modulation signal is effectively being multiplied by a 50% duty cycle square wave creating numerous DSBSC signals, each centered
at an odd multiple of the carrier frequency. Bandpass filters are used to extract the frequency of interest.

Some IC balanced modulators use this technique, but use transistors instead of diodes to perform the switching.

Push Pull Square Law Balanced Modulator

This circuit uses the same principles as the diode square law modulator. Since dc cannot pass through the transformer, it would be
expected that there would be no output signal at the carrier frequency.

The drain current vs. gate-source voltage is of the form:

The net drain current in the output transformer is given by:

By applying KVL around the gate loops we obtain:

Putting it all together we obtain:

inet = aem + 2becem

From this we note that the first term is the originating modulation signal and can easily be filtered off by a high pass filter.
The second term is of the form:
 which is AM DSBSC.

AM-DSB-C

In contrast to AM-DSB-SC is AM-DSB-C, which is categorized by the following equation:

v(t) = A[s(t) + c]cos(2πfct)

Where c is a positive term representing the carrier. If the term [s(t) + c] is always non-negative, we can receive the AM-DSB-C signal
non-coherently, using a simple envelope detector to remove the cosine term. The +c term is simply a constant DC signal and can be
removed by using a blocking capacitor.

It is important to note that in AM-DSB-C systems, a large amount of power is wasted in the transmission sending a "boosted" carrier
frequency. since the carrier contains no information, it is considered to be wasted energy. The advantage to this method is that it
greatly simplifies the receiver design, since there is no need to generate a coherent carrier signal at the receiver. For this reason, this is
the transmission method used in conventional AM radio.

AM-DSB-SC and AM-DSB-C both suffer in terms of bandwidth from the fact that they both send two identical (but reversed)
frequency "lobes", or bands. These bands (the upper band and the lower band) are exactly mirror images of each other, and therefore
contain identical information. Why can't we just cut one of them out, and save some bandwidth? The answer is that we can cut out one
of the bands, but it isn't always a good idea. The technique of cutting out one of the sidebands is called Amplitude Modulation
Single-Side-Band (AM-SSB). AM-SSB has a number of problems, but also some good aspects. A compromise between AM-SSB and
the two AM-DSB methods is called Amplitude Modulation Vestigial-Side-Band (AM-VSB), which uses less bandwidth then the
AM-DSB methods, but more than the AM-SSB.

Transmitter

A typical AM-DSB-C transmitter looks like this:

c cos(...)
| |
Signal ---->(+)---->(X)----> AM-DSB-C

which is a little more complicated than an AM-DSB-SC transmitter.

[Receiver

An AM-DSB-C receiver is very simple:

AM-DSB-C ---->|Envelope Filter|---->|Capacitor|----> Signal

The capacitor blocks the DC component, and effectively removes the +c term.

AM-SSB
To send an AM-SSB signal, we need to remove one of the sidebands from an AM-DSB signal. This means that we need to pass the
AM-DSB signal through a filter, to remove one of the sidebands. The filter, however, needs to be a very high order filter, because we
need to have a very agressive roll-off. One sideband needs to pass the filter almost completely unchanged, and the other sideband
needs to be stopped completely at the filter.

To demodulate an AM-SSB signal, we need to perform the following steps:

1. Low-pass filter, to remove noise

2. Modulate the signal again by the carrier frequency
3. Pass through another filter, to remove high-frequency components
4. Amplify the signal, because the previous steps have attenuated it significantly.

AM-SSB is most efficient in terms of bandwidth, but there is a significant added cost involved in terms of more complicated hardware
to send and receive this signal. For this reason, AM-SSB is rarely seen as being cost effective.

Single sideband is a form of AM with the carrier and one sideband removed. In normal AM broadcast, the transmitter is rated in terms
of the carrier power. SSB transmitters attempt to eliminate the carrier and one of the sidebands. Therefore, transmitters are rated in
PEP (peak envelope power).

With normal voice signals, an SSB transmitter outputs 1/4 to 1/3 PEP.

There a numerous variations of SSB:

• SSB - Single sideband - amateur radio

• SSSC - Single sideband suppressed carrier - a small pilot carrier is transmitted
• ISB - Independent sideband - two separate sidebands with a suppressed carrier. Used in radio telephony.
• VSB - Vestigial sideband - a partial sideband. Used in broadcast TV.
• ACSSB - Amplitude companded SSB

There are several advantages of using SSB:

• More efficient spectrum utilization

• Less subject to selective fading
• More power can be placed in the intelligence signal
• 10 to 12 dB noise reduction due to bandwidth limiting

Filter Method

The simplest way to create SSB is to generate DSBSC and then use a bandpass filter to extract one of the sidebands.
This technique can be used at relatively low carrier frequencies. At high frequencies, the Q of the filter becomes unacceptably high.
The required Q necessary to filter off one of the sidebands can be approximated by:

where:

Several types of filters are used to suppress unwanted sidebands:

• LC - Maximum Q = 200
• Ceramic - Maximum Q = 2000
• Mechanical - Maximum Q = 10,000
• Crystal - Maximum Q = 50,000

In order to reduce the demands placed upon the filter, a double heterodyne technique can be used.

The first local oscillator has a relatively low frequency thus enabling the removal of one of the sidebands produced by the first mixer.
The signal is then heterodyned a second time, creating another pair of sidebands. However, this time they are separated by a
sufficiently large gap that one can be removed by the band limited power amplifier or antenna matching network.

Example
Observe the spectral distribution under the following conditions:
• Audio baseband = 100 HZ to 5 KHz
• LO1 = 100 kHz
• LO2 = 50 MHz
The spectral output of the first mixer is:

If the desired sideband suppression is 80 dB, the Q required to filter off one of the sidebands is approximately:
 It is evident that a crystal filter would be needed to remove the unwanted sideband.
After the filter, only one sideband is left. In this example, we’ll retain the USB. The spectrum after the second mixer is:

The Q required to suppress one of the side bands by 80 dB is approximately:

Thus, we note that the required Q drops in half.

This SSB filter technique is used in radiotelephone applications.

Phase Shift Method

The output from the top mixer is given by:

The output from the bottom mixer is given by:

 The output of the sumer is:

which corresponds to the lower sideband.

The major difficulty with this technique is the need to provide a constant 90o phase shift over the entire input audio band. To
overcome this obstacle, the Weaver or third method uses an audio sub carrier, which is phase shifted.

Weaver Method

The Weaver or ‘third’ method places the baseband signal on a low frequency quadrature carrier.

This has the advantage of not requiring a broadband phase shifter however; the use of four mixers makes it awkward and seldom used.

SSB Transmitter

AM-SSB transmitters are a little more complicated:

cos(...)
|
Signal ---->(X)---->|Low-Pass Filter|----> AM-SSB
The filter must be a very high order, for reasons explained in that chapter.

SSB Receiver

An AM-SSB receiver is a little bit complicated as well:

cos(...)
|
AM-SSB ---->(X)---->|Low-Pass Filter|---->|Amplifier|----> Signal

This filter doesnt need to be a very high order, like the transmitter has.

These receivers require extremely stable oscillators, good adjacent channel selectivity, and typically use a double conversion
technique. Envelope detectors cannot be used since the envelope varies at twice the frequency of the AM envelope.

Stable oscillators are needed since the detected signal is proportional to the difference between the untransmitted carrier and the
instantaneous side band. A small shift of 50 Hz makes the received signal unusable.

SSB receivers typically use fixed frequency tuning rather than continuous tuning as found on most radios. Crystal oscillators are often
used to select the fixed frequency channels.

AM-VSB

As a compromise between AM-SSB and AM-DSB is AM-VSB. To make an AM-VSB signal, we pass an AM-DSB signal through a
lowpass filter. Now, the trick is that we pass it through a low-order filter, so that some of the filtered sideband still exists. This filtered
part of the sideband is called the "Vestige" of the sideband, hence the name "Vestigial Side Band".

AM-VSB signals then can get demodulated in a similar manner to AM-SSB. We can see when we remodulate the input signal, the two
vestiges (the positive and negative mirrors of each other) over-lap each other, and add up to the original, unfiltered value!

AM-VSB is less expensive to implement then AM-SSB because we can use lower-order filters.

Bandwidth requirements (communications)

The channel bandwidths needed to transmit various types of signals, using various processing schemes. Every
signal observed in practice can be expressed as a sum (discrete or over a frequency continuum) of sinusoidal
components of various frequencies. The plot of the amplitude versus frequency constitutes one feature of the
frequency spectrum (the other being the phase versus frequency). The difference between the highest and the
lowest frequencies of the frequency components of significant amplitudes in the spectrum is called the
bandwidth of the signal, expressed in the unit of frequency, hertz. Every communication medium (also called
channel) is capable of transmitting a frequency band (spectrum of frequencies) with reasonable fidelity.
Qualitatively speaking, the difference between the highest and the lowest frequencies of components in the band
over which the channel gain remains reasonably constant (or within a specified variation) is called the channel
bandwidth.

Clearly, to transmit a signal with reasonable fidelity over a communication channel, the channel bandwidth
must match and be at least equal to the signal bandwidth. Proper conditioning of a signal, such as modulation or
coding, however, can increase or decrease the bandwidth of the processed signal. Thus, it is possible to transmit
the information of a signal over a channel of bandwidth larger or smaller than that of the original signal.
Amplitude modulation (AM) with double sidebands (DSB), for example, doubles the signal bandwidth. If the
audio signal to be transmitted has a bandwidth of 5 kHz, the resulting AM signal bandwidth using DSB is 10
kHz. Amplitude modulation with a single sideband (SSB), on the other hand, requires exactly the same
bandwidth as that of the original signal. In broadcast frequency modulation (FM), on the other hand, audio
signal bandwidth is 15 kHz (for high fidelity), but the corresponding frequency-modulated signal bandwidth is
200 kHz.

C. E. Shannon proved that over a channel of bandwith B the rate of information transmission, C, in bits/s
(binary digits per second) is given by the

equation below, where SNR is the signal-to-noise power ratio. This result assumes a white gaussian noise,
which is the worst kind of noise from the point of view of interference. See Information theory, Signal-to-noise
ratio

It follows from Shannon's equation that a given information transmission rate C can be achieved by various
combinations of B and SNR. It is thus possible to trade B for SNR, and vice versa.

A corollary of Shannon's equation is that, if a signal is properly processed to increase its bandwidth, the
processed signal becomes more immune to interference or noise over the channel. This means that an increase
in transmission bandwidth (broadbanding) can suppress the noise in the received signal, resulting in a better-
quality signal (increased SNR) at the receiver. Frequency modulation and pulse-code modulation are two
examples of broadband schemes where the transmission bandwidth can be increased as desired to suppress
noise.