Polytechnic University of the Philippines

Sto. Tomas Branch

Bachelor of Science in Electronics and Communications
Engineering
2-1

Amplitude Modulation Ultimately, the circuit created is

capable of broadcasting the signal
Transmitter Design and and can be received by anyone with
Construction for the right frequency.

Simulation
JILLIAN MAE GONZALES, EARL STHEPEN
MOLINO, JOHN PARDUCHO, JAN JADRIEN
RAMOS, CLARENCE GILFRED TERRENAL
ECEN 30044 COMMUNICATIONS 1

Abstract – Amplitude
Modulation (AM) radio transmissions
are widely utilized in both private and I. INTRODUCTION
commercial applications, with the
goal of broadcasting to an audience, AM, or amplitude modulation,
whether it's a person speaking, Morse is a type of modulation used in radio
code, or even copyrighted music. The transmissions for broadcasting and
amplitude of the wave is modulated two-way radio communication
and then encoded with the transmitted applications. The ease of usage of
sound in AM radio frequencies (RF) amplitude modulation was one of the
transmissions, while the frequency main reasons for its use. The system
remains constant. Furthermore, AM only required modulation of the carrier
radio transmissions can occur on a amplitude, but the detector required in
variety of frequencies, with the receiver could be a simple diode-
broadcasts on the same frequency based circuit. This meant that AM
causing interference. Therefore, radios didn't need costly demodulators,
selecting a unique frequency band which cut prices - a fundamental
plays a vital role if one wants to necessity for widespread adoption of
transmit clean, with little to no radio technology, especially in the
interference, communications early days of radio when integrated
(Omotunde, 2020). Furthermore, circuits weren't yet available.
using simple electronic components Reginald Fessenden, a
such as resistors, capacitors, Canadian engineer, transmitted the first
transistors, and others, this term amplitude modulated signal in 1901.
paper creates a highly controllable He used a carbon microphone in the
and efficient Amplitude Modulation antenna lead to record a continuous
(AM) transmitter. The circuit design spark transmission.
is created and simulated through the The microphone's resistance
mobile application, EveryCircuit, changed as a result of the sound waves
which offers its users eye-comforting hitting it, and the intensity of the
visuals, functionality, and transmission changed as a result.
interactivity in everything circuits Although the signals were primitive,
without sacrificing portability. they were detectable over a few

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 Polytechnic University of the Philippines
Sto. Tomas Branch
Bachelor of Science in Electronics and Communications
Engineering
2-1

hundred meters, despite a rasping demodulating amplitude modulation

sound generated by the spark. are inexpensive and simple to produce.
Communications improved Despite this, many people are
dramatically after the introduction of switching to high-quality transmission
continuous sine wave signals, and AM methods such as frequency
quickly became the industry standard modulation, FM, or digital broadcasts.
for voice transmissions. Amplitude A radio signal must be
modulation, or AM, is now utilized for modulated or modified in some way in
audio broadcasting on the long, order to carry audio or other
medium, and short-wave bands, as well information for broadcasting or two-
as two-way radio communication for way radio conversation. Although a
aircraft on the VHF band. However, radio signal can be modulated in a
since more effective and convenient variety of ways, one of the simplest is
techniques of modulating a signal have to modify its amplitude in response to
become available, its use is reducing, sound fluctuations. The amplitude of
but it will be many years before it is the radio frequency signal varies as a
completely phased out. result of the instantaneous value of the
A wide range of applications modulation intensity. This means that a
employ amplitude modulation. Even if representation of the sound wave is
it is not as commonly utilized as it was superimposed on the radio frequency
in earlier years, it can still be found in signal.
its basic shape. AM is widely utilized Accordingly, the radio
for data transmission in a wide range frequency signal is commonly referred
of applications, including short-range to as the "carrier" because of the way
wireless networks like Wi-Fi, cellular the basic signal "carries" the sound or
telecommunications, and much more. modulation.
It's made up of two carriers that are 90 This term paper will allow us to
degrees out of phase. understand not only about the
Correspondingly, many aerial importance of the AM Transmitter and
applications still use AM for VHF its evolution over time, but also about
transmissions. It serves as a ground-to- its operational processes and
air radio link as well as a two-way schematics, which is the main
radio link for ground personnel. objective of this work.
For HF radio links, amplitude
modulation in the form of single II. RELATED STUDIES
sideband is still employed. Many
point-to-point HF lines still employ A radio transmitter is an electronic
this type of modulation because it has a device that uses an antenna to emit
lower bandwidth and makes better use radio waves. A radio frequency
of the transmitted power. alternating current is generated by the
On the long, medium, and transmitter and applied to the antenna.
short-wave bands, AM is still The antenna emits radio waves when it
frequently utilized for broadcasting. is energized by this alternating current.
Because it is simple to demodulate, Amplitude modulation (AM) is a
radio receivers capable of modulation technique that is

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 Polytechnic University of the Philippines
Sto. Tomas Branch
Bachelor of Science in Electronics and Communications
Engineering
2-1

extensively used in electronic communication today, including as

communication to send data across a portable two-way radios, VHF aircraft
radio carrier wave. The amplitude radios, citizens band radios, and
(signal strength) of the carrier wave is computer modems (in the form of
altered in proportion to the waveform QAM). The term "AM" is frequently
being sent in amplitude modulation. used to describe medium wave AM
For example, the waveform could radio broadcasts.
represent the sound that will be The audio signal (music and
reproduced by a loudspeaker or the speech) is utilized to modulate the
light intensity of television pixels. This amplitude of the carrier wave in AM
technique differs from frequency radio broadcasting. The audio
modulation, in which the carrier waveform from the tuned signal is
signal's frequency is changed, and recovered and converted to audio using
phase modulation, in which the carrier a rectifier (diode) in the receiver.
signal's phase is changed. AM is the modulation method used by
At the output of an AM radio some radio-controlled equipment.
transmitter, a method for evaluating Rather than modulating the carrier with
AM (amplitude modulation) signal an audio signal, Pulse Width
distortion produced by AM to PM Modulation (PWM) or Pulse Position
(phase modulation) conversion is Modulation (PPM) is frequently
described. A new form of measuring utilized.
device is also shown for testing phase According to John P. Costas in
distortion in an AM radio transmitter 1956, to get the maximum
when an AM modulation signal is performance that AM is capable of,
supplied. synchronous or coherent detection
The inphase and orthogonal-phase techniques at the receiver and carrier
components of the down-converted suppression at the transmitter must be
AM signal are first separated, and applied. When a synchronous AM
these signals are then processed by an system is compared to a single-
operational circuit to obtain phase sideband system, it is clear that many
distortion, or the angle between the of the advantages formerly given to
orthogonal-phase and inphase single sideband are no longer valid.
components. In the prototype version,
a phase angle of at least 10 degrees is
recognized. (K. Wakai; N. Moribe; Y. III. DESIGN
Nasu; H. Ikeda; J. Li, 1990)
As per experiment conducted by I. Schematic
Landell de Moura and Reginald
Fessenden in 1900, AM was the first
modulation technology for transmitting
voice over the airwaves. It was
developed in the first two decades of
the twentieth century, commencing
with the radiotelephone experiments. It
is still used in many types of

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 Polytechnic University of the Philippines
Sto. Tomas Branch
Bachelor of Science in Electronics and Communications
Engineering
2-1

bidirectional communication, can

perform both operations. The
frequency band occupied by the
modulation signal is called the
baseband, while the higher frequency
band occupied by the modulated
carrier is called the passband.
Modulator is a circuit that
superimposes the information signal
into a carrier signal for wireless
transmission. In AM, there are
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of am
transmitter generally two types; the low level and
high level. Low-level modulators
First and foremost, the AM produce AM with only small signals
transmitter in Fig. 1. under while high-level modulators produce
consideration was simulated using two AM at high power levels. Low-level
(2) AC sources: The first AC source is modulator could use diode modulator,
referred to as the Carrier Signal, which transistor modulator and differential
is a waveform modulated with an amplifier. The signals are produced at
information-carrying signal to convey very low voltage and power
information. Typically, the Carrier amplitudes. In high-level, the
Signal has a much higher frequency modulator varies the voltage and the
than the Modulating Signal. The power that resulted into high-quality
Modulating Signal is the second AC performance. It could use collector
source and is regarded as the modulator and series modulator.
information signal. Then the combined We are going to emphasis on low-level
signals produced by the ac source transistor modulator which is a better
shown in the circuit are applied to the AM modulation. Since it uses a
base of a transistor. Through the transistor instead of the diode, the
emitter-collector circuit, the transistor circuit has gain. The emitter-base
amplifies the input from the ac sources. junction is a diode and a nonlinear
With the help of the Resonance Circuit device. Each input resistor was applied
(Bandpass Filter), the simulation came with carrier or modulating signal. The
up with an Amplitude Modulated signals added algebraically will be
signal or AM waveform. seen on the next resistor. If both are
sine wave, the resultant waveform is
IV. OPERATION that the carrier wave is riding on the
modulating signal. It’s still not an AM,
A modulator is a device or circuit because modulation is a development
that performs modulation. A of multiplication and not an addition.
demodulator (sometimes detector) is a The resounding at the carrier frequency
circuit that performs demodulation, the is produced from the positive pulses
inverse of modulation. A modem (from applied to the parallel-tuned circuit
modulator–demodulator), used in every time the diode conducts. The
exchange in energy between the coil

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 Polytechnic University of the Philippines
Sto. Tomas Branch
Bachelor of Science in Electronics and Communications
Engineering
2-1

and capacitor caused an oscillation that Fig. 2. Carrier Wave

creates one negative half-cycle for
every positive pulse. The higher the
positive pulses, the higher amplitude Other Parts of AM Transmitter
negative pulses are. The lower the An AM transmitter can be
positive pulses, the lower amplitude breakdown into three (3) other main
negative pulses are. Now, AM signal is parts. The following parts are known
a resulting waveform across the tuned as the oscillator, radio frequency
circuit. The transistor amplifies the amplifier and antenna.
input from the oscillator through the
emitter-collector circuit. However, as
the audio input varies, it induces a
small current in the secondary coil of Oscillator
the transformer. This, in turn, affects Oscillator creates the radio
the amount of current that flows frequency signal. The created signal is
through the collector-emitter circuit. In called carrier wave which is a
this way, the intensity of the output continuous frequency sinusoid. From
varies with the audio input. its name carrier wave, this generated
A carrier wave is a pure wave wave carries the info through space.
of constant frequency, a bit like a sine Crystal-controlled oscillator was used
wave. By itself it doesn’t carry much given that it has the ability to provide a
information that we can relate to such constant frequency output under
as speech or data. To include speech varying load conditions. It is low gain,
information or data information, high input impedance linear amplifier.
another wave needs to be imposed, Also, this provides higher power
called an input signal, on top of the modulating signal necessary to achieve
carrier wave. This process of imposing 100% modulation
an input signal onto a carrier wave is
called modulation. In other words, Radio Frequency Amplifier
modulation changes the shape of a The role of Radio Frequency
carrier wave to somehow encode the amplifier (RF amplifier) is to convert
speech or data information that we low-power radio-frequency signal into
were interested in carrying. a higher power signal. There are three
Modulation is like hiding a code inside basic type of power amplifier and the
the carrier wave. type use in low level AM transmitter is
the linear amplifier. AM signals are
amplified by a chain of linear amplifier
to raise its power level. Their output is
directly proportional to their input and
they reproduce input but at a higher
power level. The type of linear
amplifiers can be class A, AB or B
which depends on how its biased.
Also, linear amplifiers are used in

5
 Polytechnic University of the Philippines
Sto. Tomas Branch
Bachelor of Science in Electronics and Communications
Engineering
2-1

order to avoid the waveform distortion Fig. 3. SIMULATION

in AM wave.
Fig. 4. Octave output
ANTENNA
Antenna is present in the end of
transmitter and transmits the
modulated signals. The voltage across
the antenna elements and the current
through them create the electric and
magnetic waves, respectively. VI. CONCLUSION
Antennas are transducer; the voltage at
a desired frequency applied on it was According to the study's
converted into radio signal. Through findings, AM (transmitters) using low-
converting the electrical signal into level modulators is better since it
radio waves, it can travel for greater doesn’t require huge amounts of AF
distance. This travels through the air at modulator power, resulting in a
the speed of light. simpler design. Due to AM being a
low-cost, low-quality form of
modulation utilized for commercial
V. SIMULATION
broadcasting and with its simplistic
design, it is more cost-effective than
others. In addition, because it uses a
low-frequency signal, it can simply
convert it to a higher-frequency signal
with the use of a carrier, allowing it to
send waves with longer ranges.
The circuit design was created
and simulated through the mobile
application, EveryCircuit, which offers
its users eye-comforting visuals,
functionality, and interactivity in
everything circuits without sacrificing
portability. Ultimately, the circuit
created is successful in broadcasting
the signal and can be received by
anyone with the right frequency.

REFERENCES
[1] https://www.electronics-
notes.com/articles/radio/mo
dulation/amplitude-
modulation-am.php
[2] https://web.mit.edu/6.101/w
ww/s2020/projects/omotun
de_Project_Final_Report.pdf

6
 Polytechnic University of the Philippines
Sto. Tomas Branch
Bachelor of Science in Electronics and Communications
Engineering
2-1

[3] https://hyclassproject.com/
design-and-constuction-of-a-
crystal-am-transmitter.html
[4] IEEE Transactions on
Instrumentation and
Measurement ( Volume: 39,
Issue: 6, Dec 1990)
[5] Proceedings of the IRE (
Volume: 44, Issue: 12, Dec.
1956)
[6] Glossary Definition for
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Retrieved July 10, 2021, from
Glossary Definition for
Modulator
(maximintegrated.com)
[7] Lowe, D.(n.d.).Radio
Electronics: Amplitude
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Retrieved July 10, 2021, from
Radio Electronics: Amplitude
Modulator (AM) - dummies
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Retrieved July 10, 2021, from
AM Radio Transmission
(mit.edu)
[9] Frenzel, L. (1995).
Communication Electronics.
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[10] Noordof. T. (2007).
How Does Modulation Work?
https://www.taitradioacadem
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modulation-work-1-1/
[11] https://en.wikipedia.or
g/wiki/Modulation
[12] https://www.electrica
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cillator%20is%20a%20circuit
,decided%20by%20its%20circu
it%20components.
[13] https://www.britannic
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[14] https://www.britannic
a.com/technology/radio-
frequency-amplifier