In many telecommunications systems, it is necessary to represent an information-bearing signal with a waveform that can pass accurately through a transmission medium. This assigning of a suitable waveform is accomplished by modulation, which is the process by which some characteristic of a carrier wave is varied in accordance with an information signal, or modulating wave. The modulated signal is then transmitted over a channel, after which the original information-bearing signal is recovered through a process of demodulation.

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Modulation is applied to information signals for a number of reasons, some of which are outlined below.
1. Many transmission channels are characterized by limited pass bands--that is, they will pass only certain ranges of frequencies without seriously attenuating them (reducing their amplitude). Modulation methods must therefore be applied to the information signals in order to “frequency translates” the signals into the range of frequencies that are permitted by the channel. Examples of channels that exhibit pass band characteristics include alternating-current-coupled coaxial cables, which pass signals only in the range of 60 kilohertz to several hundred megahertz, and fiber-optic cables, which pass light signals only within a given wavelength range without significant attenuation. In these instances frequency translation is used to “fit” the information signal to the communications channel.

2. In many instances a communications channel is shared by multiple users. In order to prevent mutual interference, each user’s information signal is modulated onto an assigned carrier of a specific frequency. When the frequency assignment and subsequent combining is done at a central point, the resulting combination is a Frequency-division multiplexed signal, as is discussed in Multiplexing. Frequently there is no central combining point, and the communications channel itself acts as a distributed combine. An example of the latter situation is the broadcast radio bands (from 540 kilohertz to 600 megahertz), which permit simultaneous transmission of multiple AM radio, FM radio, and television signals without mutual interference as long as each signal is assigned to a different frequency band.

3. Even when the communications channel can support direct transmission of the information-bearing signal, there are often practical reasons why this is undesirable. A simple example is the transmission of a three-kilohertz (i.e., voice band) signal via radio wave. In free space the wavelength of a three-kilohertz signal is 100 kilometers (60 miles). Since an effective radio antenna is typically as large as half the wavelength of the signal, a three-kilohertz radio wave might require an antenna up to 50 kilometers in length. In this case translation of the voice frequency to a higher frequency would allow the use of a much smaller antenna.

Analog modulation
As is noted in analog-to-digital conversion, voice signals, as well as audio and video signals, are inherently analog in form. In most modern systems these signals are digitized prior to transmission, but in some systems the analog signals are still transmitted directly without converting them to digital form. There are two commonly used methods of modulating analog signals. One technique, called amplitude modulation, varies the amplitude of a fixed-frequency carrier wave in proportion to the information signal. The other technique, called frequency modulation, varies the frequency of a fixed-amplitude carrier wave in proportion to the information signal.

Digital modulation

In order to transmit computer data and other digitized information over a communications channel, an analog carrier wave can be modulated to reflect the binary nature of the digital baseband signal. The parameters of the carrier that can be modified are the amplitude, the frequency, and the phase.

Three methods of digital signal modulation digital signal, representing the binary digits 0 and 1 by a series of on and off amplitudes, is impressed onto an analog carrier wave of constant amplitude and frequency. In amplitude-shift keying (ASK), the modulated wave represents the series of bits by shifting abruptly between high and low amplitude. In frequency-shift keying (FSK), the bit stream is represented by shifts between two frequencies. In phase-shift keying (PSK), amplitude and frequency remain constant; the bit stream is represented by shifts in the phase of the modulated signal. Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.

Amplitude-shift keying

If amplitude is the only parameter of the carrier wave to be altered by the information signal, the modulating method is called amplitude-shift keying (ASK). ASK can be considered a digital version of analog amplitude modulation. In its simplest form, a burst of radio frequency is transmitted only when a binary 1 appears and is stopped when a 0 appears. In another variation, the 0 and 1 are represented in the modulated signal by a shift between two preselected amplitudes.

Frequency-shift keying

If frequency is the parameter chosen to be a function of the information signal, the modulation method is called frequency-shift keying (FSK). In the simplest form of FSK signaling, digital data is transmitted using one of two frequencies, whereby one frequency is used to transmit a 1 and the other frequency to transmit a 0. Such a scheme was used in the Bell 103 voice band modem, introduced in 1962, to transmit information at rates up to 300 bits per second over the public switched telephone network. In the Bell 103 modem, frequencies of 1,080 +/- 100 hertz and 1,750 +/- 100 hertz were used to send binary data in both directions.

Phase-shift keying

When phase is the parameter altered by the information signal, the method is called phase-shift keying (PSK). In the simplest form of PSK a single radio frequency carrier is sent with a fixed phase to represent a 0 and with a 180° phase shift—that is, with the opposite polarity—to represent a 1. PSK was employed in the Bell 212 modem, which was introduced about 1980 to transmit information at rates up to 1,200 bits per second over the public switched telephone network.

In addition to the elementary forms of digital modulation described above, there exist more advanced methods that result from a superposition of multiple modulating signals. An example of the latter form of modulation is quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM). QAM signals actually transmit two amplitude-modulated signals in phase quadrature (i.e., 90° apart), so that four or more bits are represented by each shift of the combined signal. Communications systems that employ QAM include digital cellular systems in the United States and Japan as well as most voice band modems transmitting above 2,400 bits per second.

A form of modulation that combines convolutional codes with QAM is known as trellis-coded modulation (TCM), which is described in Channel encoding. Trellis-coded modulation forms an essential part of most of the modern voice band modems operating at data rates of 9,600 bits per second and above, including V.32 and V.34 modems.

Multiplexing

Because of the installation cost of a communications channel, such as a microwave link or a coaxial cable link, it is desirable to share the channel among multiple users. Provided that the channel’s data capacity exceeds that required to support a single user, the channel may be shared through the use of multiplexing methods. Multiplexing is the sharing of a communications channel through local combining of signals at a common point. Two types of multiplexing are commonly employed: frequency-division multiplexing and time-division multiplexing.

Frequency-division multiplexing

In frequency-division multiplexing (FDM), the available bandwidth of a communications channel is shared among multiple users by frequency translating, or modulating, each of the individual users onto a different carrier frequency. Assuming sufficient frequency separation of the carrier frequencies that the modulated signals do not overlap, recovery of each of the FDM signals is possible at the receiving end. In order to prevent overlap of the signals and to simplify filtering, each of the modulated signals is separated by a guard band, which consists of an unused portion of the available frequency spectrum. Each user is assigned a given frequency band for all time.

Analog multiplexing, as employed in the North American telephone system In frequency-division multiplexing (FDM), 12 separate voice signals, each of 4-kilohertz bandwidth, are modulated onto carrier waves in the 60–108-kilohertz range. These modulated signals are combined to form a single complex group signal. Groups are further combined to form a hierarchy of increasing bandwidth and voice-carrying capacity. Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.

While each user’s information signal may be either analog or digital, the combined FDM signal is inherently an analog waveform. Therefore, an FDM signal must be transmitted over an analog channel. Examples of FDM are found in some of the old long-distance telephone transmission systems, including the American N- and L-carrier coaxial cable systems and analog point-to-point microwave systems. In the L-carrier system a hierarchical combining structure is employed in which 12 voice band signals are frequency-division multiplexed to form a group signal in the frequency range of 60 to 108 kilohertz. Five group signals are multiplexed to form a super group signal in the frequency range of 312 to 552 kilohertz, corresponding to 60 voice band signals, and 10 super group signals are multiplexed to form a master group signal. In the L1 carrier system, deployed in the 1940s, the master group was transmitted directly over coaxial cable. For microwave systems, it was frequency modulated onto a microwave carrier frequency for point-to-point transmission. In the L4 system, developed in the 1960s, six master groups were combined to form a jumbo group signal of 3,600 voice band signals.

Time-division multiplexing

Multiplexing also may be conducted through the interleaving of time segments from different signals onto a single transmission path—a process known as time-division multiplexing (TDM). Time-division multiplexing of multiple signals is possible only when the available data rate of the channel exceeds the data rate of the total number of users. While TDM may be applied to either digital or analog signals, in practice it is applied almost always to digital signals. The resulting composite signal is thus also a digital signal.

Digital multiplexing, as employed in the North American telephone system In time-division multiplexing (TDM), 24 digitized voice signals, each at 64 kilobits per second, are assigned successive time slots in a 1.544-megabits-per-second signal. Combined signals are further combined to form data streams of increasing bit-rate and voice-carrying capacity. Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.

In a representative TDM system, data from multiple users are presented to a time-division multiplexer. A scanning switch then selects data from each of the users in sequence to form a composite TDM signal consisting of the interleaved data signals. Each user’s data path is assumed to be time-aligned or synchronized to each of the other users’ data paths and to the scanning mechanism. If only one bit were selected from each of the data sources, then the scanning mechanism would select the value of the arriving bit from each of the multiple data sources. In practice, however, the scanning mechanism usually selects a slot of data consisting of multiple bits of each user’s data; the scanner switch is then advanced to the next user to select another slot, and so on. Each user is assigned a given time slot for all time.

Most modern telecommunications systems employ some form of TDM for transmission over long-distance routes. The multiplexed signal may be sent directly over cable systems, or it may be modulated onto a carrier signal for transmission via radio wave. Examples of such systems include the North American T carriers as well as digital point-to-point microwave systems. In T1 systems, introduced in 1962, 24 voice band signals (or the digital equivalent) are time-division multiplexed together. The voice band signal is a 64-kilobit-per-second data stream consisting of 8-bit symbols transmitted at a rate of 8,000 symbols per second. The TDM process interleaves 24 8-bit time slots together, along with a single frame-synchronization bit, to form a 193-bit frame. The 193-bit frames are formed at the rate of 8,000 frames per second, resulting in an overall data rate of 1.544 megabits per second. For transmission over more recent T-carrier systems, T1 signal is often further multiplexed to form higher-data-rate signals—again using a hierarchical scheme.

Multiple Accesses

Multiplexing is defined as the sharing of a communications channel through local combining at a common point. In many cases, however, the communications channel must be efficiently shared among many users that are geographically distributed and that sporadically attempt to communicate at random points in time. Three schemes have been devised for efficient sharing of a single channel under these conditions; they are called frequency-division multiple access (FDMA), time-division multiple access (TDMA), and code-division multiple access (CDMA). These techniques can be used alone or together in telephone systems, and they are well illustrated by the most advanced mobile cellular systems.

Frequency-division multiple access

In FDMA the goal is to divide the frequency spectrum into slots and then to separate the signals of different users by placing them in separate frequency slots. The difficulty is that the frequency spectrum is limited and that there are typically many more potential communicators than there are available frequency slots. In order to make efficient use of the communications channel, a system must be devised for managing the available slots. In the advanced mobile phone system (AMPS), the cellular system employed in the United States, different callers use separate frequency slots via FDMA. When one telephone call is completed, a network-managing computer at the cellular base station reassigns the released frequency slot to a new caller. A key goal of the AMPS system is to reuse frequency slots whenever possible in order to accommodate as many callers as possible. Locally within a cell, frequency slots can be reused when corresponding calls are terminated. In addition, frequency slots can be used simultaneously by multiple callers located in separate cells. The cells must be far enough apart geographically that the radio signals from one cell are sufficiently attenuated at the location of the other cell using the same frequency slot.

Time-division multiple access

In TDMA the goal is to divide time into slots and separate the signals of different users by placing the signals in separate time slots. The difficulty is that requests to use a single communications channel occur randomly, so that on occasion the number of requests for time slots is greater than the number of available slots. In this case information must be buffered, or stored in memory, until time slots become available for transmitting the data. The buffering introduces delay into the system. In the IS54 cellular system, three digital signals are interleaved using TDMA and then transmitted in a 30-kilohertz frequency slot that would be occupied by one analog signal in AMPS. Buffering digital signals and interleaving them in time causes some extra delay, but the delay is so brief that it is not ordinarily noticed during a call. The IS54 system uses aspects of both TDMA and FDMA.

Code-division multiple access

In CDMA, signals are sent at the same time in the same frequency band. Signals are either selected or rejected at the receiver by recognition of a user-specific signature waveform, which is constructed from an assigned spreading code. The IS95 cellular system employs the CDMA technique. In IS95 an analog speech signal that is to be sent to a cell site is first quantized and then organized into one of a number of digital frame structures. In one frame structure, a frame of 20 milliseconds’ duration consists of 192 bits. Of these 192 bits, 172 represent the speech signal itself, 12 form a cyclic redundancy check that can be used for error detection, and 8 form an encoder “tail” that allows the decoder to work properly. These bits are formed into an encoded data stream. After interleaving of the encoded data stream, bits are organized into groups of six. Each group of six bits indicates which of 64 possible waveforms to transmit. Each of the waveforms to be transmitted has a particular pattern of alternating polarities and occupies a certain portion of the radio-frequency spectrum. Before one of the waveforms is transmitted, however, it is multiplied by a code sequence of polarities that alternate at a rate of 1.2288 megahertz, spreading the bandwidth occupied by the signal and causing it to occupy (after filtering at the transmitter) about 1.23 megahertz of the radio-frequency spectrum. At the cell site one user can be selected from multiple users of the same 1.23-megahertz bandwidth by its assigned code sequence.

CDMA is sometimes referred to as spread-spectrum multiple access (SSMA), because the process of multiplying the signal by the code sequence causes the power of the transmitted signal to be spread over a larger bandwidth. Frequency management, a necessary feature of FDMA, is eliminated in CDMA. When another user wishes to use the communications channel, it is assigned a code and immediately transmits instead of being stored until a frequency slot opens.


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Source: britannica