Theory of Multi-Frequency Modulation (MFM) Digital Communications

Abstract

Multi-frequency modulation (MFM) is a new digital signal processing (DSP) oriented communications signal developed at NPS specifically for computer- to-computer communications links and information exchange networks. MFM utilizes the hardware and software of the host computers to generate and to demodulate coherent communications discrete time signals. In this report, the theory behind MFM generation and reception is presented. Auto-correlation functions and power spectral densities of MFM signals are derived and examples presented for lowpass and bandpass white MFM sequences. The bit error rates are computed for three types of MFM: MFBPSK, MFQPSK and MF16-QAM. These modulation formats provide one, two and four bits per Hz of channel bandwidth respectively. Optimization arguments show that best system performance is obtained by using the maximum possible number of tones with the limit on the number of tones being set either by the packet length or the coherence time of the channel, whichever is shorter.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 05, 1989
Accession Number
ADA209737

Entities

People

  • Paul H. Moose

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Bandwidth
  • Computer Communications
  • Converters
  • Data Rate
  • Decoding
  • Demodulation
  • Digital Communications
  • Digital Signal Processing
  • Engineering
  • Matched Filters
  • Modulation
  • Multiple Access
  • Phase Modulation
  • Probability
  • Signal Processing
  • Time Signals
  • White Noise

Readers

  • Approximation Theory.
  • Radio communications and signal processing.