Improved Super-Regenerative Receiver Theory

A new paradigm for the analysis of super-regenerative (SR) receivers is proposed. Unlike the methodology used in the past where alternately stable and unstable modes of operation are considered, this approach models the system as a stable filter with modulators at the input and output. Consequently, the behavior of SR systems can be viewed using steady state techniques as opposed to time-varying transient analysis. The basic mathematical result derived using this paradigm is compared to the currently accepted solution in the literature and is found to be essentially the same. Then, using state space techniques this solution is modified to obtain newly derived results for the envelope solution, where the resulting down-conversion enables an extremely efficient simulation approach. Finally, the paradigm is extended to show that with the addition of frequency modulation, an even more accurate closed form solution to the problem is available. Simulation results are offered which validate the analysis.