ESPEDILLON, MARIGOLD 1

CHAPTER 2: NOISE

Noise defined in electrical terms, any unwanted
introduction of energy tending to interfere with the proper
reception and reproduction of transmitted signals
It can limit the range of system by affecting its
sensitivity to amplify weak signals
It can even force reduction in bandwidth of the
system

Broad classification of noise
1. Noise whose source is external to the
receiver more difficult to treat quantitatively
2. Noise whose source is within the receiver
itself more quantifiable and capable of being
reduced by appropriate receiver design

Forms of External Noise
1. Atmospheric noise
- Result from spurious radio waves which
induce voltages in the antenna
- Also called static noise, which is caused by
lightning discharges in thunderstorms and
other natural electric disturbances occurring
in the atmosphere
- It originates in the form of amplitude-
modulated impulses
- It is spread over most of the RF spectrum
- Becomes less severe at frequencies above
about 30 Mhz
2. Extra-terrestrial noise (Space Noise)
a. Solar noise
sun undergoes cycles of peak
activity from which electrical
disturbances erupt such as corona
flares and sunspots which then is
radiated over a broad frequency
spectrum
b. Cosmic noise
distant stars just like the Sun have
high temperature and radiate RF
noise
Sometimes called thermal or
black-body noise and is
distributed firmly over the entire
sky
- Space noise is observable at frequencies in
the range from about 8 Mhz to somewhat
above 1.43 Ghz
- Apart from man-made noise, space noise is
a strong component over the range of 20 to
120 Mhz
c. Industrial noise
Produced by the arc discharge
present in all man operations
(electric machines)

Forms of Internal Noise
1. Thermal agitation noise
- Noise generated in a resistance or resistive
component due to the rapid and random
radiation of the molecules inside the
component itself
- Sometime referred to as thermal,
agitation, white or Johnson noise
- Noise being generated by the resistor is
proportional to its absolute temperature and
also proportional to the bandwidth its being
measured
- Random noise power is proportional to the
bandwidth over which it is measured

Where:
PN = maximum noise output power of a
resistor
k = boltzmanns constant = 1.38x10
-23
J/K
T = absolute temperature, Kelvin
B = bandwidth

- Noise voltage of the resistor is caused by
the random movement of electrons within
itself, which constitutes a current
Note: Ordinary resistor might not have
voltage reading when being read by a DC
voltmeter. But in reality, since a resistor is a
noise generator and random, it has a finite
rms value of voltage across it by reading
with an AC meter

Where:
VN = resistors equivalent noise voltage

- Note that, square of the rms noise voltage
associated with a resistor is proportional to
the absolute temperature of the resistor,
the value of its resistance, and the
bandwidth over which the noise is measured
- Note that, generated noise voltage is quite
independent of the frequency at which it is
measured from the fact that the noise is
random and distributed evenly over the
frequency spectrum

2. Shot noise
- Produced because of Shot Effect, which is
caused by the random variations in the
arrival of electrons at the output electrode
of an amplifying device and appears as a
randomly varying noise current
superimposed on the output

Where:
iN = rms shot-noise current
B = bandwidth of the system
e = charge of electron = 1.6x10
-19
C
ip = direct diode current
- Most convenient way of dealing with shot
noise is by finding the value for an
equivalent input-noise resistor (REQ),
which precedes the device and assume to
be noiseless and have same value such that
the amount of noise present in the
equivalent system is equal to the practical
system
- REQ is inversely proportional to trans
conductance and directly proportional to
output current. Note that, this resistance is

ESPEDILLON, MARIGOLD 2

fictitious which is created to simplify
calculations for shot noise


3. Transit-time noise
- Transit-time effect takes place when the
time take by an electron to travel from the
emitter to the collector of the transistor
becomes significant to the period of the
signal being amplified at frequencies in the
upper VHF range
- High frequency noise that creates frequency
distortion and quickly predominates other
forms thus result to measuring noise at high
frequencies than using input equivalent
noise resistance
4. Flicker noise
- Also known as modulation noise
- Noise in low audio frequencies found in
transistors which is proportional to emitter
current and junction temperature, but
inversely proportional to frequency
- Completely ignored at above 500Hz
frequency
5. Resistance noise
- Also present in transistors due to the base,
emitter, and collector internal resistance
6. Noise in mixers
- Cause because the transconductance
conversion of mixers is lower than the
transconductance of amplifiers
- And also, it originates when image
frequency rejection is inadequate
- Note that, Mixers (non-linear amplifying
circuits) are much noisier than amplifiers
using identical devices


Noise Calculations
1. Addition of noise due to several sources

Where:
R
total
= R1 + R2 +
Note that, noise power within a resistor is constant

2. Addition of noise due to cascaded amplifiers

Where:
R1 = Input resistor 1 + Equivalent noise resistance at
stage 1
R2 = Parallel of stage1 output resistor & stage2 input
resistor + Equivalent noise resistance at stage 2
R3 = output resistor of stage 2

3. Noise in tuned circuits

Where:
V
N
= noise voltage across a tuned circuit due to its
internal resistance
R
p
= Q
2
R
s
= magnification factor multiplied by
series resistance of the coil

Signal-to-Noise Ratio defined as the ratio of the signal
power to the noise power at the same point. This is used
when the equivalent noise resistance is difficult to obtain

Note that, this is a simplification that applies whenever the
resistance across where noise is developed is the same as
resistance where signal is developed and also S/N is kept to
high value for high quality of transmission

Noise Figure defined as the ratio of the signal-to-noise
power supplied to the input terminals of a receiver to the
signal-to-noise power supplied to the output or load resistor





Note that, S/N deteriorate as the signal moves toward the
output thus output S/N is lower resulting the noise figure to
exceed 1. Therefore, for an ideal receiver the noise figure is 1
which means noiseless

Where:
R
eq

= R
eq
R
t

R
t
= (R
a
R
t
) / (R
a
+ R
t
)
R
a
= antenna resistance

Noise Temperature just like the equivalent noise
resistance, it simplifies the computation for noise figure and is
used for low noise levels which frequently used in microwave
frequencies (UHF range)

Where:
To = 290 K
Teq = equivalent noise temperature of receiver