Automatic

Gain Control

Introduction:
Abbreviated as AGC,AutomaticGainControlis a
circuit found on some electronic devices that
automatically controls thegainof a signal.
Automatic gain control(AGC) is a closed-loop
regulating circuit, the purpose of which is to
provide a controlled signal amplitude at its
output, despite variation of the amplitude in the
input signal. The average or peak output signal
level is used to dynamically adjust the input-tooutputgainto a suitable value, enabling the
circuit to work satisfactorily with a greater range
of input signal levels.
For example, without AGC the sound emitted from
anAMradioreceiver would vary to an extreme

Fig1:AGC circuit diagram

Working:
The signal to be gain controlled (the
detector output in a radio) goes to a diode
& capacitor, which produce a peak-following
DC voltage. This is fed to the RF gain blocks
to alter their bias, thus altering their gain.
Traditionally all the gain-controlled stages
came before the signal detection, but it is
also possible to improve gain control by
adding a gain-controlled stage after signal
detection.

Applications:
Devices to record both sides of atelephone conversation
must record both the relatively large signal from the local
user and the much smaller signal from the remote user at
comparable loudness's. Some telephone recording devices
incorporate automatic gain control to produce acceptablequality recordings
A related application of AGC is inradarsystems, as a
method of overcoming unwantedclutterechoes.
A voice-operated gain-adjusting deviceor volume-operated
gain-adjusting device is a type of AGC
orcompressorformicrophoneamplification. It is usually
used in radio transmitters to preventover modulationand
to reduce thedynamic rangeof the signal which allows
increasing average transmitted power.