4. 16QAM uses a mix of amplitudes and phases to achieve 4 bits/Hz. In this example, there are three amplitudes and 12 phase shifts.



While QAM is enormously efficient of spectrum, it is more difficult to demodulate in the presence of noise, which is mostly random amplitude variations. Linear power amplification is also required. QAM is very widely used in cable TV, Wi-Fi wireless local-area networks (LANs), satellites, and cellular telephone systems to produce maximum data rate in limited bandwidths.