Signal-to-noise ratio of a dynamical saturating system: Switching from stochastic resonator to signal processor

We consider an isolated dynamical saturating system for processing a noisy sinusoidal signal, and evaluate its performance with the measure of the signal-to-noise ratio. The considered system is linear for small inputs, but exhibits saturation in its response for large inputs. This nonlinearity displays the nonlinear phenomenon of stochastic resonance for a large biased sinusoid in appropriate system parameter regions. Without the stochastic resonance phenomenon, this dynamical saturating system can achieve a signal-to-noise ratio gain exceeding unity for a noisy unbiased sinusoid. These numerical results manifest the nonlinearities and the signal-processing ability of this system acting as a stochastic resonator or a signal processor. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.