Continuous-Phase Frequency Shift

Keying (FSK)
Steven A. Tretter
May 22, 2004

1 Definition of the FSK Signal

Continuous-phase frequency shift keying is often used to transmit low-speed binary data
over wireline and wireless links. It is used to transmit control information in the IS-54-B
standard. The block diagram of an M -ary FSK transmitter is shown in Figure 1. Bits from
a binary data source with a bit-rate of R bits per second are grouped into successive blocks
of K bits. Each block is used to select one of M = 2K frequencies from the set
∆f
fc + I(n) with I(n) ∈ {±1, ±3, · · · , ±(M − 1)} (1)
2
Notice that the frequencies are equally spaced by ∆f Hz. Blocks are formed at the rate of
fs = R/K blocks per second, so each frequency is sent for Ts = 1/fs seconds. The sinusoid
transmitted for a block is also called the FSK symbol specified by the block. The symbol
rate, fs , is also called the Baud rate.
Binary
Data Serial to K .
I(n) m(t) FM s(t)
..
- .. - D/A - -
..
Parallel Modulator
R bits/sec fs = R/K M = 2K
symbols/sec Levels
(baud rate)

Figure 1: Binary Transmission by FSK

The process of converting data blocks to sinusoids with the desired frequencies can be
modeled as shown in the figure. Assuming transmission starts at t = 0, the “D/A” converter
generates the staircase signal
∞
∆f X
m(t) = I(n)p(t − nTs ) (2)
2 n=0

where p(t) is the rectangular pulse of duration Ts

(
1 for 0 ≤ t < Ts
p(t) = (3)
0 elsewhere
This baseband message is applied to the FM modulator which generates the signal
 Z t 
s(t) = Ac cos 2πfc t + 2π m(τ ) dτ + φ0 (4)
0

1
which has the pre-envelope
Rt
jωc t j2π m(τ ) dτ jφ0
s+ (t) = Ac e e 0 e (5)

Let the phase contributed by the baseband message be

t t ∞
Z Z
∆f X
φm (t) = 2π m(τ ) dτ = 2π I(n)p(τ − nTs ) dτ
0 0 2 n=0
∞
X Z t
= π∆f I(n) p(τ − nTs ) dτ (6)
n=0 0

Now consider the case when kTs ≤ t < (k + 1)Ts . Then

k−1
X Z t
φm (t) = π∆f I(n)Ts + π∆f I(k) dτ
n=0 kTs
k−1
X
= π∆f Ts I(n) + π∆f I(k)(t − kTs )
n=0
k−1
∆f X ∆f t − kTs
= π I(n) + π I(k) (7)
fs n=0 fs Ts

The modulation index for an FSK signal is defined to be

∆f
h= (8)
fs
and the phase at the start of the kth symbol is

∆f k−1
X k−1
X
φm (kTs ) = π I(n) = πh I(n) (9)
fs n=0 n=0

Therefore,
(t − kTs )
φm (t) = φm (kTs ) + πh I(k) for kTs ≤ t < (k + 1)Ts (10)
Ts
EXAMPLE: AMPS Wideband Analog Data Signals

The IS-54-B standard in Section 2.1.3.2 Wideband Analog Data Signals specifies that
data bits should be sent using continuous-phase binary (M = 2) FSK with a frequency
deviation of ±8 kHz. The bit rate is specified to be 10 kHz and the bits are Manchester or
split-phase encoded. The exact words in the standard are:

2.1.3.2.1 Encoding

The reverse control channel (RECC) and reverse voice channel (RVC) wideband data
streams (see 2.7) must be further encoded such that each nonreturn-to-zero binary

2
 one is transformed to a zero-to-one transition, and each nonreturn-to-zero binary zero
is transformed to a one-to-zero transition.

2.1.3.2.2 Modulation and Polarity

The filtered wideband data stream must then be used to modulate the transmitter
carrier using direct binary frequency shift keying. A one (i.e., high state) into the
modulator must correspond to a nominal peak frequency deviation 8 kHz above the
carrier frequency, and a zero into the modulator must correspond to a nominal peak
frequency deviation 8 kHz below the carrier frequency
When rectangular pulses of width Ts /2 are used for the levels of the Manchester encoded
bit stream, the spectrum of the FSK signal is wider than the allowed 30 kHz channel band-
width. The IS-54 standard does not say how to solve this problem, but manufacturers have
solved it by lowpass filtering the Manchester encoded bit stream before it is applied to the
FM modulator. For example, 50% raised cosine shaping of the pulses for each half baud
could be used.

2 Power Spectrum for an FSK Signal

Deriving the power spectrum for and FSK signal turns out to be a surprisingly complicated
problem. Lucky, Salz, and Weldon1 present the solution for a slightly generalized form of
FSK than described above. They allow the pulse p(t) to have an arbitrary shape but still be
confined to be zero outside the interval [0, Ts ). Let the factor of the FM pre-envelope caused
by the message be
v(t) = eφm (t) (11)
The frequency deviation during the interval [nTs , (n + 1)Ts ) is

sn (t − nTs ) = π∆f I(n)p(t − nTs ) (12)

The phase change caused by this frequency deviation during the baud when time is taken
relative to the start of the baud is
Z t
bn (t) = π∆f I(n) p(τ ) dτ for 0 ≤ t < Ts (13)
0

The total phase change over a baud is

Z Ts
Bn = bn (Ts ) = π∆f I(n) p(τ ) dτ (14)
0

The Fourier transform of a typical modulated pulse is

Z Ts
Fn (f ) = ejbn (t) e−j2πf t dt (15)
0
1
R.W. Lucky, J. Salz, and E.J. Weldon, Principles of Data Communications, McGraw-Hill, 1968, pp.
203–207 and 242–245.

3
It is convenient to define the following functions:

1. The characteristic function of bn (t)

n o
C(α; t) = E ejαbn (t) (16)

2. The average transform of a modulated pulse

F (f ) = E {Fn (f )} (17)

3. n o
F̄b (f ) = E F̄n (f )ejBn (18)
4. The average squared magnitude of a pulse transform
n o
P (f ) = E |Fn (f )|2 (19)

In terms of these quantities, the power spectrum is


e−j2πf Ts
" #

P (f ) + 2<e F (f )F̄b (f ) for |C(1; Ts )| < 1


1 − C(1; Ts )e−j2πf Ts



Ts Sv (f ) =  ∞
1 a
 
2
for C(1; T ) = eja
X
2
 P (f ) − |F (f )| + T |F (f )| δ f− − nfs



2πT

s n=−∞ s
(20)
Notice that the spectrum has discrete spectral lines as well as a distributed part when the
characteristic function has unity magnitude.

EXAMPLE: FSK with Rectangular Pulses

Let p(t) be a rectangular pulse as given by (3). For the case where the M FSK tone
frequencies are chosen with equal likelihood for each symbol and independently from symbol
to symbol, it can be shown2 that the power spectral density when h is not an integer is
M M X M
S(f ) 1 X 2 2 X
= A (f ) + Bn,m (f )An (f )Am (f ) (21)
Ts A2c M n=1 n M 2 n=1 m=1

where
sin π[f Ts − (2n − 1 − M ) h2 ] sin πTs [f − (2n − 1 − M ) ∆f
2
]
An (f ) = h = ∆f (22)
[f Ts − (2n − 1 − M ) 2 ] πTs [f − (2n − 1 − M ) 2 ]
cos(2πf Ts − αn,m ) − ψ cos αn,m
Bn,m (f ) = (23)
1 + ψ 2 − 2ψ cos 2πf Ts
αn,m = πh(m + n − 1 − M ) (24)
sin M πh
ψ = (25)
M sin πh
2
John G. Proakis, Digital Communications, 2nd Ed., McGraw-Hill, 1989, p. 200.

4
When h is an integer, S(f ) also contains Dirac impulses indicating discrete spectral compo-
nents as well as the distributed part.
Notice that the An (f ) sinc function has its peak at the tone frequency (2n − 1 − M )∆f /2
and zeros at multiples of the symbol rate, fs from the tone frequency. This is exactly what
would be expected for a burst of duration Ts of a sinusoid at the tone frequency. The
remaining terms account for the continuous phase property and give a narrower spectrum
than if the the phase were discontinuous.

EXAMPLE Manchester Coding

For the IS-54-B Manchester encoded data, the elementary frequency pulse for a binary 1
or I(n) = 1 is (
−1 for 0 ≤ t < Ts /2
p(t) = (26)
1 for Ts /2 ≤ t < Ts
The pulse for a binary 0 or I(n) = −1 is the negative of this pulse. For this example,
Bn = bn (Ts ) = 0 since the pulses integrate to 0 over a symbol. Therefore, the required
characteristic function is
n o
C(1; Ts ) = E ejBn = 1 and a = arg C(1; Ts ) = 0

The phase deviations over a symbol are the triangular shaped functions
(
−π∆f I(n)t for 0 ≤ t < Ts /2
bn (t) = (27)
π∆f I(n)(t − Ts ) for Ts /2 ≤ t < Ts

The transform of a modulated pulse is

Z Ts /2 Z Ts
Fn (f ) = e−jπ∆f I(n)t e−j2πf t dt + ejπ∆f (t−Ts )I(n) e−j2πf t dt
0 Ts /2

∆f
I(n)] T2s sin π[f + ∆f I(n)] T2s
= e−jπ[f + 2 2
π[f + ∆f
2
I(n)]
∆f
I(n)] 3T2s −jπ∆f Ts I(n) sin π[f − ∆f I(n)] T2s
+ e−jπ[f − 2 e 2
(28)
π[f − ∆f
2
I(n)]

The transform of a modulated pulse essentially is the sum of two sinc functions, one
centered at the frequency ∆f /2 and the other at −∆f /2. The zeros of the sinc functions
occur at multiples of 2fs away from the peaks. Therefore, the spectrum for Manchester
coding is wider than for the previous example with rectangular frequency pulses.
Let the unshifted sinc function be denoted by

sin πf T2s
A(f ) = (29)
πf
and the pulse transform for I(n) = 1 be
∆f
) T2s ∆f
) 3T2s −jπ∆f Ts
G(f ) = Fn (f )|I(n)=1 = e−jπ(f + 2 A(f + ∆f
2
) + e−jπ(f − 2 e A(f − ∆f
2
) (30)

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The phase deviation b(n) for I(n) = −1 is the negative of that for I(n) = 1 so the modulated
pulses are complex conjugates. It can be shown by direct computation or by the transform
of conjugates property that the transform for I(n) = −1 is

Fn (f )|I(n)=−1 = G(−f ) (31)

The following identity will be useful in computing the squared magnitudes of several
complex sums of functions. Let z1 and z2 be complex numbers. Then

|z1 + z2 |2 = (z1 + z2 )(z1 + z2 ) = |z1 |2 + |z2 |2 + 2<e{z1 z̄2 } (32)

Using this identity, it follows that

∆f ∆f ∆f ∆f
|G(f )|2 = A2 (f + 2
) + A2 (f − 2
) + 2A(f + 2
)A(f − 2
) cos πf Ts (33)

Also,
|G(−f )|2 = |G(−f )|2 = |G(f )|2 (34)
The following formula can be derived with some algebra and will be required in computations
below:
∆f
<e{G(f )G(−f )} = A2 (f + 2
) cos π(f − ∆f
2
)Ts + A2 (f − ∆f2
) cos π(f + ∆f
2
)Ts
+ 2A(f + ∆f2
)A(f − ∆f2
) cos π∆f T2s (35)

The average pulse transform is

1 1
F (f ) = G(f ) + G(−f ) (36)
2 2
so
1 1 1
|F (f )|2 = |G(f )|2 + |G(−f )|2 + <e{G(f )G(−f )}
4 4 2
1 1
= |G(f )|2 + <e{G(f )G(−f )} (37)
2 2
Using (33), (35), and the identity 2 cos2 θ = 1 + cos 2θ yields
∆f
|F (f )|2 = A2 (f + 2
) cos2 π(f − ∆f 2
) T2s + A2 (f − ∆f 2
) cos2 π(f + ∆f 2
) T2s
+2A(f + ∆f 2
)A(f − ∆f2
) cos π(f + ∆f 2
) T2s cos π(f − ∆f 2
) T2s (38)
∆f Ts 2
h i
= A(f + ∆f
2
) cos π(f − ∆f Ts
2
) 2
+ A(f − ∆f
2
) cos π(f + 2
) 2
(39)

The average squared magnitude of the pulse transforms is

1 1
P (f ) = |G(f )|2 + |G(−f )|2 = |G(f )|2 (40)
2 2
Thus, according to (20), the power spectrum is
∞
1 1 1
Ts Sv (f ) = |G(f )|2 − <e{G(f )G(−f )} + |F (f )|2
X
δ (f − nfs ) (41)
2 2 Ts n=−∞

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Using the formulas derived above, this result can be expressed as
∆f
Ts Sv (f ) = A2 (f + 2
) sin2 π(f − ∆f 2
) T2s + A2 (f − ∆f 2
) sin2 π(f + ∆f 2
) T2s
−2A(f + ∆f 2
)A(f − ∆f2
) sin π(f + ∆f 2
) T2s sin π(f − ∆f 2
) T2s
∞
1
+ |F (f )|2
X
δ (f − nfs ) (42)
Ts n=−∞
∆f Ts 2
h i
= A(f + ∆f
2
) sin π(f − ∆f Ts
2
) 2
− A(f − ∆f
2
) sin π(f + 2
) 2
∞
1
+ |F (f )|2
X
δ (f − nfs ) (43)
Ts n=−∞

3 FSK Demodulation
Continuous phase FSK signals can be demodulated using any of the methods described in the
Frequency Modulation notes. These include the frequency discriminator, the approximate
discriminator, and the phase-locked loop. In a wireless environment with rapid and deep
fading, it will be difficult to keep a PLL locked. Also, with TDMA transmission where
the signals are sent in bursts, a PLL will not have time to reliably acquire the signal. A
discriminator will be more effective in these cases. A high quality discrete-time discriminator
implementation is shown in the FM lecture notes. The approximate discriminator discussed
in the FM notes with a sampling rate of several samples per half symbol should be adequate
for the IS-54-B Manchester encoded signal.
Another FSK demodulator is shown in Figure 2 for the binary FSK case. In the more
general M -ary case, the input FSK signal is applied to M bandpass filters tuned to the
tone frequencies. The energies of the filter outputs are measured. At the end of each baud,
the frequency corresponding to the filter with the largest output energy is selected as the
estimate of what was transmitted. This process can be implemented in the binary case as
shown in Figure 2. The outputs of the upper and lower bandpass tone filters are squared and
subtracted. The result is passed through a lowpass filter whose output is a measure of the
difference in the energies of the tone filter outputs. When the upper tone is transmitted the
result will be positive and when the lower tone is transmitted it will be negative. Therefore,
the decision can be made by simply slicing (quantizing) the lowpass filter output to a 1 or 0.
The filters must be carefully designed to have adequate bandwidths and time constants. In
my experience, the discrete-time discriminator shown if the FM lecture notes works better
for signals with small modulation index.

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 Upper
- Tone - (·)2
Filter
+
s(t) 
?
Lowpass
+ - - Slicer -
 Filter
−
6
Lower
- Tone - (·)2
Filter

Figure 2: Binary FSK Demodulator Using Tone Filters