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Phase Shift Keying (PSK)

Technical Report · July 2020

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.22811.90409

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Al-Israa University College
Computer Techniques Engineering Department
Digital Communication Report
Third Stage (2019-2020)

Phase Shift Keying (PSK)

Supervised by
Assist. Lec. Karrar S. Faraj

‫أﻋﺪاد اﻟﻄﺎﻟﺐ‬

‫ﺳﺘﺎر ﺟﺒﺎر ﻓﺪاوي ﻋﻮاد‬

2019 - 2020
 Phase Shift Keying (PSK)
Abstract
In phase shift keying (PSK), the phase of the carrier changes in discrete levels in
accordance with the input digital signal, while the amplitude of the carrier remains the
same. In this chapter, the PSK modulation will be presented, along with the respective
spectrum and bandwidth. These materials have been augmented by diagrams and
associated waveforms to make them easier for readers to grasp.

Introduction
There are three major classes of digital modulation techniques used for transmission of
digitally represented data:

 Amplitude-shift keying (ASK)

 Frequency-shift keying (FSK)
 Phase-shift keying (PSK)

All convey data by changing some aspect of a base signal, the carrier wave (usually a
sinusoid), in response to a data signal. In the case of PSK, the phase is changed to
represent the data signal. There are two fundamental ways of utilizing the phase of a signal
in this way:

By viewing the phase itself as conveying the information, in which case the demodulator
must have a reference signal to compare the received signal's phase against; or

By viewing the change in the phase as conveying information – differential schemes, some
of which do not need a reference carrier (to a certain extent).

A convenient method to represent PSK schemes is on a constellation diagram. This shows

the points in the complex plane where, in this context, the real and imaginary axes are
termed the in-phase and quadrature axes respectively due to their 90° separation. Such a
representation on perpendicular axes lends itself to straightforward implementation. The
amplitude of each point along the in-phase axis is used to modulate a cosine (or sine) wave
and the amplitude along the quadrature axis to modulate a sine (or cosine) wave. By
convention, in-phase modulates cosine and quadrature modulates sine.

In PSK, the constellation points chosen are usually positioned with uniform angular
spacing around a circle. This gives maximum phase-separation between adjacent points
and thus the best immunity to corruption. They are positioned on a circle so that they can
all be transmitted with the same energy. In this way, the moduli of the complex numbers
they represent will be the same and thus so will the amplitudes needed for the cosine and
sine waves. Two common examples are "binary phase-shift keying" (BPSK) which uses
two phases, and "quadrature phase-shift keying" (QPSK) which uses four phases, although
any number of phases may be used. Since the data to be conveyed are usually binary, the
PSK scheme is usually designed with the number of constellation points being a power of
two.

passband PSK-signal
 What is PSK, Phase Shift Keying
overview, information and tutorial about the basics of what is phase shift keying, PSK,
used for radio communications applications, and in particular for digital forms of radio
communications.

Phase Modulation Includes

Phase modulation Phase shift keying, PSK
Modulation formats: Modulation types & techniques Amplitude modulation Frequency
modulation Quadrature amplitude modulation

Phase shift keying, PSK, is widely used these days within a whole raft of radio
communications systems. It is particularly well suited to the growing area of data
communications. PSK, phase shift keying enables data to be carried on a radio
communications signal in a more efficient manner than Frequency Shift Keying, FSK, and
some other forms of modulation.

With more forms of communications transferring from analogue formats to digital

formats, data communications is growing in importance, and along with it the various
forms of modulation that can be used to carry data.

There are several flavours of phase shift keying, PSK that are available for use. Each form
has its own advantages and disadvantages, and a choice of the optimum format has to be
made for each radio communications system that is designed. To make the right choice it
is necessary to have a knowledge and understanding of the way in which PSK works.

Phase Shift Keying, PSK, basics

Like any form of shift keying, there are defined states or points that are used for signalling
the data bits. The basic form of binary phase shift keying is known as Binary Phase Shift
Keying (BPSK) or it is occasionally called Phase Reversal Keying (PRK). A digital signal
alternating between +1 and -1 (or 1 and 0) will create phase reversals, i.e. 180 degree
phase shifts as the data shifts state.

The problem with phase shift keying is that the receiver cannot know the exact phase of
the transmitted signal to determine whether it is in a mark or space condition. This would
not be possible even if the transmitter and receiver clocks were accurately linked because
the path length would determine the exact phase of the received signal. To overcome this
problem PSK systems use a differential method for encoding the data onto the carrier. This
is accomplished, for example, by making a change in phase equal to a one, and no phase
change equal to a zero. Further improvements can be made upon this basic system and a
number of other types of phase shift keying have been developed. One simple
improvement can be made by making a change in phase by 90 degrees in one direction for
a one, and 90 degrees the other way for a zero. This retains the 180 degree phase reversal
between one and zero states, but gives a distinct change for a zero. In a basic system not
using this process it may be possible to loose synchronisation if a long series of zeros are
sent. This is because the phase will not change state for this occurrence.

PSK constellation diagrams

t is often convenient to represent a phase shift keyed signal, and sometimes other types of
signal using a phasor or constellation diagram. Using this scheme, the phase of the signal
is represented by the angle around the circle, and the amplitude by the distance from the
origin or centre of the circle. In this way the can be signal resolved into quadrature
components representing the sine or I for In-phase component and the cosine for the
quadrature component. Most phase shift keyed systems use a constant amplitude and
therefore points appear on one circle with a constant amplitude and the changes in state
being represented by movement around the circle. For binary shift keying using phase
reversals the two points appear at opposite points on the circle. Other forms of phase shift
keying may use different points on the circle and there will be more points on the circle.

Forms of phase shift keying

Although phase modulation is used for some analogue transmissions, it is far more widely
used as a digital form of modulation where it switches between different phases. This is
known as phase shift keying, PSK, and there are many flavours of this. It is even possible
to combine phase shift keying and amplitude keying in a form of modulation known as
quadrature amplitude modulation, QAM.
 Types of PSK

The PSK can be classified into two types which include the following.

 BPSK – Binary Phase-Shift Keying

 QPSK – Quadrature Phase-Shift Keying
1). BPSK – Binary Phase-Shift Keying

The term BPSK stands for Binary Phase-Shift Keying. Sometimes, it is also called as PRK
(phase reversal keying) or 2PSK. This kind of phase-shift keying utilizes 2-phases which
are separated with 180 degrees. So this is the reason to call as 2-PSK.

In this method, the arrangement of constellation points is not a matter where exactly they
are placed. This type of modulation is strong to all the PSKs as it takes the maximum level
of noise otherwise to distortion to make the demodulator attain an incorrect decision.
However, it is only able to modulate at 1 bit per symbol and is not suitable for applications
like high data rate.
2). QPSK – Quadrature Phase-Shift Keying

The bit rate can be enhanced by adding more bits on one single segment. In this kind of
PSK, the bitstream can be parallelized so that every two incoming bits can be split up &
phase shift keying a carrier frequency. One carrier frequency can be phase-shifted with 90
degrees from the other within quadrature. Then the 2 phase-shift keying signals are added
to generate one of four signal elements.

Advantages of PSK
➨It carries data over RF signal more efficiently compare to other modulation types.
Hence it is more power efficient modulation technique compare to ASK and FSK.

➨It is less susceptible to errors compare to ASK modulation and occupies same
bandwidth as ASK.

➨Higher data rate of transmission can be achieved using high level of PSK modulations
such as QPSK (represents 2 bits per constellation), 16-QAM (represents 4 bits per
constellation) etc.

Disadvantages of PSK

➨It has lower bandwidth efficiency.

➨The binary data is decoded by estimation of phase states of the signal. These detection
and recovery algorithms are very complex.

➨Multi-level PSK modulation schemes (QPSK, 16QAM etc.) are more sensitive to phase
variations.

➨It is also one form of FSK and hence it also offers lower bandwidth efficiency compare
to ASK modulation type.
 Applications of Phase Shift Keying
The applications of PSK include the following.

 This method is broadly used for bio-metric, wireless LAN along with wireless
communications like Bluetooth and RFID.
 Local Oscillator
 Optical Communications
 Multi-channel WDM
 Delay & add demodulator
 Nonlinear effects for WDM transmission

Conclusion
From the above information finally, we can conclude that this PSK is a digital modulation
technique which transmits information by altering the phase of a stable frequency carrier
signal. Generally, these modulation methods are superior to modulation techniques like
FSK in terms of bandwidth. These modulation schemes provide better efficiency. But FSK
modulation methods are power-efficient at a given signal-to-noise ratio (S/N). This
method is broadly used for bio-metric, wireless LAN along with wireless communications
like Bluetooth and RFID.
References
 https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-41202-3_6

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase-shift_keying

 https://www.electronics-notes.com/articles/radio/modulation/phase-modulation-shift-keying-what-is-
psk.php

 https://www.rfwireless-world.com/Terminology/Advantages-and-Disadvantages-of-PSK.html

 Lectures Assist. Lec. Karrar S. Faraj

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