VCO (Voltage-Controlled Oscillator)

WHAT IS VCO?
Voltage Controlled Oscillator is a type of oscillator whose output oscillation can be controlled by
varying the amplitude of the input voltage signal.
Voltage controlled oscillators are used in:

Frequency Modulation
Pulse Modulation
Phase Locked Loops (PLL)

Block Diagram

CLASSIFICATION
VCO is classified into two categories:

Linear VCO
Relaxation type VCO

Linear VCO
Linear voltage controlled oscillators are generally used to produce a sine wave. In such oscillators,
an LC tank circuit is used for producing oscillations. An active element like transistor is used for
amplifying the output of the LC tank circuit, compensating the energy lost in the tank circuit and
for establishing the necessary feedback conditions. Here a varactor (varicap) diode is used in
place of the capacitor in the tank circuit. Varactor diode is type of semiconductor diode whose
capacitance across the junction can be varied by varying the voltage across the junction. Thus,
by varying the voltage across the varicap diode in the tank circuit, the output frequency of the
VCO can be varied.

Relaxation type VCO

Relaxation type voltage controlled oscillators are used to produce a saw tooth or triangular
waveform. This is achieved by the gradual charging and sudden discharge of a capacitor
connected appropriately to an active element (UJT, PUT etc.) or a monolithic IC (LM566 etc.).
VOLTAGE CONTROLLED OSCILLATOR

USING LM566 IC
It can be used to generates square and triangle waveforms simultaneously. The frequency of the
output waveform can be adjusted using an external control voltage. The output frequency can be
also programmed using a set of external resistor and capacitor.

Typical applications of LM566 IC are:

Signal Generators
FM modulators
FSK modulators
Tone Generators

The LM566 IC can be operated from a single supply or dual supply. While using single supply,
the supply voltage range is from 10V to 24V. The IC has a very linear modulation characteristics
and has excellent thermal stability.

Circuit Diagram for LM566

Resistor R1 and capacitor C1 forms the timing components. Capacitor C2 is used to prevent the
parasitic oscillations during VCO switching. Resistor R3 is used to provide the control voltage Vc.
Triangle and square wave outputs are obtained from pins 4 and 3 respectively.
 PLL (PHASE LOCKED LOOP)
WHAT IS PLL?
A Phase Lock Loop (PLL) is an electronic circuit, which locks the phase of the input signal with
that of the output by keeping them synchronized. It achieves this through a closed loop feedback
mechanism that compares the input signal with the output and makes the necessary corrections
so that the phase remains synchronous.

APPLICATIONS
Frequency Modulation (FM) stereo decoders, FM Demodulation networks for FM
operation.
Frequency synthesis that provides multiple of a reference signal frequency.
Used in motor speed controls, tracking filters.
Used in frequency shift keying (FSK) decodes for demodulation carrier frequencies.

PLL BLOCK DIAGRAM

The block diagram of a basic PLL is shown in the figure below. It is basically a flip flop consisting
of a phase detector, a low pass filter (LPF), and a Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO).

The input signal Vi with an input frequency fi is passed through a phase detector. A phase detector
IS a comparator which compares the input frequency Fi with the feedback frequency fo. The
phase detector provides an output error voltage Ver (=fi + fo ), which is a DC voltage. This DC
voltage is then passed on to an LPF. The LPF removes the high frequency noise and produces a
steady DC level, Vf (=Fi - Fo). Vf also represents the dynamic characteristics of the PLL.

The DC level is then passed on to a VCO. The output frequency of the VCO (fo) is directly
proportional to the input signal. Both the input frequency and output frequency are compared and
adjusted through feedback loops until the output frequency equals the input frequency.
PHASE KOOP LOCKED USING LM565

The LM565 and LM565C are general purpose phase locked loops containing a stable, highly
linear voltage controlled oscillator for low distortion FM demodulation, and a double balanced
phase detector with good carrier suppression. The VCO frequency is set with an external resistor
and capacitor, and a tuning range of 10:1 can be obtained with the same capacitor. The
characteristics of the closed loop system, bandwidth, response speed, capture and pull in range,
may be adjusted over a wide range with an external resistor and capacitor. The loop may be
broken between the VCO and the phase detector for insertion of a digital frequency divider to
obtain frequency multiplication.

Applications
Data and tape synchronization
Modems
FSK demodulation
FM demodulation
Frequency synthesizer
Tone decoding
Frequency multiplication and division
Telemetry receivers
Signal regeneration
Coherent demodulators

PIN Diagram of LM565