Modulation | Definition, Types, & Facts | Britannica (original) (raw)

modulation, in electronics, technique for impressing information (voice, music, pictures, or data) on a radio-frequency carrier wave by varying one or more characteristics of the wave in accordance with the information signal. There are various forms of modulation, each designed to alter a particular characteristic of the carrier wave. The most commonly altered characteristics include amplitude, frequency, phase, pulse sequence, and pulse duration.

Analog modulation

The following techniques—amplitude modulation, frequency modulation, and phase modulation—are analog modulation techniques. That is, they work by modulating a continuous carrier wave, rather than a signal encoded in binary digits as with digital techniques.

Amplitude modulation

In amplitude modulation (AM), auditory or visual information is impressed on a carrier wave by varying the amplitude of the carrier to match the fluctuations in the audio or video signal being transmitted. AM is the oldest method of broadcasting radio programs. Commercial AM stations operate at frequencies spaced 10 kHz apart between 540 and 1,700 kHz. Radio waves in this frequency range are effectively reflected back to Earth’s surface by the ionosphere and can be detected by receivers hundreds of kilometres away. In addition to its use in commercial radio broadcasting, AM is employed in long-distance shortwave radio broadcasts and in transmitting the video portion of television programs.

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Frequency modulation

In frequency modulation (FM), unlike AM, the amplitude of the carrier is kept constant, but its frequency is altered in accordance with variations in the audio signal being sent. This form of modulation was developed by the American electrical engineer Edwin H. Armstrong during the early 1930s in an effort to overcome interference and noise that affect AM radio reception. FM is less susceptible than AM to certain kinds of interference, such as that caused by thunderstorms and by random electrical currents from machinery and other related sources. These noise-producing signals affect the amplitude of a radio wave but not its frequency, and so an FM signal remains virtually unchanged.

FM is better adapted than AM to the transmission of stereophonic sound, audio signals for television programs, and long-distance telephone calls by microwave radio relay. Commercial FM broadcasting stations are assigned higher frequencies than are AM stations. The assigned frequencies, spaced 200 kHz apart, range from 88 to 108 MHz.

Phase modulation

The phase of a carrier wave is varied in response to the vibrations of the sound source in phase modulation (PM). This form of modulation is often considered a variation of FM. The two processes are closely related, because phase cannot be changed without also varying frequency and vice versa. Also, the rate at which the phase of a carrier changes is directly proportional to the frequency of the audio signal.

Like FM, PM minimizes various types of interference to broadcast reception at frequencies below 30 MHz. The two techniques are commonly used together. FM cannot be applied during the amplification of a sound signal in broadcasting, and so PM is used instead. PM is also used in some microwave radio relays and in some Wi-Fi and satellite television systems.

Digital modulation

In order to transmit computer data and other digitized information over a communications channel, an analog carrier wave can be modulated to reflect the binary nature of the digital baseband signal. The parameters of the carrier that can be modified are the amplitude, the frequency, and the phase.

Amplitude-shift keying

If amplitude is the only parameter of the carrier wave to be altered by the information signal, the modulating method is called amplitude-shift keying (ASK). ASK can be considered a digital version of analog amplitude modulation. In its simplest form, a burst of radio frequency is transmitted only when a binary 1 appears and is stopped when a 0 appears. In another variation, the 0 and 1 are represented in the modulated signal by a shift between two preselected amplitudes.

Frequency-shift keying

If frequency is the parameter chosen to be a function of the information signal, the modulation method is called frequency-shift keying (FSK). In the simplest form of FSK signaling, digital data is transmitted using one of two frequencies, whereby one frequency is used to transmit a 1 and the other frequency to transmit a 0.

Phase-shift keying

When phase is the parameter altered by the information signal, the method is called phase-shift keying (PSK). In the simplest form of PSK, a single radio frequency carrier is sent with a fixed phase to represent a 0 and with a 180° phase shift—that is, with the opposite polarity—to represent a 1.

In addition to the elementary forms of digital modulation described above, there exist more-advanced methods that result from a superposition of multiple modulating signals. An example of the latter form of modulation is quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM). QAM signals actually transmit two amplitude-modulated signals in phase quadrature (i.e., 90° apart), so that four or more bits are represented by each shift of the combined signal.

Pulse modulation

In pulse modulation, a series of on-off pulses serve as the carrier wave that is subsequently modulated. In pulse-coded modulation (PCM), the information signal converts the carrier into a series of constant-amplitude pulses spaced in such a manner that the desired intelligence is contained in coded form. PCM minimizes transmission losses and eliminates noise and interference problems because the receiving unit need only detect and identify simple pulse patterns. PCM is used for digital audio in computers and in compact discs, DVDs, and Blu-Ray discs. Another kind of pulse modulation is pulse-duration modulation (PDM), in which intelligence is represented by the length and order of regularly recurring pulses.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Erik Gregersen.