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100% U.S Made High-Precision Microwave & Millimeter Wave Components

• Free Running Dielectric Resonator Oscillator
  A dielectric resonator (also dielectric resonator oscillator, DRO) is an electronic component that exhibits resonance for a narrow range of frequencies, generally in the microwave band. The resonance is similar to that of a circular hollow metallic waveguide, except that the boundary is defined by large change in permittivity rather than by a conductor. Dielectric resonators generally consist of a “puck” of ceramic that has a large dielectric constant and a low dissipation factor. The resonance frequency is determined by the overall physical dimensions of the puck and the dielectric constant of the material.
• Phase-Locked Loop
  Electronic circuits for locking an oscillator in phase with an arbitrary input signal. A phase-locked loop (PLL) is used in two fundamentally different ways: (1) as a demodulator, where it is employed to follow (and demodulate) frequency or phase modulation, and (2) to track a carrier or synchronizing signal which may vary in frequency with time. When operating as a demodulator, the PLL may be thought of as a matched filter operating as a coherent detector. When used to track a carrier, it may be thought of as a narrowband filter for removing noise from the signal and regenerating a clean replica of the signal. See Demodulator
  The basic components of a phase-locked loop are shown in the illustration. The input signal is a sine or square wave of arbitrary frequency. The voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) output signal is a sine or square wave of the same frequency as the input, but the phase angle between the two is arbitrary. The output of the phase detector consists of a direct-current (dc) term, and components of the input frequency and its harmonics. The low-pass filter removes all alternating-current (ac) components, leaving the dc component, the magnitude of which is a function of the phase angle between the VCO signal and the input signal. If the frequency of the input signal changes, a change in phase angle between these signals will produce a change in the dc control voltage in such a manner as to vary the frequency of the VCO to track the frequency of the input signal.
  The most widespread use of phase-locked loops is undoubtedly in television receivers. Synchronization of the horizontal oscillator to the transmitted sync pulses is universally accomplished with a PLL. The color reference oscillator is often synchronized with a phase-locked loop. Phase-locked loops are also used as frequency demodulators. They have been applied to stereo decoders made on silicon monolithic integrated circuits. High-performance amplitude demodulators may be built using phase-lock techniques.
• Radio Frequency
  Radio frequency (RF) is a rate of oscillation in the range of about 3 kHz to 300 GHz, which corresponds to the frequency of radio waves, and the alternating currents which carry radio signals. RF usually refers to electrical rather than mechanical oscillations, although mechanical RF systems do exist (see mechanical filter and RF MEMS).
• Radio Frequency Amplifier
  A tuned amplifier that amplifies the high-frequency signals commonly used in radio communications. The frequency at which maximum gain occurs in a radio-frequency (rf) amplifier is made variable by changing either the capacitance or the inductance of the tuned circuit. A typical application is theamplification of the signal received from an antenna before it is mixed with a local oscillator signal in the first detector of a radio receiver. The amplifier that follows the first detector is a special type of rf amplifier known as an intermediate-frequency (i-f) amplifier. See also Amplifier; Intermediate-frequency amplifier.
  An rf amplifier is distinguished by its ability to tune over the desired range of input frequencies. The shunt capacitance, which adversely affects the gain of a resistance-capacitance coupled amplifier, becomes a part of the tuning capacitance in the rf amplifier, thus permitting high gain at radio frequencies. The power gain of an rf amplifier is always limited at high radio frequencies, however.
  Two typical rf amplifier circuits are shown in the illustration. The conventional bipolar transistor amplifier of illus. a uses tapped coils in the tuned circuits to provide optimum gain-bandwidth characteristics consistent with the desirable value of tuning capacitance. Inductive coupling provides the desiredimpedance transformation in the input and output circuits. The tuning capacitors are usually ganged so as to rotate on a single shaft, providing tuning by a single knob. Sometimes varactor diodes are used to tune the circuits, in which case the tuning control is a potentiometer that controls the diode voltage. Automatic gain control (AGC) is frequently used on the rf amplifier, as shown. AGC voltage controls the bias and hence the transconductance of the amplifier. In the field-effect transistor (FET) circuit (illus. b), tapped coils are not required because of the very high input and output resistances of the FET. See also Automatic gain control (AGC); Semiconductor; Transistor.Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/radio-frequency-amplifier-1#ixzz1uxC6A5Yj

Wikipedia : Phase-locked loop

Wikipedia: Phase-locked Oscillator

Boise State : Direct Comparison Between Phase Locked Oscillator and Direct Resonance Oscillator

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Phase-locked+loops

Wikipedia: Radio Frequency

McGraw-Hill Science & Technology Encyclopedia