heterodyne
Sign in to savethumb|upright=1.5|Frequency mixer symbol used in schematic diagrams. Here, the input signal consists of signals at multiple frequencies, which are mixed to create the output signal that are signals at new frequencies.
~19 min read
Encyclopedic overview
16 sectionsContents
- History
- Superheterodyne receiver
- Applications
- Up and down converters
- Analog videotape recording
- Music synthesis
- Optical heterodyning
- Mathematical principle
- Mixer
- Output of a mixer
- Notes
- See also
- References
- Citations
- General and cited references
- Further reading
thumb|upright=1.5|Frequency mixer symbol used in schematic diagrams. Here, the input signal consists of signals at multiple frequencies, which are mixed to create the output signal that are signals at new frequencies.
A heterodyne is a signal frequency that is created by combining or mixing two other frequencies using a signal processing technique called heterodyning, which was invented by Canadian inventor-engineer Reginald Fessenden. Heterodyning is used to shift signals from one frequency range into another, and is also involved in the processes of modulation and demodulation. The two input frequencies are combined in a nonlinear signal-processing device such as a vacuum tube, transistor, or diode, usually called a mixer, to create new frequency signals, called heterodynes.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “heterodyne” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.