Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM)

While 8 PSK is commonly used, higher order M-ary is not common as the neighbor
points get very close which increases the probability of symbol and bit error. To
maintain a reasonable BER, the SNR becomes very large which is impractical for most
communication links.

QAM is a 2D signal space modulation scheme that uses the same basis functions as
before:

|
.
|

\
|
=
T
t
rect t f
T
t
c
) 2 cos(
2
) (
1


and

|
.
|

\
|
=
T
t
rect t f
T
t
c
) 2 sin(
2
) (
2


QAM constellations vary significantly and there is no standard way of assigning
constellation points to the signal alphabet hence the simplest approach for describing
QAM is by example. Consider a 16 QAM signal as shown below:

2
(t)
decision
boundaries

1
(t)

Quadrature amplitude modulation.doc 1
The signals can be written as

) ( ) (
2 2 , 1 1 ,
t s t s S
i i i
+ =

where

{ }
{ } E s
E s
i
i
3 , 1 , 1 , 3
3 , 1 , 1 , 3
2 ,
1 ,




Note E is not the symbol energy but rather E

is the shortest distance from a

constellation point to a decision boundary.

As before, the number of symbols contained per QAM symbol is log
2
(M) where M is the
number of constellation points or signals in the alphabet.

The easiest way of obtaining the approximate BER is to view QAM as two orthogonal
independent PAM schemes with M levels each. Note that this analysis is only valid
for square QAM modulation schemes such as the 16 QAM example above.

Consider the 4 level PAM constellation below
-3 -1 1 3 u

Define E as an energy scaling factor such that the distance between a constellation point
and the decision line is E . Consider the case where u=1 was sent. The probability
that an error occurs such that it is interpreted as u=-1 or u=3 is given by the
conditional probability

|
|
.
|

\
|
= =
0
2
) 1 | 3 ( ) 1 | 1 (
N
E
Q P P

Hence the probability of error given that u=1 is

|
|
.
|

\
|
=
0
1 |
2
2
N
E
Q P
e


Quadrature amplitude modulation.doc 2
Likewise for the other interior point u=-1

|
|
.
|

\
|
=

0
1 |
2
2
N
E
Q P
e



For the end points u=-3 and u=3, the probability of error is half this value as there are
only 1 neighboring state for the end points. Hence

|
|
.
|

\
|
= =

0
3 | 3 |
2
N
E
Q P P
e e


The total probability of symbol error for the 1D four state PAM system is

3 3 | 1 1 | 1 1 | 3 3 |
P P P P P P P P P
e e e e e
+ + + =



where P
-3
is the probability that the input is 3 etc. It is reasonable to assume that

4
1
3 1 1 3
= = = =

P P P P

such that

|
|
.
|

\
|
=
|
|
.
|

\
|
|
|
.
|

\
|
+
|
|
.
|

\
|
+
|
|
.
|

\
|
+
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
0 0 0 0 0
2
2
3 2 2
2
2
2
2
4
1
N
E
Q
N
E
Q
N
E
Q
N
E
Q
N
E
Q P
e


Next we have to determine the average energy per PAM symbol as a function of E which
is
( )
E E E
pam
5
4
3 1 1 3
2 2 2 2
=
+ + +
=
Also the energy per QAM symbol is twice that of the energy per PAM modulation.
Hence, denoting E
s
as the average QAM symbol energy we have

E E
s
10 =

Consequently
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
0
10
2
2
3
N
E
Q P
s
e


Let P
s
be the probability of symbol error of the 16 QAM modulation. This is easily
determined from the union bound based on considering QAM as two independent and
Quadrature amplitude modulation.doc 3
orthogonal PAM modulations is straight forward to apply. For moderate SNRs it is
quite tight and therefore used in practice.

The union bound for QAM is

|
|
.
|

\
|
= =
0
5
3 2
N
E
Q P P
s
e s


The exact probability of symbol error is determined in the same manner as we did for
QPSK. That is

2
0 0
2
5 4
9
5
3 2
|
|
.
|

\
|

|
|
.
|

\
|
= =
N
E
Q
N
E
Q P P P
s s
e e s


If we assume that grey coding of the 16 QAM modulation and assume that errors are only
made to the neighboring lattice point then a single bit error will occur every time there is
a symbol error. Also for the 16 QAM modulation E
s
=4E
b
as there are 4 bits per symbol.
Consequently the probability of a bit error occurring in the symbol is given by

|
|
.
|

\
|
=
0
5
4
3
N
E
Q P
b
b


Finally the BER takes into account that there are 4 bits per symbol such that the BER is
given by
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
0
5
4
4
3
N
E
Q BER
b


Comparing with BPSK, the E
b
/N
o
requirement for a given BER is more than
10log
10
(5/2)=4dB for the 16 QAM modulation. This is the penalty that is paid for having
a more bandwidth efficient modulation. ie 4 bits/sym vs 1bit/sym.

Section 6.4 in Haykin outlines the general development of the square QAM constellation
performance which follows a very similar development to the 16 QAM analysis given
above.

Quadrature amplitude modulation.doc 4



Quadrature amplitude modulation.doc 5



Note that the probability of symbol error for QAM is twice that of the probability of
symbol error for the equivalent PAM.
Note error in curve for 4QAM or 4PSK which should be 2x higher.

Quadrature amplitude modulation.doc 6
Note 16PSK requires higher Eb/No than 16QAM which is why it is not used.


Power Spectral Density of QAM constellations

As square QAM constellations can be regarded as two orthogonal independent PAM
modulations that are transmitted simultaneously the PSD of QAM is merely twice the
PSD of the individual PAM modulations.

Let v(t) be a PAM signal such that

=
=
n
n
nT t g I t v ) ( ) (

where g(t) is the basic pulse shape and I
n
is the data values which are

{ } L L 5 , 3 , 1 , 1 , 3 , 5 =
n
I

The PSD is

) ( ) (
1
) ( fT C f S
T
f S
g v
=

where S
g
(f) is the ESD of g(t) and

=
m
fmT j
e m c fT C
2
) ( ) (

where c(m) is the autocorrelation of the data sequence given by

q m q
I I m c
+
= ) (

For 4-PAM with levels of {-3,-1,1,3} we have

=
=
otherwise
m
m c
0
0 5
) (

Such that C(fT)=5 and the PSD of the 4 level PAM signal becomes

) (
5
) ( f S
T
f S
g v
=

and the PSD of the 16 QAM modulation becomes
Quadrature amplitude modulation.doc 7

) (
10
) (
16
f S
T
f S
g QAM
=

Example

Determine the transmission bandwidth reduction and average signal energy of 256 QAM
compared to 64 QAM.

The transmission bandwidth of 256 QAM is

b
b b
T
T
M
R
B
8
1
256 log
1
log
2 2
256
= = =

The transmission bandwidth of 64 QAM is

b
b b
T
T
M
R
B
6
1
64 log
1
log
2 2
64
= = =

Hence

75 . 0
8
6
64
256
= =
B
B


Hence 256 QAM will require only 75% of the BW of a 64 QAM system at the same bit
rate.

To compare energy/bit, we maintain the same distance between constellation points

( )
o o o
E E E
M
E 170
3
255 2
3
1 2
256
=

=

o o
E E E 42
3
63 2
64
=

==

Hence the increase in average symbol energy is

dB 6
42
170
log 10
10
|
.
|

\
|


But the symbol rate of QAM256 is 0.75% that of the QAM64. Therefore
Quadrature amplitude modulation.doc 8
dB
power signal
power signal
8 . 4
4
3
42
170
log 10
64
256
10
|
.
|

\
|
=




Note this is also the ratio of the
( )
( ) QAM E
QAM E
b
b
64
256
.


Example

Consider a 16 QAM constellation modulation with carrier frequency of 1800 Hz, symbol
rate of 2400s/s and data rate of 9600b/s. Calculate the BER and the average SNR
assuming E(E
s
)/N
o
=20 dB.

From the notes, the BER for 16 QAM is given by

|
|
.
|

\
|
=
0
5
4
4
3
N
E
Q BER
b


As 4 bits are sent per symbol
b s
E E 4 = and therefore

|
|
.
|

\
|
=
0
5 4
3
N
E
Q BER
s


As E
s
/N
o
=20 dB we have

6
10 9 . 2
10
100
8
3
5
100
4
3

=
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
|
|
.
|

\
|
= erfc Q BER

If we consider the symbol error rate and ignore the small probability that more than two
bit errors will occur simultaneously then

5
10 16 . 1 4

= = BER P
sym


Note this is the same result as obtained directly with

|
|
.
|

\
|

|
.
|

\
|
=
0
) 1 ( 2
3 1
1 2
N M
E
erfc
M
P
s
sym


Next consider what is the average SNR. The average power is

s s avg
E R P =
Quadrature amplitude modulation.doc 9

where R
s
is the symbol rate. The noise variance at the output of the I or Q correlator is
N
o
/2. Considering noise samples taken at the rate of Rs the total noise power at the
output of the combined I and Q correlators is then R
s
N
o
. Hence the SNR is

o
s
N
E
SNR = =20 dB

The above answer assumes that the receiver has a matched filter.


Quadrature amplitude modulation.doc 10