Signal-to-noise ratios in coherent soft limiters

Expressions for the output signal-to-noise power ratio of a bandpass soft limiter followed by a coherent detection device are presented and discussed. It is found that a significant improvement in the output signal-to-noise ratio at low input SNRs can be achieved by such soft limiters as compared to hard limiters. This indicates that the soft limiter may be of some use in the area of threshold extension. Approximation methods for determining output signal-to-noise spectral densities are also presented.