Analog Transmission:

ASK, FSK, PSK & QPSK

Course Code: COE 3201 Course Title: Data Communication

Dept. of Computer Engineering

Faculty of Engineering

Lecture No: 7 Week No: 8 Semester:

Lecturer:
Lecture Outline

1. Digital to Analog Conversion

2. Aspects of Conversion
3. Amplitude Shift Keying
4. Frequency Shift Keying
5. Phase Shift Keying
6. Constellation Diagram
Digital to Analog Conversion

• Digital-to-analog conversion is the process of changing

one of the characteristics of an analog signal based on
the information in digital data.
• Figure 5.1 shows the relationship between the digital
information, the digital-to-analog modulating process,
and the resultant analog signal
Digital to Analog Conversion

Figure 5.1: Digital-to-analog conversion

Digital to Analog Conversion

• Types of digital to analog conversion

Aspects of Conversion

• Before we discuss specific methods of digital-to-analog

modulation, two basic issues must be reviewed: bit
and baud rates and the carrier signal.
• Bit rate: is the number of bits sent in 1s, expressed in
bits per second (bps).
• Baud rate: is the number of signal elements sent in 1s.
• Carrier signal: In analog transmission, sender produces
a high-frequency signal that acts as a base for the
information signal. This base signal is called carrier
signal.
Aspects of Conversion

Example 5.1: An analog signal carries 4 bits per signal element. If

1000 signal elements are sent per second, find the bit rate.

Solution: In this case, r = 4, S = 1000, and N is unknown. We can

find the value of N from
Aspects of Conversion

Example 5.2: An analog signal has a bit rate of 8000 bps and a
baud rate of 1000 baud. How many data elements are carried by
each signal element? How many signal elements do we need?

Solution: In this example, S = 1000, N = 8000, and r and L are

unknown. We first find the value of r and then the value of L
Amplitude Shift Keying

• In amplitude shift keying, the amplitude of the carrier

signal is varied to create signal elements. Both
frequency and phase remain constant while the
amplitude changes.
Binary Amplitude Shift Keying
Implementation of binary ASK
Implementation of binary ASK
Amplitude Shift Keying

Example 5.3: We have an available bandwidth of 100 kHz which

spans from 200 to 300 kHz. What are the carrier frequency and
the bit rate if we modulated our data by using ASK with d = 1?

Solution: The middle of the bandwidth is located at 250 kHz. This

means that our carrier frequency can be at fc = 250 kHz. We can
use the formula for bandwidth to find the bit rate (with d = 1 and
r = 1).
Amplitude Shift Keying

Example 5.4: In data communications, we normally use full-

duplex links with communication in both directions. We need to
divide the bandwidth into two with two carrier frequencies, as
shown in Figure 5.5. The figure shows the positions of two carrier
frequencies and the bandwidths. The available bandwidth for
each direction is now 50 kHz, which leaves us with a data rate of
25 kbps in each direction.

Figure 5.5: Bandwidth of a full-duplex ASK

Frequency Shift Keying

• In frequency shift keying, the frequency of the carrier

signal is varied to represent data. The frequency of the
modulated signal is constant for the duration of one
signal element, but changes for the next signal
element if the data element changes. Both peak
amplitude and phase remain constant for all signal
elements.
Frequency Shift Keying

• In frequency shift keying, the frequency of the carrier

signal is varied to represent data. The frequency of the
modulated signal is constant for the duration of one
signal element, but changes for the next signal
element if the data element changes. Both peak
amplitude and phase remain constant for all signal
elements.
Binary Frequency Shift Keying
Implementation of BFSK
Frequency Shift Keying

Example 5.5: We have an available bandwidth of 100 kHz which

spans from 200 to 300 kHz. What should be the carrier frequency
and the bit rate if we modulated our data by using FSK with d = 1?

Solution: This problem is similar to Example 5.3, but we are

modulating by using FSK. The midpoint of the band is at 250 kHz.
We choose 2Δf to be 50 kHz; this means
Frequency Shift Keying

Example 5.6: We need to send data 3 bits at a time at a bit rate of

3 Mbps. The carrier frequency is 10 MHz. Calculate the number of
levels (different frequencies), the baud rate, and the bandwidth.
Solution: We can have L = 23 = 8. The baud rate is S = 3 MHz/3 = 1
Mbaud. This means that the carrier frequencies must be 1 MHz
apart (2Δf = 1 MHz). The bandwidth is B = 8 × 1 = 8 MHz.
Phase Shift Keying

• In phase shift keying, the phase of the carrier is varied

to represent two or more different signal elements.
Both peak amplitude and frequency remain constant
as the phase changes.
• Today, PSK is more common than ASK or FSK.
• However, we will see shortly that QAM, which
combines ASK and PSK, is the dominant method of
digital-to-analog modulation.
Binary Phase Shift Keying

• The simplest PSK is binary PSK, in which we have only

two signal elements, one with a phase of 0°, and the
other with a phase of 180°.
Implementation of BPSK
Quadrature PSK (QPSK)
• The simplicity of BPSK enticed designers to use 2 bits at a
time in each signal element, thereby decreasing the baud
rate and eventually the required bandwidth.
• The scheme is called quadrature PSK or QPSK because it
uses two separate BPSK modulations; one is in-phase, the
other quadrature (out-of-phase).
• The incoming bits are first passed through a serial-to-
parallel conversion that sends one bit to one modulator
and the next bit to the other modulator.
• If the duration of each bit in the incoming signal is T, the
duration of each bit sent to the corresponding BPSK signal
is 2T.
Implementation of QPSK
Quadrature PSK (QPSK)

Example 5.7: Find the bandwidth for a signal transmitting at 12

Mbps for QPSK. The value of d = 0.

Solution: For QPSK, 2 bits are carried by one signal element. This
means that r = 2. So the signal rate (baud rate) is S = N × (1/r) = 6
Mbaud. With a value of d = 0, we have B = S = 6 MHz.
Constellation Diagram

• A constellation diagram can help us define the

amplitude and phase of a signal element, particularly
when we are using two carriers (one in-phase and one
quadrature).
• The diagram is useful when we are dealing with
multilevel ASK, PSK, or QAM.
• In a constellation diagram, a signal element type is
represented as a dot.
• The bit or combination of bits it can carry is often
written next to it.
Constellation Diagram
• The diagram has two axes. The horizontal X axis is related to the
in-phase carrier; the vertical Y axis is related to the quadrature
carrier.
• For each point on the diagram, four pieces of information can
be deduced. The projection of the point on the X axis defines
the peak amplitude of the in-phase component; the projection
of the point on the Y axis defines the peak amplitude of the
quadrature component. The length of the line (vector) that
connects the point to the origin is the peak amplitude of the
signal element (combination of the X and Y components); the
angle the line makes with the X axis is the phase of the signal
element.
Constellation Diagram
Constellation Diagram

Example 5.8: Show the constellation diagrams for ASK (OOK),

BPSK, and QPSK signals.

Solution: Figure 5.13 shows the three constellation diagrams. Let

us analyze each case separately:

Figure 5.13: Three constellation diagrams

Constellation Diagram ASK

For ASK, we are using only an in-phase carrier. Therefore, the two
points should be on the X axis. Binary 0 has an amplitude of 0 V;
binary 1 has an amplitude of 1 V (for example). The points are
located at the origin and at 1 unit.

Figure 5.13: Three constellation diagrams

Constellation Diagram BPSK

BPSK also uses only an in-phase carrier. However, we use a polar

NRZ signal for modulation. It creates two types of signal elements,
one with amplitude 1 and the other with amplitude −1. This can
be stated in other words: BPSK creates two different signal
elements, one with amplitude 1 V and in phase and the other
with amplitude 1 V and 180° out of phase.

Figure 5.13: Three constellation diagrams

Constellation Diagram QPSK

QPSK uses two carriers, one in-phase and the other quadrature.
The point representing 11 is made of two combined signal
elements, both with an amplitude of 1 V.
One element is represented by an in-phase carrier, the other
element by a quadrature carrier.
The amplitude of the final signal element sent for this 2-bit data
element is 21/2, and the phase is 45°.
The argument is similar for the other three points.
Constellation Diagram QPSK

All signal elements have an amplitude of 21/2, but their phases are
different (45°, 135°, −135°, and −45°).
Of course, we could have chosen the amplitude of the carrier to
be 1/(21/2) to make the final amplitudes 1 V.

Figure 5.13: Three constellation diagrams

Books

[1] Forouzan AB. Data communications & networking.

5th ed., Tata McGraw-Hill Education.
References

1. Prakash C. Gupta, “Data communications”, Prentice Hall India Pvt.

2. William Stallings, "Data and Computer Communications”, Pearson
3. Forouzan, B. A. "Data Communication and Networking. Tata McGraw." (2005).