Electrical noise and

signal to noise ratio

Electrical noise
Electrical noise is defined as any
undesirable electrical energy that falls with
in the pass band of the signal.
Example: in audio recording , any unwanted
electrical signal that falls with in the audio
range 0hz to 15khz will interface with the
music and therefore considered as noise.

Types of noise
Man made noise
Thermal noise
Correlated noise
Impulse noise

MAN MADE NOISE

Man made noise is simply noise that is

produced by mankind.
The predominant sources of man made noise
are spark producing mechanisms, such as
commutators in electrical motors, automobile
ignition systems, ac power-generating and
switching equipments and fluorescent lights .
Man made noise Is impulsive in nature and
contains a wide range of frequencies that are
propagated through space in the same manner
as radio waves.

Thermal noise
Due to random motion of electrons.
It is ubiquitous (resistors, speakers,
microphones, antennas, )
It is directly proportional to absolute
temperature.
White noise - Frequency independent up to
1013 Hz.

Impulse noise
Impulse noise is characterized by high amplitude
peeks of short duration in the total noise spectrum.
It consists of sudden bursts of irregularly shaped
pulses that generally last between a few micro
seconds and several milliseconds, depending on
their amplitude and origin.
Source of impulse noise include
-Electric motors
-Electric lights
-Automotive ignition system
-Lightening

Correlated noise
Correlated noise is noise that is
correlated(mutually related)to the signal
and can not be present in a circuit unless
there is a signal-simply stated, no Signal ,
No Noise.
This noise is produced by nonlinear
amplification and include
Harmonic distortion and
Intermodulation distortion

Harmonic Distortion
This distortion occurs when unwanted harmonics of
signals are produced through nonlinear
amplification.
Harmonics: these are integer multiples of the
original signal.
The original signal is the first harmonic and is the
fundamental frequency.
Two times the original signal frequency is the
second harmonic, three times is the third harmonic
and so on.
This harmonic distortion is also called as amplitude
distortion.

Intermodulation Distortion

It is the generation of unwanted sum and

difference frequencies produced when two
or more signals are amplified in a non linear
devices.
The sum and difference frequencies are
called cross products.

Signal-Noise Ratio
The signal is what you are measuring
that is the result of the presence of
your analyte
Noise is extraneous information that
can interfere with or alter the signal.
It can not be completely eliminated,
but hopefully reduced!

Noise is considered random!

indeterminate

Signal-Noise Ratio
It is the ratio of signal power to the thermal
noise power level.
s/n=ps/pn
Where s/n= signal to noise power ratio
Ps=signal power(watts)
Pn=noise power(watts)
Signal to noise power ratio is ofen expressed
in db as
S/N(dbs)=10 log Ps/Pn.