Advanced Radio Systems

Dushani R. Munasinghe
Section 1 - Radio transmitters and
receivers
• Carrier frequency stability in radio transmitters
• Frequency synthesizers and their application
• Functions of a final stage power amplifier
• Difference between low-level and high-level modulation
• Block diagram of a simple AM & FM transmitter and functions
• Methods for eliminating harmonics
• Power level control in radio transmitters (Exciter)
• Duplexers
• Dual conversion super heterodyne process
• Block (system) diagram of a double super heterodyne
• Noise figure
• Subsystems in communications receivers
• Diplexers in radio transceivers
• Spread spectrum & techniques
Frequency synthesizers
• A frequency synthesizer is an electronic circuit that generates a range
of frequencies from a single reference frequency.

• A frequency synthesizer use the techniques of frequency

multiplication, frequency division, frequency mixing, and phase-locked
loops to generate its frequencies. 

• Accuracy and stability of frequency synthesizers are determined by the

accuracy and stability of its reference frequency which is generated by
the crystal oscillator.
Frequency synthesizers and their
application

The modern way of generating a reference wave for frequency stabilizer is to use a
crystal oscillator which gives a stable frequency and link this to a frequency
synthesiser which then gives an accurate range of frequencies.
Importance of Frequency Synthesizers
• Virtually all radio circuits since the 60s use crystal-controlled oscillators for
this reason. The problem with crystals is that it can generally build only one
fixed-frequency oscillator from a given crystal.

• Hence, in older television sets, one needed tens or hundreds of crystals tuned
to different channels so that when "changing the channel" we essentially
were switching the crystals.

• The frequency Synthesizer allows bulky, multi-crystal local oscillators to be

replaced with a single, highly accurate oscillator derived from one
temperature stable (usually crystal-based) time-base.
Hence, a Frequency Synthesizer is;
A circuit which can generate multiple frequencies from a single
frequency reference.

Types of Frequency Synthesizers

• Direct synthesizers
• Direct Analog Synthesizers
• Direct Digital synthesizers
• Indirect synthesizers
• PLL Synthesizers (Digital / Analog)
• Integer-N Synthesizers
• Fraction-N synthesizers

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Direct synthesizers vs indirect synthesizers
Direct Frequency Synthesizers
• The direct forms of RF frequency synthesizer are implemented by creating a waveform
directly without any form of frequency transforming element.

• Use digital techniques to generate lower frequencies with fine step sizes.

• There are two types as direct analog synthesizers (DAS) and direct digital synthesizers(DDS).

Indirect Frequency Synthesizers

• Indirect frequency synthesis is based around phase locked loop technology. Here the output
signal is generated indirectly.
Direct analog synthesizers
• A direct analog synthesizer is based on frequency mixing, multiplication and switching
with appropriate filtering to achieve the desired output frequency, when the frequency
of the reference oscillator is translated directly.

• It creates its output frequency by mixing two or more signals to produce sum or
difference frequency followed by frequency multiplication, division or phase locking.

• Advantages - Fast frequency switching, relatively low phase-noise (random fluctuations

in the phase of a waveform).

• Disadvantages - Hardware intensive, tend to generate an excessive number of spurious

signals.
Simplest form of the Frequency Synthesizer

• Two crystal oscillators are applied to a mixer and the resulting output is then filtered to produce the
desired frequency.
• Each oscillator has a number of crystals that are closely spaced in frequency.
Block Diagram of the Direct analog synthesizer

• Uses a set of separate reference oscillators

which are used twice to generate a desired
frequency.

• When a reference oscillator is selected, its

signal is sent simultaneously to a mixer
directly and through a frequency multiplier
with multiplication factor N.

• The output signal presents any sum or

difference frequency yielding 16 frequencies
at the output for a set of 4 reference
oscillators.
Direct Digital Synthesizers
• Direct digital synthesis (DDS) is a technique used to
generate an analog signal (sine wave or triangle
wave) using digital techniques.

• A basic Direct Digital Synthesizer consists of a

frequency reference (crystal oscillator), a phase
accumulator, a phase-amplitude lookup table and a
digital to analog converter (DAC).

• The phase accumulator combines the reference

frequency and the value in the tuning word register
thereby generating a phase value.

• The corresponding amplitude for that phase is

retrieved from the phase-amplitude table. The DAC
converts the retrieved amplitude values to an analog
output
Direct Digital Synthesizers

Advantages
• The devices are often packaged as ICs, and only require a clock that allows enough
headroom and accuracy to produce the desired signals.
• High frequency resolution can be achieved with the digital techniques used in
DDS.
• This ability to quickly change the output frequency with precision.

Disadvantages
• Higher power consumption
• Greater spurious frequency content
 Indirect Synthesizers
• A phase locked loop, PLL, needs some additional
circuitry if it is to be converted into a frequency
PLL Synthesizers synthesizer.

• The phase detector produces an error voltage

proportional to the phase difference between its two
input signals. This means that the voltage controlled
oscillator will run at a different frequency to that of
the phase detector or comparison frequency.

Basic phase locked loop block diagram

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• If Fr = 30 kHz and N = 32000, the only way for this circuit to be in a
stable state (locked) is when Fvco = 960 MHz. If N were changed to
32001, a frequency and phase error will develop at the input of the
phase detector that will, in turn, retune the VCO frequency until a
locked state has been reached. The locked state will be reached when
Fvco = 960.03 MHz.
PLL Synthesizer Cont.
• PLL based Analog Frequency
Synthesizer
• PLL based Analog synthesizer introduces a
mixer into the PLL between the voltage
controlled oscillator and the phase detector.

• By introducing an external signal into the

other terminal of the mixer, a fixed offset
equal to that of the external frequency is
introduced into the loop.

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PLL Synthesizer Cont.
• PLL based Digital Frequency
Synthesizer
• PLL Digital synthesizer involves placing a digital
divider in the loop between the voltage
controlled oscillator. This means that the
voltage controlled oscillator frequency is
divided by the division ratio of the divider (N).

• By changing the division ratio of the divider,

the output frequency of the oscillator can be
changed. This makes the frequency
synthesizer programmable.

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PLL based Digital Frequency Synthesizer Cont.
Integer-N- Synthesizers
• Based on the PLL architecture.

• This type of PLL synthesizer uses frequency

multiplication with negative feedback to
produce an output frequency as an integer
of the frequency reference.

• Typically, this control function is performed

with digital circuitry producing and analog
voltage output controlling a VCO.

• Advantage – Less complex

Output frequency is an Integer of the reference • Disadvantage - Increase in the signal’s

frequency (N is an integer) phase noise as a function of the frequency
multiplication..

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PLL based Digital Frequency Synthesizer Cont.
Fractional-N- Synthesizers
• Based on the PLL architecture.

• This type of PLL synthesizer improves on the

Integer-N architecture by enabling the
output frequency to be ratio of the
fractional modulus.

• It provide a convenient solution to the issue

of small step sizes without requiring a huge
division ratio.

• The divider alternatives between division

ratios; i.e. N and N+1.
Output frequency is a Fraction of the reference
frequency (n is a fraction) • Advantage - Provides a very convenient
way of providing small step sizes.

• Disadvantage - High complexity

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THANK YOU!!!