NAME: AGBOOLA OLUWAKAYODE

MATRIC NO: 120403017

DEPARTMENT: ELECTRICAL AND

ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING

TOPIC: CARRIER RECOVERY SYSTEM

USED IN DIGITAL DEMODULATION

DATE: 20/02/2017
INTRODUCTION
A carrier recovery system is a circuit used to estimate and compensate for frequency and phase
differences between a received signal's carrier wave and the receiver's local oscillator for the
purpose of coherent demodulation.

In an ideal communications system, the carrier signal oscillators of the transmitter and receiver
would be perfectly matched in frequency and phase thereby permitting perfect coherent
demodulation of the modulated baseband signal.

However, transmitters and receivers rarely share the same carrier oscillator. Communications
receiver systems are usually independent of transmitting systems and contain their own
oscillators with frequency and phase offsets and instabilities. Doppler shift may also contribute
to frequency differences in mobile radio frequency communications systems.

All these frequency and phase variations must be estimated using information in the received
signal to reproduce or recover the carrier signal at the receiver and permit coherent
demodulation.

In a digital communication system, information can be sent over a carrier through changes in its
fundamental characteristics. These characteristics phase, frequency, and amplitude, are modified
by the transmitter and must be detected by the receiver. Thus, it is absolutely essential for a receiver
to recover the carrier. Carrier recovery is required if the signal is detected coherently.

Receiver is assumed to be able to generate a reference carrier whose frequency and phase are
identical to those of the carriers at the transmitter. When the exploits knowledge of carrier’s phase
to detect the signals, the process is called coherent detector. Carrier signal is generated by the local
oscillator. Local oscillator at the receiver is generally not synchronous with that of the transmitter.
To match the receiver carrier oscillator frequency and phase to match that of the transmitter signal,
carrier recovery is done.

The missing carrier can be regenerated by nonlinear circuits called regenerators. The regenerator
may be placed before the narrowband PLL as an entirely separate circuit, or it may be included
in the loop.
METHODS OF CARRIER RECOVERY
For a quiet carrier or a signal containing a dominant carrier spectral line, carrier recovery can be
accomplished with a simple band-pass filter at the carrier frequency or with a phase-locked loop,
or both.

However, many modulation schemes make this simple approach impractical because most signal
power is devoted to modulation—where the information is present—and not to the carrier
frequency. Reducing the carrier power results in greater transmitter efficiency. Different methods
must be employed to recover the carrier in these conditions but the two basic types namely; the
phase-locked loop and the Costas loop will be discussed.

Phase-Locked Loop
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. While there are several differing types, it
is easy to initially visualize as an electronic circuit consisting of a variable frequency oscillator
and a phase detector. The oscillator generates a periodic signal, and the phase detector compares
the phase of that signal with the phase of the input periodic signal, adjusting the oscillator to
keep the phases matched. Bringing the output signal back toward the input signal for comparison
is called a feedback loop since the output is "fed back" toward the input forming a loop.

Structure
Phase-locked loop mechanisms may be implemented as either analog or digital circuits. Both
implementations use the same basic structure. Both analog and digital PLL circuits include four
basic elements:

 Phase detector,
 Low-pass filter,
 Variable-frequency oscillator, and
 feedback path (which may include a frequency divider).
PLLs work by constantly adjusting a voltage or current-driven oscillator to match (lock onto) the
phase and frequency of an input signal, which typically consists of a voltage-controlled oscillator
(VCO) tuned using a special semiconductor diode called a varactor. The VCO is initially tuned
to a frequency close to the desired receiving or transmitting frequency. A circuit called a phase
comparator causes the VCO to seek and lock onto the desired frequency, which is set via a
crystal-controlled reference oscillator. When the VCO frequency differs from the reference
frequency, the phase comparator produces an error voltage. The comparator output is usually run
through a low-pass filter (a signal filter that reduces the strength of high-frequency waves) to
further reduce noise. The filtered output is fed back to the varactor to continually push the VCO
toward the reference frequency.

The filtered output of the comparator also provides the output of the circuit -- the signal found in
the transmission (the voice, video or data). Since the signal is encoded by modulating a carrier
wave, it can be thought of as the difference between the carrier waveform and the actual
transmitted waveform, and can therefore be found in the output of the comparator.

Together, the phase-locked loop, VCO, reference oscillator and phase comparator comprise a
frequency synthesizer -- an electronic system that produces a range of frequencies from a single
fixed oscillator.
Phase Detector
A phase detector or phase comparator is a frequency mixer, analog multiplier or logic circuit
that generates a voltage signal which represents the difference in phase between two signal
inputs.

The phase detector is the core element of a phase locked loop, PLL. Its action enables the phase
differences in the loop to be detected and the resultant error voltage to be produced.

There is a variety of different circuits that can be used as phase detectors, some that use what
may be considered as analogue techniques, while others use digital circuitry. However the most
important difference is whether the phase detector is sensitive to just phase or whether it is
sensitive to frequency and to phase. Thus, phase detectors may be split into two categories:

 Phase only sensitive detectors

 Phase / frequency detectors

Phase only sensitive detectors: Phase detectors that are only sensitive to phase are the most
straightforward form of detector. They simply produce an output that is proportional to the phase
difference between the two signals. When the phase difference between the two incoming signals
is steady, they produce a constant voltage. When there is a frequency difference between the two
signals, they produce a varying voltage.

The difference frequency product is the one used to give the phase difference. It is quite possible
that the difference frequency signal will fall outside the pass-band of the loop filter. If this occurs
then no error voltage will be fed back to the Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO) to bring it into
lock. This means that there is a limited range over which the loop can be brought into lock, and
this is called the capture range. Once in lock the loop can generally be pulled over a much wider
frequency band.

Phase-frequency detectors: Another form of detector is said to be phase-frequency sensitive.

These circuits have the advantage that whilst the phase difference is between ± 180° a voltage
proportional to the phase difference is given. Beyond this the circuit limits at one of the
extremes. In this way, no AC component is produced when the loop is out of lock and the output
from the phase detector can pass through the filter to bring the phase locked loop, PLL, into lock
Low Pass Filters
A low pass filter is a filter which passes low-frequency signals and blocks, or impedes, high-
frequency signals. It is a filter that passes signals with a frequency lower than a certain cutoff
frequency and attenuates signals with frequencies higher than the cutoff frequency. The exact
frequency response of the filter depends on the filter design.

There are two basic kinds of circuits capable of accomplishing this objective, and many
variations of each one:

Inductive low-pass filter: The inductor’s impedance increases with increasing frequency. This
high impedance in series tends to block high-frequency signals from getting to the load.

Capacitive low-pass filter: The capacitor’s impedance decreases with increasing frequency.
This low impedance in parallel with the load resistance tends to short out high-frequency signals,
dropping most of the voltage across series resistor R1.

The inductive low-pass filter is the pinnacle of simplicity, with only one component comprising
the filter. The capacitive version of this filter is not that much more complex, with only a resistor
and capacitor needed for operation. However, despite their increased complexity, capacitive filter
designs are generally preferred over inductive because capacitors tend to be “purer” reactive
components than inductors and therefore are more predictable in their behavior. By “pure” I
mean that capacitors exhibit little resistive effects than inductors, making them almost 100%
reactive. Inductors, on the other hand, typically exhibit significant dissipative (resistor-like)
effects, both in the long lengths of wire used to make them, and in the magnetic losses of the
core material. Capacitors also tend to participate less in “coupling” effects with other
components (generate and/or receive interference from other components via mutual electric or
magnetic fields) than inductors, and are less expensive.

However, the inductive low-pass filter is often preferred in AC-DC power supplies to filter out
the AC “ripple” waveform created when AC is converted (rectified) into DC, passing only the
pure DC component. The primary reason for this is the requirement of low filter resistance for
the output of such a power supply. A capacitive low-pass filter requires an extra resistance in
series with the source, whereas the inductive low-pass filter does not. In the design of a high-
current circuit like a DC power supply where additional series resistance is undesirable, the
inductive low-pass filter is the better design choice. On the other hand, if low weight and
compact size are higher priorities than low internal supply resistance in a power supply design,
the capacitive low-pass filter might make more sense.

All low-pass filters are rated at a certain cutoff frequency. That is, the frequency above which the
output voltage falls below 70.7% of the input voltage. This cutoff percentage of 70.7 is not really
arbitrary, all though it may seem so at first glance. In a simple capacitive/resistive low-pass filter,
it is the frequency at which capacitive reactance in ohms equals resistance in ohms. In a simple
capacitive low-pass filter (one resistor, one capacitor), the cutoff frequency is given as:

Fcutoff = 1⁄2𝜋𝑅𝐶

Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO)

A Voltage controlled oscillator is an oscillator with an output signal whose output can be varied
over a range, which is controlled by the input DC voltage. It is an electronic oscillator whose
oscillation frequency is controlled by a voltage input. The applied input voltage determines the
instantaneous oscillation frequency. Voltage controlled oscillators are commonly used in
frequency (FM), pulse (PM) modulators and phase locked loops (PLL). Another application of the
voltage controlled oscillator is the variable frequency signal generator itself.

Types of VCO

VCOs can be generally categorized into two groups based on the type of waveform produced.

 Linear or harmonic oscillators generate a sinusoidal waveform. Harmonic oscillators in

electronics usually consist of a resonator with an amplifier that replaces the resonator
losses (to prevent the amplitude from decaying) and isolates the resonator from the output
(so the load does not affect the resonator). Some examples of harmonic oscillators are
LC-tank oscillators and crystal oscillators. In a voltage-controlled oscillator, a voltage
input controls the resonant frequency. A varactor diode's capacitance is controlled by the
voltage across the diode. Consequently, a varactor can be used to change the capacitance
(and hence the frequency) of an LC tank. A varactor can also change ("pull") the resonant
frequency of a crystal resonator.
 Relaxation oscillators can generate a sawtooth or triangular waveform. They are
commonly used in monolithic integrated circuits (ICs). They can provide a wide range of
operational frequencies with a minimal number of external components. Relaxation
oscillator VCOs can have three topologies: 1) grounded-capacitor VCOs, 2) emitter-
coupled VCOs, and 3) delay-based ring VCOs. The first two of these types operate
similarly. The time spent in each state depends on the rate of charge or discharge of a
capacitor. The delay-based ring VCO operates somewhat differently however. For this
type, the gain stages are connected in a ring. The output frequency is then a function of
the delay in each stage.
Harmonic oscillator VCOs have these advantages over relaxation oscillators:

 Frequency stability with respect to temperature, noise, and power supply is much better
for harmonic oscillator VCOs.
 They have good accuracy for frequency control since the frequency is controlled by a
crystal or tank circuit.

A disadvantage of harmonic oscillator VCOs is that they cannot be easily implemented in

monolithic ICs. Relaxation oscillator VCOs are better suited for this technology. Relaxation
VCOs are also tunable over a wider range of frequencies.

The Costas loop

The Costas loop is similar to the PLL, except that it uses two phase detectors to measure the
phase of the received signal. The output of each of these detectors passes through a low-pass
filter to another phase detector, which is used to control a voltage controlled oscillator. This is
able to proportionally adjust the phase for the next iteration. The Costas loop is a recursive
algorithm which is able to precisely lock the receiver to the transmitter over time.