Comm. Sys. Lect. 10

Pulse Code Modulation
(PCM)
Digital Modulation Schemes
Pulse Code Modulation (PCM)
 PCM belongs to a class of signal coders known as
waveform coders in which an analog signal is
approximated by mimicking the amplitude vs time
waveform and hence the name
 Pulse Code Modulation refers to a digital baseband
signal that is generated directly from the quantizer
output
 Sometimes the term PCM is used interchangeably
with quantization
What is meant by PCM Process?
 Pulse code modulation (PCM) is a method of

signal coding in which the message signal is
sampled, the amplitude of each sample is
rounded off to the nearest one of a finite set of
discrete levels and encoded so that both time
and amplitude are represented in discrete form.
 This allows the message to be transmitted by
means of a digital waveform.
PCM system : basic elements
A/D
D/A
Pulse Coded Modulation (PCM)
PAM = Pulse Amplitude Modulation
Nyquist rate:
Sampling rate (fs)  2 fmax analog signal
Sampling rate (fs)  2 bandwidth of analog signal
Max Voice Frequency, fs = 8 kHz (period of sampling = 125ms)
(bandwidht for telepone = 4 kHz)
Pulse Code Modulation is the name given to the class
of baseband signals obtained from the quantized PAM
signals by encoding each quantized sample into a
digital word.
The source information is sampled and quantized to

one of L levels; then each quantized sample is digitally
encoded into an ℓ-bit (ℓ=log2L) codeword.
For baseband transmission, the codeword bits will

then be transformed to pulse waveforms. The
essential features of binary PCM are shown in figure
below.
Figure: Natural samples, quantized samples, and

pulse code modulation
The process of quantization replaces the true signal
with an approximation (i.e., adds quantization noise).
Thus, increasing the number of levels will reduce the
quantization noise.
If we double the number of levels to 16, each analog
sample will be represented as a four-bit PCM
sequence.
In a real-time communication system, the messages
must not be delayed.
Hence, the transmission time for each sample must be
the same, regardless of how many bits represent the
sample.
Hence, when there are more bits per sample, the bits
must move faster; in other words, they must be
replaced by “skinnier” bits.
The data rate is thus increased, and the cost is a
Advantages of PCM:
 Relatively inexpensive
 Easily multiplexed: PCM waveforms from different
sources can be transmitted over a common digital

channel (TDM)
 Easily regenerated: useful for long-distance
communication, e.g. telephone

 Better noise performance than analog system
 Signals may be stored and time-scaled efficiently (e.g.,
satellite communication)
 Efficient codes are readily available
Disadvantage:
 Requires wider bandwidth than analog signals
Digital Bandpass Modulation
 It is convenient to write θ(t) = ω (t) + ɸ (t), so that

s(t) = A(t) cos (ω (t) + ɸ(t))
=A(t) cos (2 π fc t +ɸ(t))
where ω0 is the radian frequency of the carrier,

ɸ(t) is the phase ; and ω = 2 π fc
 The three parameters (amplitude, frequency and
phase) can be varied in analog or digital form.
 When varied in digital form, it is referred to as
“Shifting & Keying.
Digital Bandpass Modulation
 The basic bandpass modulation / demodulation

types are listed as under:
 When the receiver exploits knowledge of the

carrier’s phase to detect the signals, the process is
called coherent detection
 When the receiver does not utilize such phase
reference information, the process is called non-
coherent detection.
Continuous Carrier
 Carrier: A sin[t +]  Frequency modulation (FM)

 A = constant  A = constant
  = constant   = (t)– carries information
  = constant   = constant
 Amplitude modulation (AM)  Phase modulation (PM)
 A = A(t) – carries information  A = constant
  = constant   = constant
  = constant   = (t) – carries information
Digital Bandpass Modulation Techniques
• There are three major classes of digital modulation techniques
used for transmission of digitally represented data:
• Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK)
• Frequency Shift Keying (FSK)
• Phase-shift keying (PSK)
• All convey data by changing some aspect of a base signal, the
carrier wave (usually a sinusoid), in response to a data signal.
• In the case of PSK, the phase is changed to represent the data
signal.
• There are two fundamental ways of utilizing the phase of a
signal in this way:
• By viewing the phase itself as conveying the information, in
which case the demodulator must have a reference signal to
compare the received signal's phase against; or
• By viewing the change in the phase as conveying
information — differential schemes, some of which do not
need a reference carrier (to a certain extent).
Angle Modulation
• Angle modulation is a class of analog modulation.
• In this type of modulation, the frequency or phase of
carrier is varied in proportion to the amplitude of the
modulating signal.
• Frequency and phase modulation are also known as
Angle Modulation.
• These techniques are based on altering the angle (or
phase) of a sinusoidal carrier wave to transmit data,
as opposed to varying the amplitude, such as in AM
transmission.
Figure:
An angle modulated signal
Digital modulations, (a) PSK (b) FSK (c) ASK (d) ASK/PSK (APK)
Phase Shift Keying (PSK)
 These signals are called antipodal.
 The reason that they are chosen is that they have a

correlation coefficient of -1, which leads to the minimum error
probability for the same Eb/No.
 These two signals have the same frequency and energy.
 If the phase of the carrier signal is switched between 2 (for

BPSK) or more (for MPSK) in response to the baseband digital
data
BINARY PSK
 All PSK signals can be graphically represented by a
signal constellation in a two-dimensional coordinate
system with Φ1(t) and Φ2(t) as its horizontal and vertical
axis, respectively under:
and
Figure: BPSK signal constellation

 Phase shift keying (PSK) was developed during the early
days of the deep-space program. PSK is now widely used
in both military and commercial communications
systems.
 The general analytical expression for PSK can be written
as
s (t )  A g (t ) cos[ t   (t )],
i c i 0  t  T , i  1, 2,...., M
b
where
 g(t) is signal pulse shape
 A = amplitude of the signal. It is a peak value of the
waveform.
 ø = carrier phase
 ω = 2 π f
c c
It is also possible to transmit data encoded as the phase

change (phase difference) between consecutive
symbols
This technique is known as Differential PSK (DPSK)
Quadrature PSK (QPSK)
 Two BPSK in phase quadrature

 QPSK (or 4PSK) is a modulation technique that transmits 2-bit
of information using 4 states of phases
 For example
2-bit Information ø
00 0 Each symbol corresponds
01 π/2 to two bits
10 π
11 3π/2
 General expression:
2 Es  2 (i  1) 
sQPSK (t )  cos 2f c t   , i  1,2,3,4 0  t  Ts
Ts  M 

Comm. Sys. Lect. 10

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Comm. Sys. Lect. 10

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Pulse Code Modulation

 Pulse code modulation (PCM) is a method of

PAM = Pulse Amplitude Modulation

The source information is sampled and quantized to

For baseband transmission, the codeword bits will

Figure: Natural samples, quantized samples, and

 Easily multiplexed: PCM waveforms from different

sources can be transmitted over a common digital

communication, e.g. telephone

 Signals may be stored and time-scaled efficiently (e.g.,

 It is convenient to write θ(t) = ω (t) + ɸ (t), so that

where ω0 is the radian frequency of the carrier,

 The basic bandpass modulation / demodulation

 When the receiver exploits knowledge of the

 Carrier: A sin[t +]  Frequency modulation (FM)

 These signals are called antipodal.

 The reason that they are chosen is that they have a

 If the phase of the carrier signal is switched between 2 (for

Figure: BPSK signal constellation

 A = amplitude of the signal. It is a peak value of the

It is also possible to transmit data encoded as the phase

 Two BPSK in phase quadrature

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