Modulation -concept,advantages,classification,analog & digital modulation

Modulation -concept,advantages,classification,analog & digital modulation

What is modulation?

·        Operation of varying amplitude, frequency or phase of carrier signal accordingly with the instantaneous amplitude of the message signal is called modulation

·        Modulation= Adding information to a carrier signal

Need for Modulation:

Baseband signals are incompatible for direct transmission. For such a signal, to travel longer distances, its strength has to be increased by modulating with a high frequency carrier wave, which doesn’t affect the parameters of the modulating signal.

Advantages of Modulation

The antenna used for transmission, had to be very large, if modulation was not introduced. The range of communication gets limited as the wave cannot travel a distance without getting distorted.

Following are some of the advantages for implementing modulation in the communication systems.

• Reduction of antenna size
• No signal mixing
• Increased communication range
• Multiplexing of signals
• Possibility of bandwidth adjustments
• Improved reception quality

v Signals in the Modulation Process

Following are the three types of signals in the modulation process.

Message or Modulating Signal

The signal which contains a message to be transmitted, is called as a message signal. It is a baseband signal, which has to undergo the process of modulation, to get transmitted. Hence, it is also called as the modulating signal.

Carrier Signal

The high frequency signal, which has a certain amplitude, frequency and phase but contains no information is called as a carrier signal. It is an empty signal and is used to carry the signal to the receiver after modulation.

Modulated Signal

The resultant signal after the process of modulation is called as a modulated signal. This signal is a combination of modulating signal and carrier signal.

v Types of Modulation

There are many types of modulations. Depending upon the modulation techniques used, they are classified as shown in the following figure.

Continuous-wave Modulation

In continuous-wave modulation, a high frequency sine wave is used as a carrier wave. This is further divided into amplitude and angle modulation.

·        If the amplitude of the high frequency carrier wave is varied in accordance with the instantaneous amplitude of the modulating signal, then such a technique is called as Amplitude Modulation.

·        If the angle of the carrier wave is varied, in accordance with the instantaneous value of the modulating signal, then such a technique is called as Angle Modulation. Angle modulation is further divided into frequency modulation and phase modulation.

o   If the frequency of the carrier wave is varied, in accordance with the instantaneous value of the modulating signal, then such a technique is called as Frequency Modulation.

o   If the phase of the high frequency carrier wave is varied in accordance with the instantaneous value of the modulating signal, then such a technique is called as Phase Modulation.

Pulse Modulation

In Pulse modulation, a periodic sequence of rectangular pulses, is used as a carrier wave. This is further divided into analog and digital modulation.

In analog modulation technique, if the amplitude or duration or position of a pulse is varied in accordance with the instantaneous values of the baseband modulating signal, then such a technique is called as Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM) or Pulse Duration/Width Modulation (PDM/PWM), or Pulse Position Modulation (PPM).

In digital modulation, the modulation technique used is Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) where the analog signal is converted into digital form of 1s and 0s. As the resultant is a coded pulse train, this is called as PCM. This is further developed as Delta Modulation (DM). These digital modulation techniques are discussed in our Digital Communications tutorial

Another way

·         Analog modulation:

If the variation in the parameter of the carrier is continuous in accordance to the input analog signal the modulation technique is termed as analog modulation scheme. It is classified as:

1.     Amplitude Modulation

2.     Frequency Modulation

3.      Phase Modulation

·         Digital Modulation:

If the variation in the parameter of the carrier is discrete then it is termed as digital modulation technique.it is classified as:

1.     Amplitude Shift Keying

2.     Frequency Shift Keying

3.      Phase shift keying