Q factor

Posted on  December 27, 2015  in Uncategorized

The bandwidth, \Delta f, or f1 to f2, of a damped oscillator is shown on a graph of energy versus frequency. The Q factor of the damped oscillator, or filter, is f_{c}/\Delta f. The higher the Q, the narrower and ‘sharper’ the peak is.  Higher Q indicates a lower rate of energy loss relative to the stored energy of the resonator; the oscillations die out more slowly. A pendulum suspended from a high-quality bearing, oscillating in air, has a High Q, while a pendulum immersed in oil has a low one. Resonators with High quality factors have low damping so that they ring longer.

Gain /ɡān/

Posted on  December 27, 2015  in Uncategorized

Gain is a measure of the ability of a two port circuit to increase the power or amplitude of a signal from the input to the output port. It is often expressed using the logarithmic decibel (dB) units A gain greater than one (zero dB), that is amplification, is the defining property of an active component or circuit, while a passive circuit will have a gain of less than one.  The half power point of an electronic amplifier stage is that frequency at which the output power has dropped to half of its mid-band value. That is a level of –3 dB. The half power point is a commonly used specific definition of cutoff frequency, although not the only one.

473cd861112561d47318dec02231c1fa