The Counting Phase Detector with VLF Atmospheric Noise

The counting detector offers a simple means of making and averaging digital measurements of signal phase. However, use of the averages can lead to erroneous estimates if the signal has a low carrier-to-noise ratio. How to overcome this problem by using multiple counters is shown here. Characteristics for both Gaussian and impulsive noise are derived, and algorithms for estimating both phase and carrier-to-noise ratio are presented.