Self-oscillations of a third order PLL in periodic and chaotic mode and its tracking in a slave PLL

Abstract The dynamics of a third order phase locked loop (PLL) with a resonant low pass filter (LPF) has been studied numerically in the parameter space of the system. The range of stable synchronous operating zone of the PLL, expressed in terms of system and signal parameters, is estimated. The obtained results are in agreement with the analytically predicted results in the literature. The PLL dynamics in the unstable region is found to have a sequence of period doubling bifurcation and chaos. In the master–slave mode of operation of two 3rd order PLLs, the slave PLL can track the periodic as well as chaotic dynamics of the master PLL for a narrow range of effective frequency offset when other design parameters are within the stable zone as predicted for an isolated PLL. The synchronization of the master and slave PLLs in this condition is proved to be a generalized one using the auxiliary slave system approach. Experimental observations on prototype hardware circuits for an isolated PLL and for a master–slave PLL arrangement are also given.