Wednesday, June 22, 2011

The Continuous Progress Of Radio Receiver Technology

By Lewis Gil


Audio and high fidelity audio receivers, satellite television receivers, and crystal radio receivers or radio sets are some of the most common and popular forms of radio receivers in the market today. All these equipment are generally known as radio receiver. Radio receivers are defined electronic circuits that act as detector, demodulator and amplifier of transmitted signals. These signals are then being transformed into usable form such as sound, pictures, digital data, measurement values, navigational positions, etc.

An AV receiver is a type of receiver which uses an amplifier, a preamp/processor, and an FM/AM tuner. Along with audio and high fidelity audio receivers, this type of receiver is the most commonly used type especially by home stereo listeners and audio and home theatre system enthusiasts. The increased need in better audio is brought about by the increasing number of high definition television and home theatre systems found in the market. On the other hand, there are also the satellite television receivers which can be considered as the most widely used radio receiver in the world today. This type of radio receivers is used to receive television programming from communication satellite found din the outer space. Given the fact that almost all homes in the world have at least one television set at home, it is no wonder that this type are the most popular and widely used.

Crystal radio receivers or radio sets, finally, are the simplest system used in the reception of modulated AM/FM signals. Transistor radios were among the first examples of radio sets that receive AM/FM signals. Today, cassette players, DVD/CD players, MP3 CD, USB key players, also integrate FM and AM radios among their features. Aside from these three, other types of radio receivers are communications receivers, specialized-used receivers, measuring receivers, and scanners. These receivers are used for a variety of purposes that are used not only for entertainment purposes but for other business and security needs.

The discovery of electromagnetic waves in 1850 by James Clerk Maxwell led to the invention of the first ever radio receiver. Heinrich Hertz in 1887 further demonstrated the function of electromagnetic waves trough using spark gas equipment which he used to transmit and received radio waves. By the year 1986, Alexander Stepanovich Popov designed the first radio receiver and was introduced to the public through the All Russia Exhibition. The experiment showed the process detecting an electromagnetic signal by a wireless device and then converting it to a usable form, much like the way our modern mobile phones work.

Radio receiver technology in the present continuously moves forward. Receiver technology has improved greatly from the discovery of electromagnetic waves to the discovery of transistors and radio sets. Nowadays, this technology continues to move gradually but regularly. Converting signal to digital stream manipulated mathematically is now widespread and is popularly known as Digital signal processing. Different soft wares are also being used in order to be able to do other functions which are normally performed by an analogue intermediate frequency stage.

A great leap in the fields of science and technology has already been made by radio receivers. Communication and entertainment have been easily accessible to consumers through the use of receivers. From the simple transistors, receivers have evolved to different entertainment equipment and gadgets such as radio sets, television set as well as cellphones which also have become an integral part in the lives of many individuals around the world.




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