A wide dynamic range square-law diode detector (for radioastronomy)

Semiconductor square-law diode detectors are frequently used in radio astronomy to recover signals immersed in the system noise. Their use is commonly restricted to narrow dynamic ranges of very low signal levels where the square-law is valid. A circuit based on operational amplifiers is proposed th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inIEEE transactions on instrumentation and measurement Vol. 37; no. 3; pp. 429 - 433
Main Author Aparici, J.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York, NY IEEE 01.09.1988
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Subjects
Applied sciences
Circuit noise
Detection, estimation, filtering, equalization, prediction
Diodes
Dynamic range
Envelope detectors
Exact sciences and technology
Impedance
Information, signal and communications theory
Operational amplifiers
Polarization
Radio frequency
Signal and communications theory
Signal, noise
Telecommunications and information theory
Temperature distribution
Voltage
Thermal drift
Performance evaluation
Radio astronomy
Circuit design
Diode
Signal detection
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Summary:Semiconductor square-law diode detectors are frequently used in radio astronomy to recover signals immersed in the system noise. Their use is commonly restricted to narrow dynamic ranges of very low signal levels where the square-law is valid. A circuit based on operational amplifiers is proposed that would minimize temperature-drift effects within a dynamic range greater than 30 dB, with an efficiency 600 timer greater than the simple high-impedance unbiased detector. Using square-law detector theory, optimum performance is determined for a detector driving source impedance of about 14% of the dynamic resistance.< >
ISSN:0018-9456
1557-9662
DOI:10.1109/19.7469