NOISE in Communication

System
CHAPTER OBJECTIVES
In this chapter we will be able to:
Describe the type of noise.
Identify the difference between external and internal noise.
Determined the signal noise ratio.
INTRODUCTION TO NOISE
Electrical noise

any unwanted electrical energy present in the usable

passband of a communication circuit. This energy is randomly
present and tends to interfere with the reception and accurate
reproduction of wanted signal.

an error or undesired random disturbance of a useful

information signal in a communication channel.

The signal that has been contaminated with noise is

distorted and obviously contains frequency other
than original signal.
 In communication systems, noise is The noise is a summation of
unwanted or disturbing energy from natural and sometimes man-
made sources.
TYPE OF NOISE
Noise can be categorized
i) External Noise
ii) Internal Noise
EXTERNAL NOISE
External noise is the noise generated from the outside
of the communication systems and receivers circuits.

Atmospheric Noise
Naturally occurs due to electrical disturbances in the
earth's atmosphere, commonly called static electricity.
For eg: Lightning; this often comes in the form of
impulses that spread their energy though out a wide range of
radio frequencies.
Atmospheric noise is the familiar sputtering, crackling
and so on, heard on a radio receiver predominantly in the
absence of received signal and is relatively significant
compared to other sources of noise.
 Man-made noise

Man-made noise is any form of electromagnetic

interference that can be traced to non-natural causes.

Its sources include spark-producing mechanisms,

such as commutators in electric motors, power switching
equipments, fluorescent lights and etc

These forms of noise are impulsive in nature and

contain wide range frequencies that propagated through
space in manner same as the radio waves.

Sometimes called industrial noise.

 Extra-terrestrial Noise

Originates from outside earth's atmosphere or from the

outer space such as sun or other galaxies.

It is divided into 2; solar and cosmic noise which contain

frequencies from approximately 8 MHz to 1.5GHz

Solar noise is generated from sun heat, either in a form of

quiet condition when relatively constant radiation intensity exists or
in form of sporadic disturbance during the high intensity of the
sun's spot

Cosmic noise generated from stars where the radiate noise

in same manner as the sun but with relatively lower intensity
because stars are much further away than the sun.
INTERNAL NOISE
Internal noise is an electrical disturbance generated within the communication system and it is
specifically from the receiver of a communication system.

his is a random noise created by passive or active devices inside the receiver and can be divided into 3:

Thermal Noise

Thermal noise is generated by the rapid and random motion of electrons within a conductor of which any
resistance is constructed.

It is associated with the rapid and random movement of electrons within a conductor due to thermal
agitation.

From kinetic theory, electrons within a conductor are in thermal equilibrium with molecules and in
constant random motion. Random movement of electrical charges produce current and rate of arrival of
these charges at either end of a resistor varies. This causes resistor's potential difference to vary.
Therefore currently producing noise voltage and it is called random noise generator.

This type of noise is termed as thermal noise since it is temperature dependent.

 The thermal noise power, N, generated within a source is
proportional to bandwidth, B, over any range of frequency and is
also proportional to absolute temperature, T (Kelvin)
N TB or N = kTB

Where k = Boltzmann's constant

= 1.38 X 10-23 J/K
Noise voltage (rms)
For max power transfer, the load resistor, R, is made equal to source resistance,
Rs.

Therefore noise voltage dropped across R is Vn/2 and the noise power, N,
developed across R is (Vn/2)2 / R.
Mathematically: N = (Vn/2)2 / R = (Vn)2/4R

By equating equation: N = kTB & N = (Vn)2/4R

So,
N = kTB = (Vn)2/4R

And

= 4
Example :
For an electronic device operating at temperature of 17oC with a
bandwidth of 10kHz, determine :
a) Thermal noise power in watts and dBm
b) rms noise voltage for a 100 internal resistance and a 100 load
resistance.
(use k = 1.38 x 10-23)
 Flicker Noise
Flicker noise is found at the transistor operating at
low audio frequencies. (below frequencies of a few kHz)
Revision
Gain (A)
Gain means amplification
If a signal is applied to a circuit such as in the amplifier circuit and the
output of the circuit has greater amplitude than the input signal, the
circuit has gain.
Gain is the ratio of output to input.

Attenuation (A)
A loss introduced by a circuit or component.
Also the ratio of the output to input.
Circuits that introduce attenuation have a gain that is less than 1.
 Decibels
The gain or loss of a circuit is usually expressed in decibels.
A unit of measurement that was originally created as a way of expressing
the hearing response of the human ear to various sound levels.

= 20 log

= 20 log

= 10 log

Example:
1. An amplifier has an input of 3mV and an output of 5V. What is the gain in decibels?

2. A filter has a power input of 50mW and an output of 2mW. What is the gain or attenuation?

3. A power amplifier with a 40-dB gain has an output power of 100W. What is the input power?

4. An amplifier has a gain of 60dB. If the input voltage is 50V, what is the output voltage?

5. A power amplifier has an input of 90mV across 10k. The output is 7.8V across an 8 speaker. What is
the power gain, in decibels? You must calculate the input and output power level first.

6. An amplifier has a power gain of 28dB. The input power is 36mW. What is the output power?

7. A circuit consist of two amplifiers with gains of 6.8 and 14.3 dB and two filters with attenuation of -
16.4dB and -2.9dB. If the output voltage is 800mV, what is the input voltage?

8. Express Pout = 12.3 dBm in watts.

 Decibels (dBs) are used to specify measured and calculated
values in noise analysis, audio systems, microwave system
gain calculations, satellite system link-budget analysis,
antenna power gain and etc.

The dB value is calculated with respect to a standard or

specified reference.

It is calculated by taking the log of the ratio of the measured

or calculated value with respect to a reference value. This
result is then multiplied by 10 to obtain the value in dB.

dBm the lowercase m indicates that the specified dB level

is relative to a 1-mW reference.
dBW dB relative to a 1W reference.
Example :
A laser diode outputs +10dBm. Convert this value to:
a) Watts
b) dBW
SIGNAL - TO - NOISE RATIO (SNR)
Example :
For an amplifier with an output signal power of 10W and an output
noise power of 0.001W, determine the SNR in dB.

For an amplifier with an output signal voltage of 4V, an output noise

voltage of 0.005V, and an input and output resistance of 50,
determine the signal to noise power ratio.
NOISE FACTOR (F) AND NOISE FIGURE (NF)
Example 1:
An amplifier operating over a 4-MHz bandwidth has a
100 source resistance. It is operating at 270C, has a
voltage gain of 200 and has an input signal of 5V rms.
Determine the rms output signals, assuming external
noise can be disregarded.
Examples 2:
A 300 resistor is connected across the 300 antenna
input of a television receiver. The bandwidth of the
receiver is 6MHz, and the resistor is at room
temperature of 20oC. Find the noise power and noise
voltage applied to the receiver input.
Example 3:
The signal power at the input to an amplifier is 100W
and the noise power is 1W. At the output, the signal
power is 1W and the noise power is 30mW. What is the
amplifier noise figure, as a ratio?
Example 4:
The signal at the input of an amplifier has an S/N of
42dB. If the amplifier has a noise figure of 6dB, what is
the S/N at the output (in decibels) ?
Example 5:
For a non-ideal amplifier and the following parameters,
determine
a)Input S/N ratio (dB)
b)Output S/N ratio (dB)
c)Noise factor and noise figure
Input signal power = 2 X 10-10W
Input noise power = 2 X10-18W
Power gain = 1,000,000
Internal noise (Nd) = 6 X 10-12W
 Summary
In this chapter, the definition and concept of a noise in
communication system was introduced. The major
topics should now understand include:
Effects and analysis of electrical noise in a
communication system.
The performance of electrical noise measurement on a
communication system. The performance of signal-to-
noise ratio and noise figure calculation.