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There are many oscillators in general but does the same operation of producing sine waves how is that useful?

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closed as primarily opinion-based by Matt Young, PeterJ, Scott Seidman, Andy aka, Leon Heller Apr 20 '14 at 15:40

Many good questions generate some degree of opinion based on expert experience, but answers to this question will tend to be almost entirely based on opinions, rather than facts, references, or specific expertise. If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.
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There are many cars that do the same operation of transporting people and things, how is that useful? –  Matt Young Apr 20 '14 at 14:38
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There are many foods that do the same operation of nourishing people how is that useful? –  Grant Apr 20 '14 at 14:49
    
Did u mean square wave? –  user38637 Apr 20 '14 at 15:39
    
For my opinion, it is a "good" question - and there are "good" answers which are NOT primarily opinion-based. More than that, it is a typical engineering task to select a suitable circuit out of several alternatives. Hence, some corresponding criteria are to be found (and discussed). –  LvW Apr 20 '14 at 17:21
    
Distortion, frequency stability, efficiency, output power, linearity, and more. –  Optionparty Apr 21 '14 at 2:48

1 Answer 1

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One of several reasons may be that there are different requirements. For example, sometimes we need - at the same time - two signals of the same frequency but with a phase shift of 90 deg or 180 deg. There are circuits which can do this. As another example, sometimes oscillators are required with a tuning capability. There are not many types which allow such a tuning with one element only. More than that, sometimes it is desired that this element is to be grounded (for external FET control). Some other aspects are: Frequency range, amplitude, amplitude stabilization (signal quality).

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For my opinion, harmonic oscillators are circuits which deserve great interests. As an example, take the following assertion: –  LvW Apr 21 '14 at 9:11
    
"A linear oscillator shall produce a sinusoidal signal - and for this purpose it must include some kind of non-linearity." From my experience, very often this contradictory sounding sentence causes some confusion. There are many different oscillator topologies - each with some advantages and/or disadvantages. Therefore, I think it is a pity that this thread was "put on hold". –  LvW Apr 21 '14 at 9:21

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