Digital

Modulation
(Part I)
• Communication using symbols and bits
• Constellation diagrams and decision boundaries
• Transmit bandwidth [Link] interference
• Eye Diagrams and sample time sensitivity
Copyright © 2007 by M.H. Perrott
All rights reserved.
M.H. Perrott©2007 Digital Modulation (Part I), Slide 1
 Review of Analog I/Q Modulation
1 1
Transmitter Output
I stands for
It(f)
-fo 0 fo
f
Yi(f)
in-phase
component
1 1 1
it(t)
f f
0 -fo 0 fo
2cos(2πfot) y(t)
Qt(f)
2sin(2πfot)
Q stands for
1 j Yq(f)
qt(t)
fo
0
f
j -fo 0
f
quadrature
fo
f
-j
component
-fo 0
-j

• Consider modulating with both a cosine and sine

wave and then adding the results
– This is known as I/Q modulation
• The I/Q signals occupy the same frequency band,
but one is real and one is imaginary
– We can recover both of these signals
M.H. Perrott©2007 Digital Modulation (Part I), Slide 2
 Review of Analog I/Q Demodulation
1 1 1 1
Transmitter Output Receiver Output
It(f) f f
-fo fo Ir(f)
-fo 0 fo Yi(f) 0
1 1 1 2
it(t) ir(t)
f H(f)
f f
0 -fo 0 fo Lowpass
2cos(2πfot) y(t) y(t) 2cos(2πfot) 0
Qt(f) Qr(f)
2sin(2πfot) 2sin(2πfot)
1 j Yq(f) 2
qt(t) qr(t)
fo H(f)
f f f
0 -fo 0 Lowpass
j j 0
fo -j fo
f f
-fo 0 -fo 0
-j -j

• Demodulate with both a cosine and sine wave

– Both I and Q channels are recovered!
• I/Q modulation allows twice the amount of
information to be sent compared to basic AM
modulation with same bandwidth

M.H. Perrott©2007 Digital Modulation (Part I), Slide 3

 Summary of Analog I/Q Demodulation
• Frequency domain view
Baseband Input Receiver Output
It(f) Ir(f)
1 ir(t) 2
it(t)
H(f)
f f
0 Lowpass 0
2cos(2πfot) 2cos(2πfot)
Qt(f) 2sin(2πfot) 2sin(2πfot) Qr(f)
1 qr(t) 2
qt(t)
H(f)
f f
0 Lowpass
0
• Time domain view
Baseband Input Receiver Output

t t
it(t) ir(t)
H(f)
Lowpass
2cos(2πfot) 2cos(2πfot)
2sin(2πfot) 2sin(2πfot)
t t
qt(t) qr(t)
H(f)
Lowpass
M.H. Perrott©2007 Digital Modulation (Part I), Slide 4
 Digital I/Q Modulation
Baseband Input Receiver Output
3 3
1 it(t) ir(t) 1
-1 H(f) -1
I
-3 -3
t Lowpass t
2cos(2πfot) 2cos(2πfot)
2sin(2πfot) 2sin(2πfot)
3 3
1 qt(t) qr(t) 1
-1 H(f) -1 Q
-3 -3
t Lowpass t
Sample
Times

• Leverage analog communication channel to send

discrete-valued symbols
– Example: send symbol from set {-3,-1,1,3} on both
I and Q channels each symbol period
• At receiver, sample I/Q waveforms every symbol
period
– Associate each sampled I/Q value with symbols from
set {-3,-1,1,3} on both I and Q channels
M.H. Perrott©2007 Digital Modulation (Part I), Slide 5
 Advantages of going Digital
• Allows information to be “packetized”
– Can compress information in time and efficiently send as
packets through network
– In contrast, analog modulation requires “circuit-switched”
connections that are continuously available
• Inefficient use of radio channel if there is “dead time” in
information flow
• Allows error correction to be achieved
– Less sensitivity to radio channel imperfections
• Enables compression of information
– More efficient use of channel
• Supports a wide variety of information content
– Voice, text and email messages, video can all be
represented as digital bit streams

M.H. Perrott©2007 Digital Modulation (Part I), Slide 6

 Constellation Diagrams
Baseband Input Receiver Output
3 3
1 it(t) ir(t) 1
-1 H(f) -1
I
-3 -3
t Lowpass t
2cos(2πfot) 2cos(2πfot)
2sin(2πfot) 2sin(2πfot)
3 3
1 qt(t) qr(t) 1
-1 H(f) -1 Q
-3 -3
t Lowpass t
Sample
• Plot I/Q samples on x-y axis Times

– Example: sampled I/Q value of Q

{1,-3} forms a dot at x=1, y=-3
3
– As more samples are plotted,
constellation diagram eventually 1
displays all possible symbol values I
-1
• Constellation diagram provides
a sense of how easy it is to
-3

distinguish between different -3 -1 1 3

symbols
M.H. Perrott©2007 Digital Modulation (Part I), Slide 7
 Sending Digital Bits
Baseband Input Receiver Output
3 3
1 it(t) ir(t) 1
-1 H(f) -1
I
-3 -3
t Lowpass t
2cos(2πfot) 2cos(2πfot)
2sin(2πfot) 2sin(2πfot)
3 3
1 qt(t) qr(t) 1
-1 H(f) -1 Q
-3 -3
t Lowpass t
Sample
Times
• Assign each I/Q symbol to a
set of digital bits
Q

– Example: I/Q = {1,3} translates 10

to bits of 1110 11
– Gray coding minimizes bit errors I
when symbol errors are made 01

• Example: I/Q = {1,1} translates 00

to bits of 1010
00 01 11 10
– Only one bit change from
I/Q = {1,3}
M.H. Perrott©2007 Digital Modulation (Part I), Slide 8
 The Impact of Noise
Baseband Input Receiver Output
3 3
1 it(t) Receiver ir(t) 1
-1 Noise H(f) -1 I
-3 -3
t Lowpass t
2cos(2πfot) 2cos(2πfot)
2sin(2πfot) 2sin(2πfot)
3 3
1 qt(t) qr(t) 1
-1 H(f) -1 Q
-3 -3
t Lowpass t
Sample

• Noise perturbs sampled I/Q

Times

values Q

– Constellation points no longer 10

consist of single dots for each
11
symbol I
• Issue: what is the best 01

way to match received I/Q 00

samples with their 00 01 11 10

corresponding symbols?
M.H. Perrott©2007 Digital Modulation (Part I), Slide 9
 Symbol Selection Based on Slicing
Baseband Input Receiver Output
3 3
1 it(t) Receiver ir(t) 1
-1 Noise H(f) -1 I
-3 -3
t Lowpass t
2cos(2πfot) 2cos(2πfot)
2sin(2πfot) 2sin(2πfot)
3 3
1 qt(t) qr(t) 1
-1 H(f) -1 Q
-3 -3
t Lowpass t
Sample

• Match I/Q samples to

Times
Q
their corresponding 00 01 11 10
symbols based on 00

decision regions 01
Decision
– Choose decision regions Boundaries I

to minimize symbol
11

errors 10
– Decision boundaries are
also called slicing levels Decision
Boundaries
M.H. Perrott©2007 Digital Modulation (Part I), Slide 10
 Transitioning Between Symbols
Baseband Input Receiver Output
3 3
1 it(t) Receiver ir(t) 1
-1 Noise H(f) -1 I
-3 -3
t Lowpass t
2cos(2πfot) 2cos(2πfot)
2sin(2πfot) 2sin(2πfot)
3 3
1 qt(t) qr(t) 1
-1 H(f) -1 Q
-3 -3
t Lowpass t
Sample
Times

• Transition behavior between Q

symbols is influenced by both

00 01 11 10
00
transmit I/Q input waveforms
and receive filter 01
I
– We will focus on impact of 11

transition behavior at 10
transmitter today
– Ignore the impact of noise for
this analysis
M.H. Perrott©2007 Digital Modulation (Part I), Slide 11
 Influence of Transitions at Transmitter
Baseband Input Receiver Output
3 3
1 it(t) Receiver ir(t) 1
-1 Noise H(f) -1 I
-3 -3
t Lowpass t
2cos(2πfot) 2cos(2πfot)
2sin(2πfot) 2sin(2πfot)
3 3
1 qt(t) qr(t) 1
-1 H(f) -1 Q
-3 -3
t Lowpass t
Sample Sample
Times Times
Q
00 01 11 10 • Ideal analog communication channel
00 simply transports the transmitter
01 I/Q signals to the receiver
• Constellation diagram can be
I
11
constructed at transmitter to
evaluate its performance
10

– Bad constellation at transmitter implies

bad one at receiver
M.H. Perrott©2007 Digital Modulation (Part I), Slide 12
 Transitions and the Transmitted Spectrum
Baseband Input
T d(t) (one trial) pzoh(t) it(t) (one trial) 3
1 it(t)
-1
t
* T
t t
-3
t
2cos(2πfot)
y(t)
2sin(2πfot)
3
|D(f)| |Pzoh(f)| |It(f)| 1 qt(t)
(one trial) (one trial) -1
-3
t |Y(f)|
Sample (one trial)
f -1 0 1
f -1 0 1
f Times
0
T T T T
Q

• Want transmitted spectrum

00 01 11 10 -1 0 1
f
T T
00
with minimal bandwidth
01
– Wireless communication I
channels are a shared 11
resource 10
• Issue: sharply changing
I/Q waveforms lead to a
wide bandwidth spectrum
M.H. Perrott©2007 Digital Modulation (Part I), Slide 13
 Impact of Transmit Filter
Baseband Input
3 di(t) 3
1 1 it(t)
-1 P(f) -1
-3 Lowpass -3
t t y(t)
2cos(2πfot)
2sin(2πfot)
3 3
1 1 qt(t)
P(f)
-1 -1
-3 Lowpass -3
t t |Y(f)|
|Di(f)| Sample (one trial)
P(f)
(one trial) Times
Q

-1 0 1
f f 00 01 11 10 -1 0 1
f
T T T T
00
• Transmit filter enables
reduced bandwidth for
01
I
transmitted spectrum 11

• Issue: can lead to 10

intersymbol interference (ISI)

– Constellation diagram displays
vulnerability to making bit errors
M.H. Perrott©2007 Digital Modulation (Part I), Slide 14
 Impact of Low Bandwidth Transmit Filter
Baseband Input
3 di(t) 3
1 1 it(t)
-1 P(f) -1
-3 Lowpass -3
t t y(t)
2cos(2πfot)
2sin(2πfot)
3 3
1 1 qt(t)
P(f)
-1 -1
-3 Lowpass -3
t t |Y(f)|
|Di(f)| Sample (one trial)
P(f)
(one trial) Times
Q

-1 0 1
f f 00 01 11 10 -1 0 1
f
T T T T
00
• Lowering the transmit
filter bandwidth leads to
01
I

– Lower bandwidth 11

transmitted spectrum 10

– Increased ISI
• Eye diagrams allow ISI to
be intuitively examined
M.H. Perrott©2007 Digital Modulation (Part I), Slide 15
 Eye Diagrams
3 I(t)

1
t
-1

-3

Eye Diagram 3
of I(t)
1
t
-1

-3

• Key idea: wrap signal back onto itself in periodic

time intervals and retain all traces
– Similar to action of oscilloscope

M.H. Perrott©2007 Digital Modulation (Part I), Slide 16

 Looking at Many Symbols
I(t)
3

1
t
-1

-3
Eye Diagram 3
of I(t)
1
t
-1

-3

• Increasing the number of symbols eventually

reveals all possible symbol transition trajectories
– Intuitively displays the impact of filtering on ISI

M.H. Perrott©2007 Digital Modulation (Part I), Slide 17

 Assessing the Quality of an Eye Diagram
I(t)
3

1
t
-1

-3
Eye Diagram 3
of I(t) Decision
1 Boundaries
t
-1 (also called
Slicing levels)
-3

Sample Times

• Eye diagram allows visual inspection of the impact of

sample time and decision boundary choices
– Large eye opening implies less vulnerability to symbol errors
M.H. Perrott©2007 Digital Modulation (Part I), Slide 18
 Relating Eye Diagrams to Constellation
Baseband Input
3 di(t) 3
1 1 it(t)
-1 P(f) -1
-3 Lowpass -3
t t y(t)
2cos(2πfot)
2sin(2πfot)
3 3
1 1 qt(t)
P(f)
-1 -1
-3 Lowpass -3
t t
P(f) Sample
Times
I and Q Eye Diagrams
Q
f 00 01 11 10
• Open eye diagrams 00

lead to tight 01
symbol groupings I

in constellation 11

– Assumes proper 10
sample time t
placement Sample
Times
M.H. Perrott©2007 Digital Modulation (Part I), Slide 19
 Impact of Low Transmit Bandwidth
Baseband Input
3 di(t) 3
1 1 it(t)
-1 P(f) -1
-3 Lowpass -3
t t y(t)
2cos(2πfot)
2sin(2πfot)
3 3
1 1 qt(t)
P(f)
-1 -1
-3 Lowpass -3
t t
P(f) Sample
Times
I and Q Eye Diagrams
Q
f 00 01 11 10
• Eye diagrams 00

intuitively show 01
increased ISI I
11
– Also show
sensitivity of bit 10
errors to sample t
time placement Sample
M.H. Perrott©2007 Times Digital Modulation (Part I), Slide 20
 Summary
• Digital modulation operates by sending discrete-
valued symbols through an analog communication
channel
– Receiver must sample I/Q signals at the appropriate time
– Receiver matches I/Q sample values to corresponding
symbols based on decision regions
– Constellation diagrams are a convenient tool to see
likelihood of bit errors being made

• Choice of transmit filter is a tradeoff between

achieving a minimal bandwidth transmitted spectrum
and minimal intersymbol interference (ISI)
– Eye diagrams are a convenient tool to see effects of ISI
and sensitivity of bit errors to sample time choice

• Next lecture: a closer look at the receiver…

M.H. Perrott©2007 Digital Modulation (Part I), Slide 21