152 IEEf TRANSACTIONS (~. :NSTRUMENTATION AND ME.-\SUREMENT. VOL. IM·35, NO.2.

JUNE 1986

Linear veo with Sine Wave Output

SISIR K. SAHA

AbslrtICl-This paper presents a sinusoidal CJsciUator whose Ire-

qlWlK) of osciUation hears a linear relation "ith the controlling voltage
V T- The basi€ configuration Invelves a four-quadrant analog multiplier
as a m«hanism to adjust precisely the gain requirement for sustained
oscillation with ultra-to",· distortion operation. The circuit makes use
or • scaled-resistance element R, iK:: to realize the oscillation-fre- Van
quency fin the form! = K],• • here tbe scaling parameter K is a linear
fUIk'tion or 1'1 and I., is the unsealed Irequency. The use of grounded
capacitors in the basic structure otrers desirable features for Ie im-
plemmlation or the "hole oscillator circuit.

I. INTRoouCTION Fig. 1. Basic configuration.

T H E Intersil 8083 integrated function generator is use-

ful for realizing a voltage-controlled oscillator (VeO)
with a sine wave output because of its wide sweep capa-
II. BASIC CONFIGURATION

Consider the circuit of Fig. 1 which involves an analog

bility. But because of the limitations of the 8038~s inte- multiplier (A~11) and two op amps (A 1.. A2) in conjunc-
grated current sources, its frequency-versus-voltage char- tion with the RC network with grounded capacitors. The
acteristic is nonlinear over a considerable part of its sweep input-output relation of the AM 1 is given by
range. The veo based on field-effect-transistors (FET"s) (1)
(I la_(3) suffers from harmonic distortion and nonlinearity
in voltage-ttl-frequency conversion because of limitations where fl:1 is the scale-factor (S.F.) of At\11. The dirnen-
inherent in FET-s. sion of at is Volt -- J.
This paper describes a sinusoidal oscillator whose fre- A straightforward analysis of the circuit yields the fol-
quency of oscillation is scaled by a parameter K which lowing transfer function
bears a linear relation with the controlling voltage l/ r-
Thus the oscillator results in a linear voltage-to-frequency
convener with sine wave output. The basic oscillator cir-
cuit is realized with operational amplifiers (op amps) and (2)
four-quadrant analog multipliers (A!\.1·~) in conjunction
where
with an RC network in which all capacitors are grounded.
The positive and negative feedback path of the basic con- (3a)
figuration are carefully balanced to attain and sustain low-
distortion operation. The balance is achieved by use of K; = I + (R~/RI) (3b)
some type of automatic gain control (AGe) arrangement.
T = RC. (3c)
Here the mechanism is an A~1 which maintains the de-
sired gain to constrain the natural frequencies of the cir- With 111 = 3" that is
cuit on the imaginary axis ( j-axis) of the complex fre-
(4)
quency plane (r-plane). The tuning process may be
regarded as frequency scaling the transfer function Htsv, The natural frequencies of (1) are obtained on J-axis of s-
Thus a tunable transfer function Htst K) is obtained such plane. Since n is arbitrary \\'C can assign any positive value
that K. the frequency scaling parameter, is controlled lin- to it. Thus with" = 2, the transfer function H(s) reduces
early by a voltage J/T' The circuit offers some additional to the form
advantages because of grounded capacitors. The use of «, (5)
grounded capacitors is important for monolithic or hybrid H(s)
2R~
rc fabrication (21. (4]. s~T~ +
R.
~'anuS('ript received November 1. I \184 ~ J'C\ iscd August I (C\. 1985,
whose natural frequencies are
('1 R ')1'~
The author i~ with the Department of Electrical Eng inccrinp , College
of Technology. G.B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pant-
1
nagar. V.P. (PIN-263145). India.
IEEE Log Number 86071\58.
t. = 27rT -Rl~ (6)

0018-9456/86/0600-0152501.00 1986 IEEE

SAHA: LINEAR veo 153

spect to ground and that the input port has an inti nite input
impedance. Currently available microelectronic AM's ap-
proximates to this model.
VI C. Tuning Process
Rt --+ Substitution of (13) in (9) yields
(14)
Fig. 2. Simulation of scaled resistance. which shows that the oscillator can be tuned to a desired
frequency by controlling Vr , andfbears a linear relation
which can be controlled by the resistance ratio R2 / R I. As with VT • There is a practical limit to the tuning range that
these are the short-circuit natural frequencies, they will is determined by the linear range of the AM's. In general,
be physically realized if V;n = O. Thus the circuit will there will be a maximum magnitude 'of the tuning voltage
generate sinusoidal oscillation with frequency fo when the V Tmax ' beyond which the AM's will enter the nonlinear
input terminal is grounded and the condition of (4) is region. Thus in terms of VTmax and (14) we note that
maintained by adjusting ai' Vl' or both. (15a)

A. Frequency Scaling fmin = /;,(1 - a; VTmax) (I5b)

2
If R I is replaced by a scaled-resistance R IIK , the trans- giving the tuning range
fer function H(s) of (5) changes to the form
lOla x 1 + aoVTma:\
-= (15c)
H(s) = (~) · H(s/K) (7) i; 1 - a" V Tmax •
Note that a o should be chosen such that a; V Tmax S 1.
where Thus the frequency range becomes 0 :s / s 2/0 for
- VTmax S ~/T S VTOlax •
Ko
H(s/K) (8)
Ill. OSCILLATOR WlTH AGC Loop
The AGe loop is incorporated in the basic configura-
which yields the oscillation frequency as tion as shown in Fig. 3. The AGC circuit involves a diode
D, a capacitor Co, resistances R3s and R4s in conjunction
f= Kip (9) with two op amps .(A4 and A5). A4 in conjunction with
Thus the process of frequency scaling requires a scaled- R3s and R4s forms a difference amplifier and A5 with 100-
resistance R I / K 2 • percent negative feedback realizes a unity gain buffer. The
diode D rectifies the oscillator output and Co filters out
the ripple. Because of high-input impedance of the buffer
B. Realization of Scaled Resistance
C; . even with low value . is capable of rejecting the ripple
Consider the circuit of Fig. 2 which involves two four- to a high degree. The de voltage V" which is fed by the
quadrant analog multipliers (AM2" AM3) with the S.F. AGC circuit to AM I is given by
= Q o and an op amp A3. The circuit realizes a voltage
R'J,
VK = -a~ V}V I - 2a() VTV 1 (10) V,- = --..:. (VR - VIn ) ( 16)
R4
so that the current /1 is given by
where Vm is the peak output voltage of the oscillator and
VI + a;,V}V + 2a oV (11) V, is a reference voltage. The loop gain is automatically
/1 = - - - - - I- - - -TVI
-
Rl adjusted to the required de level V,- for AM 1 in spite of
parameter variations, thus reducing the distortion level to
where VI is the voltage across the simulated driving-point maintain the output voltage at a nearly constant level.
resistance RT , and Vr is a tuning voltage. Then it follows
from (II): A. Experimental Circuit
A practical oscillator, based on Fig. 3, is built using
three operational multipliers (XR-2208) and a dual op amp
( 12)
(CA 747). Note that the scaled-resistor R 1/K 2 is the
where equivalent representation of Fig. 2. That is, R 1/K 2 in Fig.
3 is replaced by the simulated resistance realized by Fig.
(13)
2. Each of XR-2208 combines a four-quadrant AM a
which indicates that K bears a linear relation with VT • In buffer circuit . and an op amp in a m.onolithic Ie-chip. The
the above realization it is assumed that the AM"s have AM section is cascaded to the buffer to obtain very low
both input voltages and output voltage specified with re- output impedance. Three such XR-2208 chips are used for
154 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRU~fENTATION .~NI) MEASLIREMENT. VOL. lM-35. NO.2. JUNE 1986

Rb
2400
,-----------V\oM~---- .....
2200
- CALCULATED 2000
o MEASURED
1800

'600
o 1400 -

1200 =
X
u
1000 ~
::::>
o
800 ~
w..
600

'00
----- ..L..-_-.A.-_--J 200
-10 -8 -6 -4 -2 o
Vr (VOLTS)
(a')

practical realization of A~t 1/,,-41. AY\12/.-t2. and AM3/,,43. csoo l-

The AGe loop involving A4 and AS is realized by a dual
f

- CALCUlATED
(CA747) op amp. The RCo element values are chosen as o MEASURED
Rd = R; = R. = R:. = R~ = RJ = R = 10 KO and C = ~
:n
4000

c:
,."

= 0.01 #IF. o
c
The reference voltage J'R is set to + 12 V and the S.F.
",

~ 3S00
-e
0'1 is adjusted so that the oscillator starts to oscillate with
minimum harmonic distortion. a. is then kept unchanged
throughout the tuning process. The oscillator is tuned to
different frequencies by controlling the voltage l/rand set-
ting no to O.l .

IV. RESl'LTS ASD Discussrox 2000,,--1_---IL..-.--.-._~ .-L._ _L.-_--'--

I

o "6 10
The frequency-versus-voltage characteristic of the \IT (VOLTS)
practical oscillator circuit is plotted in Fig. 4 which shows (b)
a good agreement with theory. The oscillator is found to Fig. 4. Voltage-versus-frequency plot. (a) -9 V < V ~ O. (b) 0 -s V
r T
have an ultra-low distortion output with good amplitude ~ 9V.

stability as indicated in Table I. The frequency-tuning

range of the oscillator fm41,,/fmm is 19.02 for -9 V ~ J'r V. CONCLUSION
S +9V.
This paper describes a novel veo with a sine-wave
With the exclusion of the AGe loop, the distortion level output. The novelty of the circuit lies in the use of four-
increases drastically anti the amplitude stability becomes quadrant analog multipliers (AM"s) as the basic elements
poor as indicated in Table II. That the harmonic distortion for obtaining sustained oscillation and tuning the fre-
increases as VT increases can be explained quantitatively quency of oscillation. Low distortion operation requires
as follows. careful adjustment of the gain of the positive feedback
With a linear model of the circuit, the harmonic distor- path. The gain adjustment is achieved by use of some type
tion increases as the natural frequencies move far into the of automatic gain control; in this case the mechanism is
right-half of the s-plane, that is, Q the quality-factor of an analog multiplier (AM-I) whose gain is adjusted by a
the circuit decreases. Now the Q of the circuit is given by control voltage V ' The AGe loop tracks the reference
x
voltage V to maintain an output voltage at a constant
Q = -(1 + Q"VT ) ~. R
level. The circuit offers desirable features for l C imple-
no. VI: - 3 mentation because of its grounded capacitors.
Therefore. as Vr increases. Q decreases. and hence har- The variation of supply voltage may cause a change in
monic distortion increases. gain of the transfer function, but the amplitude stability
The distortion due to the shift of the natural frequencies is maintained because of the automatic gain control mech-
of the circuit into the right-half of the s-plane, as de- anism. The use of AM as the AGe unit provides an easy
scribed above. is greatly reduced by adding the AGe loop means of gain control due to variation of supply voltage
as shown in Fig. 3. A comparison of Table I with Table or the change of parameter values due to temperature or
II justifies the effectiveness of the ,,~GC loop. aging. Since the frequency expression is independent of
SAHA: LINEAR veo 155

TABLE J
PERfORMANCE WITH AGe Loop

V
T -8 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 8
(Volta)

Fundamental 0 -0.2 -0.2 -0.22 -0.23 -0.23 -0.25 -0.28 -0.28

VoltaQ.
(dB)

Total
harlDOnlc: -'75.2 -75.2 -75.0 -75.0 -74.8 .74.4 -14.3 -14.0 -'74.0
diatorUon
(dB)

TABLE II
PERFORMA~CE \\'JTHOL:T AGe Loop

V
T
-e -6 -4 -2 0 2 6 8
(Volta)

Pundamental
Voltage (dB) .0•• -0.45 -0.5 -0.8 -1.2 -1.6 -1.8 -2.2 -2.5
Total. harmonic
distortion
(dB) -60.0 -58.4 -5'.0 -50.0 -46.0 -45.5 -44.0 -43.6 -42.2

supply voltage, the frequency of oscillation is not affected
by variations in supply voltage.
The component values of RC parameters may, in a
practical oscillator, differ significantly from their nominal
values for a number of reasons. Variations of component
values due to change in temperature and aging is a con-
tributing factor.
With regard to microelectronic fabrication of the oscil-
lator, either monolithic integration or hybrid integration
is possible in principle. The RC components in the oscil-
lator strongly influence the gain and frequency stability of
its transfer characteristic. This in turn requires the use of
stable resistors and capacitors with good tracking and
temperature coefficient matching properties. Also re-
quired is the facility for trimming the components for fre-
quency and setting the desired frequency and amplitude
of oscillation. All of these requirements are easily satis-
fied with thin-film or thick-film fabrication of the RC
components along with the required interconnection paths.
In the thin-film fabrication . the resistances and capaci-
tances, if built on the same substrate . will track with tem-
perature. In addition. by controlling the film deposition
process it is possible to make the temperature coefficient
of the resistors equal and opposite to that of capacitors,
which in tum minimizes the effect of temperature on fre-
quency and amplitude of oscillation.
REFERENCES
(I) M. Hribsek and R. \V. Newcomb. "veo conrrolled bv one variable
resistor.' IEEE Trans. Circuits Sy.H.. \'01. CAS-:!3. pp. i66-169. Mar.
1976.
12) Sundararnurthy and B. B. Bhauacharyya ... A simple voltage con-
~1.
trolled oscillator with grounded capacitor.' Proc. IEEE. \'01. 65. pp.
1611-1614. Nov. 1977.
(3] S. K. Saha, "Electronically tunable sinusoidal oscillators." IEEE
Trans. lnstrum. Mcas .• \'01. 1~1-:!4. pp. 156-159. June 1975.
14] S. K. Saha ... An inverting integrator with extended time constant using
a gn... undcd capacitor." Proc. In.H. Elec. Eng, G. Electron. Circuits
Syst . \'01. 127. no. 5. pp. 99-100. May 1950.