II.

Introduction
As the name suggests, in AM, the information signal varies the amplitude of the
carrier sine wave. The instantaneous value of the carrier amplitude changes in accordance
with the amplitude and frequency variations of the modulating signal. Figure 3-1 shows a
single frequency sine wave intelligence signal modulating a higher-frequency carrier. The
carrier frequency remains constant during the modulation process, but its amplitude
varies in accordance with the modulating signal. An increase in the amplitude of the
modulating signal causes the amplitude of the carrier to increase. Both the positive and
the negative peaks of the carrier wave vary with the modulating signal. An increase or a
decrease in the amplitude of the modulating signal causes a corresponding increase or
decrease in both the positive and the negative peaks of the carrier amplitude. An imaginary
line connecting the positive peaks and negative peaks of the carrier waveform (the dashed
line in Fig. 3-1) gives the exact shape of the modulating information signal. This imaginary
line on the carrier waveform is known as the envelope. Because complex waveforms such
as that shown in Fig. 3-1 are difficult to draw, they are often simplified by representing the
high-frequency carrier wave as many equally spaced vertical lines whose amplitudes vary
in accordance with a modulating signal, as in Fig. 3-2. This method of representation is
used throughout this book. The signals illustrated in Figs. 3-1 and 3-2 show the variation
of the carrier amplitude with respect to time and are said to be in the time domain. Timedomain signals voltage or current variations that occur over timeare displayed on the
screen of an oscilloscope. Using trigonometric functions, we can express the sine wave
carrier with the simple expression
Vc = Vc sin 2fct
In this expression, represents the instantaneous value of the carrier sine wave
voltage at some specific time in the cycle; represents the peak value of the constant
unmodulated carrier sine wave as measured between zero and the maximum amplitude of
either the positive-going or the negative-going alternations (Fig. 3-1); is the frequency of the
carrier sine wave; and t is a particular point in time during the carrier cycle. A sine wave
modulating signal can be expressed with a similar formula
Vm = Vm sin 2fmt

Where vm= instantaneous value of information signal

Vm=peak amplitude of information signal
fm=frequency of modulating signal

Figure A
In Fig. 3-1, the modulating signal uses the peak value of the carrier rather than zero
as its reference point. The envelope of the modulating signal varies above and below the
peak carrier amplitude. That is, the zero reference line of the modulating signal coincides
with the peak value of the unmodulated carrier. Because of this, the relative amplitudes of
the carrier and modulating signal are important. In general, the amplitude of the
modulating signal should be less than the amplitude of the carrier. When the amplitude of
the modulating signal is greater than the amplitude of the carrier, distortion will occur,
causing incorrect information to be transmitted. In amplitude modulation, it is particularly
important that the peak value of the modulating signal be less than the peak value of the
carrier. Mathematically,
Vm < Vc
Values for the carrier signal and the modulating signal can be used in a formula to
express the complete modulated wave. First, keep in mind that the peak value of the
carrier is the reference point for the modulating signal; the value of the modulating signal

is added to or subtracted from the peak value of the carrier. The instantaneous value of
either the top or the bottom voltage envelope can be computed by using the equation
v1 = Vc + vm = Vc Vm sin 2fmt
which expresses the fact that the instantaneous value of the modulating signal
algebraically adds to the peak value of the carrier. Thus we can write the instantaneous
value of the complete modulated wave by substituting for the peak value of carrier voltage
Vc as follows:
v2 = v1 sin 2fct
Now substituting the previously derived expression for and expanding, we get the following:

Figure B
where is the instantaneous value of the AM wave (or), is the carrier waveform, and is
the carrier waveform multiplied by the modulating signal waveform. It is the second part of
the expression that is characteristic of AM. A circuit must be able to produce mathematical
multiplication of the carrier and modulating signals in order for AM to occur. The AM wave
is the product of the carrier and modulating signals. The circuit used for producing AM is
called a modulator. Its two inputs, the carrier and the modulating signal, and the resulting
outputs are shown in Fig. 3-3. Amplitude modulators compute the product of the carrier
and modulating signals. Circuits that compute the product of two analog signals are also
known as analog multipliers, mixers, converters, product detectors, and phase detectors. A

circuit that changes a lower-frequency baseband or intelligence signal to a higher-frequency

signal is usually called a modulator. A circuit used to recover the original intelligence signal
from an AM wave is known as a detector or demodulator. Mixing and detection applications
are discussed in detail in later chapters.
As stated previously, for undistorted AM to occur, the modulating signal voltage
must be less than the carrier voltage Therefore the relationship between the amplitude of
the modulating signal and the amplitude of the carrier signal is important. This
relationship, known as the modulation index m (also called the modulating factor or
coefficient, or the degree of modulation), is the ratio

Percent modulation can be computed using the formula: M=mx100

Where:
M= percent modulation
m= modulation index
IV. Circuit Diagram

Figure A-1. PCB Layout of the Amplitude Modulator

Figure A-2. Schematic Diagram of the Amplitude Modulator Circuit

VI. Technical Discussion

For this experiment, we are tasked to design and construct an amplitude modulator
circuit that will modulate a given input signal. Also, to calculate the percentage of
modulation of the amplitude modulated signal. Based on the concept studied, an
amplitude modulated signal is produced or generated by imposing a low frequency
modulating signal on a high frequency carrier wave where modulating signal varies the
amplitude of the carrier while its frequency and phase are constants. Thus, we used two
input sine waves with high and low frequencies as the carrier and modulating signal
respectively. The source of our information signal is the oscillator circuit we have
constructed for our first experiment. For this, the amplitude modulated signal is produced
by the given AM circuit which comprised of 9V DC supply, resistors, JFET (5458) and

operational amplifiers (LF353). Here we can observe that there is 2 stages, the first and
second stage. The information signal is introduced at the first stage and the carrier signal
at the second stage. The connections are shown in figure 1. After checking, we obtained an
output having a distortion at the envelope and the upper and lower envelope are in phase.
This is shown in figure 1.1. According to what we have researched, it means that a linear
mixing of signals happened between the information and the carrier.

Figure 1. (First Test AM Circuit)

Figure 1.1 (Output of the First Test AM Circuit)

Having this in mind, we tried to vary the values of the resistors with respect to the
output signal. This time, the same JFET (5458), Opamp (LF353) and supply voltage (+-9V)
were used but resistor values were varied. We also added capacitors on the circuit to serve
as a low pass filter which allows low frequency component of the the modulated wave to
pass to the output while the high frequency component is filter out in the process. To do
this, we made the information signal pass through a capacitor and a resistor before it
enters the positive input of the opamp in the first stage. In addition, we adjusted the first

feedback resistor (1.8k) to 10k and the 22k resistor to 120 ohms to adjust the gain of the
information signal at the output side of the opamp in the first stage. This amplified output
signal is fed to the gate of the JFET (5458) and serves as the input signal to the opamp in
the second stage. The source terminal of the JFET is made grounded and its drain terminal
is fed to the positive input of the opamp in the second stage where the amplified info signal
is fed at. Moreover, on the negative input of the opamp in the second stage, the carrier
signal is introduced but this time we inserted a capacitor between the carrier and the
negative input terminal to smoothen the waveform of the carrier and to delay it. The
positive feedback resistor changed to 10 k and load value to 5k. The changes of the
component values are shown in Figure 2 below. After this, we checked. Upon checking it
was observed that the upper and lower envelope of the AM signal are now out of phase and
the information sine wave signal is now imposed on the carrier as it varies the amplitude of
the carrier but it was also noted that there were parts of the AM signal which are distorted,
this is shown in the figure 2.2. We analyzed the circuit by varying resistor values but
neither of them worked. So we made another plan and research to come up with the
desired AM signal.

Figure 2. (Second Test AM Circuit)

Figure 2.2 (Second Output of the Second Test AM Circuit)

Now, here is the discussion proper of our working AM modulator circuit. Since
neither the circuit shown in figure 1 nor in figure 2 produced the desired AM signal, we
made another adjustment by varying the resistor values, interchanging some connections,
and introducing a low pass filter. For the first stage, amplification of the information signal
is done using the circuit that is described by the following paragraph. The information
signal with (5kHz) is fed at the positive input terminal of the opamp (LF353) with an input
resistance of 30kohms. The supply voltage is fed at the negative input terminal in an input
resistor og 2.2kohms. Unlike the previous circuits constructed, the supply voltage used
now is +-12V because we have learned that the minimum voltage needed to properly
operate the LF353 is +-12volts. Then a negative feedback resistor here in the first stage has
a resistance value of 1Kohms. This is made to properly vary the gain of the amplifier.
There are two conditions to be satisfied in order to produce an envelope of the
modulated wave to be the same shape as the information signal where the first condition is
that the percentage of modulation should be less than 100% so the envelope is not
distorted. The second condition is that the information bandwidth is small compared to the
carrier's frequency. The demodulation circuit for the envelope is called the envelope
detector. It is just basically a low-pass filter consists of a resistor and a capacitor. From this
idea, we have inserted a capacitor on the output side of the first opamp to form a low pass
filter with the feedback resistor. The purpose of a low pass filter is to allow low frequency
component of the the modulated wave to pass to the output while the high frequency

component is filtered out in the process. The values of the resistor and the capacitor
determine how low the frequency will be able to appear at the output.
On the second stage, carrier signal with 860KHz is applied to the non-inverting
input of the second op amp. The drain terminal of the JFET (5458) where the amplified and
filtered information signal enters, is now connected to the negative input of the second
opamp. The output side in the second stage is fed back to the negative input of the 2 nd
opamp by a feedback resistor of 2.2kohms purpose of these is to deliver a portion of the
output signal back to the input with lower gain. It is advisable because even if the gain is
lowered, the payoff is that it essentially levels the amplifier's frequency response over a
wide range of frequencies. By changing the gain of the amplifier in accordance with the
modulating signal, AM is produced. When we tried to suppress the modulating signal from
the circuit, the fixed resistance is a fixed value and therefore, the carrier output amplitude
became constant. Upon imposing the sine wave modulating signal, the resistance of the
JFET (5458) varied. A positive going modulating input signal caused the JFET resistance to
decrease, whereas a negative-going modulating signal caused it to increase. It is based on
the concept that as we increase the resistance of the FET, it caused the op amp circuit gain
to decrease and vice versa. The result is an AM signal at the op amp final output. Here, it
was noticed that the critical component is the JFET where it should be biased such that
the source to drain resistance is as linear as possible over a wide range. It has a good
reason why FET was used to construct an AM circuit when actually there are other
components that will generate an AM signal. It is because FET is good in low current signal
operation as it is a voltage controlled semiconductors device. It has very low noise level
thus it fits for communication purposes. The circuit of our Amplitude Modulator is shown
below in Figure 3, with its corresponding output in Figure 3.3.

Figure 3 (Amplitude Modulator Circuit)

Figure 3.3 (Amplitude Modulated Signal)

For our percent modulation, M. We used M=(Vmaxp-Vminp)/(Vmaxp+Vminp).
M= 64.63%

Figure 3.4 (Amplitude Modulated Signal)

M= 82%

VII. Specs