Fundamentals of Digital Modulation

Digital Modulation – Introduction

Digital Modulation in Wireless Communications

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 Agenda
f Definition
f Review of Analog Modulation
f Advantages of Digital Modulation
f IQ Modulation Types
f Digital Modulation in Modern Wireless Systems
f Filters
f Multiplexing
f Measurements

Welcome to the Fundamentals of Digital Modulation course. In this course

we will provide an overview of what is digital modulation is, what are the
advantages and how is it implemented in modern communication systems.
We will touch only briefly on some of the measurements made on wireless
communication systems using the Real Time Spectrum Analyzer (RTSA);
most of that discussion will be conducted in a future session.

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 Definition of Modulation
f Conveying information on a carrier signal by varying one or
more of the signal's basic characteristics – frequency,
amplitude and/or phase

AM = http://education.tm.agilent.com/cbt/am/15.htm
FM = http://education.tm.agilent.com/cbt/fm/14.htm

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 Review of Analog Modulation
f Please click the links in the notes section for a review of analog
modulation
– AM
– FM

AM = http://education.tm.agilent.com/cbt/am/15.htm
FM = http://education.tm.agilent.com/cbt/fm/14.htm

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 Advantages of Digital Modulation
f Spectral efficiency – use of a narrow bandwidth to send a large
amount of data
– Effective use of limited frequency resources

f Good privacy and security features

– Digital encryption techniques may be employed

f Lower power consumption

f Repeatable, more easily produced
f Reduced device size

Digital modulation is largely replacing analog in almost all commercial

communication systems for the reasons shown.

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 Modulation for Wireless
f Media
– Carrier
V(t) = A cos(2πfc t + Φ)
f The three essential parameters
– Amplitude value A(t) ― Amplitude Modulation
– Frequency value f(t) ― Frequency Modulation
– Phase value φ(t) ― Phase Modulation

All modulation consists of information that is placed on a carrier wave.

There are three things you can do to a signal. You can change its
amplitude, frequency or phase.

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 Transmission of a Digital Message
f Basically, it’s the same as Analog Modulation Methods

– ASK: Amplitude shift keying

V(t) = A(t) cos(2πfc t + Φ)

– FSK: Frequency shift keying
V(t) = A(t) cos(2πf(t) t + Φ)
– PSK: Phase shift keying

V(t) = A(t) cos(2πf(t) t + Φ(t))

f Digital modulation: Amplitude, frequency and/or Phase are

used to represent a digital state

Digital transmissions use exactly the same ways of changing a carrier wave,
that is, amplitude, or frequency, or phase. The difference is that prior to
modulation, the information to be transmitted is changed to digital bits (1s
and 0s), and the state of these bits define specific levels of amplitude,
frequency or phase.

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 ASK
f Amplitude shift keying
– 1’s or 0’s represented by different amplitudes
– Could be accomplished with an AM system

The first example of that is ASK. Here, the signal is either high, or low. So,
we’re just directly translating amplitude changes in the information, to
amplitude changes in the carrier wave. Other implementations exist. For
example, think of a signal light used to transmit Morse code at sea. The light
is either high amplitude or low (actually, off), and the bits represent letters in
the transmission.

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 ASK in IQ domain
f ASK(OOK)
– I: In phase component
– Q: Quadrature component

I
Q

I
(0) (1)
Q

Amplitude Variation 0
on I axis

This picture of ASK introduces a concept important to digital modulation, that

of the I and Q plane. The X axis represents the carrier wave, unchanged in
phase. The Q, or quadrature axis, represents the amount of signal that has
been shifted by 90 degrees with respect to the reference carrier. In the case
of ASK, ALL of the signal remains in phase with the main carrier, so NONE
of the signal is present in the Q axis.
ASK is the primary modulation scheme used in Radio Frequency
Identification (RFID).

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 FSK
f Frequency shift keying
– Select frequency based on each bit, 0 or 1
– Could be done with simple FM system

+
=

10

Here, the information is coded into the changing frequency of the carrier
wave. By combining the information (bits) with a rule, such as a 1=F1, and
0=F2, we can transmit 1’s and 0’s represented by 2 frequencies. This could
easily be done with existing FM systems.
FSK is used in some Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) systems as well
as wireless microphones, remote metering, and caller identification (Caller
ID).

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 FSK in IQ
f Frequency change causes constant-
rate phase change versus the
reference carrier
Phase
f Amplitude remains constant on the
IQ circle
π
1 symbol only
Q turns π

Time
1Sp 2Sp 3Sp 4Sp 5Sp

I
－π

Pos offset Neg. Offset Pos. Offset

f If the phase change is 90 degrees in
one symbol period, the modulation
type is called Minimum Shift Keying
(remember this one)
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Looking at FSK in the IQ plane, the instant frequency change causes the
phase to change relative to the reference. This is the effect or drawing a
circle on the IQ plane. FSK has the advantage of being very simple to
generate, simple to demodulate and due to the constant amplitude can utilize
a non-linear PA. Significant disadvantages, however, are the poor spectral
efficiency and BER performance.
This precludes its use in this basic form from cellular and even cordless
systems.

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 PSK
f Phase shift keying
– At the bit transitions invert the phase by 180°

=
+

12

Now on to the third term of the modulation equation, phase. Here we’ll apply
a simple rule. If a zero is to be transmitted, do nothing to the signal.
However, if a 1 is sent, change the phase of the transmitted signal by 180
degrees. The receiver on the other end compares the phase of this signal to
a reference signal, and generates 1’s or 0s as a result.

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 Representation of PSK in IQ
f PSK
– Specifically, BPSK (Binary Phase Shift Keying)

Q
0

(1) (0)
I
Q

0
Change Phase
to 180°Relative
to Reference

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In the IQ plane, PSK doesn’t have any activity in the Q axis, all of the
changes are seen in the I Axis.

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 Reading Assignment
f Read AN1298, pages 5 through 11
f Please click the links in the notes section below to learn more
about IQ Modulation and to view a vector simulation

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IQ Modulations link:
http://education.tm.agilent.com/index.cgi?CONTENT_ID=4
Vector Simulation link:
http://education.tm.agilent.com/index.cgi?CONTENT_ID=10

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 Digital Modulation in Modern
Wireless Systems

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So those are the basic types of digital modulation. Of course, if it stayed that
way, this course would be over.
Modern digital communication systems have taken things quite a bit farther
than the basics.

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 Digital Modulation Block Diagram

Raw Data Compression, 011010100101 01 10 10 10 01 01

Convert to
Error Correction, Symbols
110101 Encryption

01
I - Signal
00
Low Pass Filter
To IQ
Q - Signal Modulator
10 11 Low Pass Filter

Modulation Mapping

I - Signal
RF
Modulation,
Q - Signal Amplifier
Upconversion

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Raw data may come from a microphone, a modem, or a webcam: in any

case, it is a string of digital bits. Modern systems can compress these bits to
reduce the amount of data to be transmitted, making for more efficient
transmission. Think of converting a .bmp file to a JPEG file, or a computer
document to a ZIP file, and you have an example of data compression. We’ll
go through the individual sections of this block diagram in the next couple of
slides.
Error correction techniques are applied for data reliability. This increases the
number of bits to be transmitted, but increases the chances of good data
being received. Encryption provides data security.

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 Raw Data Conversion

Raw Data Compression, 011010100101

Error Correction, Convert to
Interleaving, Symbols
110101 Encryption

f Raw data comes from the user

– Digitized voice, keystrokes, jpegs…

f Compression is employed for efficiency

f Error correction is applied for transmission quality
f Interleaving creates signal-dropout resistance
f Encryption is applied for security

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Often additional bits are added for what is known as ‘error correction’ by
transmitting known bits at known intervals throughout the communication
sequence, the receiver can tell if the signal is corrupted due to the expected
bits not being present, or being present at the wrong time.
Interleaving the raw bits throughout the data stream allows for signal dropout
resistance by not having the message ‘bunched up’ in one section but,
rather, spread out in time. Thus, if a brief signal interrupt occurs, there is a
better possibility that enough of the desired bits will be transmitted and the
receiver can demodulate the message.
Encryption bits are also usually applied at this point to ‘scramble’ the raw
data, only a receiver with the correct de-scrambling code will be able to
decode the data.

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 Data Bits, to Symbols

Raw Data Compression, 011010100101 01 10 10 10 01 01

Convert to
Error Correction, Symbols
110101 Encryption

f Symbols are groups of one or more bits

f Higher order modulation allows more bits per symbol

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The transmitted bits are now grouped into ‘symbols’, the number of bits in
each symbol depends on the modulation type as you will see in the next few
slides. Here some terminology clarification is in order, ‘bit rate’ is how fast
the bits are being sent to the modulator which converts them to symbols.
The symbol rate depends on how many bits are transmitted in each symbol
group. In this example, we are transmitting 12 bits, if it took one second to do
so (which would be very slow in modern communication systems) then we
would say the transmitter has 12 bits per second or ‘bps’. In this case, every
two bits are being grouped into a symbol, so the transmitter ‘symbol rate’ is
six symbols per second.
The term baud rate is synonymous with symbol rate, but is less frequently
used today.

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 IQ Mapping
f What is Mapping: f Example
– Translate a Symbol to a point in the
IQ space Q

(01) (11)
01 00

10 11 I
Modulation Mapping

(00) (10)

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A common way of viewing digital modulation data is on what is known as a

constellation diagram. On a constellation diagram, the X axis is the ‘In-
Phase’ or ‘I’ component and the Y axis is the ‘Quadrature’ or ‘Q’ component.
Quadrature, in the digital modulation application, refers to a signal that is 90
degrees out of phase, we can see the I and Q axis are 90 degrees out of
phase. An IQ map shows where the symbols should appear if they are
transmitted perfectly with no distortion. Of course, this is rarely the case so
there needs to be a way to display and measure the error of a non-perfect
signal. AN IQ map is also referred to as a ‘constellation diagram’.

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 Error Vector Magnitude (EVM)

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Error Vector Magnitude (EVM) is the way that errors in the transmitted IQ
data are quantified. Both the amplitude and phase error are measured and
expressed as a percentage, the lower the EVM value, the closer the signal is
to ideal.

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 Differential Modulation
f QPSK (Quadrature PSK) f DQPSK (Differential QPSK)
– Assign the value to points in IQ – The value is based on the transitions
Space between 2 points

Q Q

(01) (11) (01)

(00)

I I

(11) (10)
(00) (10)
00= 0 01= -90
10= +90 11= 180

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Depending on the modulation format, the location of the symbol points is

either fixed, for example the symbol ’11’ will always be +45 degrees (upper
right) of the constellation diagram or it may be relative (i.e. a ’11’ is shown by
a 180 degree phase transition from it’s last point).

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 Higher Order Modulation
f 8PSK (8-PSK)
– Assign the value to points in IQ
Space
– 3 points per symbol
f π/4 DQPSK
– The value is based on the transitions
between 2 points
– Eliminates Zero Crossings

Q Q
(110) (11)
(001) (011)

(01) (00)
(111)
I I
(100)
(10)
(000)
(010)
(101)
00= +45 01= -135
10= +135 11= -45

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Recall a couple slides ago that it was stated that the symbol rate depends on
the number of bits per symbol and that the number of bits per symbol varies
according to the modulation type. Here we see an example of a different
modulation format (8 Phase Shift Keying or PSK) which has 3 bits per
symbol. If those same 12 bits per second were transmitted, as in our earlier
example, then the 8PSK symbol rate would be 4 symbols per second instead
of the six.

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 More Higher Order Modulation
f 16QAM (16-Quadrature Amplitude Q
Modulation)
– Each IQ symbol location is
represented by 4 data bits (000100) (001100) (011100) (010100) (110100) (111100)(101100) (100100)
f 64QAM (64-Quadrature Amplitude
Modulation) (000101) (001101) (011101) (010101) (110101) (111101)(101101) (100101)
– Each symbol is now worth 5 bits

Q (000111) (001111) (011111) (010111) (110111) (111111)(101111) (100111)

(000110) (001110) (011110) (010110) (110110) (111110)(101110) (100110)

I
(0010) (0110) (1110) (1010)
(000010) (001010) (011010) (010010) (110010) (111010)(101010) (100010)
(0011) (0111) (1111) (1011)
I
(000011) (001011) (011011) (010011) (110011) (111011)(101011) (100011)

(0001) (0101) (1101) (1001)

(000001) (001001) (011001) (010001) (110001) (111001)(101001) (100001)

(0000) (0100) (1100) (1000)

(000000) (001000) (011000) (010000) (110000) (111000) (101000) (100000)

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‘Higher Order’ modulation schemes mean that more bits are transmitted per
symbol.

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 Why Not Just Keep Going?
f Errors in IQ modulation create symbol errors Q
in transmission
f Vector Errors are created
f Noise in the transmission channel create
symbol errors
f Inaccuracies in the receiver creates errors (0010) (0110) (1110) (1010)
f Signal-to-noise requirements increase with
higher order modulations
Q (0011) (0111) (1111) (1011)
I
(01) (11)
(0001) (0101) (1101) (1001)

I (0000) (0100) (1100) (1000)

(00) (10)

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As you can see, with higher order modulation the constellation diagram
begins to get crowded – as the symbol points (or ideal locations) get
crowded closer together, it becomes more difficult to distinguish them and
thus makes the signal more susceptible to error.
When there is a lot of space between the transmitted symbols, as shown in
the left side example, then if the signal has a higher EVM and lands further
away form ideal location on the diagram, it is not as big of a problem as if it
had the same amount of error in the example diagram on the right.

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 Symbol Rate and Bit Rate
f Modulation type determines number of bits per symbol
– BPSK 1 bit/symbol
– DBPSK 1 bit/symbol
– QPSK 2 bit/symbol
– p/4 DQPSK 2 bit/symbol
– DQPSK 2 bit/symbol
– 8PSK 3 bit/symbol
– 16QAM 4 bit/symbol
– 64QAM 5 bit/symbol
– 256QAM 6 bit/symbol

f For a fixed symbol rate, having more bits will provide a faster transfer
rate
f Setting up the RTSA requires you to know the modulation type and
symbol rate, not the bit rate

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 Reading Assignment
f AN1298, pages 12 through 21

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26
 Filters Alter The Signal
01 00
I - Signal
Low Pass Filter
To IQ
Q - Signal Modulator
10 11 Low Pass Filter

Modulation Mapping

27

Following the mapping portion of the block diagram comes the filtering
section. With no filtering the transitions to each symbol point are ‘sharp’ in
the constellation diagram; with filtering applied the transitions are smoothed.

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 The World’s Most Popular Modulation
f Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying
f Gaussian Filtered Form of FSK
f Sum of I and Q results in a constant amplitude circle

28

This ‘smoothing’ of the transitions reduces the amount of spectrum the signal
occupies which means less chance it will interfere with adjacent channels.

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 Common Filter Types
f Gaussian
f Raised Cosine
f Root Raised Cosine
f Setting up the RTSA requires
knowledge of what filter is used

29

The filtering algorithm that is applied can be varied depending on the desired
results.

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 Effect of Roll-off
f Usually α is between 0.2 - 0.5 α=0.0 α=1.0
f α determines the bandwidth
BW = (1+α) *Symbol rate

30

Filtering allows the transmitted bandwidth to be significantly reduced without

losing the content of the digital data. This improves the spectral
efficiency of the signal (signal transmits same amount of data while using
less spectrum). In addition to a filter type, there is a filter ‘alpha factor’. The
alpha factor describes the ‘steepness’ of the filter; an alpha of 0 is very steep
(“brick”) filter whereas an alpha of 1.0 is very broad/wide filter.
A steeper filter can cause more distortion in the signal (due to ringing or
ripple) but does provide better spectrum efficiency.
A less steep filter allows for less distortion but requires more spectrum to
transmit the same information.

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 Filters, For Spectrum Control
01 00
I - Signal
Low Pass Filter
To IQ
Q - Signal Modulator
10 11 Low Pass Filter

Modulation Mapping

31

Here we see that filtering reduces the amount of spectrum occupied by a

digitally modulated signal. The figure on the left is how the spectrum looks
with no filtering applied; on the right is after filtering is applied.

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 Reading Assignment
f AN1298, pages 21 through 27

32

32
 Multiplexing – Definition
f The process by which two or more signals are transmitted over
a single communications channel

33

33
 Multiplexing Methods

FDMA TDMA CDMA

User 3
User 3 User 2
User 1
User 2

POWER
User 1

Freq
Time Freq
Time

Users separated by Users separated by Users separated by

frequency frequency and time Codes
Same frequency & Same time

34

Here we see the three multiplexing techniques, they will be discussed in

more detail in the next few slides.
Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) separates users by allocating a
specific frequency to each one.
Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) allocates a time slot to each user,
even if the user is talking or sending data on a constant basis, the time
interval is so fast that it appears to be a seamless transmission.

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 Basics of Multiplexing: FDMA

f FDMA = Frequency Division Multiple

Access
– Users separated by frequency – everybody has
an assigned channel
– There often needs to frequency spacing
between channels known as ‘guard band’

f Still used in some military and legacy

radios

Freq
Time

35

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 Basics of Multiplexing: TDMA
f TDMA = Time Division Multiple Access
– Users separated by time – everybody takes a turn to talk
– System goes fast enough so that users don’t notice this

f Also known as IS-136, NADC, or Digital AMPS

f First 2G technology deployed in North America
f Used by GSM

Freq
Time

36

36
 Basics of Multiplexing: CDMA
f CDMA = Code Division
USER 1
Multiple Access USER 2

POWER
– Users separated by “codes” USER 3

USER 4
– “Voices in a crowd” USER 5
– Without power control, it DEDICATED CHANNEL
would all be noise
f Qualcomm-originated
FREQUENCY

standard, their “3G Wireless

Standard”

37

The “voices in a crowd” term refers to one way of describing CDMA. Pretend
you are in a crowded room with everyone speaking different languages
which you did not understand – it would basically sound like noise to you.
Then someone begins speaking in a language you do understand, that voice
would stand out from all the others – you share the same code! You could
hear this person above the background noise and could even communicate
(if you spoke loudly enough to be heard above the noise – power control).

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 Reading Assignment
f AN1298, pages 32 through 34

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 Reading Assignment
f AN1298, pages 35 and 36

39

39
 GSM Measurements
f For measurements – must synchronize on mid-amble (training
sequence)
f Check burst timing
– Trigger from mid-amble
– Can trigger from rising edge or external trigger if mid-amble not available

f Signal must fall in template to prevent

interference with adjacent time slots
f Ramp up/down must not be too slow
– Interference with following timeslot

f Ramp up/down must not be too fast

Freq
– Spectral spreading results
Time
– Spectrum due to switching

f Modulation accuracy – GMSK modulation – this is like FM signal,

simple constellation diagram

40

40
 CDMA Measurements
f RF conformance tests – “spectral tests” – ACP (Adjacent
Channel Power), spectral emissions mask, OBW (Occupied
Bandwidth)
f Demodulation conformance tests – Code Domain Power, Peak
Code Domain Error
f System performance – measurements to ensure system
capacity, troubleshooting

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 Reading Assignment
f AN1298, pages 37 through 42

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 Summary
f Digital modulation is cheaper, faster, more accurate, more
efficient, more secure
f Higher order modulation is used for greater transmission rates
in the same spectrum occupancy
f Higher order modulation is more susceptible to noise
f Baseband filters are used to control spectrum
f Real-Time Spectrum Analyzers are used to evaluate modulation
quality
– RTSA is particularly good at connecting effects in multiple domains
– This will be further discussed in the RTSA “General Purpose Modulation”
Application training module

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