Aircraft Electronics Technician Practice Test

Sustaining oscillations with feedback is achieved by using positive, or regenerative, feedback. This means a portion of the output is fed back into the input in phase with the original signal, reinforcing it so the waveform continues without extra input. The term regenerative feedback path specifically describes this self-boosting feedback that keeps the oscillator going.

An oscillator is the device or circuit that produces the periodic signal, and it relies on this positive feedback mechanism to maintain oscillations. A phase-locked loop, while it uses feedback, is about locking the output phase to a reference signal rather than simply sustaining self-generated oscillations. A generic feedback path doesn’t imply that the feedback is positive or regenerative.