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AM RECEPTION
AMPLITUDE MODULATION
RECEPTION
ECE141
Principles of Communications

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AM RECEPTION

AM RECEPTION

RF Section

AM Detector

Receiver front end

Detecting, bandlimiting and amplifying the
received RF signals

Mixer/Converter Section
Down-converts the received RF frequencies to
intermediate frequencies (IFs)

Demodulates the AM wave and converts it to the

original information signal

Audio Section
Amplifies the recovered information

IF Section
Amplification and selectivity
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RECEIVER PARAMETERS
SELECTIVITY

RECEIVER PARAMETERS
BANDWIDTH IMPROVEMENT

Used to measure the ability of the receiver to

accept a given band of frequencies and reject all
others
Shape Factor

Reducing the bandwidth is effectively equivalent

to reducing the noise figure of the receiver

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RECEIVER PARAMETERS

RECEIVER PARAMETERS

SENSITIVITY

DYNAMIC RANGE

The minimum RF signal level that can be detected

at the input to the receiver and still produce a
usable demodulated information signal
Usually stated in microvolts of received signal
Also called receiver threshold
Depends on the noise power present at the input
of the receiver, the receivers noise figure, the
sensitivity of the AM detector and the bandwidth
improvement factor of the receiver
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The difference in decibels between the minimum

input level necessary to discern a signal and the
input level that will overdrive the receiver and the
produce distortion
The input power range over which the receiver is
useful

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RECEIVER PARAMETERS
FIDELITY

RECEIVER PARAMETERS
INSERTION LOSS

A measure of the ability of a communications

system to produce at the output of the receiver an
exact replica of the original source information
3 forms of distortion that can deteriorate fidelity:
Amplitude distortion
Frequency distortion
Phase distortion

A parameter associated with the frequencies that

fall within the passband of a filter
The ratio of the power transferred to a load with a
filter in the circuit of the power transferred to a
load without the filter

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RECEIVER PARAMETERS

AM RECEIVERS

NOISE TEMPERATURE and EQUIVALENT NOISE

TEMPERATURE
Thermal noise is directly proportional to temperature,
it stands to reason that noise can be expressed in
degrees as well as watts or volts
Te is a hypothetical value that cannot be directly
measured
Te is a parameter that is used in low-noise,
sophisticated radio receivers rather than noise figure
Te is an indication in the signal-to-noise ratio as a
signal propagates through a receiver
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Coherent Receivers
The frequencies generated in the receiver and is
used in modulation are synchronized to oscillator
frequencies generated in the transmitter

Non-coherent Receivers
Either no frequencies are generated in the
receiver or the frequencies used for modulation
are completely independent from the
transmitters carrier frequency
Also called envelope detection
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AM RECEIVERS
NONCOHERENT TUNED RF RECEIVER

AM RECEIVERS
TUNED RF RECEIVER
Simplest designed radio receiver available
Relatively high sensitivity
Limited to single-channel, low-frequency
applications
The bandwidth is inconsistent and varies with
center frequency when tuned over a wide range
of input frequencies
Instability due to large number of RF amplifiers all
tuned to the same frequency

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Example
For an AM commercial broadcast-band
receiver with an input filter Q-factor of 54,
determine the bandwidth at low and high
ends of the RF spectrum.

AM SUPERHETERODYNE
RECEIVER
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AM RECEIVERS
SUPERHETERODYNE RECEIVER
RF Section
Consists of a preselector and an amplifier stage
The preselector purpose is to provide enough initial
bandlimiting to prevent a specific unwanted radio
frequency, called image frequency, from entering the
receiver
The preselector also reduces the noise bandwidth of
the receiver and provides the initial step toward
reducing the overall receiver bandwidth to the
minimum bandwidth required to pass the information
signals

AM RECEIVERS
SUPERHETERODYNE RECEIVER
RF Section
The RF amplifier determines the sensitivity of the
receiver
It is also the primary contributor of noise and
predominant factor in determining the noise figure for
the receiver

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AM RECEIVERS

AM RECEIVERS

SUPERHETERODYNE RECEIVER
Mixer/Converter Section
Includes a radio frequency oscillator stage (LO) and a
mixer/converter stage (first detector)
The mixer stage is a nonlinear device and its purpose is
to convert radio frequencies to intermediate
frequencies
Heterodyning happens in the mixer stage and RF are
down-converted to IF

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SUPERHETERODYNE RECEIVER
IF Section
Consists of series of IF amplifiers and bandpass filters
(IF strip)
Most of the receiver gain and sensitivity is achieved in
the IF section
The IF center frequency and bandwidth are constant for
all stations and chosen so that there is less than any of
the RF signals to be received

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AM RECEIVERS
SUPERHETERODYNE RECEIVER
Detector Section

AM RECEIVERS
SUPERHETERODYNE RECEIVER
Audio Amplifier Section

It converts the IF signal back to the original source

information
Also called audio detector or second detector
Can be as simple as diode or as complex as a phaselocked loop

Comprises several cascaded audio amplifiers and one

or more speakers
The number of amplifiers depends on the audio signal
power desired

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AM RECEIVERS

AM RECEIVERS

RECEIVER OPERATION

RECEIVER OPERATION

Frequency Conversion

Frequency Conversion

Happens in the mixer/converter stage and is identical to

frequency conversions in the modulator stage of a
transmitter except that the frequencies are downconverted rather than up-converted
Gang tuning the adjustment for the center frequency
of the preselector and the adjustment for the LO
frequency

High-side injection

Low-side injection
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Example
For an AM superheterodyne receiver that uses
high-side injection and has a LO frequency of
1335 kHz, determine the IF carrier, upper side
frequency and lower side frequency for an RF
wave that is made up of a carrier and upper
and lower side frequencies of 900 kHz, 905
kHz and 895 kHz, respectively.

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AM Superheterodyne
Receiver RF-to-IF Conversion

AM RECEIVERS
RECEIVER OPERATION
Local Oscillator Tracking

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AM RECEIVERS
RECEIVER OPERATION
Local Oscillator Tracking

Tracking is the ability of the LO in the receiver to

oscillate either above or below the selected RF carrier
by an amount equal to the IF throughout the entire
radio frequency band
The difference between the actual LO frequency and
the desired frequency is called tracking error
Tracking error is reduced by three-point tracking

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AM RECEIVERS
RECEIVER OPERATION
Receiver Tracking

AM RECEIVERS
RECEIVER OPERATION
Image Frequency
Any frequency other than the selected RF carrier that if
allowed to enter a receiver and mix with the LO will
produce a cross-product frequency equal to the IF
It is equivalent to a second RF that will produce an IF
that will interface with the IF from the desired RF

High-side injection
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AM RECEIVERS

AM RECEIVERS

Image Frequency

RECEIVER OPERATION
Image Frequency Rejection Ratio
A numerical measure of the ability of a preselector to
reject the image frequency
For single-tuned preselector, the ratio of its gain at the
desired RF to the gain at image frequency is the IFRR

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Example

AM RECEIVERS

For an AM broadcast-band superheterodyne

receiver with IF, RF and LO frequencies of 455
kHz, 600 kHz, and 1055 kHz, respectively,
determine:
Image frequency
IFRR for a preselector Q of 100

RECEIVER OPERATION
Double Spotting
Occurs when a receiver picks up the same station at
two nearby points on the receiver tuning dial
It is caused by poor front-end selectivity or inadequate
image frequency rejection
It is harmful because weak stations can be
overshadowed by the reception of a nearby strong
station at spurious location in the frequency spectrum
May be used to determine the IF of an unknown
receiver

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DOUBLE CONVERSION AM RECEIVERS

DOUBLE CONVERSION AM RECEIVERS

It uses two IF
The first IF is a relatively high frequency for
good image-frequency rejection and the
second is a relatively low frequency for easy
amplifications

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NET RECEIVER GAIN

The ratio of the demodulated signal level at
the output of the receiver to the RF signal
level at the input to the receiver

NET RECEIVER GAIN

Receiver Loss and Gain

Gains = RF amplifier gain + IF amplifier gain + audio-amplifier gain

Losses = preselector loss + mixer loss + detector loss
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