Digital Modulation

1. Define:
bit - the most basic digital symbol used to represent information
bit rate refers to the rate of change of digital information signal which is usually binary.
baud refers to the rate of change of a signal on the transmission medium after encoding and
modulation have occurred.
minimum bandwidth the minimum theoretical bandwidth necessary to propagate a signal,
sometimes referred as minimum Nyquist bandwidth.
2. Explain M-ary encoding.
M-ary is a term derived from the word binary. M simply represents a digit that corresponds
to the number of conditions, levels, or combinations possible for a given number of binary
variables. It is often advantageous to encode at a level higher than binary where there are
more than two conditions possible.
3. Define and describe digital amplitude modulation.
It is a modulation technique used in electronic communication. It works by varying the
strength or amplitude of the carrier in proportion to the waveform being sent.
4. Define and describe frequency shift keying.
It is a relatively simple, low-performance type of digital modulation. It is a form of constantamplitude angle modulation similar to standard frequency modulation except the modulating
signal is a binary signal that varies between two discrete voltage levels rather than a
continuously changing analog waveform.
5. Describe continuous-phase frequency-shift keying.
It is a binary FSK except the mark and space frequencies are synchronized with the input
binary bit rate.
6. Define phase shift keying.
It is another form of angle-modulated, constant-amplitude digital modulation.
7. Explain binary phase shift keying
The simplest form of PSK, where N=1 and M=2 therefore having 2 phases are possible for
the carrier. One phase represents logic 1, and the other phase represents a logic 0. As the
input digital signal changes state, the phase of the output carrier shifts between two angles
that are separated by 180. Also called phase reversal keying/biphase modulation.
8. Explain quaternary phase shift keying.
It is another form of angle-modulated, constant amplitude digital modulation. It is an M-ary
encoding scheme where N=2 and M=4 and is also sometimes called quadrature PSK.
9. Describe 8 and 16-PSK.
a. In 8-PSK, three bits are encoded, forming tribits and producing eight different output
phases. With 8-PSK, n=3,M=8, and there are eight possible output phases.
b. 16-PSK is an M-ary encoding technique where M=16; there are 16 different output
phases possible. With this, four bits are combined, producing 16 different output
phases.
10. Describe quadrature-amplitude modulation.
It is a form of digital modulation similar to PSK except the digital information is contained
in both the amplitude and the phase of the transmitted carrier.
11. Explain 8 and 16-QAM
a. 8-QAM is an M-ary encoding technique where M=8. Unlike 8-PSK, the output signal
from an 8-QAM modulator is not a constant-amplitude signal.
b. 16-QAM is an M-ary system where M=16. The input data are acted on in groups of
four. As with 8-QAM, both the phase and amplitude of the transmit carrier are
varied.
12. Define bandwidth efficiency.
It is often used to compare the performance of one digital modulation technique to another.

13. Explain carrier and clock recovery.

a. Carrier recovery is the process of extracting a phase-coherent reference carrier from
a receiver signal. It is sometimes called phase referencing.
b. In clock recovery some digital data streams, especially high-speed serial data streams
are sent without an accompanying clock signal. The receiver generates a clock from
an approximate frequency reference, and then phase-aligns to the transitions in the
data stream with a phase-locked loop.
14. Define and describe differential phase shift keying.
It is an alternative form of digital modulation where the binary input information is contained
in the difference between two successive signaling elements rather than the absolute phase.
With this, it is not necessary to recover a phase-coherent carrier. Instead, a received signaling
element is delayed by one signaling element time slot and then compared with the next
received signaling element. The difference in the phase of the two signaling elements
determines the logic condition of the data.
15. Define and explain trellis code modulation.
It is sometimes thought of as a magical method of increasing transmission bit rates over
communication systems using QAM or PSK with fixed bandwidths. It also defines the manner
in which signal-state transitions are allowed to occur, and transitions that do not follow this
pattern are interpreted in the receiver as transmission errors.
16. Define probability of error and bit error rate.
These are often used interchangeably, although in practice they do have slightly different
meanings. P(e) or probability of error is a theoretical expectation of the bit error rate for a
given system. BER or bit error rate is an empirical record of a systems actual bit error
performance.
17. Evaluate performance of FSK, M-PSK, and M-QAM.

The performance of M-ary phase shift keying (PSK), M-ary quadrature amplitude
modulation (QAM) and M-ary frequency shift keying (FSK) for a considered wireless
communication system are evaluated in terms of bit error probability. The expressions of
error probability are derived using bounds and approximations to analyze and compare the
performance. MPSK and MQAK have better performance for lower modulation order but
are inferior with higher M.

Source:
Haque,Emdadul, Kabir,Hasnat M., Rashed,Golam, (2011). A COMPREHENSIVE
STUDY AND PERFORMANCE COMPARISON OF M-ARY MODULATION SCHEMES
FOR AN EFFICIENT WIRELESS MOBILE COMMUNICATION SYSTEM . ANALYSIS
OF THE M-ARY SYSTEMS. 1 (3), pp.40-45
Tomasi, Wayne, (2004). Electronics Communication Systems. 5th ed. Upper Saddle
River, New Jersey 07458: Pearson Education, Inc..