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Introduction to Flat-Top Pulse-Amplitude Modulation

Introduction to Flat-Top Pulse-Amplitude Modulation

Flat-top PAM holds each sample’s amplitude for the pulse duration, weighting the spectrum with a sinc function. Here’s how that weighting leads to the aperture effect.


Summit 2026 - Precision Timing: The Silent Dependency in High-Reliability Systems

Summit 2026 - Precision Timing: The Silent Dependency in High-Reliability Systems

Timing failures rarely announce themselves. They usually surface as system instability. Join us for a look at how SiTime's precision timing solutions keep that dependency silent for decades.


News Oct 14, 2026 by Dale Wilson
Understanding Pulse‑Amplitude Modulation: Natural‑Sampling Explained

Understanding Pulse‑Amplitude Modulation: Natural‑Sampling Explained

Multiplying a message by a pulse train replicates its spectrum at every harmonic. See why a 1/3 duty cycle and 4x oversampling stretch the bandwidth roughly 12-fold.


Pre-Emphasis and De-Emphasis Filtering in FM Systems

Pre-Emphasis and De-Emphasis Filtering in FM Systems

Simple first-order pre-emphasis and de-emphasis filters can boost FM receiver SNR by more than 13 dB by exploiting the spectral differences between signal and noise.


FM Threshold-Extended Demodulators: Insights on FMFB and PLL-Based Designs

FM Threshold-Extended Demodulators: Insights on FMFB and PLL-Based Designs

Worked examples quantify just how much the FMFB loop shrinks noise bandwidth. We also show how the PLL demodulator offers a simpler alternative for reducing threshold.


Evaluating SNR Performance of FMFB Demodulators at High CNR

Evaluating SNR Performance of FMFB Demodulators at High CNR

While feedback lowers the FM detection threshold, it offers no noise advantage over conventional receivers when the carrier power is strong. Discover why in this discussion and mathematical analysis.


FM Demodulation with Feedback: Exploring Threshold Reduction Mechanisms

FM Demodulation with Feedback: Exploring Threshold Reduction Mechanisms

By closing a feedback loop around the demodulator, the FMFB architecture narrows the noise bandwidth and lowers the FM threshold, without improving SNR at high CNR.


Microchip Reveals One of Its Lowest Power Atomic Clocks Yet

Microchip Reveals One of Its Lowest Power Atomic Clocks Yet

Drawing less than 120 mW and tolerating 30 krad of total ionizing dose, the chip-scale atomic clock keeps LEO satellites synchronized when GNSS timing is unavailable.


News Aug 27, 2026 by Luke James
Exploring the Threshold Constraints of FM Demodulation Through Solved Examples

Exploring the Threshold Constraints of FM Demodulation Through Solved Examples

Working through examples shows how the threshold effect reshapes FM design choices. See how ignoring it can undershoot the required carrier power by over 5x for the same target SNR.


Rohm’s New Oscillation Device Paves Path to Terahertz Commercialization

Rohm’s New Oscillation Device Paves Path to Terahertz Commercialization

Rohm’s second-generation resonant tunneling diode oscillator reaches 40 µW maximum output in the same package as gen 1.


News Aug 21, 2026 by Jake Hertz
Introduction to the Threshold Effect in FM Systems

Introduction to the Threshold Effect in FM Systems

The standard FM SNR equation breaks down once the carrier-to-noise ratio drops below a critical threshold, revealing a hard limit on trading bandwidth for noise performance.


SNR Analysis of FM Modulation with Arbitrary Message Signals

SNR Analysis of FM Modulation with Arbitrary Message Signals

Deriving a general signal-to-noise expression for frequency modulation with any message signal reveals a core trade-off: more deviation buys better noise performance, but only by using more bandwidth.


Understanding Noise in FM Systems: The Tone-Modulated Scenario, Part 2

Understanding Noise in FM Systems: The Tone-Modulated Scenario, Part 2

This article explores how combining signal and noise power reveals how the FM system’s output SNR scales with carrier amplitude and modulation index.


The MOS 6581 SID: Giving the Commodore 64 Its Voice

The MOS 6581 SID: Giving the Commodore 64 Its Voice

Bob Yannes built a three-voice analog synthesizer onto one die in 1982, and its imperfect filter became the signature sound of an era.


News Jul 31, 2026 by Luke James
Understanding Noise in FM Systems: The Tone-Modulated Scenario, Part 1

Understanding Noise in FM Systems: The Tone-Modulated Scenario, Part 1

Explore how frequency-modulated waves resist interference. We break down the demodulator architecture and derive the exact output signal power for a sinusoidal message.


Understanding the Noise Performance of AM Receivers with Envelope Detection

Understanding the Noise Performance of AM Receivers with Envelope Detection

Envelope detection is simple, but that simplicity has a noise-performance cost. Here’s how much SNR conventional AM gives up compared to its coherent counterparts.


The NE565: The Chip That Made the Phase-Locked Loop Practical

The NE565: The Chip That Made the Phase-Locked Loop Practical

Signetics packed a VCO and phase detector into one 14-pin part, turning a daunting feedback technique into something an ordinary engineer could build.


News Jul 17, 2026 by Luke James
Analyzing the Noise Performance of Coherent SSB Demodulators

Analyzing the Noise Performance of Coherent SSB Demodulators

Using a graphical approach, we show that coherent SSB demodulation leaves the input and output SNR unchanged, then compare its noise performance to DSB-SC and baseband systems.


Understanding SNR in DSB‑SC Coherent Detection: A Graphical Approach

Understanding SNR in DSB‑SC Coherent Detection: A Graphical Approach

Visualizing how correlated and uncorrelated signals combine offers an intuitive look at power transformation. See how this difference boosts baseband power to double the output SNR.


Evaluating the Noise Performance of Coherent DSB‑SC Demodulators

Evaluating the Noise Performance of Coherent DSB‑SC Demodulators

In this article, we'll learn how to calculate the noise power and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of a double-sideband suppressed-carrier communication system.