Carrier signal example

1. What is carrier signal in communication?
2. What is message signal and carrier signal?
3. How does a carrier signal work?

What is carrier signal in communication?

In telecommunications, a carrier wave, carrier signal, or just carrier, is a waveform (usually sinusoidal) that is modulated (modified) with an information-bearing signal for the purpose of conveying information. This carrier wave usually has a much higher frequency than the input signal does.

What is message signal and carrier signal?

The message signal is a cosine wave or a sine wave. In another word, the message signal is a sinusoidal wave function. This is the same for a carrier wave except its frequency is very large when compare to the frequency of the message signal. Let us use mathematical terms to relate our signals.

How does a carrier signal work?

A carrier wave is a pure wave of constant frequency, a bit like a sine wave. By itself it doesn't carry much information that we can relate to (such as speech or data). To include speech information or data information, another wave needs to be imposed, called an input signal, on top of the carrier wave.