Pre-Emphasis & De-Emphasis

PRE-EMPHASIS & DE-EMPHASIS:

Pre-emphasis refers to boosting the relative amplitudes of the modulating voltage for higher audio frequencies from 2 to approximately 15 KHz.

^Ø   DE-EMPHASIS:

De-emphasis means attenuating those frequencies by the amount by which they are boosted. However pre-emphasis is done at the transmitter and the de-emphasis is done in the receiver. The purpose is to improve the signal-to-noise ratio for FM reception. A time constant of 75µs is specified in the RC or L/Z network for pre-emphasis and de-emphasis.

1. Pre-Emphasis Circuit:

At the transmitter, the modulating signal is passed through a simple network which amplifies the high frequency, components more than the low-frequency components. The simplest form of such a circuit is a simple high pass filter of the type shown in fig (a). Specification dictate a time constant of 75 microseconds (µs) where t = RC. Any combination of resistor and capacitor (or resistor and inductor) giving this time constant will be satisfactory. Such a circuit has a cutoff frequency fco of 2122 Hz. This means that frequencies higher than 2122 Hz will he linearly enhanced. The output amplitude increases with frequency at a rate of 6 dB per octave. The pre-emphasis curve is shown in Fig (b). This pre-emphasis circuit increases the energy content of the higher-frequency signals so that they will tend to become stronger than the high frequency noise components. This improves the signal to noise ratio and increases intelligibility and fidelity.

2. De-Emphasis Circuit: