
It is nonetheless important to have a good knowledge of those architectures and a good understanding of their mathematical descriptions because these models are the best tools for the engineer that must deal with CDRs. The architectures possible for it are, accordingly, just a few and simple ones (actually just three!). The function of a CDR is a relatively simple one.

to sample and retime the pulses of the “sliced” signal (data recovery).to extract the clock signal embedded in its transitions (clock recovery) and.

Then a “slicer” circuit reshapes it and retains just the level transitions and the levels that represent the nominal values of the received signal in that interval between two consecutive transitions.

At the receiving end of a data transmission link, the received signal is amplified, filtered and equalized.
