Advantages of Angle Modulation Compared With Amplitude Modulation FM has the ability to suppress noise, which is probably the

e biggest advantage of FM compared to AM. FM receivers can be fitted with amplitude limiters to remove amplitude variations caused by noise, making FM more immune to noise. This is called FM Thresholding. In AM, once the signal has been contaminated by noise, noise could not be removed. Signal to noise ratio can be improved further by increasing the frequency deviation of FM signals. Reduced noise improves system fidelity. Angle modulated signals are more power efficient. Amplitude of FM or PM wave remains constant. Amplitude is independent of modulation depth. Low level modulation may be used, but all subsequent amplifiers can be class C and therefore more power efficient. All transmitted power in FM are useful, making it more power efficient. Standard frequency allocations provide guard band between FM broadcast stations, so there is less adjacent channel interference. Comparison of Effects of Noise in AM, FM, and PM For AM: Effects of noise with different frequencies on an AM wave are the same. Only the amplitude of the noise affects the quality of the demodulated AM wave. Changes in noise and modulating signal frequency do not affect the signal to noise ratio. Under conditions of very low signal to noise ratio, AM is superior than PM and FM. For PM PM has all the noise immunity properties of FM except the noise triangle. Effects of noise with different frequencies on a PM wave are the same. Only the amplitude of the noise affects the quality of the demodulated PM wave. For FM: Under identical conditions, FM will be 4.75 db better than PM for noise. FM can be made more noise resistant through higher frequency deviation, use of limiters , and preemphasis / deemphasis. Having a maximum frequency deviation of 75 khz and 75 s preemphasis, FM gives a noise rejection of at least 24 db better than AM. Preemphasis and Deemphasis With FM, noise at higher modulating signal frequencies (including thermal noise) is inherently greater in amplitude than noise at the lower frequencies at the output of an FM demodulator. Higher frequency noise have greater effects in an FM system. Higher modulating frequencies have lower Signal to Noise ratio than lower ones. To compensate for the non-uniform distribution of noise in FM, preemphasis, which is emphasizing or boosting of amplitude of high frequency modulating signals, is done at the FM transmitter. This is done to improve S/N ratio.

 To compensate for the preemphasis done at the transmitter, deemphasis, which is attenuating or deemphasizing high frequency signals after demodulation, is done at the FM receiver. A preemphasis network is a high pass filter while a deemphasis network is a low pass filter. Crosby Direct FM Transmitter Modulator could be variable reactance modulator, IC modulator or VCO modulator, which have less stable frequencies compared to FM modulators using crystals. For medium and high index FM systems, carrier (master) oscillator cannot use crystals because crystal oscillating frequency could not be significantly varied. Automatic frequency control (AFC) is used to stabilize the frequency of the carrier (master) oscillator. AFC circuit compares frequency of carrier (master) oscillator with that of a crystal oscillator, and then produces a correction voltage proportional to the difference of the two frequencies. The frequency multipliers multiply the following: center frequency phase deviations frequency deviations modulation index To achieve maximum frequency deviation at the antenna allowed in US FM broadcast (75 Khz), the maximum frequency deviation at the modulator must be (assuming the Crosby transmitter in the preceding slides is used): f = (75 khz) / [(N1)(N2)(N3)] = (75 khz) / [(3)(2)(3)] = 4166.7 Hz The modulation index at the modulator for a maximum modulating signal frequency allowed (15 Khz) is: m = f / fm = 4166.7 Hz / 15 khz = 0.2778 The modulation index at the antenna is: m=(0.2778) (N1)(N2)(N3) = 0.2778 (3)(2)(3) = 5 (deviation ratio for commercial FM broadcast with 15 Khz modulating signal) Note that above figures could be different depending on the frequency multipliers used in the transmitter. Example: Total frequency multiplication = 20, transmit carrier frequency ft = 88.8 Mhz (transmit frequency at antenna). Determine: a. Master (carrier) oscillator center frequency b. Frequency deviation at the output of the modulator for a frequency deviation of 75 khz at the antenna. c. Deviation ratio at the output of the modulator for a maximum modulating signal frequency of fm = 15 khz d. Deviation ratio at the antenna Solution: a. fc = ft / (N1N2N3) = 88.8 Mhz / 20 = 4.44 Mhz b. f = f t / (N1N2N3) = 75 khz / 20 = 3750 Hz

c. Deviation ratio (DR) at modulator = f maximum / fm(maximum) = 3750 / 15,000 = 0.25 d. Deviation ratio (DR) at antenna = (0.25)(20) = 5 The Crosby transmitter uses an Automatic Frequency Control (AFC). Phase Lock Loop Direct FM The VCO output is divided by N and then compared to the output of the crystal oscillator. Phase comparator generates a correction voltage proportional to the difference of the two frequencies. Correction voltage is added to the modulating signal voltage and applied to the input of the VCO. The correction voltage adjusts the VCO center frequency to its proper value. Low pass filter prevents changes in the VCO output frequency due to modulating signal from being converted to voltage fed back to the VCO, because it will wipe out the modulation. Armstrong Indirect FM Transmitter Through the Armstrong transmitter, frequency modulation can be obtained from phase modulation. Carrier source is a crystal, which has good frequency stability. Carrier oscillator frequency is not deviated directly. Relatively low frequency carrier (200 khz) is phase shifted by 900 and fed to a balanced modulator. Output of balanced modulator is AM double sideband suppressed carrier, which is combined with the original carrier to produce a low index phase modulated wave. If an amplitude modulated wave is added to an unmodulated voltage of the same frequency and the two are kept 900 apart, phase modulation will be achieved. The effect of mixing (heterodyning) on an FM signal is to change the center frequency only, whereas the effect of frequency multiplication is to multiply the center frequency and frequency deviation by the same amount. To achieve sufficient deviation for broadcast purpose, both mixing and multiplication are necessary. Original carrier is always 900 out of phase with the sidebands.