From Airways to Automobiles: The process of FM Radio

Christopher Payne English 202c Section 14 3/16/2012

Scope and Audience

This document will cover the basic concepts and principles behind the process of the transmission and reception of FM radio programs. The intended audience is an age group between high school graduates and middle-aged adults that have graduated with a high school degree. The scope limitation for this audience is the requirement of a high school degree under the assumption that the audience has taken a basic science course. Concepts such as frequency, filters, and waves will be reviewed, but without a prior understanding to these concepts the content within this document may need supplemental material.

Introduction
Have you ever wondered about what really happens when you turn on your car stereo and switch through different radio programs? Have you ever thought about how radio stations magically appear on certain frequencies and why a white noise-like sound is found between those frequencies? This document will provide a thorough explanation into how radio stations send their radio broadcasts and how an FM stereo is able to understand, amplify, and switch between them.

Image 1 Radio Broadcast Booth

Properties of Sound Waves

Before we begin on the explanation of how sound travels, we must introduce the basic concepts and characteristics of waves. Sound is usually characterized as a type of wave. It is an electromagnetic wave, which involves the movement of particles that carry energy. For our purposes, the particles that carry this energy consist of the air around us. Sound is also a transverse wave, which means that the movement of the wave is perpendicular to the direction that the energy travels. Figure 1 shows an example of an electromagnetic transverse wave and should provide a useful example of how sound relates to us. There are three Figure 1 Sound Waves additional traits that define a wave:

1. Amplitude The amplitude of a wave is defined as a waves maximum displacement of energy. In other words, it is measured as the distance between the peak of a wave and the point at which the wave would lie at rest. As the amplitude increases, the energy also increases and vice versa.
Figure 2 Wave Characteristics

2. Wavelength Wavelength is defined as the distance between two amplitudes of a wave. The higher the wavelength of a wave is, the more time it takes for energy to go from minimum displacement to maximum displacement. 3. Frequency The frequency of a wave represents how many oscillations occur within one second. An oscillation can be defined as the time it takes for one wavelength of a traveling wave to pass a non-moving point of measurement. For example, a wave at a frequency of 5 Hz will pass a non-moving location at 5 wavelengths per second. The frequency is also related to a waves phase, which is defined as the time it takes for one oscillation to occur. Sound has an audible frequency between 20 Hz and 20 kHz, and anything above and below this range cannot be heard by a human ear.

Modulation of Sound Waves

In order to send waves between distant locations for accurate transmission, the sound waves need to undergo a process called modulation. AM stations are sent from the radio stations to radio receivers using amplitude modulation and FM stations similarly use frequency modulation to send information. There are different styles of modulation for different purposes but, for the purpose and scope of this document, we will focus on Frequency Modulation. Modulation is the process of using convolution, which could be defined as the multiplication of waves, to place a message signal inside a carrier signal. A message signal consists of valuable information, which in our case is radio programs and advertisements, and a carrier signal consists of an empty wave of a particular radio stations frequency. Figure 3 shows a carrier signal, a message signal (shown as the modulated wave), and the resulting transmission signal (shown as the modulated result).

The Carrier Signal

There are two main functions of the carrier signal, and the first is to raise the frequency of the message signal. A lower frequency signal will have a higher energy loss per distance when compared to the minimal energy losses of a high frequency signal. For instance, when you play music from your speakers and you walk slowly away, you will notice that the higher frequencies such as the singer and guitars will still be Figure 3 Frequency Modulation audible and the lower frequencies such as the bass guitar or bass drum are harder to hear. That is because the lower frequencies have lost more energy than the higher frequencies at that distance.

The second main function of the carrier signal is to establish a frequency to broadcast from. For instance, a radio station that broadcasts itself as The Jams of 99.1 has a carrier frequency of 99.1 kHz. What the frequency modulator does is create a transmission signal that has constant amplitude but has a frequency that changes depending on the message signal. We will use the 99.1 kHz broadcasting company as our example. When the message signal has zero amplitude, the frequency of the transmission signal is 99.1 kHz. But when the message signal has maximum amplitude, the frequency of the transmission signal raises to a value such as 99.25 kHz. As the message signals information raises and lowers in amplitude, the transmission signals frequency raises and lowers.

Transmission of Radio Waves

FM radio stations send their audio broadcasts in the audible range (from 20 Hz to 20 kHz) to a frequency convolution circuit system that creates a transmission signal at the carrier frequency that they were designated by the Federal Communications Commission. The upper and lower frequency limits have also been designated by the FCC to make sure that no two radio stations overlap. Most FM stations are usually separated by 0.2 kHz, so a carrier frequency at 99.1 kHz has a maximal range from 99.0 kHz to 99.2 kHz to avoid conflicting stations and maintain FCC

regulations. The actual range is usually less than the maximal amount to absolutely avoid the possibility of conflicting stations in the case that a station accidently goes over their regulated amount. The transmission signal is then sent to a large antenna that broadcasts their program. It is able to accomplish this by sending electrical charges up and down the broadcast antenna at the same rate of the carrier frequency. The movement of charges creates an electromagnetic field which sends out waves in all directions. Because the carrier frequency is very high, the transmission signal is able to travel hundreds of feet without losing much of its energy. Eventually, the signal is picked up by a receiver which is connected to an FM radio. Image 2 Radio Antenna Tower

Reception of Radio Waves

An FM radio antenna is able to select specific frequency bands in order to focus in on a particular radio station. An antenna by itself cannot discriminate between frequencies, so the input from the receiver contains information from every frequency that the antenna is able to pick up. In order to chose a particular radio station and block out all of the others, a filter must be implemented to the incoming signal. An adjustable band-pass filter is implemented within every FM radio to obtain a desired radio station and reject the undesired ones. A band-pass filter is a frequency filter that allows a certain range of frequencies in and rejects all other frequencies out. The tuner on a radio station moves the band-pass filter to center Figure 4 Band-pass FIlter itself on the desired radio station. In order to tune in to 99.1 kHz, the band-pass filter must center itself at 99.1 kHz and must reject frequencies below 99 kHz and above 99.2 kHz so that only the desired radio station frequencies remain. After the desired frequency band is collected and the other frequencies are rejected, the transmission frequency is then demodulated back into the audible range. Just as convolution worked to multiply the carrier signal with the message signal, deconvolution works as a divider to separate and obtain the message signal from the carrier signal in a process called demodulation. Once the message

signal is obtained within its audible range, the output is then sent to speakers or an audio jack that can play the electromagnetic waves as sound waves that are based within hearing range.

Conclusion
The process of how an FM radio receives broadcasts can be summarized into 6 steps: a. The original broadcast is frequency modulated with radio stations designated carrier frequency to create the transmission frequency used for broadcasting b. The transmission signal is sent up and down an antenna at the transmission frequency which creates an electromagnetic field c. A receiver antenna picks up the electromagnetic waves from all frequencies, including the radio station, and sends it to the FM radio d. The radio uses a band-pass filter to select the desired radio station and reject all of the others. e. The radio demodulates the transmission signal to obtain the original message signal which is played through external speakers or an audio jack. FM radios provide a reliable and efficient way to transport data. In fact, AM radio and satellite radio both use their own types of modulation to transport data using the exact same steps. The process of the FM radio is a similar concept to how cell phones, ipads, and even wifi routers perform daily tasks and communicate information. Understanding how an FM radio works will provide a foundation of basic knowledge for wireless communication devices of all types. As engineering and science evolves, more and more future technologies will be developed using modulation and transmission concepts to create a world that is based on wireless communication.

References
Text References
1. Neamen, Donald A. Microelectronics: Circuit Analysis and Design. New York: McGraw-

Hill, 2010. Print. 2. Barrett, Thomas E., and David Halliday. Fundamentals of Physics (9th), Condensed: A Study Guide to Accompany Fundamentals of Physics, Ninth Edition, David Halliday, Robert Resnick, Jearl Walker. 9th ed. Vol. 2. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2011. Print. 3. Lathi, Bhagwandas Pannalal, and Zhi Ding. Modern Digital and Analog Communication Systems. New York: Oxford UP, 2010. Print.

Image References All images have been provided by Flickr.com under a creative commons license. Figure References
1. 2. 3. 4. http://www.mediacollege.com/audio/01/sound-waves.html http://www.webanswers.com/education/define-fm-06578d http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Frequency-modulation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Band-pass_filter