City University of London

School of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences

EE2402 Communication Systems

Amplitude Modulation

Prof B.M.A Rahman

b.m.a.rahman@city.ac.uk

Term 1, Academic year of 2017/18

You are strictly instructed to submit your report (on both amplitude modulation
and MATLAB based pulse code modulation) to the Electrical Engineering general

office no later than 17:00 hrs of: .

ANY LATE SUBMISSION WILL BE HEAVILY PENALISED.

Aim

The aim of this lab is to provide you with a practical insight into the process of amplitude
modulation. In this experiment you are required to design an appropriate circuit along with
necessary filters to demonstrate the process of amplitude modulation. You are also required to
use your designed circuit to establish any functional relationship of the key parameters with the
properties of the signal being modulated.

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1 Introduction

Amplitude modulation (AM) is the process of varying the amplitude of a constant frequency signal
with respect to a modulating signal. AM works by varying the strength of the transmitted signal in
relation to the information being sent. This process of transmitting signal is still being used in a wide
variety of modern communication equipment. Modulation occurs when the carrier signal and the
modulating signal are both fed into a nonlinear amplifier. The amplifier in this case must exhibit a
square law transfer characteristic as opposed to being linear. The amplifier would have a number of
different signals present and among them will be the original carrier signal and sum and the difference
of two input frequencies known as upper sideband and lower sideband respectively. When these
composite signals are filtered with a bandpass filter, signals other than the required one is filtered, and
the final amplitude modulated signal is obtained.

2 Experiment 1

The first part of this experiment involves determining the resonating frequency (f0), bandwidth
(f ) and the Q-factor. Set Vm = 0.

2.1 Procedure

1. Using your breadboards and the components listed above, construct the circuit using BC639
NPN transistor (Q1) shown by the schematic circuit diagram in Fig.1.

2. Set the amplitude of the modulating signal to 0 i.e. Vm = 0 and the input voltage to 12.0 V.
Vary the carrier frequency fc and observe the variation in the output signal Vout.

3. Plot the variation of Vout as a function of fc. Identify the bandwidth of the filter f0 through
locating the two side bands and hence identify the resonating frequency f0 of the filter.

4. Determine the corresponding the Q-factor.

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 Figure 1: Amplitude modulation circuit

3 Experiment 2

This part of this experiment involves determining the modulation index, m, establishing its functional
relation with the modulating signal.

3.1 Procedure

1. Set the frequency of the carrier wave to the resonating frequency, i.e. fc = f0. Keep the
magnitude of the carrier frequency Vc fixed.

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 2. Vary the magnitude of the modulating signal, Vm. The modulating frequency can be fixed
within a range of 1.0-5.0 kHz.

3. Calculate the modulation index, m, and plot the functional variation of m with the magnitude
of the modulating signal Vm.

4. Observe the over modulation phenomena.

5. Save the oscilloscope output for both modulation and over modulation phenomena to include
them in your report.

4 Experiment 3

Establish a functional relationship of the modulation index m with carrier signal Vc.

4.1 Procedure

1. Set the amplitude of the modulating signal Vm to a fixed value.

2. Vary the amplitude of the carrier signal Vc.

3. Plot and establish a functional relation of the modulation index with the carrier signal (plot
m vs Vc).

5 Deliverables

You are required to write a report with the following:

Detailed and thorough analysis of your observations and inferences.

Rigorous analysis of the effect caused by variation of different parameters.

Show detailed working of identifying various parameters such as resonating frequency f0,
modulation index m and Q-factor