Oscillators Maintaining Control
Most circuit, sub-system or system designers need to select an oscillator for their application and environment early in the design process. The struggle is understanding which oscillator suits the application best. Learn more in our first Mission Assurance Season titled Time and Frequency.
Mission Assurance Webinar Series: Time and Frequency
Have you ever wondered how an oscillator works? How is it able to keep the steady “heartbeat” with amazing stability and accuracy? Have you thought about how oscillators are made for use in high shock and vibration environments or how they are made to meet the radiation requirements of space missions? Or how atomic clocks, Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) or Micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) oscillators work and perform? Well, Microchip has all this information and more ready to be delivered to you in 10 brief episodes of our Mission Assurance webinar series entitled Time and Frequency.
Don’t expect just another talking head and a PowerPoint presentation. Oh, no—we have taken this up a notch in a way that is engaging and informative. Through the use of a Lightboard, our subject matter expert, Dan Piscotty from our Vectron Division in Mount Holly Springs, Pennsylvania, provides the deep technical dives necessary. He starts with the quartz material itself and describes how it is constructed, how and why it physically vibrates (oscillates) and some of its performance limitations. Dan then goes on to discuss more advanced oscillators including Temperature Compensated Crystal Oscillators (TCXO) and Microprocessor Controlled Crystal Oscillators (MCXO).
Naturally, when it comes to oscillators, accuracy and stability are some of the driving requirements. Again, Dan delivers providing deep insight and understanding of phase noise, short term stability and Allan deviation.
Think you have more questions? Visit our webpage and register to view one of our upcoming live sessions or view one of our previous episodes any time on demand.
I am your host, Eli Kawam. If you have any questions or need to contact me, please feel free to email me at eli.kawam@microchip.com. Best regards and happy viewing!