FREQUENCY MODULATION

It is a method of transmitting information using a carrier wave. The frequency of the carrier wave is varied in accordance with the amplitude and polarity of the input signal, the amplitude of the carrier remaining unchanged
In ampli tude modulation (AM) there is interference, such as static, lightning and man made noise. These noises largely effects amplitude of RF wave. This is because the noise is added and superimposed on the transmitted AM signal. This increases the overall amplitude of the signal as depicted in Fig. 1. That’s why we prefer frequency modulation over amplitude modulation.


Modulated FM Carrier:
When the FM carrier is modulated, the frequency of the carrier varies by an amount that is proportional to amplitude of the modulating waveform, this occurs at a rate that is determined by the modulation frequency.
Fig. 2 graphically illustrate what happens when a carrier is frequency modulated fig.2 (a) shows one period of an audio signal that will be used to frequency modulate a carrier
Figure 2 (b) illustrates how does the audio signal [shown in Fig. 2 (a)] affects the carrier.


                                 



At time
t = <0, RF carrier operating at a specific frequency
t=0,the modulating signal is applied to the RF carrier. t=1 , the frequency of the modulated RF carrier has increased proportionally.
t=2, the amplitude of the modulating signal attains a maximum value. At the same time, the RF carrier has increased to its maximum frequency.
t=3, the modulating waveform begins to decrease in amplitude and the carrier frequency also begins to decrease [Fig. 2 (b)].
t=4, the modulating wave returns to zero and the carrier frequency returns to the resting frequency.
t=6, the modulating signal has decreased to its maximum negative value and the frequency of modulated carrier also reaches its minimum [Fig. 2 (b)].
t=7, the modulation amplitude begins its return journey back to zero
t=8, the carrier frequency returns to the resting frequency.

Observations:
As the amplitude of the modulating source increases, the frequency of the carrier increases.
As the amplitude of the modulating source decreases, the frequency of the carrier decreases.
The amplitude of the FM modulated carrier remains constant as the amplitude of the modulating source varies.
Table 1 illustrates how a modulating signal affects the FM and AM modulated waveform.

TABLE 1.
Modulation Effects on AM Vs FM


Modulating Increases

Amplitude Decreases

FM

Frequency swing increases

Frequency swing decreases

AM

Carrier level increases

Carrier level decreases


Power Relation in FM Carrier Wave:
The amplitude of the carrier wave is not affected during the process of frequency modulation. Hence the total power in the wave remains unchanged irrespective of the degree of modulation. In frequency modulation, only the capacitance of the oscillator tank circuit is changed due to the modulating signal so that a change in frequency of oscillator takes place but the power output of the oscillator remains unaffected during the process of frequency modulation.

Analysis of FM Carrier Wave:
Let the carrier and modulating voltage waves be represented as
vc = Vccos (wct + ϴ) and vm = Vmcos (wmt)
where , Vc, wc and ϴ are the instantaneous value, peak value, angular velocity and the initial phase angle of the carrier and vm, Vm and wm are the instanta neous value, peak value and the angular velocity of the modulating signal.
Let øc (t) = wc t + ϴ(f) is the total instantaneous phase angle of the carrier wave at time t.
vc = Vccosøc(t) ...(1)
The instantaneous angular velocity wc, defined as the instantaneous rate of increase of instantaneous phase (or angular displacement), is related to phase angle øc as below
wc = dø/dt ...(2)
In frequency modulation, the frequency of the carrier wave varies with time in accordance with the instantaneous value of the modulating voltage. Thus the frequency of the carrier after frequency modula tion is given as
w= wc + Kfvm = wc + KfVmcoswmt...(3)
where K, is a constant of proportionality
The total instantaneous phase of the FM wave is obtained by integrating Eq. (3) i.e.,
ø(t) = ∫wdt =(wc + KfVmcoswmt)dt
= wct + KfVm (1/wm sin wmt + ϴ1)
Where ϴ1 is the constant of integration and represents the initial phase. The initial phase ϴ1 may be neglected since it is insignificant in the modulation process. So we have
ø(t) = wct + KfVm /w msin w mt ...(4)
The equation of FM wave is given by
vfm= Vcsinø(t)
= Vc sin ( wct + KfVm/wmsinwmt )....(5)
The instantaneous frequency of FM wave can be had from Eq. (3) i.e.
f=w/2π=wc/2π+kfVm/2π coswmt
=fc +kfVm/2π coswmt
From above Eq. the maximum and mini mum values of frequency are given as
fmax =fc +kfVm/2π
fmin =fc -fd
Thus the frequency deviation, defined as the maximum change in frequency from mean value fc, is given as
fd =fmax -fc=fc -fmin =kfVm/2π
The total variation in frequency from the mini mum to maximum value is called the carrier swing and it is given as
Carrier swing, CS = fd = kfVm
The frequency modulation index mf, defined as the ratio of frequency deviation to modulation frequency (i-e. fd/fm), is given as
mf = fd / fm =wd /wm=kfVm/wm
Thus the equation for the FM wave [Eq. (5)] in terms of mf, becomes
vfm= Vcsin [wct + mfsin wmt] or ufm= Vc [sin wctcos (mm sin wm t) + coswc t sin (mf sin wm t] ...(6)
Percent of Modulation in FM:
In AM,100% modulation is defined as the point where the amplitude of the RF carrier rises to twice the nor mal amplitude at its maximum and drops to zero at its minimum. Anything greater than 100% modula tion, in AM causes distortion to the modulated wave.
With FM, it is the amount of frequency deviation that determines the degree of modulation. Actually the main difference between amplitude and frequency modulation is that in amplitude modulation the modulation index can be max 100% but in frequency modulation it could be greater than 100% and even no information is clipped off.

Modulation Index:
Modulation index is defined as the ratio of the frequency deviation to the frequency of the modulating signal.
Frequency modulation index,
mf = kfVm/wm
From above equation it is obvious that for a given frequency deviation or for a constant amplitude of modulating voltage, the modulation index varies inversely as the modulating frequency fm.
Unlike amplitude modulation, the frequency modu lation index can exceed unity.

FM DETECTION
For the detection of FM waves, the method usually employed involves the conversion of FM into AM and then application of conventional methods of detection. Thus, demodulation of an FM wave involves three operations which are given below :
(i) Conversion of frequency variations produced by modulating signal into corresponding am plitude variations.
(ii) Rectification of modulating signal
(iii) Elimination of RF component of the modulated wave.
For the FM detection we need a circuit in which magnitude of output voltage varies in accordance with the instantaneous frequency variation in the input voltage. Such circuits are called discriminators.

Slope Detector:
The circuit diagram of a slope detector is depicted in Fig. 3. The circuit uses two tuned circuits which are tuned to two different frequencies. First one is tuned to the incoming FM carrier frequency wc where as the second is tuned to a frequency slightly different from the carrier frequency. Thus, this portion of circuit which contains two tuned circuits tuned to different frequencies, is called discriminator. This circuit converts FM into an AM signal as shown in the slope detector characteristic curve. The another portion of the circuit is envelope detector. The AM signal from the output of the discriminator is applied at the input of the envelope detector. At the output of the envelope detector, the original modulating signal is obtained.

Shortcomings:-
  1. The circuit's nonlinear characteristic produces a harmonic distortion.
  2. The circuit does not eliminate the amplitude vari ations and the output is sensitive to any ampli tude variations in the input FM signal which is obviously not a desirable feature
  3. It is less efficient.




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