What is digital modulation?

In digital modulation, an analog carrier signal is modulated by a digital bit stream.

There are three major classes of digital modulation techniques used for transmission of digitally represented data:

• Phase-shift keying (PSK)
• Frequency-shift keying (FSK)
• Amplitude-shift keying (ASK)

Phase-shift keying (PSK) is a digital modulation scheme that conveys data by changing, or modulating, the phase of a reference signal (the carrier wave).
PSK uses a finite number of phases, each assigned a unique pattern of binary bits. Usually, each phase encodes an equal number of bits. Each pattern of bits forms the symbol that is represented by the particular phase.

Frequency-shift keying (FSK) is a frequency modulation scheme in which digital information is transmitted through discrete frequency changes of a carrier wave. The simplest FSK is binary FSK (BFSK). BFSK literally implies using a couple of discrete frequencies to transmit binary (0s and 1s) information. With this scheme, the "1" is called the mark frequency and the "0" is called the space frequency. The time domain of an FSK modulated carrier is illustrated in the figures to the right.

Amplitude-shift keying (ASK) is a form of modulation that represents digital data as variations in the amplitude of a carrier wave.
The amplitude of an analog carrier signal varies in accordance with the bit stream (modulating signal), keeping frequency and phase constant. The level of amplitude can be used to represent binary logic 0s and 1s. We can think of a carrier signal as an ON or OFF switch. In the modulated signal, logic 0 is represented by the absence of a carrier, thus giving OFF/ON keying operation and hence the name given.