Digitally Controlled Oscillator

A digitally controlled oscillator (DCO, German digitally controlled oscillator ) or numerically controlled oscillator (NCO, German numerically controlled oscillator ) is an electronic circuit or electronic component that uses a reference clock to generate vibrations based on a fixed time base becomes. Many DCOs are based on the Direct Digital Synthesis (DDS) method , but in synthesizers , oscillators with an analog integrator that is cyclically reset by a timer are also referred to as DCOs.

The frequency of the vibration is set directly via a numerical value in the digitally controlled oscillator. This results in a very precisely set frequency which (within the framework of the specifications of the component or the components of the circuit) remains constant. This tuning stability is bought with a frequency range that can only be set in steps ( discretely ).