Stuber, G.L.

Modulation Methods
Mobile Communications Handbook
Ed. Suthan S. Suthersan
Boca Raton: CRC Press LLC, 1999
c 1999byCRCPressLLC
Modulation Methods
Gordon L. Stuber
Georgia I nstituteof Technology
16.1 Introduction
16.2 BasicDescriptionof ModulatedSignals
16.3 AnalogFrequencyModulation
16.4 PhaseShift Keying(PSK) and/4-QPSK
16.5 ContinuousPhaseModulation(CPM) andMSK
16.6 GaussianMinimumShift Keying
16.7 Orthogonal FrequencyDivisionMultiplexing(OFDM)
16.8 Conclusions
DeningTerms
References
Further Information
16.1 Introduction
Modulation istheprocesswherethemessageinformation isaddedto theradio carrier. Most rst
generationcellular systemssuchastheadvancedmobiletelephonesystem(AMPS) useanalogfre-
quencymodulation(FM), becauseanalogtechnologywasverymaturewhenthesesystemswererst
introduced. Digital modulationschemes, however, aretheobviouschoiceforfuturewirelesssystems,
especiallyif dataservicessuchaswirelessmultimediaaretobesupported. Digital modulationcan
alsoimprovespectral efciency, becausedigital signalsaremorerobustagainstchannel impairments.
Spectral efciencyisakeyattributeofwirelesssystemsthatmustoperateinacrowdedradiofrequency
spectrum.
Toachievehighspectral efciency, modulationschemesmust beselectedthat haveahighband-
widthefciencyasmeasured in unitsof bitsper second per Hertz of bandwidth. Manywireless
communication systems, such ascellular telephones, operateon theprincipleof frequencyreuse,
wherethecarrier frequenciesarereusedat geographicallyseparatedlocations. Thelink qualityin
thesesystemsislimitedbycochannel interference. Hence, modulationschemesmust beidentied
thatarebothbandwidthefcientandcapableoftoleratinghighlevelsofcochannel interference. More
specically, digital modulationtechniquesarechosenfor wirelesssystemsthat satisfythefollowing
properties.
CompactPower DensitySpectrum: Tominimizetheeffectof adjacentchannel interference,
itisdesirablethatthepower radiatedintotheadjacentchannel be6080dBbelowthatinthedesired
channel. Hence, modulation techniqueswith anarrowmain lobeand fast rolloff of sidelobesare
desirable.
c 1999byCRCPressLLC
GoodBit-Error-RatePerformance: A low-bit-error probabilityshouldbeachievedin the
presenceof cochannel interference, adjacent channel interference, thermal noise, andother channel
impairments, suchasfadingandintersymbol interference.
EnvelopeProperties: Portableand mobileapplicationstypicallyemploynonlinear (class
C) power amplierstominimizebatterydrain. Nonlinear amplicationmaydegradethebit-error-
rateperformanceof modulationschemesthat transmit informationintheamplitudeof thecarrier.
Also, spectral shapingisusuallyperformedprior toup-conversionandnonlinear amplication. To
preventtheregrowthof spectral sidelobesduringnonlinear amplication, theinputsignal musthave
arelativelyconstant envelope.
A varietyof digital modulation techniquesarecurrentlybeingused in wirelesscommunication
systems. Two of themorewidelyuseddigital modulation techniquesfor cellular mobileradio are
/4 phase-shiftedquadraturephaseshiftkeying(/4-QPSK) andGaussianminimumshiftkeying
(GMSK).TheformerisusedintheNorthAmericanIS-54digital cellularsystemandJapanesePersonal
Digital Cellular (PDC), whereasthelatter isusedintheglobal systemfor mobilecommunications
(GSM system). Thischapter providesadiscussion of theseandother modulation techniquesthat
areemployedinwirelesscommunicationsystems.
16.2 Basic Descriptionof ModulatedSignals
Withanymodulationtechnique, thebandpasssignal canbeexpressedintheform
s(t ) = Re
_
v(t )e
j2f
c
t
_
(16.1)
wherev(t ) isthecomplexenvelope, f
c
isthecarrier frequency, andRe{z} denotesthereal part of z.
For digital modulationschemesv(t ) hasthegeneral form
v(t ) = A

k
b (t kT, x
k
) (16.2)
whereA istheamplitudeof thecarrier x
k
= (x
k
, x
k1
, . . . , x
kK
) isthedatasequence, T isthe
symbol or baud duration, and b(t, x
i
) is an equivalent shapingfunction usually of duration T .
Thepreciseformof b(t, x
i
) andthememorylengthK dependsonthetypeof modulationthat is
employed. Several examplesareprovided in thischapter whereinformation istransmitted in the
amplitude, phase, or frequencyof thebandpasssignal.
Thepowerspectral densityof thebandpasssignal S
ss
(f ) isrelatedtothepower spectral density
of thecomplexenvelopeS
vv
(f ) by
S
ss
(f ) =
1
2
[S
vv
(f f
c
) +S
vv
(f +f
c
)] (16.3)
Thepower densityspectrumof thecomplexenvelopefor adigital modulationschemehasthegeneral
form
S
vv
(f ) =
A
2
T

m
S
b,m
(f )e
j2f mT
(16.4)
where
S
b,m
(f ) =
1
2
E
_
B (f, x
m
) B

(f, x
0
)
_
(16.5)
B(f, x
m
) istheFourier transformof b(t, x
m
), andE[] denotestheexpectationoperator. Usually
symmetricsignal setsarechosensothat thecomplexenvelopehaszeromean, i.e., E[b(t, x
0
)] = 0.
c 1999byCRCPressLLC
Thisimpliesthat thepower densityspectrumhasnodiscretecomponents. If, inaddition, x
m
and
x
0
areindependent for |m| > K, then
S
vv
(f ) =
A
2
T

|m|<K
S
b,m
(f )e
j2f mT
(16.6)
16.3 AnalogFrequencyModulation
Withanalogfrequencymodulationthecomplexenvelopeis
v(t ) = Aexp
_
j2k
f
_
t
0
m() d
_
(16.7)
wherem(t ) is themodulating waveformand k
f
in Hz/v is thefrequency sensitivity of theFM
modulator. Thebandpasssignal is
s(t ) = Acos
_
2f
c
t +2k
f
_
t
0
m(t ) dt
_
. (16.8)
Theinstantaneousfrequencyof thecarrier f
i
(t ) = f
c
+ k
f
m(t ) varieslinearlywiththewaveform
m(t ), hence, thenamefrequencymodulation. Noticethat FM hasaconstant envelopemakingit
suitablefor nonlinear amplication. However, thecomplexenvelopeisanonlinear functionof the
modulatingwaveformm(t ) and, therefore, thespectral characteristicsof v(t ) cannot beobtained
directlyfromthespectral characteristicsof m(t ).
With the sinusoidal modulating waveformm(t ) = A
m
cos(2f
m
t ) the instantaneous carrier
frequencyis
f
i
(t ) = f
c
+
f
cos (2f
m
t ) (16.9)
where
f
= k
f
A
m
isthepeakfrequencydeviation. Thecomplexenvelopebecomes
v(t ) = exp
_
2
_
t
0
f
i
(t ) dt
_
= exp [2f
c
t + sin (2f
m
t )] (16.10)
where =
f
/f
m
iscalledthemodulationindex. Thebandwidthof v(t ) dependsonthevalueof
. If < 1, thennarrowbandFMisgenerated, wherethespectral widthsof v(t ) andm(t ) areabout
thesame, i.e., 2f
m
. If 1, thenwidebandFM isgenerated, wherethespectral occupancyof v(t )
isslightlygreater than2
f
. Ingeneral, theapproximatebandwidthof anFM signal is
W 2
f
+2f
m
= 2
f
_
1 +
1

_
(16.11)
whichisarelationknownasCarsonsrule. Unfortunately, typical analogcellular radiosystemsuse
amodulationindexintherange1
<

<

3 whereCarsonsruleisnot accurate. Furthermore, the

messagewaveformm(t ) isnot apuresinusoidsothat Carsonsruledoesnot directlyapply.
Inanalogcellular systemsthewaveformm(t ) isobtainedbyrstcompandingthespeechwaveform
andthenhardlimitingtheresultingsignal. Thepurposeofthelimiteristocontrol thepeakfrequency
deviation
f
. Thelimiter introduceshigh-frequencycomponentsthatmustberemovedwithalow-
passlter prior tomodulation. Toestimatethebandwidthoccupancy, werst determinetheratio
c 1999byCRCPressLLC
of thefrequencydeviation
f
correspondingtothemaximumamplitudeof m(t ), andthehighest
frequencycomponent B that ispresent inm(t ). Thesetwoconditionsarethemost extremecases,
andtheresultingratio, D =
f
/B, iscalledthedeviationratio. Thenreplace byD andf
m
byB
inCarsonsrule, giving
W 2
f
+2B = 2
f
_
1 +
1
D
_
(16.12)
Thisapproximationwill overestimatethebandwidthrequirements. Amoreaccurateestimateof the
bandwidthrequirementsmust beobtainedfromsimulationor measurements.
16.4 PhaseShift Keying(PSK)and/4-QPSK
Withphaseshiftkeying(PSK), theequivalent shapingfunctioninEq. (16.2) hastheform
b (t, x
k
) =
T
(t )exp
_
j

M
x
k
h
s
(t )
_
, x
k
= x
k
(16.13)
whereh
s
(t ) is aphaseshapingpulse,
T
(t ) an amplitudeshapingpulse, and M thesizeof the
modulationalphabet. Noticethat thephasevarieslinearlywiththesymbol sequence{x
k
}, hencethe
namephaseshift keying. For amodulation alphabet sizeof M, x
k
{1, 3, . . . , (M 1)}.
Each symbol x
k
ismappedonto log
2
M sourcebits. A QPSK signal isobtainedbyusingM = 4,
resultinginatransmissionrateof 2b/symbol.
Usually, thephaseshapingpulseischosen to betherectangular pulseh
s
(t ) = u
T
(t )

= u(t )
u(t T ), whereu(t ) istheunit stepfunction. Theamplitudeshapingpulseisveryoftenchosento
beasquareroot raisedcosinepulse, wheretheFourier transformof
T
(t ) is

T
(f ) =
_

T 0 |f | (1 )/2T
_
T
2
_
1 sin
T

_
f
1
2T
__
(1 )/2T |f | (1 +)/2T
(16.14)
Thereceiverimplementsthesamelter
R
(f ) =
T
(f ) sothattheoverall pulsehastheraisedcosine
spectrum(f ) =
R
(f )
T
(f ) = |
T
(f )|
2
. If thechannel isaffectedbyat fadingandadditive
whiteGaussiannoise, thenthispartitioningof thelteringoperationsbetweenthetransmitter and
receiver will optimizethesignal to noiseratio at theoutput of thereceiver lter at thesampling
instants. Therolloff factor usuallyliesbetween0 and1 anddenestheexcessbandwidth100%.
Usingasmaller results in amorecompact power density spectrum, but thelink performance
becomesmoresensitivetoerrorsinthesymbol timing. TheIS-54systemuses = 0.35, whilePDC
uses = 0.5.
ThetimedomainpulsecorrespondingtoEq. (16.14) canbeobtainedbytakingtheinverseFourier
transform, resultingin

T
(t ) = 4
cos [(1 +) t /T ] +sin [(1 ) t /T ] (4t /T )
1

T
_
1 16
2
t
2
/T
2
__ (16.15)
Atypical squarerootraisedcosinepulsewitharolloff factor of = 0.5 isshowninFig. 16.1. Strictly
speakingthepulse
T
(t ) isnoncausal, but in practiceatruncatedtimedomain pulseisused. For
example, inFig. 16.1thepulseistruncatedto6T andtimeshiftedby3T toyieldacausal pulse.
Unlikeconventional QPSKthathasfour possibletransmittedphases,/4-QPSKhaseightpossible
transmittedphases. Let (n) bethetransmittedcarrier phasefor thenthepoch, andlet (n) =
c 1999byCRCPressLLC
FIGURE16.1: Squareroot raisedcosinepulsewithrolloff factor = 0.5.
(n) (n 1) bethedifferential carrier phasebetween epochsn and n 1. With /4-QPSK,
thetransmissionrateis2b/symbol andthedifferential phaseisrelatedtothesymbol sequence{x
n
}
throughthemapping
(n) =
_

_
3/4, x
n
= 3
/4, x
n
= 1
/4, x
n
= +1
3/4, x
n
= +3
(16.16)
Sincethesymbol sequence{x
n
} israndom, themappinginEq. (16.16) isarbitrary, except that the
phasedifferencesmust be/4 and3/4. Thephasedifferencewiththegivenmappingcanbe
writtenintheconvenient algebraicform
(n) = x
n

4
(16.17)
whichallowsustowritetheequivalent shapingfunctionof the/4-QPSK signal as
b
_
t, x
k
_
= (t )exp
_
j
_
(k 1) +x
k

4
__
=
T
(t )exp
_
j

4
_
k1

n=
x
n
+x
k
__
(16.18)
Thesummationintheexponent representstheaccumulatedcarrier phase, whereasthelast termis
thephasechangeduetothekthsymbol. Observethat thephaseshapingfunctionistherectangular
c 1999byCRCPressLLC
pulseu
T
(t ). Theamplitudeshapingfunction
T
(t ) isusuallythesquareroot raisedcosinepulsein
Eq. (16.15).
Thephasestatesof QPSK and/4-QPSK signalscanbesummarizedbythesignal spacediagram
inFig. 16.2that showsthephasestatesandallowabletransitionsbetweenthephasestates. However,
it doesnot describetheactual phasetrajectories. Atypical diagramshowingphasetrajectorieswith
squareroot raisedcosinepulseshapingisshowninFig. 16.3. Notethat thephasetrajectoriesdonot
passthroughtheorigin. Thisreducestheenvelopeuctuationsof thesignal makingitlesssusceptible
toamplier nonlinearitiesandreducesthedynamicrangerequiredof thepower amplier.
FIGURE16.2: Signal-spaceconstellationsfor QPSK and/4-DQPSK.
Thepower densityspectrumof QPSK and/4-QPSK dependsonboththeamplitudeandphase
shapingpulses. For therectangular phaseshapingpulseh
s
(t ) = u
T
(t ), thepower densityspectrum
of thecomplexenvelopeis
S
vv
(f ) =
A
2
T
|
T
(f )|
2
(16.19)
Withsquarerootraisedcosinepulseshaping,
T
(f ) hastheformdenedinEq. (16.14). Thepower
densityspectrumof apulse

T
(t ) that isobtainedbytruncating
T
(t ) tolength canbeobtained
by writing

T
(t ) =
T
(t )rect(t /). Then

T
(f ) =
T
(f ) sinc(f ), where denotes the
operationof convolution, andthepower densityspectrumisagainobtainedbyapplyingEq. (16.19).
Truncationof thepulsewill regeneratesomesidelobes, thuscausingadjacent channel interference.
Figure16.4illustratesthepower densityspectrumof atruncatedsquareroot raisedcosinepulsefor
varioustruncationlengths.
16.5 ContinuousPhaseModulation(CPM)andMSK
Continuousphasemodulation(CPM) referstoabroadclassof frequencymodulationtechniques
wherethecarrier phasevaries in a continuous manner. A comprehensivetreatment of CPM is
provided in [1]. CPM schemes areattractivebecausethey haveconstant envelopeand excellent
c 1999byCRCPressLLC
FIGURE16.3: Phasediagramof /4-QPSK withsquareroot raisedcosinepulse; = 0.5.
FIGURE 16.4: Power densityspectrumof truncated squareroot raised cosinepulsewith various
truncationlengths; = 0.5.
spectral characteristics. Thecomplexenvelopeof anyCPM signal is
v(t ) = Aexp
_
j2k
f
_
t

n
x
n
h
s
( nT ) d
_
(16.20)
c 1999byCRCPressLLC
Theinstantaneousfrequencydeviationfromthecarrier is
f
dev
(t ) = k
f

n
x
n
h
s
(t nT ) (16.21)
wherek
f
isthepeakfrequencydeviation. If thefrequencyshapingpulseh
s
(t ) hasdurationT , then
theequivalent shapingfunctioninEq. (16.2) hastheform
b (t, x
k
) = exp
_
j
_
(T )
k1

n=
x
n
+x
k
(t )
__
u
T
(t ) (16.22)
where
(t ) =
_

_
0, t < 0
h
_
T
0
h
s
() d
_
t
0
h
s
() d, 0 t T
h, t T
(16.23)
isthephaseshapingpulse, andh = (T )/ iscalledthemodulationindex.
Minimumshiftkeying(MSK) isaspecial formof binaryCPM (x
k
{1, +1}) that isdened
byarectangular frequencyshapingpulseh
s
(t ) = u
T
(t ), andamodulationindexh = 1/2 sothat
(t ) =
_
_
_
0, t < 0
t /2T, 0 t T
/2, t T
(16.24)
Therefore, thecomplexenvelopeis
v(t ) = Aexp
_
j

2
k1

n=
x
n
+

2
x
k
t kT
T
_
(16.25)
AMSK signal canbedescribedbythephasetrellisdiagramshowninFig. 16.5whichplotsthetime
behavior of thephase
(t ) =

2
k1

n=
x
n
+

2
x
k
t kT
T
(16.26)
TheMSK bandpasssignal is
s(t ) = Acos
_
2f
c
t +

2
k1

n=
x
n
+

2
x
k
t kT
T
_
= Acos
_
2
_
f
c
+
x
k
4T
_
t
k
2
x
k
+

2
k1

n=
x
n
_
kT t (k +1)T (16.27)
FromEq.(16.27) weobservethattheMSKsignal hasoneof twopossiblefrequenciesf
L
= f
c
1/4T
or f
U
= f
c
+ 1/4T duringeach symbol interval. Thedifferencebetween thesefrequencies is
f
U
f
L
= 1/2T . Thisistheminimumfrequencydifferencebetween two sinusoidsof duration
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FIGURE16.5: Phase-trellisdiagramfor MSK.
T that will ensureorthogonalitywithcoherent demodulation[7], hence, thenameminimumshift
keying. ByapplyingvarioustrigonometricidentitiestoEq. (16.27) wecanwrite
s(t ) = A
_
x
I
k
(t k2T ) cos (2f
c
t ) x
Q
k
(t k2T T ) sin (2f
c
t )
_
,
kT t (k +1)T (16.28)
where
x
I
k
= x
Q
k1
x
2k1
x
Q
k
= x
I
k
x
2k
(t ) = cos
_
t
2T
_
, T t T
Note that the x
I
k
and x
Q
k
are independent binary symbols that take on elements from the set
{1, +1}, and thehalf-sinusoid amplitudeshapingpulse(t ) hasduration 2T and (t T ) =
sin(t /2T ), 0 t 2T . Therefore, MSK isequivalent tooffset quadratureamplitudeshift keying
(OQASK) withahalf-sinusoidamplitudeshapingpulse.
To obtain thepower densityspectrumof MSK, weobservefromEq. (16.28) that theequivalent
shapingfunctionof MSK hastheform
b (t, x
k
) = x
I
k
(t ) +jx
Q
k
(t T ) (16.29)
TheFourier transformof Eq. (16.29) is
B (f, x
k
) =
_
x
I
k
+jx
Q
k
e
j2f T
_
(f ) (16.30)
Sincethesymbolsx
I
k
andx
Q
k
areindependent andzeromean, it followsfromEqs. (16.5) and(16.6)
that
S
vv
(f ) =
A
2
|(f )|
2
2T
(16.31)
Therefore, thepower densityspectrumof MSK isdeterminedsolelybytheFourier transformof the
half-sinusoidamplitudeshapingpulse(t ), resultingin
S
vv
(f ) =
16A
2
T

2
_
cos 2f T
1 16f
2
T
2
_
2
(16.32)
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Thepower spectral densityof MSKisplottedinFig. 16.8. ObservethatanMSKsignal hasfairlylarge
sidelobescomparedto/4-QPSK withatruncatedsquareroot raisedcosinepulse(c.f., Fig. 16.4).
16.6 GaussianMinimumShift Keying
MSK signalshaveall of thedesirableattributesfor mobileradio, except for acompact power density
spectrum. Thiscan bealleviatedbylteringthemodulatingsignal x(t ) =
n
x
n
u
T
(t nT ) with
alow-passlter prior to frequencymodulation, asshown in Fig. 16.6. Such lteringremovesthe
higher frequencycomponentsinx(t ) and, therefore, yieldsamorecompactspectrum. Thelow-pass
lter ischosentohave1) narrowbandwidthandasharptransitionband, 2) low-overshoot impulse
response, and3) preservationof theoutput pulseareatoensureaphaseshift of /2.
FIGURE16.6: PremodulationlteredMSK.
GMSK usesalow-passlter withthefollowingtransfer function:
H(f ) = Aexp
_

_
f
B
_
2
ln 2
2
_
(16.33)
whereB is the3-dB bandwidth of thelter and A aconstant. It is apparent that H(f ) is bell
shapedabout f = 0, hencethenameGaussianMSK. Arectangular pulserect(t /T ) = u
T
(t +T/2)
transmittedthroughthislter yieldsthefrequencyshapingpulse
h
s
(t ) = A
_
2
ln 2
(BT )
_
t /T +1/2
t /T 1/2
exp
_

2
2
(BT )
2
x
2
ln 2
_
dx (16.34)
Thephasechangeover thetimeinterval fromT/2 t T/2 is

_
T
2
_

_
T
2
_
= x
0

0
(T ) +

n=
n=0
x
n

n
(T ) (16.35)
where

n
(T ) =
h
_

h
s
() d
_
T/2nT
T/2nT
h
s
() d (16.36)
Therst terminEq. (16.35) isthedesiredterm, andthesecondtermistheintersymbol interference
(ISI) introducedbythepremodulationlter. Onceagain, withGMSK h = 1/2 sothat atotal phase
shift of /2 ismaintained.
Noticethat thepulseh
s
(t ) isnoncausal sothat atruncatedpulsemust beusedinpractice. Fig-
ure16.7plotsaGMSK frequencyshapingpulsethat istruncated to = 5T and timeshifted by
2.5T , for variousnormalizedlter bandwidthsBT . Noticethat thefrequencyshapingpulsehasa
duration greater than T so that ISI isintroduced. AsBT decreases, theinduced ISI isincreased.
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Thus, whereasasmaller valueof BT resultsinamorecompactpower densityspectrum, theinduced
ISI will degradethebit-error-rateperformance. Hence, thereisatradeoff inthechoiceof BT . Some
studieshaveindicatedthat BT = 0.25 isagoodchoicefor cellular radiosystems[6].
FIGURE16.7: GMSK frequencyshapingpulsefor variousnormalizedlter bandwidthsBT .
Thepower densityspectrumof GMSK isquitedifcult toobtain, but canbecomputedbyusing
published methods [3]. Figure16.8plots thepower density spectrumfor BT = 0.2, 0.25, and
0.3, obtainedfromWesolowski, [8]. Observethat thespectral sidelobesaregreatlyreducedbythe
Gaussianlow-passlter.
16.7 Orthogonal FrequencyDivisionMultiplexing(OFDM)
Orthogonal frequencydivisionmultiplexing(OFDM) is amodulation techniquethat has been
recently suggested for usein cellular radio [2], digital audio broadcasting[4], and digital video
broadcasting. Thebasicideaof OFDM istotransmit blocksof symbolsinparallel byemployinga
(large) number of orthogonal subcarriers. Withblock transmission, N serial sourcesymbolseach
withperiodT
s
areconvertedintoablockofN parallel modulatedsymbolseachwithperiodT = NT
s
.
Theblock lengthN ischosen so that NT
s

, where

isthermsdelayspreadof thechannel.
Sincethesymbol rateoneachsubcarrier ismuchlessthantheserial sourcerate, theeffectsof delay
spreadaregreatlyreduced. Thishaspractical advantagesbecauseit mayreduceor even eliminate
theneedfor equalization. Althoughtheblock lengthN ischosen so that NT
s

, thechannel
dispersion will still causeconsecutiveblocksto overlap. Thisresultsin someresidual ISI that will
degradetheperformance. Thisresidual ISI canbeeliminatedat theexpenseof channel capacityby
usingguard intervalsbetween theblocksthat areat least aslongastheeffectivechannel impulse
response.
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FIGURE16.8: Power densityspectrumof MSK andGMSK.
Thecomplexenvelopeof anOFDM signal isdescribedby
v(t ) = A

k
N1

n=0
x
k,n

n
(t kT ) (16.37)
where

n
(t ) = exp
_

_
j
2
_
n
N 1
2
_
t
T
_

_
U
T
(t ), n = 0, 1, . . . , N 1 (16.38)
areorthogonal waveformsandU
T
(t ) isarectangular shapingfunction. Thefrequencyseparationof
thesubcarriers, 1/T , ensuresthatthesubcarriersareorthogonal andphasecontinuityismaintained
fromonesymbol tothenext, butistwicetheminimumrequiredfor orthogonalitywithcoherentde-
tection. Atepochk, N-datasymbolsaretransmittedbyusingtheN distinctpulses. Thedatasymbols
x
k,n
areoftenchosenfromanM-aryquadratureamplitudemodulation(M-QAM) constellation,
wherex
k,n
= x
I
k,n
+jx
Q
k,n
withx
I
k,n
, x
Q
k,n
{1, 3, . . . , (N 1)} andN =

M.
A keyadvantageof usingOFDM isthat themodulation can beachievedin thediscretedomain
byusingeither aninversediscreteFourier transform(IDFT) or themorecomputationallyefcient
inversefast Fourier transform(IFFT). Consideringthedatablockat epochk = 0 andignoringthe
frequencyoffset exp{j[2(N 1)t /2T ]}, thecomplexlow-passOFDM signal hastheform
v(t ) =
N1

n=0
x
0,n
exp
_
j2nt
NT
s
_
, 0 t T (16.39)
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If thissignal issampledat epochst = kT
s
, then
v
k
= v (kT
s
) =
N1

n=0
x
0,n
exp
_
j2nk
N
_
, k = 0, 1, . . . , N 1 (16.40)
Observethat thesampledOFDM signal hasdurationN andthesamplesv
0
, v
1
, . . . , v
N1
arejust
theIDFT of thedatablock x
0,0
, x
0,1
, . . . , x
0,N1
. A block diagramof an OFDM transmitter is
showninFig. 16.9.
FIGURE16.9: Blockdiagramof OFDM transmitter usingIDFT or IFFT.
Thepower spectral densityof anOFDMsignal canbeobtainedbytreatingOFDMasindependent
modulation on subcarriers that areseparated in frequency by 1/T . Becausethesubcarriers are
onlyseparatedby1/T , signicant spectral overlapresults. Becausethesubcarriersareorthogonal,
however, theoverlapimprovesthespectral efciencyof thescheme. For asignal constellationwith
zeromeanandthewaveformsinEq. (16.38), thepower densityspectrumof thecomplexenvelopeis
S
vv
(f ) =
A
2
T

2
x
N1

n=0

sinc
_
f T
_
n
N 1
2
__

2
(16.41)
where
2
x
=
1
2
E[|x
k,n
|
2
] isthevarianceofthesignal constellation. Forexample,thecomplexenvelope
power spectrumof OFDM withN = 32 subcarriersisshowninFig. 16.10.
16.8 Conclusions
Avarietyof modulationschemesareemployedinwirelesscommunicationsystems. Wirelessmod-
ulationschemesmust haveacompact power densityspectrum, whileat thesametimeprovidinga
goodbit-error-rateperformanceinthepresenceof channel impairmentssuchascochannel interfer-
enceandfading. Themost popular digital modulationtechniquesemployedinwirelesssystemsare
GMSK in theEuropean GSM system, /4-QPSK in theNorthAmerican IS-54andJapanesePDC
systems, andOFDM indigital audiobroadcastingsystems.
DeningTerms
Bandwidthefciency: Transmission efciency of adigital modulation schememeasured in
unitsof bitsper secondper Hertzof bandwidth.
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FIGURE16.10: Power densityspectrumof OFDM withN = 32.
Continuousphasemodulation: Frequencymodulationwherethephasevariesinacontinuous
manner.
Excessbandwidth: Percentageof bandwidththat isin excessof theminimumof 1/2T (T is
thebaudor symbol duration) requiredfor datacommunication.
Frequencymodulation: Modulation wheretheinstantaneousfrequencyof thecarrier varies
linearlywiththedatasignal.
Gaussianminimumshiftkeying: MSK wherethedatasignal is preltered with aGaussian
lter prior tofrequencymodulation.
Minimumshiftkeying: A special formof continuousphasemodulation havinglinear phase
trajectoriesandamodulationindexof 1/2.
Orthogonal frequencydivisionmultiplexing: Modulation by usingacollection of low-bit-
rateorthogonal subcarriers.
Phaseshiftkeying: Modulation wheretheinstantaneous phaseof thecarrier varies linearly
withthedatasignal.
Powerspectral density: Relativepower inamodulatedsignal asafunctionof frequency.
Quadratureamplitudemodulation: Modulationwhereinformationistransmittedintheam-
plitudeof thecosineandsinecomponentsof thecarrier.
References
[1] Anderson, J.B., Aulin, T., andSundberg, C.-E., Digital PhaseModulation, PlenumPress, New
York, 1986.
[2] Birchler,M.A.andJasper,S.C.,A64kbpsdigital landmobileradiosystememployingM-16QAM.
Proc. 5thNordicSem. Dig. MobileRadioCommun., 237241, Dec. 1992.
c 1999byCRCPressLLC
[3] Garrison,G.J.,Apowerspectral densityanalysisfordigital FM,IEEETrans.Commun.,COM-23,
12281243, Nov. 1975.
[4] Le Floch, B., Halbert-Lassalle, R., and Castelain, D., Digital sound broadcasting to mobile
receivers, IEEETrans. Consum. Elec., 35, Aug. 1989.
[5] Murota, K. andHirade, K., GMSK modulationfor digital mobileradiotelephony,
IEEETrans. Commun., COM-29, 10441050, Jul. 1981.
[6] Murota, K., Kinoshita, K., andHirade, K., Spectral efciencyof GMSK landmobileradio. Proc.
ICC81, 23.8.1, Jun. 1981.
[7] Proakis, J.G., Digital Communications, 2nded., McGraw-Hill, NewYork, 1989.
[8] Wesolowski, K., PrivateCommunication, 1994.
Further Information
A gooddiscussion of digital modemtechniquesispresentedinAdvancedDigital Communications,
editedbyK. Feher, Prentice-Hall, 1987.
Proceedingsof variousIEEEconferencessuchastheVehicular TechnologyConference, Interna-
tional ConferenceonCommunications, andGlobal TelecommunicationsConference, documentthe
lastest development intheeldof wirelesscommunicationseachyear.
Journals such as theIEEE Transactionson Communicationsand IEEE Transactionson Vehicular
Technologyreport advancesinwirelessmodulation.
c 1999byCRCPressLLC