Implementation of a digital evaluation platform to analyze bifurcation based nonlinear amplifiers

Abstract. Recently, nonlinear amplifiers based on the supercritical Andronov–Hopf bifurcation have become a focus of attention, especially in the modeling of the mammalian hearing organ. In general, to gain deeper insights in the input-output behavior, the analysis of bifurcation based amplifiers requires a flexible framework to exchange equations and adjust certain parameters. A DSP implementation is presented which is capable to analyze various amplifier systems. Amplifiers based on the Andronov–Hopf and Neimark–Sacker bifurcations are implemented and compared exemplarily. It is shown that the Neimark–Sacker system remarkably outperforms the Andronov–Hopf amplifier regarding the CPU usage. Nevertheless, both show a similar input-output behavior over a wide parameter range. Combined with an USB-based control interface connected to a PC, the digital framework provides a powerful instrument to analyze bifurcation based amplifiers.