A variable frequency oscillator (VFO) in electronics is an oscillator whose frequency can be tuned (i.e., varied) over some range. [1] It is a necessary component in any tunable radio transmitter or receiver that works by the superheterodyne principle, and controls the frequency to which the apparatus is tuned.
In a simple superheterodyne receiver, the incoming radio frequency signal (at frequency ) from the antenna is mixed with the VFO output signal tuned to , producing an intermediate frequency (IF) signal that can be processed downstream to extract the modulated information. Depending on the receiver design, the IF signal frequency is chosen to be either the sum of the two frequencies at the mixer inputs (up-conversion), or more commonly, the difference frequency (down-conversion), .
In addition to the desired IF signal and its unwanted image (the mixing product of opposite sign above), the mixer output will also contain the two original frequencies, and and various harmonic combinations of the input signals. These undesired signals are rejected by the IF filter. If a double balanced mixer is employed, the input signals appearing at the mixer outputs are greatly attenuated, reducing the required complexity of the IF filter.
The advantage of using a VFO as a heterodyning oscillator is that only a small portion of the radio receiver (the sections before the mixer such as the preamplifier) need to have a wide bandwidth. The rest of the receiver can be finely tuned to the IF frequency. [2]
In a direct-conversion receiver, the VFO is tuned to the same frequency as the incoming radio frequency and Hz. Demodulation takes place at baseband using low-pass filters and amplifiers.
In a radio frequency (RF) transmitter, VFOs are often used to tune the frequency of the output signal, often indirectly through a heterodyning process similar to that described above. [1] Other uses include chirp generators for radar systems where the VFO is swept rapidly through a range of frequencies, [3] timing signal generation for oscilloscopes and time domain reflectometers, and variable frequency audio generators used in musical instruments and audio test equipment.
There are two main types of VFO in use: analog and digital.
An analog VFO is an electronic oscillator where the value of at least one of the passive components is adjustable under user control so as to alter its output frequency. The passive component whose value is adjustable is usually a capacitor, but could be a variable inductor.
The variable capacitor is a mechanical device in which the separation of a series of interleaved metal plates is physically altered to vary its capacitance. Adjustment of this capacitor is sometimes facilitated by a mechanical step-down gearbox to achieve fine tuning. [2]
A reversed-biased semiconductor diode exhibits capacitance. Since the width of its non-conducting depletion region depends on the magnitude of the reverse bias voltage, this voltage can be used to control the junction capacitance. The varactor bias voltage may be generated in a number of ways and there may need to be no significant moving parts in the final design. [4] Varactors have a number of disadvantages including temperature drift and aging, electronic noise, low Q factor and non-linearity.
Modern radio receivers and transmitters usually use some form of digital frequency synthesis to generate their VFO signal. The advantages include smaller designs, lack of moving parts, the higher stability of set frequency reference oscillators, and the ease with which preset frequencies can be stored and manipulated in the digital computer that is usually embedded in the design in any case.
It is also possible for the radio to become extremely frequency-agile in that the control computer could alter the radio's tuned frequency many tens, thousands or even millions of times a second. This capability allows communications receivers effectively to monitor many channels at once, perhaps using digital selective calling (DSC) techniques to decide when to open an audio output channel and alert users to incoming communications. Pre-programmed frequency agility also forms the basis of some military radio encryption and stealth techniques. Extreme frequency agility lies at the heart of spread spectrum techniques that have gained mainstream acceptance in computer wireless networking such as Wi-Fi.
There are disadvantages to digital synthesis such as the inability of a digital synthesiser to tune smoothly through all frequencies, but with the channelisation of many radio bands, this can also be seen as an advantage in that it prevents radios from operating in between two recognised channels.
Digital frequency synthesis relies on stable crystal controlled reference frequency sources. Crystal-controlled oscillators are more stable than inductively and capacitively controlled oscillators. Their disadvantage is that changing frequency (more than a small amount) requires changing the crystal, but frequency synthesizer techniques have made this unnecessary in modern designs.
The electronic and digital techniques involved in this include:
The quality metrics for a VFO include frequency stability, phase noise and spectral purity. All of these factors tend to be inversely proportional to the tuning circuit's Q factor. Since in general the tuning range is also inversely proportional to Q, these performance factors generally degrade as the VFO's frequency range is increased. [5]
Stability is the measure of how far a VFO's output frequency drifts with time and temperature. [5] To mitigate this problem, VFOs are generally "phase locked" to a stable reference oscillator. PLLs use negative feedback to correct for the frequency drift of the VFO allowing for both wide tuning range and good frequency stability. [6]
Ideally, for the same control input to the VFO, the oscillator should generate exactly the same frequency. A change in the calibration of the VFO can change receiver tuning calibration; periodic re-alignment of a receiver may be needed. VFO's used as part of a phase-locked loop frequency synthesizer have less stringent requirements since the system is as stable as the crystal-controlled reference frequency.
A plot of a VFO's amplitude vs. frequency may show several peaks, probably harmonically related. Each of these peaks can potentially mix with some other incoming signal and produce a spurious response. These spurii (sometimes spelled spuriae) can result in increased noise or two signals detected where there should only be one. [1] Additional components can be added to a VFO to suppress high-frequency parasitic oscillations, should these be present.
In a transmitter, these spurious signals are generated along with the one desired signal. Filtering may be required to ensure the transmitted signal meets regulations for bandwidth and spurious emissions.
When examined with very sensitive equipment, the pure sine-wave peak in a VFO's frequency graph will most likely turn out not to be sitting on a flat noise-floor. Slight random 'jitters' in the signal's timing will mean that the peak is sitting on 'skirts' of phase noise at frequencies either side of the desired one.
These are also troublesome in crowded bands. They allow through unwanted signals that are fairly close to the expected one, but because of the random quality of these phase-noise 'skirts', the signals are usually unintelligible, appearing just as extra noise in the received signal. The effect is that what should be a clean signal in a crowded band can appear to be a very noisy signal, because of the effects of strong signals nearby.
The effect of VFO phase noise on a transmitter is that random noise is actually transmitted either side of the required signal. Again, this must be avoided for legal reasons in many cases.
Digital or digitally controlled oscillators typically rely on constant single frequency references, which can be made to a higher standard than semiconductor and LC circuit-based alternatives. Most commonly a quartz crystal based oscillator is used, although in high accuracy applications such as TDMA cellular networks, atomic clocks such as the Rubidium standard are as of 2018 also common.
Because of the stability of the reference used, digital oscillators themselves tend to be more stable and more repeatable in the long term. This in part explains their huge popularity in low-cost and computer-controlled VFOs. In the shorter term the imperfections introduced by digital frequency division and multiplication (jitter), and the susceptibility of the common quartz standard to acoustic shocks, temperature variation, aging, and even radiation, limit the applicability of a naïve digital oscillator.
This is why higher end VFO's like RF transmitters locked to atomic time, tend to combine multiple different references, and in complex ways. Some references like rubidium or cesium clocks provide higher long term stability, while others like hydrogen masers yield lower short term phase noise. Then lower frequency (and so lower cost) oscillators phase locked to a digitally divided version of the master clock deliver the eventual VFO output, smoothing out the noise induced by the division algorithms. Such an arrangement can then give all of the longer term stability and repeatability of an exact reference, the benefits of exact digital frequency selection, and the short term stability, imparted even onto an arbitrary frequency analogue waveform—the best of all worlds.
An electronic oscillator is an electronic circuit that produces a periodic, oscillating electronic signal, often a sine wave or a square wave or a triangle wave. Oscillators convert direct current (DC) from a power supply to an alternating current (AC) signal. They are widely used in many electronic devices ranging from simplest clock generators to digital instruments and complex computers and peripherals etc. Common examples of signals generated by oscillators include signals broadcast by radio and television transmitters, clock signals that regulate computers and quartz clocks, and the sounds produced by electronic beepers and video games.
A superheterodyne receiver, often shortened to superhet, is a type of radio receiver that uses frequency mixing to convert a received signal to a fixed intermediate frequency (IF) which can be more conveniently processed than the original carrier frequency. It was long believed to have been invented by US engineer Edwin Armstrong, but after some controversy the earliest patent for the invention is now credited to French radio engineer and radio manufacturer Lucien Lévy. Virtually all modern radio receivers use the superheterodyne principle; except software-defined radios, which use direct sampling.
A heterodyne is a signal frequency that is created by combining or mixing two other frequencies using a signal processing technique called heterodyning, which was invented by Canadian inventor-engineer Reginald Fessenden. Heterodyning is used to shift signals from one frequency range into another, and is also involved in the processes of modulation and demodulation. The two input frequencies are combined in a nonlinear signal-processing device such as a vacuum tube, transistor, or diode, usually called a mixer.
A phase-locked loop or phase lock loop (PLL) is a control system that generates an output signal whose phase is related to the phase of an input signal. There are several different types; the simplest is an electronic circuit consisting of a variable frequency oscillator and a phase detector in a feedback loop. The oscillator's frequency and phase are controlled proportionally by an applied voltage, hence the term voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO). The oscillator generates a periodic signal of a specific frequency, and the phase detector compares the phase of that signal with the phase of the input periodic signal, to adjust the oscillator to keep the phases matched.
A phase detector or phase comparator is a frequency mixer, analog multiplier or logic circuit that generates a signal which represents the difference in phase between two signal inputs.
In a radio receiver, a beat frequency oscillator or BFO is a dedicated oscillator used to create an audio frequency signal from Morse code radiotelegraphy (CW) transmissions to make them audible. The signal from the BFO is mixed with the received signal to create a heterodyne or beat frequency which is heard as a tone in the speaker. BFOs are also used to demodulate single-sideband (SSB) signals, making them intelligible, by essentially restoring the carrier that was suppressed at the transmitter. BFOs are sometimes included in communications receivers designed for short wave listeners; they are almost always found in communication receivers for amateur radio, which often receive CW and SSB signals.
A voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) is an electronic oscillator whose oscillation frequency is controlled by a voltage input. The applied input voltage determines the instantaneous oscillation frequency. Consequently, a VCO can be used for frequency modulation (FM) or phase modulation (PM) by applying a modulating signal to the control input. A VCO is also an integral part of a phase-locked loop. VCOs are used in synthesizers to generate a waveform whose pitch can be adjusted by a voltage determined by a musical keyboard or other input.
A tuner is a subsystem that receives radio frequency (RF) transmissions, such as FM broadcasting, and converts the selected carrier frequency and its associated bandwidth into a fixed frequency that is suitable for further processing, usually because a lower frequency is used on the output. Broadcast FM/AM transmissions usually feed this intermediate frequency (IF) directly into a demodulator that converts the radio signal into audio-frequency signals that can be fed into an amplifier to drive a loudspeaker.
Direct digital synthesis (DDS) is a method employed by frequency synthesizers used for creating arbitrary waveforms from a single, fixed-frequency reference clock. DDS is used in applications such as signal generation, local oscillators in communication systems, function generators, mixers, modulators, sound synthesizers and as part of a digital phase-locked loop.
In electronics, a frequency multiplier is an electronic circuit that generates an output signal and that output frequency is a harmonic (multiple) of its input frequency. Frequency multipliers consist of a nonlinear circuit that distorts the input signal and consequently generates harmonics of the input signal. A subsequent bandpass filter selects the desired harmonic frequency and removes the unwanted fundamental and other harmonics from the output.
In electronics, a local oscillator (LO) is an electronic oscillator used with a mixer to change the frequency of a signal. This frequency conversion process, also called heterodyning, produces the sum and difference frequencies from the frequency of the local oscillator and frequency of the input signal. Processing a signal at a fixed frequency gives a radio receiver improved performance. In many receivers, the function of local oscillator and mixer is combined in one stage called a "converter" - this reduces the space, cost, and power consumption by combining both functions into one active device.
A variable capacitor is a capacitor whose capacitance may be intentionally and repeatedly changed mechanically or electronically. Variable capacitors are often used in L/C circuits to set the resonance frequency, e.g. to tune a radio, or as a variable reactance, e.g. for impedance matching in antenna tuners.
A radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves with frequencies between about 30 Hz and 300 GHz. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to the antenna. When excited by this alternating current, the antenna radiates radio waves. Transmitters are necessary parts of all systems that use radio: radio and television broadcasting, cell phones, wireless networks, radar, two way radios like walkie talkies, radio navigation systems like GPS, remote entry systems, among numerous other uses.
Radio receiver design includes the electronic design of different components of a radio receiver which processes the radio frequency signal from an antenna in order to produce usable information such as audio. The complexity of a modern receiver and the possible range of circuitry and methods employed are more generally covered in electronics and communications engineering. The term radio receiver is understood in this article to mean any device which is intended to receive a radio signal in order to generate useful information from the signal, most notably a recreation of the so-called baseband signal which modulated the radio signal at the time of transmission in a communications or broadcast system.
In radio, a detector is a device or circuit that extracts information from a modulated radio frequency current or voltage. The term dates from the first three decades of radio (1888-1918). Unlike modern radio stations which transmit sound on an uninterrupted carrier wave, early radio stations transmitted information by radiotelegraphy. The transmitter was switched on and off to produce long or short periods of radio waves, spelling out text messages in Morse code. Therefore, early radio receivers did not have to demodulate the radio signal, but just distinguish between the presence or absence of a radio signal, to reproduce the Morse code "dots" and "dashes". The device that performed this function in the receiver circuit was called a detector. A variety of different detector devices, such as the coherer, electrolytic detector, magnetic detector and the crystal detector, were used during the wireless telegraphy era until superseded by vacuum tube technology.
In electrical engineering, and particularly in telecommunications, frequency drift is an unintended and generally arbitrary offset of an oscillator from its nominal frequency. Causes may include component aging, changes in temperature that alter the piezoelectric effect in a crystal oscillator, or problems with a voltage regulator which controls the bias voltage to the oscillator. Frequency drift is traditionally measured in Hz/s. Frequency stability can be regarded as the absence of frequency drift.
A frequency divider, also called a clock divider or scaler or prescaler, is a circuit that takes an input signal of a frequency, , and generates an output signal of a frequency:
A frequency synthesizer is an electronic circuit that generates a range of frequencies from a single reference frequency. Frequency synthesizers are used in many modern devices such as radio receivers, televisions, mobile telephones, radiotelephones, walkie-talkies, CB radios, cable television converter boxes, satellite receivers, and GPS systems. A frequency synthesizer may use the techniques of frequency multiplication, frequency division, direct digital synthesis, frequency mixing, and phase-locked loops to generate its frequencies. The stability and accuracy of the frequency synthesizer's output are related to the stability and accuracy of its reference frequency input. Consequently, synthesizers use stable and accurate reference frequencies, such as those provided by a crystal oscillator.
A Vackář oscillator is a wide range variable frequency oscillator (VFO) which has a near constant output amplitude over its frequency range. It is similar to a Colpitts oscillator or a Clapp oscillator, but those designs do not have a constant output amplitude when tuned.
A PLL multibit or multibit PLL is a phase-locked loop (PLL) which achieves improved performance compared to a unibit PLL by using more bits. Unibit PLLs use only the most significant bit (MSB) of each counter's output bus to measure the phase, while multibit PLLs use more bits. PLLs are an essential component in telecommunications.
