QAM
Quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) is a modulation scheme in which two sinusoidal car-
riers, one exactly 90 degrees out of phase with respect to the other, are used to transmit data over
a given physical channel. One signal is called the I signal, and the other is called the Q signal.
Because the orthogonal carriers occupy the same frequency band and differ by a 90 degree pha-
se shift, each can be modulated independently, transmitted over the same frequency band, and
separated by demodulation at the receiver. For a given available bandwidth, QAM enables data
transmission at twice the rate of standard pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) without any de-
gradation in the bit error ratio (BER).
Mathematically two independent signals and , each bandlimited by are trans-
mitted. One signal is modulated by a cosine the other signal by a sinus carrier. Thus the signal
(1)
is transmitted. For simplicity back to back transmission is concerned. Thus the received signal
is equal to (1). The in-phase part of the signal can be demodulated by multiplication of
(2)
and lowpass filtering
. (3)
* is the convolution operator and an ideal lowpass filter with cut-off frequency .
Equation (3) only holds for .
Task 1
Show, that the quadrature part of the received signal (1) can be demodulated by multipli-
cation of . (click for solution)
With complex notation equation (1) can be written as
. (4)
In case of transmission of digital information
x
I
t() x
Q
t() ω
g
x
I
t() ω
0
t()cos⋅ x
Q
t() ω
0
t()sin⋅–
x
I
t()
ω
0
t()cos
x
I
t() ω
0
t()cos⋅ x
Q
t() ω
0
t()sin⋅–[]ω
0
t()cos⋅
x
I
t() cos
2
ω
0
t()⋅ x
Q
t() ω
0
t()sin ω
0
t()cos⋅⋅–=
x
I
t()
2
-----------
12ω
0
t()cos+[]
x
Q
t()
2
-------------
2ω
0
t()sin⋅–=
x
I
t()
2
-----------
12ω
0
t()cos+[]
x
Q
t()
2
-------------
2ω
0
t()sin⋅–*r
ω
g
t()
x
I
t()
2
-----------=
r
ω
g
t() ω
g
2ω
g
ω
0
<
qt()
ω
0
t()sin–
Re x
I
t() jx
Q
t()+[]e
jω
0
t
x
I
t() a
I n,
gt nT–()
n ∞–=
∞
∑
=
x
Q
t() a
Q n,
gt nT–()
n ∞–=
∞
∑
=