CHAPTER 2: Noise

Topics Covered in Chapter 2

1. Types of Noise
2. Noise Spectral Density
3. Signal-to-noise Ratio
4. Noise Factor and Noise Figure
5. Friiss Formula
6. Equivalent Noise Temperature
7. Noise Measurement
Dept of Communication Engineering, FKEE
 Figure 2.1: Electrical Noise Source Summary

NOISE

CORRELATED UNCORRELATED

NOISE NOISE

NONLINEAR EXTERNAL INTERNAL

DISTORTION

HARMONIC INTERMODULATION
TRANSIENT
DISTORTION DISTORTION SHOT THERMAL
TIME

ATMOSPHERIC EXTRATERRESTRIAL MAN-MADE IMPULSE INTERFERENCE

SOLAR COSMIC
Dept of Communication Engineering, FKEE
TYPE OF NOISE
Noise can be divided into :

2 general categories

Correlated noise implies relationship between the signal
and the noise, exist only when signal is present

Uncorrelated noise present at all time, whether there is
signal or not. Under this category there are two broad
categories which are:-
i) Internal noise
ii) External noise
Dept of Communication Engineering, FKEE
 UNCORRELATED NOISE
Can be divided into 2 categories
1. External noise

Generated outside the device or circuit

Three primary sources are atmospheric, extraterrestrial and man made

(a) Atmospheric Noise

Naturally occurring electrical disturbance originate within Earths
atmosphere

Commonly called static electricity

Most static electricity is naturally occurring electrical conditions, such as
lighting

In the form of impulse, spread energy through wide range of
frequency

Insignificant at frequency above 30 MHz
Dept of Communication Engineering, FKEE
(b) Extraterrestrial Noise

Consists of electrical signals that originate from outside earth
atmosphere, deep-space noise

Divide further into two
(i) Solar noise generated directly from suns heat. There are
2 parts to solar noise:-

Quite condition when constant radiation intensity exist and high
intensity

Sporadic disturbance caused by sun spot activities and solar
flare-ups which occur every 11 years

(ii) Cosmic noise continuously distributed throughout the galaxies,

small noise intensity because the sources of galactic noise are
located much further away from sun. It's also often called as
black-body noise.
Dept of Communication Engineering, FKEE
(c) Man-made noise

Source spark-producing mechanism such as from commutators in
electric motors, automobile ignition etc

Impulsive in nature, contains wide range of frequency that
propagate through space the same manner as radio waves

Most intense in populated metropolitan and industrial areas and
is therefore sometimes called industrial noise.
Dept of Communication Engineering, FKEE
(d) Impulse noise

High amplitude peaks of short duration in the total noise
spectrum.

Consists of sudden burst of irregularly shaped pulses.

More devastating on digital data,

Produce from electromechanical switches, electric motor etc.

(e) Interference

External noise

Signal from one source interfere with another signal.

It occurs when harmonics or cross product frequencies from
one source fall into the passband of the neighboring channel.

Usually occurs in radio-frequency spectrum
Dept of Communication Engineering, FKEE
2. Internal

noise
Generated within a device or circuit.

3 primary kinds, shot noise, transit-time noise and
thermal noise
(a) Shot noise

Caused by random arrival of carriers (hole and electron) at the
output element of an electronic device such as diode, field effect
transistor or bipolar transistor.

The currents carriers (ac and dc) are not moving in a
continuous, steady flow, as the distance they travel varies
because of their random paths of motion.

Shot noise randomly varying and is superimposed onto any signal
present.

When amplified, shot noise sounds similar to metal pellets falling
on a tin roof.

Sometimes called transistor noise
Dept of Communication Engineering, FKEE
(b) Transit-time noise (Ttn)

Any modification to a stream of carriers as they pass from the
input to the output of a device produce irregular, random
variation (emitter to the collector in transistor).

Time it takes for a carrier to propagate through a device is an
appreciable part of the time of one cycle of the signal , the noise
become noticeable.

Ttn is transistors is determined by carrier mobility, bias
voltage, and transistor construction.

Carriers traveling from emitter to collector suffer from emitter
delay, base Ttn,and collector recombination-time and
propagation time delays.

If transmit delays are excessive at high frequencies, the device
may add more noise than amplification of the signal.
Dept of Communication Engineering, FKEE
(c) Thermal noise

Due to rapid and random movement of electrons
within a conductor due to thermal agitation and
present in all electronic components and
communication system.

Uniformly distributed across the entire
electromagnetic frequency spectrum, often referred
as white noise.

Form of additive noise, meaning that it cannot be
eliminated , and it increases in intensity with the
number of devices and circuit length.

Set as upper bound on the performance of
communication system.

Temperature dependent, random and continuous and
occurs at all frequencies.
Dept of Communication Engineering, FKEE
 Noise Spectral Density

In communications, noise spectral density No is the

noise power per unit of bandwidth; that is, it is the
power spectral density of the noise.

It has units of watts/hertz, which is equivalent to watt-

seconds or joules.

If the noise is white, i.e., constant with frequency,

then the total noise power N in a bandwidth B is BNo.

This is utilized in Signal-to-noise ratio calculations.

The thermal noise density is given by No = kT, where

k is Boltzmann's constant in joules per kelvin, and T is
the receiver system noise temperature in kelvin.

No is commonly used in link budgets as the denominator

of the important figure-of-merit ratios Eb/No and Es/No.

Dept of Communication Engineering, FKEE

 NOISE POWER

Noise power is given as

 BN 0d
PN f N0/2 = White Noise power spectral density
B
2
and can be N B0

written as [W]
where PN = kTB
 PN = noise power,
-23
k = Boltzmanns constant (1.38x10 J/K)
B = bandwidth,
o
T = absolute temperature (Kelvin)(17 C or 290K)

It is clear that power spectral density of thermal noise

increase with increasing the ambient temperature, therefore,
keeping electric circuit cool makes their noise level low.
Dept of Communication Engineering, FKEE
 NOISE VOLTAGE Noise Source
V /2
N
R I

Figure 2.4 shows the

equivalent circuit for a VN R V /2
thermal noise source.
N

Internal resistance RI in series

with the rms noise voltage VN.

For the worst condition, the

load resistance R = RI , noise Figure 2.4: Noise source equivalent
voltage dropped across R = circuit
half the noise source
(VR=VN/2) and The mathematical expression :

P V /2 VN2
The noise power PN , kTB N 2
developed across the load N
R 4R
resistor = kTB V2 4RkTB
N

VN 4RkTB
Dept of Communication Engineering, FKEE

Example 2.2
Calculate the thermal noise power available from any resistor at
room temperature (290 K) for a bandwidth of 1 MHz. Calculate
also the corresponding noise voltage, given that R = 50 .

Ans
a) Thermal noise power b) Noise voltage
N kTB V 4RkTB
N
1.38 10 23 290 110 6 4 50 4 10 15

4 10 15 W 0.895V
Dept of Communication Engineering, FKEE

Example 2.3
For an electronic device operating at a temperature of
o
17 C with a bandwidth of 10 kHz, determine
a) Thermal noise power in watts and dBm
b) rms noise voltage for a 100 internal resistance
and 100 load resistance.
Ans.
a)
N 1.38 1023 290 10 b) V N 4RkTB
103 4.002 1017W
4 10 17

N dBm 10 log


3
4 100 4 1017
110 0.127 V (rms)
134dBm
Dept of Communication Engineering, FKEE

Example 2.4
Two resistor of 20 k and 50 k are at room
temperature (290 K). For a bandwidth of 100 kHz,
calculate the thermal noise voltage generated by
1. each resistor
2. the two resistor in series
3. the two resistor in parallel
Dept of Communication Engineering, FKEE

Answer:
 a)
VN1 4R1kTB V N 2 4R kTB
2

4 20 103 1.38 1023 290 100 4 50 103 1.38 1023 290 100 103
103 8.95 106V
5.66 106V
20 10 3 50 10 3 70 10 3
b) RT= V Ntotal 4R kTB
T

4 70 103 1.38 1023 290 100 103

1.06 105V
(20 50)103

14.28k
20 50 103 103
c) RT=
VNtotal 4RT kTB

4 14.29k 1.38 1023 290 100 103

4.78V
Dept of Communication Engineering, FKEE
 CORRELATED NOISE

Mutually related to the signal, not present if there is no

signal

Produced by nonlinear amplification, and include nonlinear

distortion such as harmonic and intermodulation distortion
1. Harmonic Distortion (HD)

Harmonic distortion unwanted harmonics of a signal produced
through nonlinear amplification (nonlinear mixing). Harmonics are
integer multiples of the original signal.

There are various degrees of harmonic distortion.
nd
2 order HT, ratio of the rms amplitude of the second harmonic to
the rms amplitude of the fundamental.
rd
3 oder HT, ratio of the rms amplitude of the third harmonic to
the rms amplitude of the fundamental.

Total harmonic distortion (THD), ratio of the quadratic sum of the
rms values of all the higher harmonics to the rms value of the
fundamental.
Dept of Communication Engineering, FKEE

Figure 2.7 shows the input and Input signal
output frequency spectrums for V 1
V 1
Harmonic

a nonlinear device with a single distortion

V 2

input frequency f1. V 3

Frequency V4
f f12 1 3f 1 4f 1
Mathematically, THD is
1

f
Input frequency spectrum Output frequency spectrum

v (a)

higher
%THD v x100 Input signals
V 1
V2 V1 V 2
Intermodulation
distortion
fundamenta l V V sum
difference
f f Frequency f -f
f
f f +f
Where,
%THD = percent total
1 2 2 1 2 2
1 1

Input frequency spectrum Output frequency spectrum

harmonic distortion (b)

vhigher = quadratic sum of the rms

voltages, v2 v3 vn
Figure 2.7: Correlated noise:
2 2 2

(a) Harmonic distortion

vfundamental = rms voltage of
the fundamental frequency (b) Intermodulation distortion
Dept of Communication Engineering, FKEE
2. Intermodulatin Distortion (ID)

Intermodulation distortion is the generation of unwanted
sum and difference frequency when two or more signal are
amplified in a nonlinear device such as large signal amplifier.

The sum and difference frequencies are called cross products.

Figure 2.7(b) shows the input and output frequency spectrums
for a nonlinear device with two input frequencies (f1 and f2).

Mathematically, the sum and difference frequencies are
Cross products =mf1 nf2

Where f1 and f2 = fundamental frequencies, f1 > f2
m and n = positive integers between one and infinity
Dept of Communication Engineering, FKEE

Example 2.5
Determine
nd rd th
a) 2 , 3 and 12 harmonics for a 1 kHz repetitive wave.
nd rd
b) Percent 2 order, 3 order and total harmonic distortion for
nd
a fundamental frequency with an amplitude of 8 Vrms, a 2
rd
harmonic amplitude of 0.2 Vrms and a 3 harmonic amplitude
of 0.1 Vrms.
Dept of Communication Engineering, FKEE
Answer:
nd
a) 2 harmonic = 2fundamental freq. = 21 kHz =2 kHz
rd
3 harmonic = 3fundamental freq. = 31 kHz =3 kHz
th
12 harmonic = 12fundamental freq. = 121 kHz =12 kHz
 V 100 0.2 100 2.5%
nd
b) %2 order = V2 8
1
 rd
= V 100 0.1 100 1.25%
%3 order V
3
8
1
 0.2 2 0.12
% THD = 100% 2.795%
8
Dept of Communication Engineering, FKEE

Example 2.6
For a nonlinear amplifier with two input frequencies, 3 kHz and
8 kHz, determine,
a) First three harmonics present in the output for each
input frequency.
b) Cross product frequencies for values of m and n of 1 and 2.
Dept of Communication Engineering, FKEE
Answer: f1 = 8 kHz, f2 = 3 kHz
a)
For freqin =3kHz
st
1 harmonic = original signal freq. = 3 kHz
nd
2 harmonic = 2 original signal freq. = 23 kHz =6 kHz
rd
3 harmonic = 3 original signal freq. = 33 kHz =9 kHz
For freqin =8kHz
st
1 harmonic = original signal freq. = 8 kHz
nd
2 harmonic = 2 original signal freq. = 28 kHz =16 kHz
rd
3 harmonic = 3 original signal freq. = 38 kHz =24 kHz
b) m n Cross Product
1 1 83 5kHz and 11kHz
1 2 86 2kHz and 14kHz
2 1 163 13kHz and 19kHz
2 2 166 10kHz and 22kHz
Dept of Communication Engineering, FKEE
 SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO (SNR)

Signal-to-noise power ratio (S/N) is the ratio of the signal power level
to the noise power

Mathematically,
S P
S
N P
N
where, PS = signal power (watts)
PN = noise power (watts)

In dB
S PS
( dB) 10 log
N PN
Dept of Communication Engineering, FKEE

If the input and output resistances of the amplifier,
receiver, or network being evaluated are equal
 V 2 V 2
S ( dB) 10 log s 2 10 log s
N
Vn V n
V
20 log s

V
n

where Vs = signal voltage (volts)

V = noise voltage (volts)

n
Dept of Communication Engineering, FKEE
Example 2.7
For an amplifier with an output signal power of 10 W and an
output noise power of 0.01W, determine the S/N.
Ans
S/N 10 1000 [unitless]
0.01
S / N (dB) 10 log1000 30[dB]

Example 2.8
For an amplifier with an output signal voltage of 4 V, an output
noise voltage of 0.005 V and an input and output resistance of 50 ,
determine the S/N.
Ans V2
S / N (dB) 10 log 640000 58[dB]
s
S/N R 42 640000 [unitless]
2
VN 0.0052
R
Dept of Communication Engineering, FKEE
 NOISE FACTOR (F) & NOISE FIGURE (NF)

Noise factor and noise figure are figures of merit to indicate how much
a signal deteriorate when it pass through a circuit or a series of circuits
NNNsN NNNtNr
F input signal-to-noise ratio
output signal-to-noise ratio [unitless]
 input signal-to-noise ratio

Noise figureNF 10log

output signal-to-noise ratio [dB]

10log F

For perfect noiseless circuit, F = 1, NF = 0 dB

Dept of Communication Engineering, FKEE

For ideal noiseless amplifier with a power gain (AP), an input signal
power level (Si) and an input noise power level (Ni) as shows in Figure
2.8(a). The output signal level is simply APSi, and the output noise
level is APNi.
S AS S
out p i i
N out A N i N i [unitless]
p
 Figure 2.8(b) shows a non-ideal amplifier that generates an
internal noise Nd
S AS S
out p i i

N out A N i d Ni d A [unitless]
N N
p p
Dept of Communication Engineering, FKEE
 Ideal noiseless
Signal power out, S out ASi S
i

Signal power in, S amplifier P

= =N
i

Noise power in, N

i
A = power
P
Noise power out, N out AN i

gain P i

(a)

Nonideal amplifier
Signal power out, S AS S
i

Signal power in, S A P = power gain out = P i = i

Noise power in, N

i
Noise power out, N out N + Nd / A P
d
Nd = internally AN +N
P i i
generated noise
(b)
Figure 2.8: Noise Figure: (a) ideal, noiseless device (b) amplifier
with internally generated noise
Dept of Communication Engineering, FKEE

When two or more amplifiers are cascaded as shown in
Figure 2.9, 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. Mathematically, Friiss formula is

F F F 1 F 1 F 1
2 3 n [unitless]
T 1 A AA A A .....A
1 1 2 1 2 n1
 Input Output
S Amplifier 1 Amplifier 2 Amplifier 3 So S
i (dB) A P1 AP2 A Pn = i + NF T
Ni NF1 NF2 NFn No Ni

Figure 2.9: Noise figure of cascaded amplifiers

Dept of Communication Engineering, FKEE

Where
FT = total noise factor for n cascaded amplifiers
F1, F2, F3n = noise factor, amplifier 1,2,3n
A1, A2. An = power gain, amplifier 1,2,..n

Notification remarks
Change unit of all noise factors F and power gains A from
[dB] to [unitless] before insert its into Friss formula
equation.
Dept of Communication Engineering, FKEE

Example 2.9
The input signal to a telecommunications receiver consists of 100 W
of signal power and 1 W of noise power. The receiver contributes
an additional 80 W of noise, ND, and has a power gain of 20 dB.
Compute the input SNR, the output SNR and the receivers noise figure.
Ans.
-6
a) Input SNR = Si 10010
100[unitless]
Ni 110 -6
Input SNR(dB) = 10 log100 20[dB]
Dept of Communication Engineering, FKEE
b) The output noise power = internal noise + amplified input noise

N out D
A N i
80 W (100 110 6
W)
N
p
1.810 4 [W ]

The output signal power = amplified input signal

S
out
A S i 100 100 10 6
p
 1102 [W ]
S 110 -2
55.56[unitless]
Output SNR= out
N out 1.8 10 -4
Output SNR(dB) = 10 log 55.56 17.45[dB]
Dept of Communication Engineering, FKEE
 10 log input SNR[unitless] 10 log 100
c) Noise Figure NF = output SNR[unitless] 55.56
 2.55[dB]
Dept of Communication Engineering, FKEE

Example 2.10
For a non-ideal amplifier and the following
parameters, determine
-10
Input signal power = 2 x 10 W
-18
Input noise power = 2 x 10 W

Power Gain = 1,000,000
-12
Internal Noise (Nd) = 6 x 10 W

a. Input S/N ratio (dB)

b. Output S/N ratio (dB)
c. Noise factor and noise figure
Dept of Communication Engineering, FKEE

Ans
S i 2 10 -10
110 8
a) Input SNR [unitless]
N i 2 10 -18
 Input SNR(dB) = 10 log100000000 80[dB]
b) The output noise power
 N out D A i 6 10 12 (110 6 2 10 18 )
N N
p
810 12
[W ]
S
out
A S i 110 6 2 10 10
p
The output signal power 2 10 4 [W ]
2 10 -4 74[dB]

8 10 -12

Output SNR(dB) 10 log

Dept of Communication Engineering, FKEE

c)
Noise factor F =
input SNR[unitless] 100000000 4[unitless]
output SNR[unitless] 25000000
Noise figure NF = 10 log 4 6.02[dB]
Dept of Communication Engineering, FKEE

Example 2.11
For three cascaded amplifier stages, each with noise figures of 3 dB and
power gains of 10 dB, determine the total noise figure.
Ans.
Change all noise figure and power gain from [dB] unit to [unitless]
Power gain 10
A A A 1010 10[unitless]
1 2 3
 3
Noise Factor F1 F 2 F 1010 2[unitless]
3
Using Friss formula ,
Total noise factor F F F 1 F 1 [unitless]
T 1 2 3
A1 A1 A2
2 2 1 2 1
10 10 10
2.11 [unitless]
Total noise figure NFT = 10 log 2.11 3.24[dB]
Dept of Communication Engineering, FKEE
 EQUIVALENT NOISE TEMPERATURE (Te)

The noise produced from thermal agitation is directly proportional

to temperature, thermal noise can be expressed in degrees as
well as watts or dBm.

Mathematically,
T N
KB

where T = environmental temperature (kelvin)

N = noise power (watts)
-23
K = Boltzmanns constant (1.38 x 10 J/K)
B = bandwidth (hertz)
Dept of Communication Engineering, FKEE

Te is a hypothetical value that cannot be directly measured

Convenient parameter often used . Its also indicates reduction in

the signal-to-noise ratio a signal undergoes as it propagates through a
receiver.

The lower the Te , the better the quality of a receiver.

Typically values for Te , range from (20 K 1000 K) for noisy receivers.
 Te T F 1

Mathematically,

Where Te =equivalent noise temperature (kelvin)
T = environmental temperature (290 K)
F = noise factor (unitless)

Conversely, F can be represented as a function of Te :

T e
F1 T
Dept of Communication Engineering, FKEE

Example 2.12
Determine,
a) Noise figure for an equivalent noise temperature of 75 K.
b) Equivalent noise temperature for noise figure of 6 dB.
Ans.
F 1 T 1 75 1.258[unitless]
a) Noise factor e
T 290
Noise figure NF = 10 log1.258 1[dB]
b) Noise factor F antilog( NF ) antilog( 6 ) 4[unitless]
10 10
Equivalent noise temperature Te T (F 1) 290(4 1)
870[K ]
Dept of Communication Engineering, FKEE
 NOISE MEASUREMENTS

To work with noise in communications systems, it

must be measured in a meaningful way.

Noise is a random process & does not have a single

value or an equation to describe it.

The root mean square (rms) value of the noise is

the most important fact.

rms value is formed by taking the square root of the

average of the individual noise voltages, which have
been squared.
Dept of Communication Engineering, FKEE

Consider a series of 10 noise values measured with a
voltmeter as -0.3, 1.0, 0.2, 0.5, 0.6, -0.6, 0.3, 0.1, -0.15
and 0.9 V.

They are squared so that the negative values become

positive, & then these squared values are averaged.
The sum of the squares is

0.3
2 1 0.2 0.5 0.6 2
0.6
0.3 0.1
2 2 2 2 2 2
2
0.9 2

.... 0.15
3.0325V 2

3.0325 0.30325V 2
The average is

10
Dept of Communication Engineering, FKEE

The square root of this mean is

0.30325 0.55V

Example 2.13
Noise values in mV as follows are measured at various
times: 10, -100, 35, -57, 90, 26, 26, -10, -15 and -20.
What is the rms noise value?
Squaring each value, we have:
100 + 10,000 + 1225 + 3249 + 8100 + 676 + 676 + 100 +
2
225 + 400 = 24,751 (mV)
The average value is 24,751/10 = 2475.1
2
(mV) . The rms value = 49.75 mV.
Dept of Communication Engineering, FKEE