In some examples, a device includes a gate driver circuit and a control circuit configured to generate a first signal and a second signal, a duty cycle of the first signal encoding an amplitude of an electrical current having a sinusoidal shape, and a duty cycle of the second signal encoding a phase angle of the electrical current. The control circuit is configured to deliver the first and second signals to the gate driver circuit, which is configured to determine a duty cycle of a driver signal as a function of the first signal and of the second signal. The gate driver circuit is also configured to deliver the driver signal to a switch to cause the electrical current having the sinusoidal shape to be delivered to an electrical load.

In some examples, a device includes a gate driver circuit and a control circuit configured to generate a first signal and a second signal, a duty cycle of the first signal encoding an amplitude of an electrical current having a sinusoidal shape, and a duty cycle of the second signal encoding a phase angle of the electrical current. The control circuit is configured to deliver the first and second signals to the gate driver circuit, which is configured to determine a duty cycle of a driver signal as a function of the first signal and of the second signal. The gate driver circuit is also configured to deliver the driver signal to a switch to cause the electrical current having the sinusoidal shape to be delivered to an electrical load.

The invention describes a piezo driving circuit, comprising an input at which a temporally variable voltage signal is applied; a piezo interface for connecting terminals of a piezo actuator arrangement with at least one voltage controlled piezo actuator; a sync control circuit realized to detect the phase position of the voltage signal; and an inverter circuit between the input and the piezo interface; whereby the sync control circuit is realized to control the inverter circuit, based on the phase position of the voltage signal, such that a control voltage with a predefined voltage curve is applied at the piezo interface. The invention further describes a method of controlling a piezo actuator arrangement. The invention also describes a piezo actuator configuration comprising a piezo actuator arrangement and an inventive piezo driving circuit. The invention also describes a metering valve comprising the inventive piezo actuator configuration.

A pulse generator comprising: a first signal generating arm comprising a first inductor and a plurality of switching elements, each arranged to draw current through the first inductor; and a controller arranged to activate the plurality of switching elements in a predetermined sequence so as to generate a predetermined pulse waveform at a pulse generator output. The switching elements of the signal generating arm and the inductor together form a pulse synthesizer that takes the signal from the controller and uses it to synthesize an output pulse. Compared with conventional transmitter architectures, the functions of the upconversion mixer, the DAC, and the power amplifier are all performed by a single simplified circuit. This is both area efficient and power efficient.

A pulse generator comprising: a first signal generating arm comprising a first inductor and a plurality of switching elements, each arranged to draw current through the first inductor; and a controller arranged to activate the plurality of switching elements in a predetermined sequence so as to generate a predetermined pulse waveform at a pulse generator output. The switching elements of the signal generating arm and the inductor together form a pulse synthesizer that takes the signal from the controller and uses it to synthesize an output pulse. Compared with conventional transmitter architectures, the functions of the upconversion mixer, the DAC, and the power amplifier are all performed by a single simplified circuit. This is both area efficient and power efficient.

A multi-carrier data communications system and method having high spectral efficiency. The method includes encoding input digital data at selected phase angles of a plurality of sinusoidal waveforms to create a plurality of modulated sinusoidal waveforms. An output analog waveform is generated where the output analog waveform includes a plurality of encoded analog communication signals corresponding to a plurality of digital representations of the plurality of modulated sinusoidal waveforms. The encoding is performed so that adjacent ones of the plurality of modulated sinusoidal waveforms are separated in frequency by less than 15 Hz and any sideband included within the output analog waveform is of a power at least 50 dB below a power of the encoded analog communication signal associated with the sideband.

A method of recovering information encoded by a modulated sinusoidal waveform having first, second, third and fourth data notches at respective phase angles, where a power of the modulated sinusoidal waveform is reduced relative to a power of an unmodulated sinusoidal waveform within selected ones of the first, second, third and fourth data notches so as to encode input digital data. The method includes receiving the modulated sinusoidal waveform and generating digital values representing the modulated sinusoidal waveform. A digital representation of the unmodulated sinusoidal waveform is subtracted from the digital values in order to generate a received digital data sequence, which includes digital data notch values representative of the amplitude of the modulated sinusoidal waveform within the first, second, third and fourth data notches. The input digital data is then estimated based upon the digital data notch values.

A system and method for waveform modulation includes encoding input digital data at selected phase angles of an unmodulated sinusoidal waveform. The encoding includes selectively reducing a power of the unmodulated sinusoidal waveform at the selected phase angles in accordance with bit values of the input digital data so as to respectively define first, second, third and fourth data notches in the modulated sinusoidal waveform. An encoded analog waveform is then generated from a digital representation of the modulated sinusoidal waveform. The encoding is performed so that energies associated with the first and third data notches are balanced and energies associated with second and fourth data notches are also balanced. Each of the energies corresponds to a cumulative power difference between a power of the unmodulated sinusoidal waveform and a power of the modulated sinusoidal waveform over a phase angle range subtended by one of the data notches.

A method of recovering information encoded by a modulated sinusoidal waveform having first, second, third and fourth data notches at respective phase angles, where a power of the modulated sinusoidal waveform is reduced relative to a power of an unmodulated sinusoidal waveform within selected ones of the first, second, third and fourth data notches so as to encode input digital data. The method includes receiving the modulated sinusoidal waveform and generating digital values representing the modulated sinusoidal waveform. A digital representation of the unmodulated sinusoidal waveform is subtracted from the digital values in order to generate a received digital data sequence, which includes digital data notch values representative of the amplitude of the modulated sinusoidal waveform within the first, second, third and fourth data notches. The input digital data is then estimated based upon the digital data notch values.

A method of recovering information encoded by a modulated sinusoidal waveform having first, second, third and fourth data notches at respective phase angles, where a power of the modulated sinusoidal waveform is reduced relative to a power of an unmodulated sinusoidal waveform within selected ones of the first, second, third and fourth data notches so as to encode input digital data. The method includes receiving the modulated sinusoidal waveform and generating digital values representing the modulated sinusoidal waveform. A digital representation of the unmodulated sinusoidal waveform is subtracted from the digital values in order to generate a received digital data sequence, which includes digital data notch values representative of the amplitude of the modulated sinusoidal waveform within the first, second, third and fourth data notches. The input digital data is then estimated based upon the digital data notch values.