Chapter 4: Pulse Modulation Systems

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Overview
The sampling theorem
Pulse Amplitude Modulation
Channel BW for a PAM signal
Natural Sampling

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The sampling theorem
Let m(t) be a signal which is band limited such that its
highest frequency spectral component is fM
Let the values of m(t) be determined at regular
intervals separated by times Ts 1 2 fM
i.e, the signal is periodically sampled every Ts seconds.
Then these samples m(nTs) , where n is an integer,
uniquely determine the signal, and the signal may be
reconstructed from these samples with no distortion.
The time Ts is called the sampling time.
At least two samples are taken during the course of the
period corresponding to the highest-frequency spectral
component

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The sampling theorem
Consider the following baseband signal m(t) and a periodic
train of pulses s(t) of unit amplitude and period Ts

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The sampling theorem
The product is m(t) sampled at the occurrence of each
pulse.
1

For the case Ts 1 2 fM

1 1

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The sampling theorem
The first term in the series is, aside from a constant factor,
the signal m(t) itself.
the second term is the product of m(t) and a sinusoid of
frequency 2 fM . DSB-SC signal centered at 2 fM
Similarly, succeeding terms yield DSB-SC signals
centered at 4 fM , 6 fM etc.
Let the signal m(t) have a spectral density
M(jw) =f[m(t)] as shown below, band limited to fM

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The sampling theorem
The product signal will have the ff spectrum

Suppose then that the sampled signal is passed

through an ideal low-pass filter with cut off frequency
at fM
If the filter transmission were constant in the pass band
and if the cutoff were infinitely sharp at fM, the filter would
pass the signal m(t) and nothing else

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The sampling theorem
When the sampling rate fs Ts is larger than
1 2 fM , the
spectrum of the product signal would be:

The low-pass filter used to select the signal m(t) need not
have an infinitely sharp cutoff.
The range from fM to fs fM is called a guard band
and is always required in practice, since a filter with
infinitely sharp cutoff is not realizable.
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The sampling theorem
Typically in voice message communication, the voice
signal is band limited to fM 3.3kHz, fs is selected at
8 kHz. The guard band is 8-2*3.3kHz=1.4kHz
In the case Ts 1 2 fM there is an overlap between the
spectrum of m(t) and the spectrum of the DSB-SC
signal centered at fs
Accordingly, no filtering operation will allow an exact
recovery of m(t).

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Overview
The sampling theorem
Pulse Amplitude Modulation(PAM)
Channel BW for a PAM signal
Natural Sampling

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PAM
Consider the following figure illustrating the use of
sampling principle for the purpose of time-division
multiplexing

At the transmitting end, a number of band limited Signals

are connected to the contact point of a rotary switch.

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PAM
Let m1(t), m2(t) be all voice signals, limited to 3.3 kHz
As the rotary arm of the switch swings around, it
samples each signal sequentially.
The rotary switch at the receiving end is in
synchronism with the switch at the sending end.
The two switches make contact simultaneously at similarly
numbered contacts.
With each revolution of the switch, one sample is taken of
each input signal and presented to the correspondingly
numbered contact of the receiving-end switch.
if fM is the highest-frequency spectral component, for all
the input signals, the switches must make at least 2 fM
revolutions per second.

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PAM
The switch that samples the signals is called commutator
and the one at the receiving end is called decommutator
The interlacing of the samples that allows multiplexing is
shown below
Here, for simplicity, we have considered the case of the
multiplexing of just two signals m1(t) and m2(t).

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PAM
We observe that the train of pulses corresponding to
the samples of each signal are modulated in amplitude
in accordance with the signal itself.
Accordingly, the scheme of sampling is called pulse-
amplitude modulation (PAM)
This system is an example of a time-division multiplex
(TDM) system
If we require to transmit the TDM-PAM signal from one
antenna to another. It would then be necessary to
amplitude-modulate or frequency-modulate a high-
frequency carrier with the TDM-PAM signal.
In such a case the overall system would be referred to,
respectively, as PAM-AM or PAM-FM

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Overview
The sampling theorem
Pulse Amplitude Modulation(PAM)
Channel BW for a PAM signal
Natural Sampling

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Channel BW for a PAM signal
Suppose that we have N independent baseband
signals m1(t), m2(t), etc., each of which is bandlimited
to fM
What must be the bandwidth of the communications
channel which will allow all N signals to be transmitted
simultaneously using PAM-TDM?
Each baseband signal, say m1(t),must be sampled at
intervals not longer than Ts 1 2 fM
Between successive samples of m1(t) will appear
samples of the other N-1 samples
Therefore the interval of separation between successive
samples of different baseband signals is Ts 1
N 2 NfM

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Channel BW for a PAM signal
Assume bandwidth of the channel is restricted
Let us assume that our channel has the characteristics
of an ideal low-pass filter with angular cutoff frequency
. c 2fc unity gain, and no delay.
Let a sample be taken, say of m1(t), at t = 0. Then at
t = 0 there is presented at the transmitting end of the
channel an impulse of strength I1= m1(0)dt.
The response at the receiving end is SR1(t) given by

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Channel BW for a PAM signal
The normalized response SR (t ) is shown below
c

This response persists indefinitely.

The response of the impulse due to m2(t) has the same
form except a delay in time

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Channel BW for a PAM signal
At the receiving end, what we get for Mn(t) is not a single
baseband signal but will be instead a combination of many
or even all the baseband signals.
Such combining of baseband signals at a communication
system output is called crosstalk and is to be avoid as far
as possible
Observe, that the response for m1(t) passes through zero
at intervals which are multiples of /c= 1/2fc.
Suppose, then, that a sample of m2(t) is taken and
transmitted at t = 1/2fc

If

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Channel BW for a PAM signal
This response is shown by the dashed plot.
Suppose, finally, that the demultiplexing is at t = 0 and for
m1(t) and at t = 1/2fc for m2(t).
Then, in spite of the persistence of the channel response,
there will be no crosstalk between m1(t) and m2(t).
Similarly, additional signals may be sampled and
multiplexed, provided that each new sample is taken
synchronously, every 1/2fc sec.

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Channel BW for a PAM signal
For a channel of bandwidth fc we need to separate
samples by intervals 1/2fc.
The sampling theorem requires that the samples of
an individual baseband signal be separated by
intervals not longer than 1/2fM.
Hence the total number of signals which may be
multiplexed is: N fc
fm
In principle then, multiplexing a number of signals by
PAM time division requires no more bandwidth than
would be required to multiplex these signals by FDM
using SSB transmission.

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Overview
The sampling theorem
Pulse Amplitude Modulation(PAM)
Channel BW for a PAM signal
Natural Sampling

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Natural Sampling
Instantaneous sampling is hardly feasible.
Recall I1 =m1(0)dt have infinitesimal energy
Such infinitesimal signals will inevitably be lost in
background noise.
A much more reasonable manner of sampling, referred to
as natural sampling, is shown below
Here the sampling waveform S(t) consists of a train of
pulses having duration and separated by the sampling
time Ts

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Natural Sampling

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Natural Sampling
the samples are sequence of pulses of varying amplitude
whose tops follow the waveform of the signal m(t).

With
1
For Ts
2 fm

low-pass filter with cutoff at the frequency fM will deliver

an output signal S 0(t ) given by:

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