Introduction to Analog And Digital

Communications
Second Edition
Simon Haykin, Michael Moher
Chapter 11 System and Noise
Calculations
11.1 Electrical Noise
11.2 Noise Figure
11.3 Equivalent Noise Temperature
11.4 Cascade Connection of Two-Port Networks
11.5 Free-Space Link Calculations
11.6 Terrestrial Mobile Radio
11.7 Summary and Discussion
3
11.1 Electrical Noise
We briefly discuss the physical sources of noise in electrical circuits and
develop quantitative models for measuring and prediction the presence of
noise in a communication system.
Lesson1 : Noise in communication systems may be generated by a number
of sources, but often the sources are the communication devices themselves.
Thermal noise and shot noise are examples of white noise processes
generated by electrical circuits.
Lesson2 : In a free-space environment, the received signal strength is
attenuated propotional to square of the transmission distance. However,
signal strength can be enhanced by directional antennas at both the
transmitting and receiving sites.
Lesson3 : In a terrestrial environment, radio communication may occur
many paths. The constructive and destructive interference between the
different paths leads, in general, to the so-called multipath phenomenon,
which causes much greater propagation losses than predicted by the free-
space model. In addition, movement of either the transmitting or receiving
terminals results in further variation of the received signal strength.
4
Thermal noise
Thermal noise is a ubiquitous source of noise that arises from thermally
induced motion of electrons in conducting media.
It suffices to say that the power spectral density of thermal noise
produced by a resistor is given
T is the absolute temperature in Kelvin, is Boltzmanns constant, and
is Plancks constant. Note that the power spectral density is
measured in watts per hertz. For low frequencies defined by
We may use the approximation
) 1 . 11 (
1 ) / | | exp(
| | 2
) (

=
kT f h
f h
f S
TN
) 2 . 11 (
h
kT
f <<
) 3 . 11 (
| |
1
| |
exp
kT
f h
kT
f h
+

2
by
k
h ) ( f S
TN
5
Approximate formula for the power spectral density of thermal
noise:
This upper frequency limit lies in the infrared region of the
electromagnetic spectrum that is well above the frequencies
encountered in conventional electrical communication systems.
The mean-square value of the thermal noise voltage measured
across the terminals of the resistor equals
Fig. 11.1
) 5 . 11 ( Hz 10 6
12
=
h
kT
) 6 . 11 ( volts 4
) ( 2 ] [ E
2
2
N
TN N TN
kTRB
f S RB V
=
=
) 4 . 11 ( 2 ) ( kT f S
TN

6
Fig. 11.1
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7
Norton equivalent circuit consisting of a noise current generator in
parallel with a noiseless conductance , as in Fig.11.1 (b).
The mean-square value of the noise current generator is
For the band of frequencies encountered in electrical
communication systems, we may model thermal noise as white
Gaussian noise of zero mean.
) 7 . 11 ( amps 4
] [ E
1
] [ E
2
2
2
2
N
TN TN
kTGB
V
R
I
=
=
R G / 1 =
8
9
Available noise power
Thevenin equivalent circuit of Fig.11.1(a) or the Norton equivalent
circuit of Fig.11.1(b), we readily find that a noisy resistor produces an
available power equal to watts.
N
kTB
10
11
Shot noise
Shot noise arises in electronic devices due to the discrete nature of
current flow in the device.
In a vacuum-tube device, the fluctuations are produced by the random
emission of electrons from the cathode. In a semiconductor device, the
cause is the random diffusion of electrons or the random recombination
of electrons with holes. In a photodiode, it is the random emission of
photons. In all these devices, the physical mechanism that controls
current flow through the device has built-in statistical fluctuations about
some average value.
Diode equation
The Schottky formula also holds for a semiconductor junction diode.
Fig. 11.2
) 8 . 11 ( amps 2 ] [ E
2 2
shot N
qIB I =
) 9 . 11 ( exp
s s
I
kT
qV
I I

=
12
Fig. 11.2
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13
The two components of the current I produce statistically
independent shot-noise contributions of their own, as shown by
The model includes the dynamic resistance of the diode, defined by
Bipolar junction transistor
In junction field-effect transistors
In both devices, thermal noise arises from the internal ohmic
resistance: base resistance in a bipolar transistor and channel
resistance in a field effect transistor.
Fig. 11.3
) 10 . 11 ( ) 2 ( 2
2 exp 2 ] [ E
2
shot
N s
N s N s
B I I q
B qI B
kT
qV
qI I
+ =
+

=
) (
s
I I q
kT
I
V
r
+
= =

14
Fig. 11.3
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15
11. 2 Noise Figure
The maximum noise power that the two-port device can deliver to
an external load is obtained when the load impedance is the
complex conjugate of the output impedance of the device-that is,
when the resistance is matched and the reactance is tuned out.
Noise figure of the two-port device
the ratio of the total available output noise power (due to the device
and the source) per unit bandwidth to the portion thereof due to the
source.
Then we may express the noise figure F of the device as
The noise figure is commonly expressed in decibels-that is, as
) 11 . 11 (
) ( ) (
) (
) (
f S f G
f S
f F
NS
NO
=
). ( log 10
10
F
16
Average noise figure
The ratio of the total noise power at the device output to the output
noise power due solely to the source.
Fig. 11.4
0
F
) 12 . 11 (
) ( ) (
) (
0

=
df f S f G
df f S
F
NS
NO
17
Fig. 11.4
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18
19
11.3 Equivalent Noise Temperature
The available noise power at the device input is
We define as
Then it follows that the total output noise power is
The noise figure of the device is therefore
The equivalent noise temperature,
d
N
) 15 . 11 ( ) (
N e
d s l
B T T Gk
N GN N
+ =
+ =
) 14 . 11 (
N e d
B GkT N =
) 13 . 11 (
N s
kTB N =
) 16 . 11 (
T
T T
GN
N
F
e
s
l
+
= =
) 17 . 11 ( ) 1 ( = F T T
e
20
Noise spectral density
A two-port network with equivalent noise temperature (referred to the
input) produces the available noise power
We find that the noise may be modeled as additive white Gaussian
noise with zero mean and power spectral density , where
Fig. 11.5
) 18 . 11 (
av N e
B kT N =
2 /
0
N
) 19 . 11 (
0 e
kT N =
21
Fig. 11.5
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22
11.4 Casecade Connection of Two-Port Networks
At the input of the first network, we have a noise power
contributed by the source, plus an equivalent noise power
contributed by the network itself.
We may therefore express the overall noise figure of the cascade
connection of Fig.11.6 as
1
N
1 1
) 1 ( N F
) 20 . 11 (
1

) 1 (
1
2
1
2 1 1
2 1 2 2 1 1 1
G
F
F
G G N
G N F G N G F
F

+ =
+
=
) 21 . 11 (
1 1 1
3 2 1
4
2 1
3
1
2
1
+

+ =
G G G
F
G G
F
G
F
F F
23
Correspondingly, we may express the overall equivalent noise
temperature of the cascade connection of any number of noisy two-
port networks as follows:
In a low-noise receiver, extra care is taken in the design of the pre-
amplifier or low-noise amplifier at the very front end of the receiver.
Fig. 11.6
) 22 . 11 (
3 2 1
4
2 1
3
1
2
1
+ + + + =
G G G
T
G G
T
G
T
T T
e
24
Fig. 11.6
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26
11.5 Free-Space Link Calculations
We move on to the issue of signal and noise power calculations for
radio links that rely on line-of-sight propagation through space.
The satellite, in effect, acts as a repeater in the sky. Another
application with line-of-sight propagation characteristics is deep-
space communication of information between a spacecraft and a
ground station.
Calculation of received signal power
Let the transmitting source radiate a total power . If this power is
radiated isotropically (i.e., uniformly in all directions), the power flux
density at a distance from the source is , where is the
surface area of a sphere of radius .
Thus for a transmitter of total power driving a lossless antenna with
gain , the power flux density at distance in the direction of the
antenna boresight is given by
T
P
r ) 4 /(
2
r P
T

2
4 r
r
T
P
T
G r
) 23 . 11 (
4
2
r
G P
T T

=
27
Effective aperture area of the receiving antenna.
The gain of the receiving antenna is defined in terms of the
effective of the effective aperture by
Given the power flux density at the receiving antenna with an
effective aperture area , the received power is
Substituting Eqs.(11.23) and (11.26) into (11.27), we obtain the
result
Fig. 11.7
) 24 . 11 (
eff
A A =
) 25 . 11 (
4
2
eff

A
G
R
=
R
G
eff
A
) 26 . 11 (
4
2
eff

R
G
A =
) 27 . 11 (
eff
= A P
R
) 28 . 11 (
r 4
G
2
R

T T R
G P P
eff
A

28
Fig. 11.7
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Form Eq.(11.28) we see that for given values of wavelength and
distance , the received power may be increased by three methods:
1. The spacecraft-transmitted power is increased. Hence, there is a
physical limit on how large a value we can assign to the transmitted
power
2. The gain of the transmitting antenna is increased. The choice of
is therefore limited by size and weight constraints of the spacecraft.
3. The gain of the receiving antenna is increased. Here again, size and
weight constraints place a physical limit on the size of the ground-
station antenna, although these constraints are far less demanding than
those on the spacecraft antenna; we typically have

r
T
P
.
T
P
T
G
T
G
R
G
. T R
G G >>
30
Then we may restate the Friis transmission formula in the form
Then we may modify the expression for the received signal power
as
The received power is commonly called the carrier power.
) 29 . 11 ( EIRP
P R R
L G P + =
) 30 . 11 ( ) ( log 10 EIRP
10 T T
G P =
) 31 . 11 (
4
log 10
2
eff
10

A
G
R
) 32 . 11 (
4
log 20
10

r
L
P
) 33 . 11 ( EIRP
0
L L G P
P R R
+ =
R
P
31
32
33
Carrier-to-noise ratio
Carrier-to-noise ratio (CNR)
As the ratio of carrier power to the available noise power
The carrier-to-noise ratio is often the same as the pre-detection SNR
discussed in Chapter 9.
) 34 . 11 ( CNR
N s
R
B kT
P
=
34
35
36
11.6 Terrestrial Mobile Radio
With terrestrial communications, both antennas are usually
relatively close to the ground.
With these additional modes of propagation, there are a multitude
of possible propagation paths between the transmitter and receiver,
and the receiver often receives a significant signal from more than
one path.
There are three basic propagation modes that apply to terrestrial
propagation: free-space, reflection, and diffraction.
Fig. 11.8
37
Fig. 11.8
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Free-space propagation
A rule of thumb is that a volume known as the first Fresnel zone must
be kept clear of objects for approximate free-space propagation. The
radius of the first Fresnel zone varies with the position between the
transmitting and receiving antenna; it is given by
Reflection
The bouncing of electromagnetic waves from surrounding objects such
as buildings, mountains, and passing vehicles.
Diffraction
The bending of electromagnetic waves around objects such as buildings
or terrain such as hills, and through objects such as trees and other
forms of vegetation.
) 35 . 11 (
2 1
2 1
d d
d d
h
+
=

Fig. 11.9
39
Fig. 11.9
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Thus multipath transmission may have quite different properties
from free-space propagation. Measurements indicate that terrestrial
propagation can be broken down into several components.
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42
Median path loss
The measurement of the field strength in various environments as a
function of the distance , from the transmitter to the receiver
motivates a simple propagation model for median path loss having
the form
Path-loss exponent n ranges from 2 to 5 depending on the
propagation environment. The right-hand side of Eq.(11.36) is
sometimes written in the equivalent from
r
) 36 . 11 (
n
T
R
r P
P
=
) 37 . 11 (
) / (
0
0
n
T
R
r r P
P
=
Table. 11.1
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Table 11.1
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Numerous propagation studies have been carried out trying to
closely identify the different environmental effects.
This model for median path loss is quite flexible and is intended for
analytical study of problems, as it allows us to parameterize
performance of various system-related factors.
Fig. 11.10
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Fig. 11.10
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Random path losses
The median path loss is simply that: the median attenuation as a
function of distance; 50 percent of locations will have greater loss and
50 percent will have less.
These fast variations of the signal strength are due to reflections from
local objects that rapidly change the carrier phase over small distances.
The probability that the amplitude is below a given level is given
by the Rayleigh distribution function
r
) 38 . 11 ( exp 1 ] [ P
2
rms
2

= <
R
r
r R
Fig. 11.11
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Fig. 11.11
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49
50
51
11.7 Summary and Discussion
1. Several sources of thermal noise were identified, and we
characterized their power spectral densities through the simple
relation , where is Boltzmanns constant and T is the
absolute temperature in Kelvin.
2. The related concepts of noise figure and equivalent noise
temperature were defined and used to characterize the contributions
that various electronic devices or noise sources make to the overall
noise. We then showed how the overall noise is calculated in a
cascaded two-port system.
3. The Friis equation was developed to mathematically model the
relationship between transmitted and received signal strengths as a
function of transmitting and receiving antenna gains and path loss.
4. Propagation losses ranging from free-space conditions, typical of
satellite channels, to those typical of terrestrial mobile applications
were described. Variations about median path loss were identified
as an important consideration in terrestrial propagation.
kT N =
0
k