Phase-locked loop

A phase-locked loop or phase lock loop (PLL) is a control system that generates an output signal whose phase is related to the phase of an input signal. While there are several differing types, it is easy to initially visualize as an electronic circuit consisting of a variable frequency oscillator and a phase detector. The oscillator generates a periodic signal. The phase detector compares the phase of that signal with the phase of the input periodic signal and adjusts the oscillator to keep the phases matched. Bringing the output signal back toward the input signal for comparison is called a feedback loop since the output is "fed back" toward the input forming a loop.

Keeping the input and output phase in lock step also implies keeping the input and output frequencies the same. Consequently, in addition to synchronizing signals, a phase-locked loop can track an input frequency, or it can generate a frequency that is a multiple of the input frequency. These properties are used for computer clock synchronization, demodulation, and frequency synthesis.

Arnold tongue

In mathematics, particularly in dynamical systems theory, an Arnold tongue of a finite-parameter family of circle maps, named after Vladimir Arnold, is a region in the space of parameters where the map has locally-constant rational rotation number. In other words, it is a level set of a rotation number with nonempty interior.

Standard circle map

Arnold tongues were first investigated for a family of dynamical systems on the circle first defined by Andrey Kolmogorov. Kolmogorov proposed this family as a simplified model for driven mechanical rotors (specifically, a free-spinning wheel weakly coupled by a spring to a motor). These circle map equations also describe a simplified model of the phase-locked loop in electronics. The map exhibits certain regions of its parameters where it is locked to the driving frequency (phase-locking or mode-locking in the language of electronic circuits). Among other applications, the circle map has been used to study the dynamical behaviour of a beating heart.