Hands-On Radio

Experiment #68 — Phase Locked

NØAX Loops, the Basics
Phase locked loops are found in many voltage between its input terminals, the op- control voltage until the two frequencies are
types of radio equipment. They can be used amp output voltage changes and the external the same. Simple, no? Maybe we should slow
as modulators, demodulators, oscillators, circuitry is configured to make that change down a little bit and look at each piece.
synthesizers, clock signal recovery circuits reduce the difference, bringing the circuit The VCO is a special type of oscillator
and the list goes on. Are they mysterious back into balance. That kind of feedback that has a frequency controlled by an applied
and difficult to understand? Not really, once loop uses a signal’s amplitude (voltage and voltage. The frequency of the VCO without
you get to know each piece and do a little current) instead of frequency and phase as any control signal applied is called the free-
experimentation. does the PLL. running frequency, f0. Depending on the
circuit design, the VCO may be designed so
Background Loop Components that f0 occurs with zero dc voltage input and
The phase locked loop (PLL) has its roots The PLL has three basic components, seen a bipolar control signal, or at some non-zero
in receiver design. It was invented in 1932 in Figure 1 — the phase detector, the loop filter dc voltage so the circuit can operate from a
as a technique for stabilizing an oscillator’s and a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO). The single power supply voltage.
frequency.1 The PLL was then adapted for output from the phase detector (C in Figure 1) Next, you may be wondering why I used
use in television receivers, synchronizing is a signal that contains the frequency and a mixer symbol for the phase detector. It’s
the vertical and horizontal sweep circuits to phase difference between the input signal and because the phase detector is just that — a
the incoming video signal. In the 1960s and VCO output. The loop filter creates the VCO type of mixer. Experiment #66 provided
’70s, integrated circuit PLL chips became control voltage based on the difference signal. the equations describing a mixer’s output
available and the technique soon became The VCO changes frequency in response to the products, but ignored differences in phase be-
even more widespread. tween the input signals. Taking
Let’s start with the name phase into account, the mixing
itself. Phase refers to the relative product at the difference of the
phase difference between an in- two input signal frequencies,
put signal and the loop’s internal fA and fB, is cos(2π[fA – fB­]
oscillator. Locked means that t + θ), with θ representing the
the oscillator’s phase maintains difference in phase between
a constant relationship of that the signals. If the two signals
of the input signal. This also have the same frequency and
means the frequencies of the two the phase difference is constant,
signals are the same, otherwise Figure 1 — The basic structure of a phase locked loop. The phase
then fA – fB = 0, leaving cos (θ),
the phase difference would detector acts as a mixer, generating products at the sum and a dc voltage that makes a fine
change. Loop comes from the difference frequencies of its inputs. The filter extracts the dc VCO control signal.
feedback loop that controls the component of the mixer output for the VCO to use as a control The high frequency of the
voltage.
internal oscillator’s frequency sum product at fA + fB is not
to remain in sync with that of suitable as a VCO control volt-
the input signal. Thus, a phase age and so must be removed.
locked loop. That is the job of the low-pass
Feedback is key to the PLL’s loop filter — to remove every-
function. Think back to the de- thing but the phase detector’s
scription of how an op-amp am- fA – fB product, along with the
plifier circuit works in Hands- phase information. Depend-
On Radio Experiment #3. 2 ing on the design of the phase
Amplifying the difference in detector and the nature of the
signals (sine, square, pulse),
the loop filter may also need
1 www.uoguelph.ca/~antoon/ to convert short bursts of cur-
gadgets/pll/pll.html. rent into a smoothly varying
2Hands-On Radio experiments
voltage.
are available online to ARRL
members at www.arrl.org/tis/
info/HTML/Hands-On-Radio. Figure 2 — The four frequency ranges that define a PLL’s PLL Operation
The first 61 experiments are behavior. Lock range (and hold range) shows how far the PLL After the PLL is turned
also available as ARRL Hands- frequency can track an input signal. Capture range (and pull-in
On Radio Experiments from the range) shows how far from the free running frequency the VCO on with no input signal, the
ARRL at www.arrl.org/shop. will move to lock onto an input signal. VCO will oscillate at the free-

H. Ward Silver, NØAX    PO Box 927, Vashon, WA 98070    n0ax@arrl.org

From September 2008 QST © ARRL
running frequency, f0, until an signal and locks again — both
input signal is applied. The traces will be stable. This
phase detector generates sum frequency, the upper limit of
and difference products, the the PLL capture range, will
loop filter removes the sum be somewhat lower than the
product, and the VCO output upper lock range limit. Change
frequency begins to change. the generator frequency to
Assuming the input and VCO something below the lower
frequencies are not the same, limit of lock range you mea-
the output of the loop filter sured previously. Slowly in-
(D in Figure 1) will be an in- crease frequency until the
creasing or decreasing voltage PLL captures the input signal
depending on which signal has at the lower limit of capture
the higher frequency. range. Total capture range is
This changing voltage the difference between these
causes the VCO to respond two frequencies.
very quickly, reducing the Capture range depends on
difference between the VCO the time constant of the loop
and input frequencies. Con- filter, determined by CF and a
sequently, the loop filter’s 3.6 kΩ resistor connected in-
output voltage is also re- side the IC. The time constant
duced, making smaller and Figure 3 — The 565 integrated circuit PLL contains almost all of the of the filter equals R × C =
smaller changes in the VCO circuitry necessary to build a PLL. Only a few discrete components 3.6 kΩ × 10 µF = 36 ms. The
are needed to set the VCO free-running frequency and loop filter
frequency. Within a short time time constant.
larger the time constant, the
(typically a few milliseconds smaller the capture range be-
for RF PLLs) the VCO fre- cause the loop doesn’t respond
quency is equal to that of the input signal and below f0 are called the loop’s hold ranges. The quickly enough. Replace CF with smaller
the loop is “locked.” Any change in either the lock range is not always centered on f0. capacitors, down to 1 nF and see what hap-
PLL input or VCO frequencies is tracked by pens to capture range as the loop reacts more
a change in the loop filter output, keeping the Building A PLL quickly. Leave the circuit assembled for next
two frequencies the same. The venerable 565 PLL IC, a fixture in month’s follow-up experiments!
This process of adjust and hold is called electronics for nearly 40 years, is still widely
capture. The minimum and maximum input used. Start by downloading the LM565 Parts List
frequencies to which the loop can move the datasheet from cache.national.com/ds/   Capacitor — 0.1 µF ceramic, quantity 3.
VCO as it captures an input signal is called LM/LM565.pdf. Familiarize yourself with   Capacitor — 0.022 µF ceramic or film.
the capture range as shown in Figure 2. The the pin connections and browse some of the   Capacitor — 10 µF, 25 V electrolytic.
segments of the capture range above and be- circuit examples.   Phase locked loop IC — NE565.
low f0 are called the pull-in range. The pull-in Build the circuit shown in Figure 3. You’ll   Potentiometer — 10 kΩ.
ranges are not necessarily symmetrical. need a bipolar power supply to do this ex-   Resistor — 4.7 kΩ, 1⁄4 W, quantity 3.
If the control signal is proportional to periment. Set the potentiometer to half-range, Parts hint — the end of fishing season
the cosine of the phase difference, it will be about 5 kΩ. Without connecting any input is a great time to find bargains on tackle
zero when the phase difference is 90° (cos signal, apply power and use an oscilloscope boxes. They make terrific parts and tool
90° = 0). It will be a maximum when the or frequency counter to measure the free- organizers!
two signals are in phase (cos 0° = 1) or out running frequency at VCO out. It should be
of phase (cos 180° = –1). This defines the close to f0 = 1.2/4RTCT ≈ 1360 Hz. Recommended Reading
range over which the PLL can keep the input Set your function generator to output a Many electronic experimenters have
and VCO frequencies locked together. As the sine wave at the measured value of f0. 0.5 to gotten their start in understanding PLLs by
input frequency moves farther and farther 1 VP-P will be sufficient. Apply the sine wave reading the classic tutorial Motorola ap-
from f0, the VCO’s free-running frequency, to the PLL’s input. Use a dual-channel oscillo- plication note AN535 “Phase Locked Loop
the loop’s control action will keep the VCO scope to monitor both the function generator Design Fundamentals.” It’s available at www.
frequency the same as the input frequency, output and the VCO output. Use the function datasheetcatalog.org/datasheet/motorola/
but with a phase difference that gets closer generator output to trigger the ’scope. The AN535.pdf and would make a good addition
to 0 or 180°, depending on which direction sine waves on both channels should be stable to your technical library.
the input frequency changes. (because they are locked in frequency) but
If the input frequency has moved so far will be somewhat out of phase. Next Month
that the phase difference between it and Slowly reduce the generator output fre- This month you manipulated the PLL by
the VCO frequency is either 0 or 180°, any quency until the PLL loses lock — seen as hand. Next month, we go live as we use a
further change will cause the control signal one trace suddenly becoming unstable. That PLL to demodulate an FM signal.
to move back toward its 90° value and the frequency is the lower limit of the PLL’s lock
VCO frequency away from the input signal. range. Return the generator frequency to f0
The loop is no longer locked and the input and then increase it until the PLL loses lock
and VCO frequencies are no longer the same. again at the upper limit of the lock range.
The range of input frequencies between Total lock range is the difference between
the value at which the loop is locked with a these two frequencies.
phase difference of 0° and 180° is called the Slowly reduce the generator frequency
loop’s lock range. The lock range above and until the PLL suddenly captures the input
From September 2008 QST © ARRL