Talk:Demodulation

Merging "Detector (radio)" with "Demodulation"
Should the Wikipedia entry "Detector (radio)" be merged with the entry "Demodulation"? If you want to create an entry that's devoted to the mathematical theory behind the demodulation of various types of signals, adding a discussion for each signal of the circuits that perform the demodulation would interrupt the flow of the mathematics. Conversely, if you want to create an entry that's devoted to (de)modulation circuits, a long mathematical discussion of the theory that's involved would again be a distraction.

Frankly, I think that an entry treating all of the mathematical theory of all types of signals — or treating all (de)modulation circuits — would become too large. There are just too many types of signals.

One compromise would be to create an entry for each type of signal: AM, SSB, FM, FSK, etc. As in a communications textbooks, each entry would start with the history of a given type of signal, followed by mathematical theory detailing the way in which it conveys information and the signal's advantages and disadvantages (power requirements, resistance to corruption by noise or other signals, etc.); then there would be a discussion of the various circuits that generate or demodulate that signal. An introductory entry on communication theory would direct readers to entries treating particular types of signals.

Cwkmail (talk) 04:12, 14 October 2008 (UTC)


 * Agree. Merge and have separate entries for each signal type.
 * TomyDuby (talk) 03:45, 19 October 2008 (UTC)
 * Disagree. Detector is about the radio tool and demodulation is about the overall process.Jamesrules90 (talk) 19:27, 6 January 2010 (UTC)

Disagree -- Demodulation is a (family of) process(es) while a detector is a physical tool. If anything, combine demodulation with modulation. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.131.88.45 (talk) 18:21, 29 March 2010 (UTC)

Comments on the article
The "FM radio" section is horribly written:

1. "Frequency modulation (FM) has numerous advantages over AM such as better fidelity and noise immunity. However, it is much more complex to both modulate and demodulate a carrier wave with FM and AM predates it by several decades".

The fact AM predates FM has no relevance. This should be removed.

2. The sentence "There are several common types of FM demodulators" appears to introduce types of FM demodulators.

It doesn't because many of the things listed below start with "The signal is fed" or "Using a digital signal processor". Some bullets seem to explain steps rather than list types.

ICE77 (talk) 07:46, 14 June 2015 (UTC)

I agree that the envelope detector section is also horribly written!

In the first sentence it says what it isn't, not what it is. In the next sentence it relies on a circular definition.

It should start by stating why it is called an envelope detector. Then it should say what the essentials are for envelope detection: a circuit containing a) a source of an AM modulated radio frequency signal such as a tuning coil or the output of an IF transformer, b) a non-linear device, and c) a load resistance across which the rectified current can generate a voltage.

There is an excellent reference to all this which could be included:

Stuartggillies (talk) 09:22, 25 April 2019 (UTC)