In the modulation process, the baseband voice, video, or digital signal modifies another, higher-frequency signal called the carrier, which is usually a sine wave. A sine wave carrier can be modified by the intelligence signal through amplitude modulation, frequency modulation, or phase modulation. The focus of this chapter is amplitude modulation (AM).

Amplitude Modulation (AM) Concepts

in AM, the information signal varies the amplitude of the carrier sine wave. The instantaneous value of the carrier amplitude changes in accordance with the amplitude and frequency variations of the modulating signal.