Research Seminars

Nonlinear Dynamics of Sigma-Delta Modulators and Phase-locked Loops
Orla Feely, University College Dublin
16th January, 2002

The strange behaviour that can occur in nonlinear dynamical systems has attracted much attention in recent decades. Discrete-time nonlinear systems present the best introduction to this behaviour, and manifest themselves in a wide variety of settings from the social and life sciences to the physical and mathematical sciences.

The focus in this talk is on two discrete-time electronic systems - the sigma-delta modulator and the phase-locked loop. Both are very widely used throughout the fields of data conversion and communications. The talk will illustrate a number of complex phenomena that can occur in these systems, and will describe the methods of nonlinear dynamics that can be used to explain them.