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Concept
Envelope detector
Summary
An envelope detector (sometimes called a peak detector) is an electronic circuit that takes a (relatively) high-frequency amplitude modulated signal as input and provides an output, which is the demodulated envelope of the original signal.
The capacitor in the circuit above stores charge on the rising edge and releases it slowly through the resistor when the input signal amplitude falls. The diode in series rectifies the incoming signal, allowing current flow only when the positive input terminal is at a higher potential than the negative input terminal.
Most practical envelope detectors use either half-wave or full-wave rectification of the signal to convert the AC audio input into a pulsed DC signal. Filtering is then used to smooth the final result. This filtering is rarely perfect and some "ripple" is likely to remain on the envelope follower output, particularly for low frequency inputs such as notes from a bass instrument. Reducing the filter cutoff frequency gives a smoother output, but decreases the high frequency response. Therefore, practical designs must reach a compromise.
Envelope (waves)
Any AM or FM signal can be written in the following form
In the case of AM, φ(t) (the phase component of the signal) is constant and can be ignored. In AM, the carrier frequency is also constant. Thus, all the information in the AM signal is in R(t). R(t) is called the envelope of the signal. Hence an AM signal is given by the function
with m(t) representing the original audio frequency message, C the carrier amplitude and R(t) equal to C + m(t). So, if the envelope of the AM signal can be extracted, the original message can be recovered.
In the case of FM, the transmitted has a constant envelope R(t) = R and can be ignored.
However, many FM receivers measure the envelope anyway for received signal strength indication.
The simplest form of envelope detector is the diode detector which is shown above. A diode detector is simply a diode between the input and output of a circuit, connected to a resistor and capacitor in parallel from the output of the circuit to the ground.
Official source
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