Delta Modulation (DM)

Delta Modulation (DM)

Delta Modulation is a special case of DPCM. In DPCM scheme if the base band signal is sampled at a rate much higher than the Nyquist rate purposely to increase the correlation between adjacent samples of the signal, so as to permit the use of a simple quantizing strategy for constructing the encoded signal, Delta modulation (DM) is precisely such as scheme. Delta Modulation is the one-bit (or two-level) versions of DPCM.

DM provides a staircase approximation to the over sampled version of an input base band signal. The difference between the input and the approximation is quantized into only two levels, namely, ±δ corresponding to positive and negative differences, respectively, Thus, if the approximation falls below the signal at any sampling epoch, it is increased by δ. Provided that the signal does not change too rapidly from sample to sample, we find that the stair case approximation remains within ±δ of the input signal. The symbol δ denotes the absolute value of the two representation levels of the one-bit quantizer used in the DM.

Let the input signal be x(t) and the staircase approximation to it is u(t).

In the receiver the stair case approximation u(t) is reconstructed by passing the incoming sequence of positive and negative pulses through an accumulator in a manner similar to that used in the transmitter. The out-of –band quantization noise in the high frequency staircase waveform u(t) is rejected by passing it through a low-pass filter with a band-width equal to the original signal bandwidth. Delta modulation offers two unique features:

1. No need for Word Framing because of one-bit code word.

2. Simple design for both Transmitter and Receiver

Disadvantage of DM: Delta modulation systems are subject to two types of quantization error:

(1) slope –overload distortion, and

(2) granular noise.