Quadrature Phase-Shift Keying (QPSK) is a modulation technique used to encode data by shifting the phase of a carrier signal. It is commonly used in digital communication systems like satellite communication, cellular networks, and Wi-Fi due to its efficient bandwidth utilization.
### How QPSK Works:
QPSK encodes data by modulating the **phase** of a carrier wave in discrete steps. It uses **four different phase states** to represent the information, where each phase shift corresponds to two bits of data. This allows QPSK to transmit **two bits per symbol**, effectively doubling the data rate compared to binary phase-shift keying (BPSK), which only transmits one bit per symbol.
### Key Components:
1. **Input Data (Bit Stream)**: The digital data that needs to be transmitted, typically in binary form.
2. **Carrier Signal**: A high-frequency sinusoidal signal that is modulated to carry the data.
3. **Phase Shifts**: The carrier signal undergoes changes in phase based on the input data, representing different combinations of two bits.
### Encoding Process:
1. **Grouping of Bits**: The input data stream is grouped into **pairs of bits** (also called dibits). Each pair of bits can have four possible combinations: 00, 01, 10, and 11.
2. **Mapping to Phases**: Each of these two-bit combinations is mapped to a specific phase shift of the carrier signal. The typical mapping is:
- 00 → 0° phase shift
- 01 → 90° phase shift
- 11 → 180° phase shift
- 10 → 270° phase shift
3. **In-Phase and Quadrature Components**:
- The modulator splits the carrier signal into two components: an **in-phase (I)** component and a **quadrature (Q)** component, which are **90 degrees out of phase** with each other.
- The two-bit data is used to modulate these components: one bit modulates the I component, and the other modulates the Q component. The final signal is the sum of these two components.
4. **Modulated Signal**: The resulting modulated signal is a combination of the I and Q components, and the overall phase of this signal changes according to the input data. The carrier signal is shifted to one of the four phase states, based on the dibit being transmitted.
### Mathematical Representation:
The QPSK signal can be mathematically represented as:
\[
s(t) = I(t) \cdot \cos(2 \pi f_c t) + Q(t) \cdot \sin(2 \pi f_c t)
\]
Where:
- \( I(t) \) is the in-phase component.
- \( Q(t) \) is the quadrature component.
- \( f_c \) is the frequency of the carrier wave.
- \( t \) is time.
Depending on the input bit pairs, \( I(t) \) and \( Q(t) \) will take values of ±1 to reflect the phase shifts.
### Example:
If you want to transmit the bit sequence "00 01 11 10", the modulator will map these pairs to the following phases:
- 00 → 0°
- 01 → 90°
- 11 → 180°
- 10 → 270°
Each phase shift is applied to the carrier wave, creating the modulated signal that is sent over the communication channel.
### Advantages of QPSK:
- **Higher Data Rate**: Since QPSK transmits 2 bits per symbol, it offers a higher data rate than BPSK without needing more bandwidth.
- **Bandwidth Efficiency**: QPSK uses the available bandwidth efficiently by transmitting more information per unit time.
- **Robustness**: Although the phase states are closer together (compared to BPSK), QPSK still offers good performance in noisy environments.
### Conclusion:
A QPSK modulator encodes data by grouping the incoming bit stream into pairs and mapping these pairs to one of four possible phase shifts (0°, 90°, 180°, or 270°). This phase-modulated carrier signal is transmitted, and the receiver decodes the phase shifts to recover the original data.