Radio Receiver A radio receiver is an electronic circuit that receives its input from an antenna, uses electronic filters

to separate a wanted radio signal from all other signals picked up by this antenna, amplifies it to a level suitable for further processing, and finally converts through demodulation and decoding the signal into a form usable for the consumer, such as sound, pictures, digital data, measurement values, navigational positions, etc.[1]

Old-fashioned radio receiver--wireless ruetone model from about 1!"# $n consumer electronics, the terms radio and radio receiver are often used specifically for receivers designed for the sound signals transmitted by radio broadcasting services % historically the first massmarket radio application. Types of radio receivers &arious types of radio receivers may include'

(onsumer audio and high fidelity audio receivers and A& receivers used by home stereo listeners and audio and home theatre system enthusiasts.

(ommunications receivers, used as a component of a radio communication link, characteri)ed by high stability and reliability of performance.

*imple crystal radio receivers +also known as a crystal set, which operate using the power received from radio waves.

*atellite television receivers, used to receive television programming from communication satellites in geosynchronous orbit.

*peciali)ed-use receivers such as telemetry receivers that allow the remote measurement and reporting of information.

-easuring receivers +also' measurement receivers, are calibrated laboratory-grade devices that are used to measure the signal strength of broadcasting stations, the electromagnetic interference radiation emitted by electrical products, as well as to calibrate ./ attenuators and signal generators.

*canners are speciali)ed receivers that can automatically scan two or more discrete fre0uencies, stopping when they find a signal on one of them and then continuing to scan other fre0uencies when the initial transmission ceases. hey are mainly used for monitoring &1/ and 21/ radio systems

Tuned radio frequency receiver

A tuned radio frequency receiver + ./ receiver, is a radio receiver that is usually composed of several tuned radio fre0uency amplifiers followed by circuits to detect and amplify the audio signal. A 3 stage ./ receiver includes a ./ stage, a detector stage and an audio stage. 4enerally, 5 or 3 ./ amplifiers are re0uired to filter and amplify the received signal to a level sufficient to drive the detector stage. he detector converts ./ signals directly to information, and the audio stage amplifies the information signal to a usable level. 6revalent in the early 5#th century, it can be difficult to operate because each stage must be individually tuned to the station7s fre0uency. $t was replaced by the *uperheterodyne receiver invented by 8dwin Armstrong. he ./ receiver was patented in 1!19 by 8rnst Ale:anderson. 1is concept was that each stage would amplify the desired signal while reducing the interfering ones. he final stage was often simply a gridleak detector.

he radio schematic above shows a typical ./ receiver. his particular radio uses a si: tube design utili)ing triode tubes. $t has two radio fre0uency amplifiers, one grid-leak detector;amplifier and three class <A= audio amplifiers.

he significance of the term >tuned radio fre0uency> is best understood when compared to the *uperheterodyne receiver. A tuned radio fre0uency receiver actually tunes the receiver on the true radio fre0uency whereas the *uperheterodyne receiver, tunes the desired signal after conversion to an intermediate fre0uency. -any homemade radios constructed by enthusiasts today, are tuned radio receivers, and these can range from single stage to multi-stage receivers. A problem with the ./ receiver is that interelectrode capacitance causes oscillations and other modes in the tuned circuits. $n 1!55, ?ouis Alan 1a)eltine invented the neutrodyne circuit, which - as its name implies - neutrali)es these capacitances. Anti0ue ./ receivers can often be identified by their cabinets. hey typically have a long, low appearance, with a flip-up lid for access to the vacuum tubes and tuned circuits. On their front panels there are typically two or three large dials, each controlling the tuning for one stage. $nside, along with several vacuum tubes, there will be a series of large coils. hese will sometimes be tilted slightly to reduce interaction between their magnetic fields.

Disadvantages of TRF receiver hey have 3 distinct disadvantages that limit their usefulness to singlechannel, low-fre0uency applications. he primary disadvantage is their bandwidth is inconsistent and varies with center fre0uency when tuned over a wide range of input

fre0uencies. his is caused by a phenomenon called the skin effect. At radio fre0uencies, current flow is limited to the outermost area of the conductor@ thus, the higher the fre0uency, the smaller the effective area and the greater the resistance. (onse0uently, the quality factor +ABC?;., of the tank circuits remains relatively constant over a wide range of fre0uencies, causing the bandwidth +f;A, to increase with fre0uency. As a result, the selectivity of the input filter changes over any appreciable range of input fre0uencies. $f the bandwidth is set to the desired value for low-fre0uency ./ signals, it will be e:cessive for high-fre0uency signals. he second disadvantage is its instability due to the large number of ./ amplifiers all tuned to the same center fre0uency. 1igh-fre0uency, multistage amplifiers are susceptible to breaking into oscillations. his problem can be reduced somewhat by tuning each amplifier to a slightly different fre0uency, slightly above or below the desired center fre0uency. his techni0ue is called stagger tuning. he third disadvantage is their gains are not uniform over a very wide fre0uency range because of the non-uniform ?;( ratios of the transformer-coupled tank circuits in the ./ amplifiers.

Superheterodyne receivers

he superhet receiver consists of three principal parts, the local oscillator, a fre0uency mi:er that mi:es the local oscillator7s signal with the received signal, and a tuned amplifier. .eception starts with an antenna signal, optionally amplified, including the fre0uency the user wishes to tune, fd. he local oscillator is tuned to produce a fre0uency close to fd, f?O. he received signal is mi:ed with the local oscillator7s, producing four fre0uencies in the output@ the original signal, the original f?O, and the two new fre0uencies fdDf?O and fd-f?O. he output signal also generally contains a number of undesirable mi:tures as well. + hese are 3rd- and higher-order intermodulation products. $f the mi:ing were performed as a pure, ideal multiplication, the original fd and f?O would also not appear@ in practice they do appear because mi:ing is done by a nonlinear process that only appro:imates true ideal multiplication., he amplifier portion of the system is tuned to be highly selective at a single fre0uency, f$/. Ey changing f?O, the resulting fd-f?O +or fdDf?O, signal can be tuned to the amplifier7s f$/. $n typical amplitude modulation +>A- radio> in the 2.*., or -F, receivers, that fre0uency is "GG k1)@ for /- receivers, it is usually 1#.H -1)@ for television, "G -1). Other signals from the mi:ed output of the heterodyne are filtered out by the amplifier. Design and its evolution he diagram below shows the basic elements of a single conversion superhet receiver. he essential elements of a local oscillator and a mi:er followed by a fi:ed-tuned filter and $/ amplifier are common to all superhet circuits. (ost-optimi)ed designs may use one active device for both local oscillator and mi:erIthis is sometimes called a >converter> stage. One such e:ample is the pentagrid converter.

he advantage to this method is that most of the radio7s signal path has to be sensitive to only a narrow range of fre0uencies. Only the front end +the part before the fre0uency converter stage, needs to be sensitive to a wide fre0uency range. /or e:ample, the front end might need to be sensitive to 1%3# -1), while the rest of the radio might need to be sensitive only to "GG k1), a typical $/. Only one or two tuned stages need to be adJusted to track over the tuning range of the receiver@ all the intermediate-fre0uency stages operate at a fi:ed fre0uency which need not be adJusted. o overcome obstacles such as image response, multiple $/ stages are used, and in some case multiple stages with two $/s of different values. /or e:ample, the front end might be sensitive to 1%3# -1), the first half of the radio to G -1), and the last half to G# k1). wo fre0uency converters would be used, and the radio would be a >Kouble (onversion *uper 1eterodyne>Ia common e:ample is a television receiver where the audio information is obtained from a second stage of intermediate fre0uency conversion. Occasionally special-purpose receivers will use an intermediate fre0uency much higher than the signal, in order to obtain very high image reJection.

*uperheterodyne receivers have superior characteristics to simpler receiver types in fre0uency stability and selectivity. hey offer much better stability than uned radio fre0uency receivers + ./, because a tuneable oscillator is more easily stabili)ed than a tuneable amplifier, especially with modern fre0uency synthesi)er technology. $/ filters can give much narrower passbands at the same A factor than an e0uivalent ./ filter. A fi:ed $/ also allows the use of a crystal filter when e:ceptionally high selectivity is necessary. .egenerative and super-regenerative receivers offer better sensitivity than a ./ receiver, but suffer from stability and selectivity problems. $n the case of modern television receivers, no other techni0ue was able to produce the precise bandpass characteristic needed for vestigial sideband reception, first used with the original L *( system introduced in 1!"1. his originally involved a comple: collection of tuneable inductors which needed careful adJustment, but since the early 1!M#s these have been replaced with precision electromechanical surface acoustic wave +*AF, filters. /abricated by precision laser milling techni0ues, *AF filters are much cheaper to produce, can be made to e:tremely close tolerances, and are e:tremely stable in operation. -icroprocessor technology allows replacing the superheterodyne receiver design by a software defined radio architecture, where the $/ processing after the initial $/ filter is implemented in software. his techni0ue is already in use in certain designs, such as very low cost /radios incorporated into mobile phones where the necessary microprocessor is already present in the system. .adio transmitters may also use a mi:er stage to produce an output fre0uency, working more or less as the reverse of a superheterodyne receiver.

Drawbacks Krawbacks to the superheterodyne receiver include interference from signal fre0uencies close to the intermediate fre0uency. o prevent this, $/ fre0uencies are generally controlled by regulatory authorities, and this is the reason most receivers use common $/s. 8:amples are "GG k1) for A- radio, 1#.H -1) for /-, and 3M.! -1) +8urope, "G -1) +2*, for television. +/or A- radio, a variety of $/s have been used, but most of the Festern Forld settled on "GGk1), in large part because of the almost universal transition to Napanese-made ceramic resonators which used the 2* standard of "GGk1). $n more recent digitally tuned receivers, this was changed to "G#k1) as this figure simplifies the design of the synthesi)er circuitry,. Additionally, in urban environments with many strong signals, the signals from multiple transmitters may combine in the mi:er stage to interfere with the desired signal. High-side and low-side injection he amount that a signal is down-shifted by the local oscillator depends on whether its fre0uency f is higher or lower than f?O. hat is because its new fre0uency is Of f?OO in either case. herefore, there are potentially two signals that could both shift to the same f$/ one at f B f?O D f$/ and another at f B f?O f$/. One or the other of those signals, called the image fre0uency, has to be filtered out prior to the mi:er to

avoid aliasing. Fhen the upper one is filtered out, it is called highside injection, because f?O is above the fre0uency of the received signal. he other case is called low-side injection. 1igh-side inJection also reverses the order of a signal7s fre0uency components. Fhether or not that actually changes the signal depends on whether it has spectral symmetry or not. he reversal can be undone later in the receiver, if necessary. !age Frequency "fi!age# One maJor disadvantage to the superheterodyne receiver is the problem of image fre0uency. $n heterodyne receivers, an image fre0uency is an undesired input fre0uency e0ual to the station fre0uency plus twice the intermediate fre0uency. he image fre0uency results in two stations being received at the same time, thus producing interference. $mage fre0uencies can be eliminated by sufficient attenuation on the incoming signal by the ./ amplifier filter of the superheterodyne receiver. 8arly Autodyne receivers typically used $/s of only 1G#k1) or so, as it was difficult to maintain reliable oscillation if higher fre0uencies were used. As a conse0uence, most Autodyne receivers needed 0uite elaborate antenna tuning networks, often involving double-tuned coils, to avoid image interference. ?ater superhets used tubes especially designed for oscillator;mi:er use, which were able work reliably with much higher $/s, reducing the problem of image interference and so allowing simpler and cheaper aerial tuning circuitry. $ocal oscillator radiation $t is difficult to keep stray radiation from the local oscillator below the level that a nearby receiver can detect. his means that there can be

mutual interference in the operation of two or more superheterodyne receivers in close pro:imity. $n espionage, oscillator radiation gives a means to detect a covert receiver and its operating fre0uency. /urther information' 8lectromagnetic compatibility $ocal oscillator sideband noise ?ocal oscillators typically generate a single fre0uency signal that has negligible amplitude modulation but some random phase modulation. 8ither of these impurities spreads some of the signal7s energy into sideband fre0uencies. hat causes a corresponding widening of the receiver7s fre0uency response, which would defeat the aim to make a very narrow bandwidth receiver such as to receive low-rate digital signals. (are needs to be taken to minimise oscillator phase noise, usually by ensuring that the oscillator never enters a non-linear mode. nter!ediate frequency $ntermediate fre0uencies are used for three general reasons. At very high +gigahert), fre0uencies, signal processing circuitry performs poorly. Active devices such as transistors cannot deliver much amplification +gain, without becoming unstable. Ordinary circuits using capacitors and inductors must be replaced with cumbersome high fre0uency techni0ues such as striplines and waveguides. *o a high fre0uency signal is converted to a lower $/ for processing. A second reason to use an $/, in receivers that can be tuned to different stations, is to convert the various different fre0uencies of the stations to a common fre0uency for processing. $t is difficult to build amplifiers, filters, and detectors that can be tuned to different fre0uencies, but easy to build tunable oscillators. *uperheterodyne receivers tune in different stations simply by adJusting the fre0uency of

the local oscillator on the input stage, and all processing after that is done at the same fre0uency, the $/. Fithout using an $/, all the complicated filters and detectors in a radio or television would have to be tuned in unison each time the station was changed, as was necessary in the early tuned radio fre0uency receivers. Eut the main reason for using an intermediate fre0uency is to improve fre0uency selectivity. $n communications circuits a very common task is to separate signals or components of a signal that are close together in fre0uency. his is called filtering. *ome e:amples are, picking up a radio station among several that are close in fre0uency, or e:tracting the chrominance subcarrier from a & signal. Fith all known filtering techni0ues the filter7s bandwidth increases proportionately with the fre0uency. *o a narrower bandwidth and more selectivity can be achieved by converting the signal to a lower $/ and performing the filtering at that fre0uency. he most commonly used intermediate fre0uencies are 1#%H# -1) in the satellite and radar world. 1owever, the intermediate fre0uency can range from 1#%1## -1). $ntermediate fre0uency +$/, are generated by mi:ing the ./ and ?O fre0uency together to create a lower fre0uency called $/. -ost of the AK(;KA( operates in low sampling rates, so input ./ must be mi:ed down to $/ to be processed. $ntermediate fre0uency tends to be lower fre0uency range compared to the transmitted ./ fre0uency. 1owever, the choices for the $/ are most depending on the available components such as mi:er, filters, amplifiers and others that can operate at lower fre0uency. here are other factors involved in deciding the $/ fre0uency, because lower $/ is susceptible to noise and higher $/ can cause clock Jitters. An intermediate fre0uency was first used in the superheterodyne radio receiver, invented by American scientist -aJor 8dwin Armstrong in

1!1M, during Forld Far $.[1][5] A member of the *ignal (orps, Armstrong was building radio direction finding e0uipment to track 4erman military signals at the then-very high fre0uencies of G## to 3G## k1). he triode vacuum tube amplifiers of the day wouldn7t amplify stably above G## k1), however, it was easy to get them to oscillate above that fre0uency. Armstrong7s solution was to set up an oscillator tube that would create a fre0uency near the incoming signal, and mi: it with the incoming signal in a 7mi:er7 tube, creating a 7heterodyne7 or signal at the lower difference fre0uency, where it could be amplified easily. /or e:ample, to pick up a signal at 1G## k1) the local oscillator would be tuned to 1"G# k1). -i:ing the two created an intermediate fre0uency of G# k1), which was well within the capability of the tubes. %o!!only used inter!ediate frequencies

elevision receivers' 3# -1) to !## -1) /- radio receivers' G.G -1), 1#.H -1), !M -1). $n doubleconversion superheterodyne receivers, often a first intermediate fre0uency of 1.9 -1) is used, followed by a second intermediate fre0uency of "H# k1).

AM radio receivers: 450 kHz, 455 kHz, 460 kHz, 465 kHz, 470 kHz, 475 kHz, 480 kHz *atellite uplink-downlink e0uipment' H# -1), !G#-1"G# Kownlink first $/ errestrial microwave e0uipment' 5G# -1), H# -1) .adar' 3# -1) ./ est 80uipment' 31#.H -1), 19# -1), 51." -1)