The objective of this paper is to collect the main latest results on pulsed digital oscillators. Rigorous and experimental results are presented that show what kind of sequences are at their output, the relation between these sequences and those of first-order sigma-delta modulators and how is their performance in practical applications. A new variation of the standard topology of PDOs, on which the feedback variable is not position but the velocity of the resonator, is also presented. The first preliminary results obtained with a PDO working with a MEMS cantilever for chemical sensing are presented, which show that it is possible to infer the oscillation frequency directly from the bitstream at the output of the oscillator. Finally, the dependence of the oscillation frequency as a function of the initial conditions of the resonator are also analyzed with simulations.

Peer Reviewed