ABSTRACT
This paper has demonstrated how the combination of a number of computational techniques made possible by the use of a spreadsheet enables for educational applications to digital phase-locked loops commonly used in radio engineering, communication, and computer architecture. Described by non-linear difference equations which dynamics is extremely complicated from a pure mathematical perspective, these control systems can be found across various tertiary curricula. The use of a spreadsheet allows for an alternative approach to the study of this topic-embedding advanced mathematical ideas in the software frees learners from the necessity of dealing with complex mathematical machinery of non-linear control systems that rigorous methods of investigation require. In particular, this alternative approach has been used to introduce this topic to students studied discrete mathematics at Bond University.
