Noise Characteristic

NOISE

- random, undesirable electrical energy that enters the communication system via the communicating medium
and interferes with the transmitted signal.

- any unwanted introduction of energy tending to interfere with the proper reception and reproduction of
transmitted signals.

Some effects of noise in the communication system:

• it can limit the range of systems, for a given transmitted power;

• it affects the sensitivity of receivers, by placing a limit on the weakest signals that can be amplified
• it may sometimes even force a reduction in the bandwidth of a system.

DISTORTION

- any waveform perturbation or deviation caused by the imperfect response of the system to the desired signal

INTERFERENCE

- any contamination by external signals from human sources, other transmitters, power lines, machinery,
switching circuits, and etc.

Types of Noise

1. Relation with the signal:

● CORRELATED NOISE - exist only when a signal is present

● UNCORRELATED NOISE - present all the time whether there is a signal or not.

2. Sources of noise:

●EXTERNAL NOISE - created outside of the receiver

●INTERNAL NOISE - created within the receiver itself.

SOURCES OF NOISE:

1. EXTERNAL NOISE
a.) ATMOSPHERIC NOISE

- consists of spurious radio signals with components distributed over a wide range of frequencies.

- It is propagated over the earth in the same way as ordinary radio waves of the same frequencies.

➢ STATIC - represent atmospheric noise, majority in these radio waves come from natural sources of disturbance.

- caused by lightning discharges in thunderstorms and other natural electric disturbances occurring in the
atmosphere.

- It originates in the form of amplitude- modulated impulses, and because such processes are random in
nature, it is spread over most of the RF spectrum normally used for broadcasting.
Atmospheric noise becomes less severe at frequencies above about 30 MHz because of two separate factors:
• higher frequencies are limited to line-of-sight propagation i.e., less than 80 kilometers or so
• nature of the mechanism generating this noise is such that very little of it is created in the VHF range and above

b.) EXTRATERRESTRIAL
• SOLAR NOISE
- under normal " quiet'' conditions, there is a constant noise radiation from the sun, simply because it is a
large body at a very high temperature.

- The sun is a constantly changing star which undergoes cycles of peak activity from which electrical
disturbances erupt, such as corona flares and sunspots.

• COSMIC NOISE
- since distant stars are also suns and have high temperatures, they radiate RF noise in the same manner
as our sun and what they lack in nearness they nearly make up in numbers which in combination can
become significant.

- noise received is called thermal (or black-body) noise and is distributed fairly uniformly over the entire
sky.

➢ SPACE NOICE - is observable at frequencies in the range from about 8 MHz to somewhat above 1.43 gigahertz
(1.43 GHz).

➢ Apart from man-made noise, it is the strongest component (SPACE NOISE) over the range of about 20 to 120
MHz.

➢ Not very much of it below 20 MHz penetrates down through the ionosphere, while its eventual disappearance
at frequencies in excess of 1.5 GHz.

c.) INDUSTRIAL
• Between the frequencies of 1 to 600 MHz the intensity of noise made by humans easily outstrips that created
by any other source, internal or external to the receiver.

- Sources such as automobile and aircraft ignition, electric motors and switching equipment; leakage from
high- voltage lines and a multitude of other heavy electric machines are all included.

• FLUORESCENT LIGHTS
- another powerful source of such noise and therefore should not be used where sensitive receiver reception
or testing is being conducted.

- produced by the arc discharge present in all these operations, and under these circumstances it is not
surprising that this noise should be most intense in industrial and densely populated areas

2. INTERNAL NOISE
- Created by any of the active or passive devices found in receivers.

- Such noise is generally random, impossible to treat on an individual voltage basis i.e., instantaneous value
basis, but easy to observe and describe statistically.

➢ RANDOM NOISE POWER - is proportional to the bandwidth over· which it is measured.

a.) THERMAL AGITATION NOISE

• The noise generated in a resistance or the resistive component is random and is referred to as thermal,
agitation, white or Johnson noise.
- It is due to the rapid and random motion of the molecules (atoms and electrons) inside the component itself.
 • Noise generated by a resistor is proportional to its absolute temperature, in addition to being proportional to
the bandwidth over which the noise is to be measured.

• The resistor is a noise generator, and there may even be quite a large voltage across it.
- Since it is random and therefore has a finite rms value but no dc component, only the alternating current (ac)
meter will register a reading.
- This noise voltage is caused by the random movement of electrons within the resistor, which constitutes a
current.

• A random voltage across the resistor definitely exists and may be both measured and calculated.

Noise Calculations

SAMPLE PROBLEM
b.) SHOT NOISE
- behaves in a similar manner to thermal agitation noise, apart from the fact that it has a different source.

- most convenient method of dealing with shot noise is to find the value or formula for an equivalent input -noise
resistor.

b.) TRANSIT-TIME NOISE

• TRANSIT-TIME EFFECT – takes place if the time taken by an electron to travel from the emitter to the collector
of a transistor becomes significant to the period of the signal being amplified, i.e., at
frequencies in the upper VHF range and beyond, and the noise input admittance of
the transistor increases.

• Once this high-frequency noise makes its presence felt, it goes on increasing with frequency at a rate that soon
approaches 6 decibels (6 dB) per octave, and this random noise then quickly predominates over the other
forms.

• RF transistors are remarkably low-noise.

• NOISE FIGURE – as low as 1 dB is possible with transistor amplifiers well into the UHF range.

Noise Calculations
Addition of Noise due to Several Sources
Two sources of thermal agitation noise generators in series:

Addition of Noise due to Several Amplifiers in Cascade

The rms noise voltage at the output due to R3 is:
The equivalent noise resistance of the two-stage amplifier at the input of the first stage:

Noise in Reactive Circuits

Noise bandwidth and noise voltage of RC network:

Dynamic resistance (RD) of tuned LC network:

Rms noise voltage of tuned LC network:

Noise voltage across a tuned circuit due to its internal resistance:

Sample Problems
Signal to Noise Ratio, Noise Factor and Noise Figure

Signal to Noise Ratio

The calculation of the equivalent noise resistance of an amplifier, receiver or device may have one of two purposes or
sometimes both:

1. The first purpose is comparison of two kinds of equipment in evaluating their performance.
2. The second is comparison of noise and signal at the same point to ensure that the noise is not excessive.

In the second instance, and also when equivalent noise resistance is difficult to obtain, the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) is
very often used.

SIGNAL TO NOISE RATIO - defined as the ratio of signal power to noise power at the same point.

Ideal and Noiseless Amplifier

Nonideal Amplifier

Noise Factor and Noise Figure

The noise quality of a receiver can be expressed as in terms of noise figure, noise factor, noise temperature, and SINAD.

NOISE FIGURE - sometimes called noise factor, is defined and used instead of equivalent noise resistance.

- They are figure of merit used to indicate how much the signal -to-noise ratio deteriorates as a signal
passes through a circuit or series of circuits

NOISE FACTOR (F) - defined as the ratio of the signal-to-noise power supplied to the input terminals of a receiver or
amplifier to the signal-to-noise power supplied to the output or load resistor.

NOISE FIGURE (NF) - simply the noise factor in dB and is a parameter commonly used to indicate the quality of a
receiver.

Noise figures of less than about 2 dB are excellent.

- The lower the noise figure, the better the amplifier or receiver.
 ➢ When two or more amplifiers are cascaded, the total noise factor is the accumulation of the individual noise
factors. Friiss’ formula is used to calculate the total noise factor of several cascaded amplifiers.

NOISE FIGURE FROM EQUIVALENT NOISE RESISTANCE

- The equivalent noise resistance of an amplifier or receiver is the sum of the input terminating resistance and
the equivalent noise resistance of the first page, together with the noise resistance of the previous stages
referred to the input.

- In order to correlate noise figure and equivalent noise resistance it is convenient to define R’eq, which is noise
resistance that does not incorporate Ri, and which is given by

The total equivalent noise resistance for this receiver will now be

The rms noise voltage for this receiver at the input is equal to

Noise factor in terms of the equivalent noise resistance

Equivalent Noise Temperature

Most of the noise produced in a device is thermal noise, which is directly proportional to temperature. Therefore,
another way to express the noise in an amplifier or receiver is in terms of noise temperature.
EQUIVALENT NOISE TEMPERATURE (Te) - hypothetical value that cannot be directly measured.

- a noise factor, indicates the reduction of signal-to-noise ratio a signal undergoes as it propagates through a
receiver.
 - a convenient parameter often used than noise figure in low-noise, sophisticated VHF, UHF, microwave, and
satellite radio receivers.

• NOISE TEMPERATURE – used only in circuits or equipment that operates at VHF, UHF or microwave frequencies.
• The noise factor and noise figure are used at lower frequencies.
• A good low-noise transistor or amplifier stage typically has a noise temperature of less than 100K.
• The lower the noise temperature, the better the device.

Sample Problems