The limiter is a commonly used device in communication receiving systems to remove the amplitude variations of the received signal, but it is usually observed that limiter degrades the envelope detection performance of a single tone. In this thesis, it is demonstrated that the limiter-generated third harmonic can be used to improve the envelope detection performance of a single tone over that of the linearly processed fundamental. Differences in the probability distributions of the limiter-generated harmonics cause differences in their detection probabilities, which lead to differences in the performance of subsequent envelope detection. Comparison of the envelope detection performance of the limiter-generated third harmonic and the input to the limiter shows a maximum detection probability gain of 1.12 and also error probability gain of 2.4 in linear scale, whereas the fundamental harmonic does not show any practically significant gain. The envelope detection performance of the vector sum of the limiter-generated fundamental and third harmonics is also evaluated. This combination provides better performance than do the individual harmonics, especially for a large clipping parameter of the limiter. The combined harmonics shows a maximum detetction probability gain of 1.15 and error probability gain of 14, over that of the envelope detection performance of a tone without limiter. It is also observed that the envelope detection performance of a tone with limiter-generated higher harmonics shows non-monotonic behaviour as functions of either noise or the limiter-clipping parameter, which is a signature of stochastic resonance. The theoretical results from earlier research on the envelope detection of a single tone embedded in additive white Gaussian noise, both with and without a limiter, are presented and shown to match our simulation results. In previous work when a limiter was used in the envelope detection of a single tone, only the envelope of the fundamental harmonic was considered under very specific conditions. By contrast we also take notice of the limiter-generated higher harmonics and obtain improved envelope detection performance in the detection of a single tone.

Thesis: Elec. E., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 1976 / Bibliography: leaves 255-263. / by Dennis V. Marsicano. / Elec. E. / Elec. E. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science