Semester Paper Paper Title No.

of CA UE Total
Code Credit
III ELC-232 II Digital communication 2 15 35 50
and Networking

Chapter 2: Modulation & Demodulation

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 Chapter 2
Modulation & Demodulation

Q. What is modulation ?1 marks

Modulation is a process of superimposing low frequency audio signal over high frequency
Carrier signal. The resultant is called modulated signal. The circuit used to superimpose or
mix baseband audio signal with radio carrier signal is called modulator. Modulators are
employed at transmitter end.

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Modulation Process

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Q. What is demodulation ?1 marks
Demodulation or detection is extracting the original information-bearing signal from a
carrier wave. The circuit used to extract baseband audio signal from radio carrier signal is
called demodulator. Demodulators are employed at receiver end.

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Q. What is need of modulation ?2.5 marks
The aim of modulation in an communication system is to generate a modulated signal
suited to the characteristics of transmission channel. The modulation is essential in
communication for the following reasons:
1.Modulation for efficient transmission: The original baseband is low frequency signal
having range 30 to 3Khz. This low frequency signal cannot travel long distance. Hence it is
need to modulate this signal. In modulation process audio signal is superimposed on a high
frequency carrier wave. The high frequency carrier waves can travel longer distance at
speed of light.
2.Modulation to overcome hardware limitation: In designing a communication system the
performance of hardware is often dependent on frequencies involved. Modulation
permits the designer to place a signal in suitable frequency range that avoids hardware
limitation.
3.Modulation for reducing antenna size: The signal is transmitted to a medium through
transmitting antenna. It is found that for efficient transmission the size of the antenna must
determined by
λ =(C/F)
Λ= signal wavelength
C- speed of electromagnetic wave
F= signal frequency
For lower frequency like 3Khz the size of antenna would be 10 Km. Now signal frequency and
wave length are inversely proportional. If we increase signal frequency in the range of Ghz the
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antenna size will get reduced significantly.
4. Modulation for Multiplexing: Modulation enables more efficient use of transmission
media. By implementing modulation it is possible to accommodate more than one user in
the same channel at the same time with the help of multiplexing.
Q. Classify modulation techniques.

Modulation Techniques

Analog Pulse Digital

Analog Digital
Amplitude Angle ASK FSK PSK
Pulse Pulse

Frequency Phase PAM PTM PCM DM

PPM PWM

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Q. Differentiate between Analog and digital communication.

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Q. Explain with neat diagram Pulse code modulator .4 Mks

Pulse code modulation is most popular scheme used in Digital Communication system. It
Allows analog information to be transmitted in digital form. In PCM the analog signal is
Sampled at discrete time intervals and converted to serial n bit binary code.

Band pass Parallel to

Sampler Quantization ADC
filter serial

Analog i/p PCM o/p

1000 0101
The analog i/p signal is applied to the Band pass filter block which allows a particular band
to pass while rejecting remaining frequencies. The output of band pass is given to sampler.
Sampler: Converts continuous signal into discrete samples . The discrete samples are given
to quantization block.
Quantization. It is process of rounding off. This process provides discrete finite value for a
every sample. The analog signal has infinite number of amplitude values. Therefore it is
Required to limit the number of combinations by quantization technique. The o/p of
Quantization is given to ADC
ADC: Analog to digital converter provides parallel digital output proportional to input value.
The ADCs o/p is given to Parallel to serial converter.
The parallel to serial convert provides serial pulse code data in digital form i.e 0& 1
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Q. Explain with neat diagram PCM demodulator 2.5 Mks

Pulse code modulation is most popular scheme used in Digital Communication system. It
Allows analog information to be transmitted in digital form. In PCM the analog signal is
Sampled at discrete time intervals and converted to serial n bit binary code.

Serial to Parallel DAC LPF

PCM i/p original signal

1000 0110

The PCM signal in digital form is received at the PCM receiver .

The PCM signal is fed to serial to parallel converter. The parallel output is given to DAC.
The Digital to analog converter converts the digital data in analog i.e original form.
The analog output is given to low pass filter which filters all high frequency i.e noise form
the original signal

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Q. State advantages and disadvantages of PCM. 1 Mks
Advantages
PCM is a digital technique hence data can be processed at transmitter and receiver end
Better noise immunity
Data can be stored
Provides better data security

Disadvantages
Complex technique as compared to analog systems
High frequency signals are not suitable for PCM
It requires large bandwidth as large amount of binary information has to be transmitted
If the number of quantizing levels are increased, the signal can be reproduced better, but
this
Increases the number of bits per sample.

Q. State applications of PCM. 1 Mks

It is used in telephone systems to transmit voice signals over digital transmission media.
Transmission of binary data between computers.
Commercial carrier system like Bell system carrier use PCM
Satellite transmission system use PCM

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Q. What is Analog pulse modulation?

In analog pulse modulation one of the characteristics of pulse is varied in accordance to

Instantaneous variation of modulating signal. The fundamental characteristics of a pulse
Consists of amplitude, position and width. Thus the analog pulse modulation is classified
PAM: Pulse amplitude modulation: The
amplitude of carrier wave is varied in
accordance
To instantaneous variation in modulating
signal. PAM is the fist block in PCM. PAM is
Susceptible to noise hence it is not widely
used.

PPM: Pulse position modulation, here

position of carrier wave is varied in
accordance to
The modulating signal

PWM: Pulse width modulation, here

width of carrier wave is varied in
accordance to the
Modulating signal

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Q. What are digital modulation techniques?

ASK FSK PSK

It is a type of Amplitude It is a type of frequency It is a type of phase
Modulation which modulation which modulation which
represents the binary data in represents the binary data in represents the binary data in
the form of variations in the the form of variation in the the form of variation in the
amplitude of a signal. frequency of signal phase of signal

Not immune to noise Better noise immunity Better noise immunity

Data rate is less Data rate is less Data rate is better
Low BW requirement Needs large BW Moderate BW
Simple Moderate More complex
Poor response for Moderate response against Robust against interference
interference interference
Rarely used for data transfer Fax, Telegraph, Low speed Mobile, High speed modem,
modem Satellite

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Q. What is FSK? 2.5 mks
Frequency-shift keying (FSK) is a frequency modulation scheme in which digital
information is transmitted through discrete frequency changes of a carrier signal. ... The
simplest FSK is binary FSK (BFSK). BFSK uses a pair of discrete frequencies to transmit
binary (0s and 1s) information.
Binary FSK (usually referred to simply as FSK) is a modulation scheme typically used
to send digital information between digital equipment such as teleprinters and
computers. The data are transmitted by shifting the frequency of a continuous carrier in
a binary manner to one or the other of two discrete frequencies.
FSK are used in low speed modem
Frequency shift keying (FSK) is a relatively
simple, low-performance form of digital
modulation. ... As the binary input signal
changes from a logic 0 to logic 1 and vice
versa, the FSK output signal shifts between
two frequencies; a mark or logic
1 frequency and a space or logic
0 frequency.

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Q. What is advantages and disadvantages of FSK. 1mks
Advantages
1. FSK is relatively easy to implement.
2. It has better noise immunity than ASK. Therefore the probability of error free reception
of data is high.
Disadvantages
1. The major disadvantage is its high bandwidth.
2. Therefore FSK is extensively used in low speed modems having bit rates below 1200
bits/sec.
3. The FSK is not preferred for the high speed modems because with increase in speed, the
bit rate increases.
4. This increases the channel bandwidth required to transmit the FSK signal.
5. As the telephone lines have a very low bandwidth, it is not possible to satisfy the
bandwidth requirement of FSK at higher speed. Therefore FSK is preferred only for the low
speed modems.
.

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Q. What is QPSK ? 2.5 mks

Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) is a form of Phase Shift Keying in which two bits
are modulated at once, selecting one of four possible carrier phase shifts (0, 90, 180, or
270 degrees). QPSK allows the signal to carry twice as much information as ordinary PSK
using the same bandwidth.
Here, four output phases are possible for single carrier frequency. It requires four
different input conditions. To produce four input combinations with a binary (two bit) the
possible conditions are 00,01,10,11.
Each combination is assigned a particular phase Phasor Diagram

Binary input QPSK output 1350= 01 450= 00

Q I Phase
0 0 450
0 1 1350
1 0 3150
1 1 2250

2250= 11 3150= 10
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Binary data is applied bit splitter. The bit splitter directs one bit to I channel and other to
Q Channel.
The I bit modulates the carrier that is in phase with the reference oscillator (I= inphase)
The Q bit modulate the carrier that is 900 out of phase with the reference oscillator (Q=
quadrature i.e 900)
The output of Balance modulator is combined in linear summer
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Consequently a signal with four phase appears at the o/p.

Advantages of QPSK:
QPSK provide very good noise immunity. It provides low error probability. Bandwidth is
twice efficient is compared to BPSK modulation. For the same BER, the bandwidth required
by QPSK is reduced to half as compared to BPSK.

QPSK Application
QPSK allows the signal to carry twice as much information as ordinary PSK using the same
bandwidth. QPSK is used for satellite transmission of MPEG2 video, cable modems,
videoconferencing, cellular phone systems, and other forms of digital communication
over an RF carrier.

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Q. What is QAM ? 2.5 mks

Quadrature Amplitude Modulation, QAM is a signal in which two carriers shifted in phase
by 90 degrees (i.e. sine and cosine) are modulated and combined.
As a result of their 90° phase difference they are in quadrature and this gives rise to the
name. Often one signal is called the In-phase or “I” signal, and the other is the quadrature
or “Q” signal.
The resultant overall signal consisting of the combination of both I and Q carriers contains
of both amplitude and phase variations.
In view of the fact that both amplitude and phase variations are present it may also be
considered as a mixture of amplitude and phase modulation.
QAM is a digital television standard using quadrature amplitude modulation. It is the
format by which digital cable channels are encoded and transmitted via cable television
providers. QAM is used in a variety of communications systems such as Dial-up modems
and WiFi.

QAM utilise both amplitude and phase variations. Although QAM is widely used in
wireless communication system in terms of data carrying capacity, but QAM is more
susceptible to noise compare to QPSK. This is because QAM has larger distance between
constellation point compare to QPSK.

While QAM is analog modulation , it's used to transmit and receive digital data symbols
(n-bits).
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Quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) is a modulation scheme that moderates two
sinusoidal carriers 90 ° out-of-phase with each other. The components of each carrier are
called inphase and quadrature. Both modulated carriers are summed to result in a signal
with amplitude and phase modulation.

In its most known form, QPSK is

identical to 4-QAM or 4-PSK. That
is, the same constellation can be
referred to by different names. So
there is no difference. Similarly,
2-QAM is actually the same as
BPSK, as is also pointed out here.
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