Superheterodyne receiver

In electronics, the superheterodyne receiver (also known by its full name, the
supersonic heterodyne receiver, or by the abbreviated form superhet) is a technique
for selectively recovering the information from radio waves of a particular frequency.
It is used in radio and television receivers and transmitters in order to tune them to a
particular frequency.

Contents
[hide]

• 1 History
• 2 Overview
• 3 High-side and low-side injection
• 4 Image Frequency (fimage)
• 5 Design and its evolution
• 6 See also
• 7 References
• 8 External links

[edit] History
The superheterodyne principle was originally conceived in 1918 by Edwin Armstrong
during World War I as a means of overcoming the deficiencies of early vacuum
triodes used as high-frequency amplifiers in radio direction finding (RDF) equipment.
In a triode RF amplifier, if both the plate and grid are connected to resonant circuits
tuned to the same frequency, stray capacitive coupling between the grid and the plate
will cause the amplifier to go into oscillation if the stage gain is much more than
unity. In early designs dozens of low-gain triode stages sometimes had to be
connected in cascade to make workable designs, which drew enormous amounts of
power in operation. However the strategic value was so high that British Admiralty
felt it was money well spent.

Armstrong had realized that higher frequency equipment would allow them to detect
enemy shipping much more effectively, but at the time no practical "short wave"
(defined then as any frequency above 500 kHz) amplifier existed.

It had been noticed some time before that if a regenerative receiver was allowed to go
into oscillation, other receivers nearby would suddenly start picking up stations on
frequencies different from those they were actually transmitted on. Armstrong (and
others) soon realized that this was caused by a "supersonic" heterodyne (or beat, as in
acoustic beating) between the station's carrier frequency and the oscillator frequency.
For example, if a station were transmitting on 300 kHz and the oscillator were set to
400 kHz, as well as the original 300 kHz, the same station would be also heard on 100
kHz and 700 kHz. Mixing two frequencies creates two new frequencies, one at the
sum of the two frequencies mixed, and the other at their difference. This is known as
heterodyning.

In a flash of insight, Armstrong suddenly realized that this was a potential solution to
the "short wave" amplification problem. To monitor a frequency of 1500 kHz, he
could set up an oscillator to, say, 1560 kHz, which would down-convert the signal to a
60 kHz carrier, which was far more amenable to high gain amplification using triodes.

The first superheterodyne circuits used the self-resonance of iron-cored interstage

coupling transformers to filter the intermediate frequency, and this is why the
Intermediate Frequency tuned circuits were still referred to as IF "transformers", long
after they had been replaced by proper tunable coils. Early superhets used IFs as low
as 20 kHz, which made them extremely susceptible to image frequency interference
but at the time the main interest was sensitivity rather than selectivity.

Armstrong was able to put his ideas into practice quite quickly, and the technique was
rapidly adopted by the military; however, it was less popular when radio broadcasting
began in the 1920s, due both to the need for an extra tube for the oscillator, and the
amount of technical knowledge required to operate it. For domestic radios, an
alternative approach to Short Wave "Tuned RF" ("TRF") amplification called the
Neutrodyne became more popular for reasons of simplicity and economy.

However, by the 1930s, improvements in vacuum tube technology rapidly eroded

these advantages. First, the development of practical indirectly-heated cathodes
allowed the mixer and oscillator functions to be combined in a single Pentode tube, in
the so-called Autodyne mixer. This was rapidly followed by the introduction of low-
cost multi-element tubes specifically designed for superheterodyne operation and by
the mid-30s the TRF technique was rendered obsolete. Just about all radio receivers,
including the receiver sections of television sets, now use the superheterodyne
principle.

[edit] Overview
The superheterodyne receiver principle overcomes certain limitations of previous
receiver designs. Tuned radio frequency (TRF) receivers suffered from poor
selectivity, since even filters with a high Q factor have a wide bandwidth at radio
frequencies. Regenerative and super-regenerative receivers offer better sensitivity
than a TRF receiver, but suffer from stability and selectivity problems.

In receivers using the superheterodyne principle, a signal at variable frequency f is

converted to a fixed lower frequency, fIF, before detection. Frequency fIF is called the
intermediate frequency, or "IF". In typical amplitude modulation (AM, e.g as used on
medium wave) home receivers, that frequency is usually 455 kHz; for FM VHF
receivers, it is usually 10.7 MHz; for television, 45 MHz.

Heterodyne receivers "mix" all of the incoming signals with an internally generated
waveform called the local oscillator using a Frequency mixer. The user tunes the radio
by adjusting the set's oscillator frequency, fLO. In the mixer stage of a receiver, the
local oscillator signal multiplies with the incoming signals, which shifts them all
down in frequency. The one that shifts to fIF is passed on by tuned circuits, amplified,
and then demodulated to recover the original audio signal. The oscillator also shifts a
"copy" of each incoming signal up in frequency by amount fLO. Those very high
frequency "images" are all rejected by the tuned circuits in the IF stage.

[edit] High-side and low-side injection

The amount that a signal is down-shifted by the local oscillator depends on whether
its frequency f is higher or lower than fLO. That is because its new frequency is |f − fLO|
in either case. Therefore, there are potentially two signals that could both shift to the
same fIF one at f = fLO + fIF and another at f = fLO − fIF. One or the other of those
signals has to be filtered out prior to the mixer to avoid aliasing. When the upper one
is filtered out, it is called high-side injection, because fLO is above the frequency of
the received signal. The other case is called low-side injection. High-side injection
also reverses the order of a signal's frequency components. Whether or not that
actually changes the signal depends on whether it has spectral symmetry or not. The
reversal can be undone later in the receiver, if necessary.

[edit] Image Frequency (fimage)

One major disadvantage to the superheterodyne receiver is the problem of image
frequency. In heterodyne receivers, an image frequency is an undesired input
frequency equal to the station frequency plus twice the intermediate frequency. The
image frequency results in two stations being received at the same time, thus
producing interference.Image frequencies can be eliminated by sufficient attenuation
on the incomming signal by the RF amplifier filter of the superheterodyne receiver.

[edit] Design and its evolution

The diagram below shows the basic elements of a single conversion superhet receiver.
In practice not every design will have all these elements, nor does this convey the
complexity of other designs, but the essential elements of a local oscillator and a
mixer followed by a filter and IF amplifier are common to all superhet circuits. Cost-
optimized designs may use one active device for both local oscillator and mixer—this
is sometimes called a "converter" stage. One such example is the pentagrid converter.
The advantage to this method is that most of the radio's signal path has to be sensitive
to only a narrow range of frequencies. Only the front end (the part before the
frequency converter stage) needs to be sensitive to a wide frequency range. For
example, the front end might need to be sensitive to 1–30 MHz, while the rest of the
radio might need to be sensitive only to 455 kHz, a typical IF. Only one or two tuned
stages need to be adjusted to track over the tuning range of the receiver; all the
intermediate-frequency stages operate at a fixed frequency which need not be
adjusted.

Sometimes, to overcome obstacles such as image response, more than one IF is used.
In such a case, the front end might be sensitive to 1–30 MHz, the first half of the radio
to 5 MHz, and the last half to 50 kHz. Two frequency converters would be used, and
the radio would be a "Double Conversion Super Heterodyne"—a common example is
a television receiver where the audio information is obtained from a second stage of
intermediate frequency conversion. Occasionally special-purpose receivers will use an
intermediate frequency much higher than the signal, in order to obtain very high
image rejection.

Superheterodyne receivers have superior characteristics to simpler receiver types in

frequency stability and selectivity. It is much easier to stabilize a tuneable oscillator
than a tuneable filter, especially with modern frequency synthesizer technology. IF
filters can give much narrower passbands at the same Q factor than an equivalent RF
filter. A fixed IF also allows the use of a crystal filter in very critical designs such as
radiotelephone receivers which have exceptionally high selectivity.

In the case of modern television receivers, no other technique was able to produce the
precise bandpass characteristic needed for vestigial sideband reception, first used with
the original NTSC system introduced in 1941. This originally involved a complex
collection of tuneable inductors which needed careful adjustment, but since the early
1980s these have been replaced with precision electromechanical surface acoustic
wave (SAW) filters. Fabricated by precision laser milling techniques, SAW filters are
much cheaper to produce, can be made to extremely close tolerances, and are
extremely stable in operation.

The next evolution of Superheterodyne receiver design is the software defined radio
architecture, where the IF processing after the initial IF filter is implemented in
software. This technique is already in use in the latest design analog television
receivers and digital set top boxes, where there are no coils or other resonant circuits
used at all. The antenna simply connects via a small capacitor to a pin on an
integrated circuit and all the signal processing is carried out digitally. Similar
techniques are used in the tiny FM radios incorporated into Mobile phones and MP3
players.

Radio transmitters may also use a mixer stage to produce an output frequency,
working more or less as the reverse of a superheterodyne receiver.

Drawbacks to the superheterodyne receiver include the cost of the mixer and local
oscillator stages. Receivers become vulnerable to interference from signals other than
the desired signal. A strong signal at the intermediate frequency may overcome the
desired signal; regulatory authorities will prevent licensed transmitters from operating
on these frequencies. In urban environments with many strong signals, the signals
from multiple transmitters may combine in the mixer stage to interfere with the
desired signal. A superheterodyne receiver may pick up a so-called "image frequency"
signal that also produces a mixer output at the desired intermediate frequency; this
phenomenon is sometimes used for scanner reception of transmissions outside of the
receiver's official capabilities.
What Heterodyning is
To heterodyne means to mix to frequencies together so as to produce a beat
frequency, namely the difference between the two. Amplitude modulation is a
heterodyne process: the information signal is mixed with the carrier to produce the
side-bands. The side-bands occur at precisely the sum and difference frequencies of
the carrier and information. These are beat frequencies (normally the beat frequency
is associated with the lower side-band, the difference between the two).

What Superheterodyning is
When you use the lower side-band (the difference between the two frequencies), you
are superheterodyning. Strictly speaking, the term superheterodyne refers to creating a
beat frequency that is lower than the original signal. Although we have used the
example of amplitude modulation side-bands as an example, we are not talking about
encoding information for transmission. What superheterodying does is to purposely
mix in another frequency in the receiver, so as to reduce the signal frequency prior to
processing. Why and how this is done will be discussed below.

The Superheterodyne Receiver

We have discussed that superheterodyning is simply reducing the incoming signal is
frequency by mixing. In a radio application we are reducing the AM or FM signal
which is centered on the carrier frequency to some intermediate value, called the IF
(intermediate frequency). For practical purposes, the superheterodyne receiver always
reduces to the same value of IF. To accomplish this requires that we be able to
continuously vary the frequency being mixed into the signal so as to keep the
difference the same. Here's what the superheterodyne receiver looks like:

This is essentially the conventional receiver with the addition of a mixer and local
oscillator. The local oscillator is linked to the tuner because they both must vary with
the carrier frequency. For example, suppose you want to tune in a TV station at 235
MHz. The band-pass filter (which only permits signals in a small range about the
center frequency to pass) must be centered at 235 MHz (or slightly higher in SSB).
The local oscillator must be set to a frequency that will heterodyne the 235 MHz to
the desired IF of 452 kHz (typical). This means the local oscillator must be set to
234.448 MHz (or alternatively to 235.452 MHz) so that the difference frequency will
be exactly 452 kHz. The local oscillator must be capable of varying the frequency
over the same range as the tuner; in fact, they vary the same amount. Therefore, the
tuner and the local oscillator are linked so they operate together.

Advantages of Using Superheterodyning

Now, we easily see that this type of receiver can be constructed, but for what
purpose? All we have accomplished is to reduce the frequency to the IF value. We
still must process the signal as before. So why are so many receivers using the
superheterodyne method? There are three main advantages, depending on the
application used for:

• It reduces the signal from very high frequency sources where ordinary
components wouldn't work (like in a radar receiver).
• It allows many components to operate at a fixed frequency (IF section) and
therefore they can be optimized or made more inexpensively.
• It can be used to improve signal isolation by arithmetic selectivity

Reduction in frequency

AT very extremely high frequencies, many ordinary components cease to function.

Although we see many computer systems that work at previously unattainable
frequencies like 166 MHz, you certainly never see any system that works at radar
frequencies like 10 GHz (try that Intel!). There are many physical reasons for this, but
suffice it to say, it can't be done (yet). So the designer of a radar interceptor (fuzz-
buster, et al.) is faced with a daunting circumstance unless he/she can use a
superheterodyne receiver to knock down the frequency to an IF value. It is in fact, the
local oscillator (a operating at radar frequencies) of the superheterodyne radar
receiver that makes your radar detector detectable by the police (in VA for example,
where the use of radar detectors are illegal).

Optimization of Components

It is a typical engineering dilemma: how to make components that have outstanding

performance, but can also cover a wide range of frequencies. Again, the details aren't
important, but the problem is very real. A possible solution to this, is to make as much
of the receiver as possible always work at the same frequency (the IF). This is
accomplished by using the superheterodyne method. The majority of components can
be optimized to work at the IF without any requirements to cover a wide range of
frequencies.

Arithmetic Selectivity

The ability to isolate signals, or reject unwanted ones, is a function of the receiver
bandwidth. For example, the band-pass filter in the tuner is what isolates the desired
signal from the adjacent ones. In real life, there are frequently sources that can
interfere with your signal. The FCC makes frequency assignments that generally
prevent this. Depending on the application, you might have a need for very narrow
signal isolation. If the performance of your band-pass filter isn't sufficient to
accomplish this, the performance can be improve by superheterodyning.

Frequently, the receiver bandwidth is some fraction of the carrier frequency. If your
receiver has a bandwidth of 2 % and you are tuned to 850 kHz, then only signals
within the range from 2 % above and below are passed. In this case, that would be
from 833 to 867 kHz.

Arithmetic selectivity takes that fraction and applies it to the reduced frequency (the
IF). For the fixed IF of 452 kHz, that means signals which are superheterodyned to
the range of 443 to 461 kHz will pass. Taking this range back up into the carrier band,
only carrier frequencies in the range of 841 to 859 kHz will pass. If this is confusing,
recall that the local oscillator is set to reduce the 850 kHz to 452 kHz (i.e. must be set
at 398 kHz). Thus, the 850 kHz is superheterodyned to 452 kHz. Any adjacent signals
are also superheterodyned but remain the same above or below the original signal. An
example might clear this up:

Suppose there is an interfering signal at 863 kHz while you are tuned to 850 kHz. A
conventional 2 % receiver will pass 833 to 867 kHz and so the interfering signal also
passes. The superheterodyne receiver mixes both signals with 398 kHz to produce the
desired signal at 452 kHz and the interference at 465 kHz. At 2 %, the IF section only
passes 443 to 461 kHz, and therefore the interference is now suppressed. We say that
the superheterodyne receiver is more selective. With a little thought, the reason is
simple: it operates at a smaller frequency, so the 2 % actually involves a smaller
range. That is why it is called arithmetic selectivity. Bandwidths that are expressed as
a percentage are smaller when the center frequency is smaller (the same way that 2 %
of $10 is less than 2 % of $10,000,000 ).

Whether or not, you need to take advantage of arithmetic selectivity depends on the
application. If you have no problems with interference at your current bandwidth
and/or it is not difficult or expensive to reduce the bandwidth of your receiver, then
you don't need it. However, in cases where selectivity is important or the frequency is
very high (like radar) then superheterodyning can greatly improve performance.

Summary
• Superheterodyne receivers reduce the signal frequency be mixing in a signal
from a local oscillator to produce the intermediate frequency (IF).
• Superheterodyne receivers have better performance because the components
can be optimized to work a single intermediate frequency, and can take
advantage of arithmetic selectivity.