Patent ID: 6855920

Claim:
A signal detector, comprising: a multiplier having a signal input terminal configured to receive a signal, a control input terminal configured to receive a control signal, and a modified signal output terminal configured to output a modified signal, said modified signal being a function of said control signal and said signal; detector circuitry having a modified signal input terminal configured to receive the modified signal and an active signal output terminal configured to output an active signal, said detector circuitry having a set of known factors that define said detector circuitry, said active signal being a function of said modified signal and said set of known factors; and a comparator having an active signal input terminal configured to receive the active signal, a reference signal input terminal configured to receive a reference signal, and a control signal output terminal configured to output the control signal, said control signal a function of a difference between said reference signal and said active signal, wherein the multiplier, the detector circuitry, and the comparator form a feed-back loop that forces the active signal to approximate the reference signal and, in so doing, forces said modified signal to have a minimum peak-to-peak amplitude that corresponds to said signal; whereby a peak-to-peak amplitude of the signal may be accurately computed by reference to the control signal and the set of known factors.