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Analog Communications

Unit 4
Lecture Notes 35
Balanced Frequency Discriminator

Considering an idealized form of the circuit shown in fig.1 we introduce the notion of an
ideal slope circuit that is characterized by a purely imaginary transfer function, varying
linearly with frequency inside a prescribed interval. Such a circuit includes the
differentiator as a special case.

Fig 1 Ideal balanced frequency descriminator

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Analog Communications

Unit 4
Lecture Notes 35

Fig 2 a)balanced frequency descriminator

b)Frequency response

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Analog Communications

Unit 4
Lecture Notes 35

Fig 3 a)Frequency response of ideal slope circuit

b)Frequency response of filter
c)ideal slope circuit

To be specific, consider the transfer function depicted in Fig 3a, which is defined by

j 2a f f c + ,
2

H 1 ( f ) = j 2a f + f c + ,
2

B
B
f fc +
2
2
B
B
fc
f fc +
2
2
elsewhere
fc

(1)

Where a is a constant. We wish to evaluate the response of this slope circuit, denoted by
s1(t), for an input FM signal s(t) of carrier frequency fc and transmission bandwidth B. It
is assumed that the spectrum of s(t) is essentially zero outside the frequency band . For
evaluation of the response s1(t), which involves replacing the slope circuit with an
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Analog Communications

Unit 4
Lecture Notes 35

equivalent low-pass filter and driving this filter with the complex envelope of the input
FM wave s(t)
Let H1(f) denote the complex transfer function of the slope circuit defined by Fig
3 a. This complex transfer function is related to H1(f) by
H 1 ( f f c ) = H 1 ( f ),

f >0

(2)

Hence, using Eqs 1 and 2, we get

j 2a f c + ,
2

H 1 ( f ) = 0,

B
B
f
2
2
elsewhere

(3)

Which is shown in Fig 3 b

The incoming FM wave s(t) is defined by Eq, which is reproduced here for
convenience:

s (t ) = Ac cos 2f c t + 2k f

m(t ) dt
t

(4)

The complex envelope of this FM wave is

s (t ) = Ac exp i 2k f

m(t ) dt
t

(5)

Let s1(t) denote the complex envelope of the response of the slope circuit defined
by Fig 3a. Then we may express the Fourier transform of s1(t) as

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Analog Communications

Unit 4
Lecture Notes 35

s (t ) = H 1 ( f )S ( f )

j 2a f + S ( f ),
=
2

B
B
f
2
2
elsewhere

(6)

Where S(f) is the Fourier transform of s(t). The multiplication of the Fourier transform of
a signal by the factor is equivalent to differentiating the signal in the time domain. We
thus deduce from Eq 6 that

ds (t )

s1 (t ) = a
+ jB s (t )
dt

(7)

Substituting Eq 5 in 7, we get

The response of the slope circuit is therefore

s1 (t ) = Re[s1 (t ) exp ( j 2f c t )]
2k f

= Ba Ac 1 +
m(t ) cos 2f c t + 2k f
B

m(t ) dt +

(8)

The signal s2(t) is a hybrid-modulated wave in which both the amplitude and frequency of
the carrier wave vary with the message signal m(t). However, provided that we choose

2k f
B

m(t ) < 1

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Analog Communications

Unit 4
Lecture Notes 35

for all t, then we may use an envelope detector to recover the amplitude variations and
thus, except for a bias term, obtain the original message signal. The resulting envelope
detector output is therefore.

2k f

s1 (t ) = BaAc
m(t )
B

(9)

The bias term BaAc in the right side of Eq.9 is proportional the slope a of the
transfer function of the slope circuit. This suggests that the bias may be removed by
subtracting from the envelope detector output s1 (t )

the output of a second envelope

detector preceded by the complementary slope circuit with a transfer function H2(f) as
described in Fig 3 c. That is, the respective complex transfer functions of the two slope
circuits are related by

H 2 ( f ) = H 1 ( f )

(10)

Let s2(t) denote the response of the complementary slope circuit produced by the
incoming FM wave s(t). Then, following a procedure similar to that described herein, we
find that the envelope of s2(t) is
2k f

s1 (t ) = BaAc 1
m(t )
B

(11)

Where s2(t) is the complex envelope of the signal s2(t). The difference between the two
envelope in Eqs 9 and 11 is
s 0 (t ) = s1 (t ) s 2 (t )

= 4k1 aAc m(t )

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(12)

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Analog Communications

Unit 4
Lecture Notes 35

Which is free from bias

We may thus model the ideal frequency discriminator as a pair of slope circuits
with their complex transfer functions related by Eq10, followed by envelope detectors
and a summer, as in Fig 1. This scheme is called a balanced frequency discriminator of
back-to-back frequency detector.The idealized scheme of Fig1 can be closely realized
using the circuit shown in Fig 2a. The upper and lower resonant filter sections of this
circuit are tuned to frequencies above and below the unmodulated carrier frequency fc,
respectively. In Fig 2b we have plotted the amplitude response of the these two tuned
filters, together with their total response, assuming that both filters have a high-Q filter.
The linearity of the useful portion of this total response, centered at fc, is determined by
the separation of the two resonant frequencies. As illustrated in Fig 2b, a frequency
separation of 3B0 gives satisfactory results, where 2B0 is the 3-dB bandwidth of either
filter. However, there will be distortion in the output of this frequency discriminator due
to the following factors:

1. The spectrum of the input FM wave s(t) is not exactly zero for frequencies outside
the range
2. The tuned filter outputs are not strictly band-limited, and so some distortion is
introduced by the low-pass RC filters following the diodes in the envelope
detectors.
3. The tuned filter characteristics are not linear over the whole frequency band of the
input FM wave s(t).

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