Question

What are the two major drawbacks of delta modulation?

(a) Slope Overload and Granular noise

(b) Slope Overload and Serration noise

(c) Serration noise and Granular noise

(d) Slope Overload and Channel Noise

The question was posed to me by my college professor while I was bunking the class.

My doubt stems from Modulation Using Non-Linear Devices (Balanced Modulator) topic in division Amplitude Modulation of Analog Communications

Answer 1

The correct answer is (a) Slope Overload and Granular noise

The explanation is: Delta modulation is an analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog signal conversion technique used for transmission of voice information where quality is not of primary importance. It is the simplest form of differential pulse-code modulation (DPCM) where the difference between successive samples are encoded into n-bit data streams. The two major drawbacks in delta modulation are slope overload and granular noise. When step size becomes too small to track the original waveform it generates an error known as slope overload and granularity occurs when step size is too large.