Modulation BPSK QPSK 8PSK 16QAM 32QAM 64QAM

Bits per symbol 1 2 3 4 5 6

Symbol Rate 1 x bit rate 1/2 bit rate 1/3 bit rate 1/4 bit rate 1/5 bit rate 1/6 bit rate

QAM applications
QAM is in many radio communications and data delivery applications. However some specific variants of QAM are used in some specific applications and standards. For domestic broadcast applications for example, 64 QAM and 256 QAM are often used in digital cable television and cable modem applications. In the UK, 16 QAM and 64 QAM are currently used for digital terrestrial television using DVB - Digital Video Broadcasting. In the US, 64 QAM and 256 QAM are the mandated modulation schemes for digital cable as standardised by the SCTE in the standard ANSI/SCTE 07 2000. In addition to this, variants of QAM are also used for many wireless and cellular technology applications.

Constellation diagrams for QAM

The constellation diagrams show the different positions for the states within different forms of QAM, quadrature amplitude modulation. As the order of the modulation increases, so does the number of points on the QAM constellation diagram. The diagrams below show constellation diagrams for a variety of formats of modulation:

QAM bits per symbol

The advantage of using QAM is that it is a higher order form of modulation and as a result it is able to carry more bits of information per symbol. By selecting a higher order format of QAM, the data rate of a link can be increased. The table below gives a summary of the bit rates of different forms of QAM and PSK.

Modulation BPSK QPSK 8PSK 16QAM 32QAM 64QAM

Bits per symbol 1 2 3 4 5 6

Symbol Rate 1 x bit rate 1/2 bit rate 1/3 bit rate 1/4 bit rate 1/5 bit rate 1/6 bit rate

QAM noise margin

While higher order modulation rates are able to offer much faster data rates and higher levels of spectral efficiency for the radio communications system, this comes at a price. The higher order modulation schemes are considerably less resilient to noise and interference. As a result of this, many radio communications systems now use dynamic adaptive modulation techniques. They sense the channel conditions and adapt the modulation scheme to obtain the highest data rate for the given conditions. As signal to noise ratios decrease errors will increase

along with re-sends of the data, thereby slowing throughput. By reverting to a lower order modulation scheme the link can be made more reliable with fewer data errors and re
event event event worst event event event event event event 1A: A Primary CPICH enters the reporting range; addition of a radio link. 1B: A primary CPICH leaves the reporting range; removal of a radio link. 1C: A non-active primary CPICH becomes better than an active primary CPICH; replacement of the cell in AS. 1D: Change of best cell 1E: A Primary CPICH becomes better than an absolute threshold 1F: A Primary CPICH becomes worse than an absolute threshold 1G: Change of best cell (TDD) 1H: Timeslot ISCP below a certain threshold (TDD) 1I: Timeslot ISCP above a certain threshold (TDD)

Event 2a: Change of best frequency Event 2b: The estimated quality of the currently used frequency is below a certain threshold and the estimated quality of a non-used frequency is above a certain threshold; handover to inter-freq neighbors Event 2c: The estimated quality of a non-used frequency is above a certain threshold Event 2d: The estimated quality of the currently used frequency is below a certain threshold; start compressed mode to measure inter-freq WCDMA or GSM neighbors. Event 2e: The estimated quality of a non-used frequency is below a certain threshold Event 2f: The estimated quality of the currently used frequency is above a certain threshold; stop compressed mode & stop measure inter-freq WCDMA or GSM neighbors Event 3a: The estimated quality of the currently used UTRAN frequency is below a certain threshold and the estimated quality of the other system is above a certain threshold; handover to GSM neighbors Event 3b: The estimated quality of other system is below a certain threshold Event 3c: The estimated quality of other system is above a certain threshold Event 3d: Change of best cell in other system event 4 A: Transport Channel Traffic Volume becomes larger than an absolute threshold event 4 B: Transport Channel Traffic Volume becomes smaller than an absolute threshold event 5A: A predefined number of bad CRCs is exceeded event 6A: The UE Tx power becomes larger than an absolute threshold; start compressed mode event 6B: The UE Tx power becomes less than an absolute threshold; stop compressed mode event 6C: The UE Tx power reaches its minimum value event 6D: The UE Tx power reaches its maximum value event 6E: The UE RSSI reaches the UE's dynamic receiver range event 6F: The UE Rx-Tx time difference for a RL included in the active set becomes larger than an absolute threshold event 6G: The UE Rx-Tx time difference for a RL included in the active set becomes less than an absolute threshold

Event 7a: The UE position changes more than an absolute threshold Event 7b: SFN-SFN measurement changes more than an absolute threshold Event 7c: GPS time and SFN time have drifted apart more than an absolute threshold