“Chirp” signal generators for frequency response experiments

Abstract

Several techniques to generate the chirp signal have been proposed over the past few decades. Generally, the techniques can be categorized into analog approach and digital approach. In analog chirp generator usually a voltage controlled oscillator is used to generate the chirp signal. However, due to several limitations of this oscillator the digital approach has slowly takes the role as the chirp generator, although are more complex and hard to realize. This work proposes an easy to use analog alternative for chirp signal generator, which counteracts the claimed disadvantages. The paper presents the principle of the proposed generator, the simulation scheme with the simulation results and an experimental result, highlighting the advantages of the method.