A hardware device or software block that performs mathematical cross-correlation or autocorrelation to detect a known waveform buried in noise. It multiplies two signals together and integrates the product, outputting a peak when the signals align in phase and frequency. It is heavily used in radar, software-defined radio, and digital communications to extract weak signals.
Heard on the job
Feed the raw antenna data into the correlator to see if we can lock onto the preamble.
Related terms
Autocorrelator
An instrument or algorithm that compares a signal with a delayed copy of itself.
Signal processing
The mathematical manipulation of physical data streams to filter, compress, or extract information.
DSP
Digital signal processing involves manipulating continuous real-world signals in a digital format.