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Concept
Local oscillator
Summary
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.
Local oscillators are used in the superheterodyne receiver, the most common type of radio receiver circuit. They are also used in many other communications circuits such as modems, cable television set top boxes, frequency division multiplexing systems used in telephone trunklines, microwave relay systems, telemetry systems, atomic clocks, radio telescopes, and military electronic countermeasure (antijamming) systems.
In satellite television reception, the microwave frequencies used from the satellite down to the receiving antenna are converted to lower frequencies by a local oscillator and mixer mounted at the antenna. This allows the received signals to be sent over a length of cable that would otherwise have unacceptable signal loss at the original reception frequency. In this application, the local oscillator is of a fixed frequency and the down-converted signal frequency is variable.
Application of local oscillators in a receiver design requires care to ensure no spurious signals are radiated. Such signals can cause interference in the operation of other receivers.
The performance of a signal processing system depends on the characteristics of the local oscillator. The local oscillator must produce a stable frequency with low harmonics. Stability must take into account temperature, voltage, and mechanical drift as factors. The oscillator must produce enough output power to effectively drive subsequent stages of circuitry, such as mixers or frequency multipliers.
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Homodyne detection
In electrical engineering, homodyne detection is a method of extracting information encoded as modulation of the phase and/or frequency of an oscillating signal, by comparing that signal with a standard oscillation that would be identical to the signal if it carried null information. "Homodyne" signifies a single frequency, in contrast to the dual frequencies employed in heterodyne detection. When applied to processing of the reflected signal in remote sensing for topography, homodyne detection lacks the ability of heterodyne detection to determine the size of a static discontinuity in elevation between two locations.
Direct-conversion receiver
A direct-conversion receiver (DCR), also known as homodyne, synchrodyne, or zero-IF receiver, is a radio receiver design that demodulates the incoming radio signal using synchronous detection driven by a local oscillator whose frequency is identical to, or very close to the carrier frequency of the intended signal. This is in contrast to the standard superheterodyne receiver where this is accomplished only after an initial conversion to an intermediate frequency.
Phase noise
In signal processing, phase noise is the frequency-domain representation of random fluctuations in the phase of a waveform, corresponding to time-domain deviations from perfect periodicity (jitter). Generally speaking, radio-frequency engineers speak of the phase noise of an oscillator, whereas digital-system engineers work with the jitter of a clock. Historically there have been two conflicting yet widely used definitions for phase noise.