Amplitude modulation
in amplitude modulation, the amplitude (signal strength) of the carrier wave is varied in proportion to the waveform being transmitted
Amplitude modulation (AM) is a signal modulation technique used in electronic communication, most commonly for transmitting messages with a radio wave. In amplitude modulation, the instantaneous amplitude of the wave is varied in proportion to that of the message signal, such as an audio signal. This technique contrasts with angle modulation, in which either the frequency of the carrier wave is varied, as in frequency modulation, or its phase, as in phase modulation.
AM was the earliest modulation method used for transmitting audio in radio broadcasting. It was developed during the first quarter of the 20th century, beginning with Roberto Landell de Moura and Reginald Fessenden's radiotelephone experiments in 1900. This original form of AM is sometimes called double-sideband amplitude modulation (DSBAM), because the standard method produces sidebands on either side of the carrier frequency. Single-sideband modulation uses bandpass filters to eliminate one of the sidebands and possibly the carrier signal, which improves the ratio of message power to total transmission power, and permits better bandwidth utilization of the transmission medium.
AM remains in use in many forms of communication in addition to AM broadcasting: shortwave radio, amateur radio, two-way radios, VHF aircraft radio, citizens band radio, and in computer modems in the form of quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM).
Foundation
In electronics and telecommunications, modulation is the variation of a property of a continuous wave carrier signal according to an information-bearing signal, such as an audio signal which represents sound, or a video signal which represents images. In this sense, the carrier wave, which has a much higher frequency than the message signal, carries the information.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Amplitude modulation” as in amplitude modulation, the amplitude (signal strength) of the carrier wave is varied in proportion to the waveform being transmitted. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q183755. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1900.
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This entry incorporates text from “Amplitude modulation” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.