Carrier derived frequency stabilizer for a radio communication transmitter

摘要

A method and apparatus in a radio communication transmitter (600) stabilizes a carrier frequency locked to a reference oscillator (102). The reference oscillator (102) is controlled by a control signal and generates a first signal at a reference frequency. The first signal is coupled to a frequency multiplier (212) for multiplying the reference frequency by a predetermined factor to generate a second signal at the carrier frequency. Cycles of the carrier frequency are counted (508, 514) during a predetermined interval to determine (516, 518) a measured cycle count. The measured cycle count is compared (520) with an expected cycle count corresponding to a predetermined carrier frequency to determine a drift error. From the drift error a control signal adjustment required to correct the drift error is computed (522). The control signal of the reference oscillator (102) is adjusted (524) by the control signal adjustment to correct the drift error.