What is digital modulation ?

The techniques used to modulate digital information so that it can be transmitted via microwave, satellite or down a cable pair are different to that of Analog transmission.

Advantages of Amplitude-shift keying (ASK): The main advantage of ASK modulation is generation of ASK is very much easy. Both ASK modulation and demodulation processes are relatively inexpensive. The ASK technique is also commonly used to transmit digital data over optical fiber. There are many other advantages of ASK, Such as Amplitude-shift keying transmitters are very simple and transmitter current is lower than FSK. One important advantage of ASK is it need lees bandwidth than FSK. Disadvantages of Amplitude-shift keying (ASK): Unfortunately, ASK is linear and sensitive to atmospheric noise, distortion, propagation condition on different routes in PSTN. It requires excessive bandwidth and is therefore a waste of power. Frequency-shift keying (FSK):In "frequency shift keying (FSK)", the frequency of a sinusoidal carrier is shifted between two discrete values. One of these frequencies (f1) represents a binary "1" and the other value (f0) represents a binary "0". The representation of digital data using FSK is as shown in Fig. Note that there is no change in the amplitude of the carrier.

Advantages of FSK: FSK is relatively easy to implement. It has better noise immunity than ASK. Therefore the probability of error free reception of data is high. Disadvantages of FSK:
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1. The major disadvantage is its high bandwidth requirement as' discussed earlier. 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.

Binary phase-shift keying (BPSK)

Constellation diagram example for BPSK. BPSK (also sometimes called PRK, phase reversal keying, or 2PSK) is the simplest form of phase shift keying (PSK). It uses two phases which are separated by 180 and so can also be termed 2-PSK. It does not particularly matter exactly where the constellation points are positioned, and in this figure they are shown on the real axis, at 0 and 180. This modulation is the most robust of all the PSKs since it takes the highest level of noise or distortion to make the demodulator reach an incorrect decision. It is, however, only able to modulate at 1 bit/symbol (as seen in the figure) and so is unsuitable for high data-rate applications. In the presence of an arbitrary phase-shift introduced by the communications channel, the demodulator is unable to tell which constellation point is which. As a result, the data is often differentially encoded prior to modulation. BPSK is functionally equivalent to 2-QAM modulation. The general form for BPSK follows the equation:
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The bit error rate (BER) of BPSK in AWGN can be calculated as:[5]

or Since there is only one bit per symbol, this is also the symbol error rate. Quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK)

Constellation diagram for QPSK with Gray coding. Each adjacent symbol only differs by one bit.Sometimes this is known as quaternary PSK, quadriphase PSK, 4PSK, or 4-QAM. (Although the root concepts of QPSK and 4-QAM are different, the resulting modulated radio waves are exactly the same.) QPSK uses four points on the constellation diagram, equispaced around a circle. With four phases, QPSK can encode two bits per symbol, shown in the diagram with gray coding to minimize the bit error rate (BER) sometimes misperceived as twice the BER of BPSK. The mathematical analysis shows that QPSK can be used either to double the data rate compared with a BPSK system while maintaining the same bandwidth of the signal, or to maintain the data-rate of BPSK but halving the bandwidth needed. In this latter case, the BER of QPSK is exactly the same as the BER of BPSK - and deciding differently is a common confusion when considering or describing QPSK. The implementation of QPSK is more general than that of BPSK and also indicates the implementation of higher-order PSK. Writing the symbols in the constellation diagram in terms of the sine and cosine waves used to transmit them:

The probability of symbol error may be approximated:

QAM (Quadrature amplitude modulation)

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QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation) is a method of combining two amplitude-modulated (AM) signals into a single channel, thereby doubling the effective bandwidth. QAM is used with pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) in digital systems, especially in wireless applications. In a QAM signal, there are two carriers, each having the same frequency but differing in phase by 90 degrees (one quarter of a cycle, from which the term quadrature arises). One signal is called the I signal, and the other is called the Q signal. Mathematically, one of the signals can be represented by a sine wave, and the other by a cosine wave. The two modulated carriers are combined at the source for transmission. At the destination, the carriers are separated, the data is extracted from each, and then the data is combined into the original modulating information.

QAM advantages and disadvantages Although QAM appears to increase the efficiency of transmission for radio communications systems by utilising both amplitude and phase variations, it has a number of drawbacks. The first is that it is more susceptible to noise because the states are closer together so that a lower level of noise is needed to move the signal to a different decision point. Receivers for use with phase or frequency modulation are both able to use limiting amplifiers that are able to remove any amplitude noise and thereby improve the noise reliance. This is not the case with QAM. The second limitation is also associated with the amplitude component of the signal. When a phase or frequency modulated signal is amplified in a radio transmitter, there is no need to use linear amplifiers, whereas when using QAM that contains an amplitude component, linearity must be maintained. Unfortunately linear amplifiers are less efficient and consume more power, and this makes them less attractive for mobile applications. Domestic satellite communication system using small earth stations A potential domestic satellite communications system is presented which can accommodate numerous small earth stations. The system is composed of a master earth station with a 12.8-m antenna connected to the terrestrial telephone network through a satellite telephone switching center, and up to 1000 small (2-m diameter antenna) earth terminals located near the subscribers which can transmit up to three telephone channels each. Two types of demand assignment multiple access techniques are utilized in the system to improve power utilization efficiency and reduce interference to other communication systems, namely time division multiplexvariable destination multiple access for the master earth station to small earth station link and spread spectrum multiple access (SSMA) in the small earth station to master earth station link, for which a high-speed SSMA code synchronizing system and an AFC system without pilot signal are employed. Experiments using the CS satellite have demonstrated the simultaneous operation of 50 channels, with satisfactory error rate performance, SSMA code synchronization and AFC characteristics.
BASIC TRANSMISSION THEORY

The communications subsystem is the major component of a communication satellite payload. It is usually composed by:
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 one or more antennas, which receive and transmit over wide bandwidths microwave signals a set of receivers and transmitters that amplify and retransmit the incoming signals.

The receiver-transmitter units are known as transponders. Signals transmitted to/from a satellite are known as

carriers. Multiple accesses is the technique to share the available capacity of a satellite transponder among several earth stations which contend for accessing it. The sharing technique may be achieved:

by sharing the transponders bandwidth in separate frequency slots (FDMA) by sharing the transponders availability in discrete time slots (TDMA) by allowing coded signals to overlap in time and frequency (CDMA or spread spectrum). Each earth station then separates the signals by recognizing which of the codes is destined for it. System Noise Temperature

In electronics, noise temperature is one way of expressing the level of available noise power introduced by a component or source. The power spectral density of the noise is expressed in terms of the temperature (in kelvins) that would produce that level of JohnsonNyquist noise, thus:

where:

is the power (in watts) is the total bandwidth (Hz) over which that noise power is measured is the Boltzmann constant (1.3811023 J/K, joules per kelvin) is the noise temperature (K)
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Thus the noise temperature is proportional to the power spectral density of the noise, . That is the power that would be absorbed from the component or source by a matched load. Noise temperature is generally a function of frequency, unlike that of an ideal resistor which is simply equal to the actual temperature of the resistor at all frequencies. G/T ratio The G/T of the satellite is the "figure of merit" and gives you an idea of the ratio between the input gain and the noise that is added to the signal. The bigger the G/T the more gain and the less noise is added to the signal. If the G/T is bigger, the resulting C/N in the uplink that can be achieved will be higher with the same uplink power. The noise temperature of an amplifier is commonly measured using the Y-factor method. If there are multiple amplifiers in cascade, the noise temperature of the cascade can be calculated using the Friis equation:[4]

where

= resulting noise temperature referred to the input = noise temperature of the first component in the cascade = noise temperature of the second component in the cascade = noise temperature of the third component in the cascade = power gain of the first component in the cascade = power gain of the second component in the cascade Design of Uplink and Downlink:-

The term uplink chain is used to refer to the series of pieces of equipment that are used to produce a radio frequency signal for sending out data. The description provided here is imprecise as the exact configuration can vary widely. The downlink chain is built using nearly the same equipment in reverse order. UPLINK CHAIN How it works: 1. Digital data is sent to the modulator which takes the data and converts it into a modulated signal in the Intermediate Frequency range (70-140 Mhz). The modulators use standards such as Digital Video Broadcast to organize communication over the microwave link. 2. The Intermediate Frequency is piped to an "up converter" (usually via shielded coaxial cable) which mixes the intermediate frequency with a higher frequency to produce a final frequency which carries the modulated data. 3. Noise is removed from the signal via either a band pass filter or other means and then it is amplified in a Klystron, Travelling Wave Tube or Solid State amplifier. 4. The final cleaned signal is transmitted down the wave guide to the dish. 5. The feed horn at the focal point of the dish emits the high frequency radio transmission, which the dish focuses into a directional transmission at the satellite.
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DOWNLINK CHAIN How it works: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. The satellite transmits a signal containing data The signal is received at the sattellite dish The signal is amplified and fed to the Down Converter The Down Converter downmixes the signal to create an intermediate frequency The intermediate frequency is fed to the demodulator and converted into a data signal The datastream is forwarded into the network via a router.