Inside Frequency Control

The international space station (ISS) is traveling in orbit around our earth at about 217 Miles (350 km) above earth’s surface. That’s equal to about 1,148,294 feet (yes, over 1 MILLION feet) or 350,000 meters above you. Those are some crazy heights! The ISS and other satellite communication devices must be able to cover a ton of earth’s surface from there, right?

Maybe. Maybe not. Let’s explore...

Here’s the scary thing…

Even if you sit for hours upon hours trying to set a precise initial frequency of an oscillator, it’s still going to drift and the oscillator will not be able maintain that frequency over the full course of its use. In this post, you’ll learn the MANY sources of frequency instability and why an Ultra-Stable OCXO may be the fix-all solution.

 

Radar technology has become extremely important in today's world.

They help guide the freighters which ship the electronics, clothing, and countless other products we use every day to our shores.

They help meteorologists detect advanced weather patterns to produce the weather forecasts we see every morning on the news.

Further, radar is used for:

• Air traffic control and navigation
• Military applications
• Astronomical and meteorological study
• Law enforcement purposes. (You can thank the radars in police radar guns for that speeding ticket you may have gotten.) 
• Continually growing amounts of uses

Clearly radar is important for many reasons. Here's a deeper look into what exactly radar technology is and what makes it so effective for many applications. 

CMOS Clocks are a key technology that enables everything from laptops and smartphones to satellites and spacecraft to function. But what exactly do these devices do, and how are they beneficial in extreme environments and demanding applications? In this article, we will give a quick overview of the benefits of CMOS clocks, and how RF engineers put them to work in some of the most challenging applications.

The harnessing of the electromagnetic spectrum represents one of the greatest technological leaps in human history. So many luxuries and necessities, products, services, and systems we take for granted are all, in some way, linked to electromagnetic technologies. More specifically, to those which make use of the RF spectrum. But as anyone who works in the industry knows, the first order of business when designing a new product or system is to determine what part of RF spectrum will be the best fit for the application.

The #1 Most Critical Factor in High-End Radar & Communication Systems: Low Phase Noise

Phase noise, phase noise, phase noise.

If you’re involved with the design and implementation of communication systems, you most likely hear the term “phase noise” all the time (maybe more times than you’d like). 

There’s a good reason for all this phase noise chat. It’s one of the key factors that determines the overall success or failure of your radar or communications application. It’s even more important in intense environments where strong vibration or g-force is a concern.

Why is maintaining low phase noise such a concern in these applications and environments? And how can you solve the problems associated with the effects of phase noise? By the end of this article, you'll know why and how you should decrease phase noise in your applications.

There are so many different devices and products for frequency generation and timing, but between all the acronyms and complex terminology of the RF industry, it can be confusing trying to understand what each type of clock or oscillator does, and what the best applications for each of them are. In this article, we’re going to help clear up some of the confusion, with a specific emphasis on CMOS clocks. We’ll cover what these devices are, why they are important, and how to know if one of these clocks is the best fit for your application.