Multi-frequency analysis of switching diode modulators under high-level signal conditions

Distortion products of intermodulation, cross-modulation and harmonic types can be calculated in switching modulator circuits by evaluating the coefficients of the multiple Fourier series resulting from the interaction of many signals of differing frequencies with a bi-linear diode characteristic. An analysis of this type is developed in order to establish the range of signal levels for which approximate predictions of distortion product magnitudes are accurate and to demonstrate that under conditions where approximate techniques cannot be justified, satisfactory and rapidcalculation of distortion performance is possible using straightforward computer procedures without recourse to general non-linear circuit analysis techniques.