Receiver:
The A receivers job is to select radio frequency signals
form the medium in which it exists and convert the
information contained on these signals into a usable form
such as audible signals or visual signals.
A receiver must be able to select the desired frequency from
all those present and amplify it.
The receiver contains demodulator circuit to remove the
information from the RF signal.
If the demodulator is sensitive to amplitude changes it is used
in AM receivers, and called as detector.
A demodulator which is sensitive to frequency modulation is
used for FM reception and is known as a discriminator.
Functions of Receiver :
Functionally the receiver must perform the following
tasks:
Transduction and matching (antenna, matching network)
Selection of desired signals
Rejection of undesired signals
Amplification by very large factors
Demodulation
Error detection and correction (digital)
Received information conditioning and reproduction of
output
Receiver Specifications
Parameters that determine the ability of a
receiver to successfully demodulate signal :
Sensitivity
Selectivity
Fidelity
Receiver Specifications
Sensitivity
Sensitivity is a minimum input signal that will produce a
specified signal to noise ratio (SNR).
Sensitivity refers to the weakest signal that can be
received and still produce an acceptable out.
The sensitivity of any receiver is an indication of how well it can
measure small signals.
Sensitivity can be specified as a minimum voltage (V) or as a
power level (dBm).
Receiver Specifications
Selectivity
Selectivity specifies a receivers ability to discriminate
against adjacent channel signals.
Receiver Specifications
Selectivity
The better the ability of the receiver to reject unwanted
signals, the better its selectivity.
The degree of selection is determined by the sharpness of
resonance to which the frequency- determining circuits
have been tuned.
Receiver Specifications
Fidelity
The fidelity of a receiver is its ability to accurately reproduce,
in its output, the signal that appears at its input.
The broader the band passed by frequency selection circuits,
the greater your fidelity.
Good selectivity requires that a receiver pass a narrow
frequency band. Good fidelity requires that the receiver pass
a broader band to amplify the outermost frequencies of the
sidebands.
Receivers you find in general use are a compromise between
good selectivity and high fidelity.
Superheterodyne receivers
A superheterodyne receiver converts all incoming radio
frequency (RF) signals to a lower frequency known as an
intermediate frequency (IF).
Superheterodyne Receiver
Heterodyning
The inputs to the mixer are the radio signal fs and a sine wave
from a local oscillator fo.
The mixer output consists of four signals:
This function is called heterodyning.
Mixing principles
The output of the mixer is filtered to eliminate everything but
the IF signal.
Tuning a Superhet receiver
In a TRF receiver, a station is tuned by adjusting
the resonant frequency of a filter.
In a superhet receiver, a station is tuned by
changing the frequency of the receivers local
oscillator fo.
The oscillator is set such that fo - fs = fIF
fIF is a fixed value (typically 455-kHz for AM radio).
Image frequency
The mixing process creates sum and difference frequencies
for the desired signal (680 kHz).
It also creates sum and difference frequencies for the
undesired signal (1590 kHz).
The problem arises because the difference frequencies are
the same (both 455 kHz)
1135 680 = 455 kHz
1590 1135 = 455 kHz
Image frequency
Which image that occurs depends upon whether the local
oscillator frequency fo is above or below the signal
frequency.
Once the image signal is mixed down to the IF, there is no
way to separate the desired signal from the undesired.
Image Frequencies
Image frequency Rejection
The rejection of an image frequency by a single tuned
i.e. the ratio of the gain at signal frequency to the gain at
image frequency :
IFRR ( ) = 1 + Q 2 2
where
fi
fs
=
fs
fi
Image rejection depends on the front end selectivity of
the receiver and must be achieved before IF stage.
Image frequency Rejection
In order to prevent interference, we need to prevent the
image frequency from appearing at the mixer.
This is accomplished by the use of Bandpass filter
associated with the initial RF amplifier sometimes
called a preselector.
Preselector
Preselector
Preselector operation
Mixer and IF filter operation
