Noise

Noise is an electronic signal that is a mixture of many random

frequencies at many amplitudes that gets added to a radio or
information signal as it is transmitted from one place to another or as
it is processed. Noise is not the same as interference from other
information signals.

Noise is not the same as interference from other information signals.

Examples: 1) Hiss sound in AM or FM speaker

2) Snow in black-and-white TV screen
3) Confetti on a color screen

Noise that occurs in transmitting digital data causes bit errors and can
result in information being garbled or lost.

The noise level in a system is proportional to temperature and

bandwidth, and to the amount of current flowing in a component, the
gain of the circuit, and the resistance of the circuit. Increasing any of
these factors increases noise.

Noise is a problem in communication systems whenever the received

signals are very low in amplitude.

Signal-to-Noise Ratio (or SNR or S/N )

The signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio, also designated SNR, indicates the
relative strengths of the signal and the noise in a communication
system.

The stronger the signal and the weaker the noise, the higher the S/N
ratio.

If the signal is weak and the noise is strong, the S/N ratio will be low
and reception will be unreliable Communication equipment is
designed to produce the highest feasible S/N ratio.
Signals can be expressed in terms of voltage or power. The S/N ratio
is computed by using either voltage or power values:

White noise: If the noise in contains all frequencies, varying

randomly. Then it is generally known as white noise.

Types of Noise:
1. External Noise
2. Internal Noise
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1. External Noise:
External noise comes from sources over which we have little or no
control.

Types:
a) Industrial noise,
b) Atmospheric noise or Space noise.
c) Extraterrestrial noise
a) Industrial Noise: Industrial noise is produced by manufactured
equipment, such as automotive ignition systems, electric motors,
and generators.

b) Atmospheric Noise: The electrical disturbances that occur

naturally in the earth’s atmosphere are another source of noise.

Atmospheric noise is often referred to as static.

Static usually comes from lightning, the electric discharges that occur
between clouds or between the earth and clouds

Lightning is very much like the static charges that we experience

during a dry spell in the winter.

Atmospheric noise shows up primarily as amplitude variations that

add to a signal and interfere with it.

Atmospheric noise has its greatest impact on signals at frequencies

below 30 MHz.

c) Extraterrestrial Noise:
Extraterrestrial noise, solar and cosmic, comes from sources in space.

One of the primary sources of extraterrestrial noise is the sun, which

radiates a wide range of signals in a broad noise spectrum.

Noise generated by stars outside our solar system is generally known

as cosmic noise. It shows up primarily in the 10-MHz to 1.5-GHz
range, but causes the greatest disruptions in the 15- to 150-MHz
range.

2. Internal Noise:
Electronic components in a receiver such as resistors, diodes, and
transistors are major sources of internal noise.
Types or sources of Internal Noise:
a) Thermal noise
b) Semiconductor noise,
c) Intermodulation distortion

a) Thermal noise:
Most internal noise is caused by a phenomenon known as thermal
agitation, the random motion of free electrons in a conductor caused
by heat. Increasing the temperature causes this atomic motion to
increase.

Electrons traversing a conductor as current flows experience fleeting

impediments in their path as they encounter the thermally agitated
atoms.

Thermal agitation is often referred to as white noise or Johnson

noise.

Just as white light contains all other light frequencies, white noise
contains all frequencies randomly occurring at random amplitudes

Filtered or band-limited noise is referred to as pink noise.

In a relatively large resistor at room temperature or higher, the noise

voltage across it can be as high as several microvolts.

Since noise is a very broadband signal containing a tremendous range

of random frequencies, its level can be reduced by limiting the
bandwidth.

The amount of open-circuit noise voltage appearing across a resistor

or the input impedance to a receiver can be calculated according to
Johnson’s formula:
The resistor is acting as a voltage generator with an internal resistance
equal to the resistor value.
Noise voltage is proportional to resistance value, temperature, and
bandwidth.

Noise voltage can be reduced by reducing resistance, temperature, and

bandwidth or any combination to the minimum level acceptable for
the given application.

Thermal noise can also be computed as a power level. Johnson’s

formula is then,

Pn = kTB
Where Pn is the average noise power in watts.

Note that when you are dealing with power, the value of resistance
does not enter into the equation.
b) Semiconductor Noise:
Electronic components such as diodes and transistors are major
contributors of noise.

In addition to thermal noise, semiconductors produce shot noise,

transit-time noise, and flicker noise.

The current carriers, electrons or holes, sometimes take random paths

from source to destination. It is this random movement that produces
the shot effect.

Shot noise is also produced by the random movement of electrons or

holes across a PN junction.

Shot noise is also white noise in that it contains all frequencies and
amplitudes over a very wide range.

The amount of shot noise is directly proportional to the amount of dc

bias fl owing in a device.

The bandwidth of the device or circuit is also important. The rms

noise current in a device In is calculated with the formula:

Shot noise is normally lowered by keeping the transistor currents low

since the noise current is proportional to the actual current.

But in MOSFETs shot noise is relatively constant despite the current

level.
Another kind of noise that occurs in transistors is called transit-time
noise. The term transit time refers to how long it takes for a current
carrier such as a hole or electron to move from the input to the output.

The devices themselves are very tiny, so the distances involved are
minimal.

At low frequencies, this time is negligible; but when the frequency of

operation is high and the period of the signal being processed is the
same order of magnitude as the transit time, problems can occur.

Transit-time noise is directly proportional to the frequency of

operation.

A third type of semiconductor noise, flicker noise or excess noise,

also occurs in resistors and conductors. This disturbance is the result
of minute random variations of resistance in the semiconductor
material.

It is directly proportional to current and temperature. However, it is

inversely proportional to frequency, and for this reason it is
sometimes referred to as 1/f noise.

Flicker noise is highest at the lower frequencies and thus is not pure
white noise.

Because of the dearth of high-frequency components, 1/f noise is also

called pink noise.

At some low frequency, flicker noise begins to exceed thermal and

shot noise.

The amount of flicker noise present in resistors depends on the type of

resistor.
At low frequencies, noise voltage is high, because of 1/f noise. At
very high frequencies, the rise in noise is due to transit-time effects
near the upper cutoff frequency of the device.

Intermodulation Distortion:
Intermodulation distortion results from the generation of new
signals and harmonics caused by circuit nonlinearities.

Nonlinearities produce modulation or heterodyne effects.

Any frequencies in the circuit mix together, forming sum and

difference frequencies.

When many frequencies are involved, or with pulses or rectangular

waves, the large number of harmonics produces an even larger
number of sum and difference frequencies.
When two signals are near the same frequency, some new sum and
difference frequencies are generated by a nonlinearity, and they can
appear inside the bandwidth of the amplifier.

Figure 5.4 illustrates this. Signals f1 and f2 appear within the

bandwidth of an amplifier.

Any nonlinearity generates new signals f1 - f2 and f1 + f2

In addition, these new signals begin to mix with some of the

harmonics generated by the nonlinearity (2f1, 2f2, 3f1, 3f2, etc.).
Some of these new signals will occur within the amplifier band pass.
Those new signals that cause the most trouble are the so-called third-
order products, specifically 2f1 ± f2 and 2f2 ± f1.

Those most likely to be in the amplifier bandwidth are 2f1 - f2 and

2f2 - f1. These are the third-order products.
The key to minimizing these extraneous intermodulation products is
to maintain good linearity through biasing and input signal level
control.
The resulting IMD products are small in amplitude, but can be large
enough to constitute a disturbance that can be regarded as a type of
noise.

Because of the predictable correlation between the known frequencies

and the noise, intermodulation distortion is also called correlated
noise.

Correlated noise is manifested as the low-level signals called birdies.

It can be minimized by good design.

Expressing Noise Levels:

The noise quality of a receiver can be expressed as in terms of noise
figure, noise factor, noise temperature, and SINAD

Noise Factor and Noise Figure:

The noise factor is the ratio of the S/N power at the input to the S/N
power at the output.

The noise factor or noise ratio (NR) is computed with the expression

Amplifiers and receivers always have more noise at the output than at
the input because of the internal noise, which is added to the signal.

The S/N ratio at the output will be less than the S/N ratio of the input,
and so the noise figure will always be greater than 1.
The lower the noise figure, the better the amplifier or receiver. Noise
figures of less than about 2 dB are excellent.

Noise Temperature(TN):
This is another way to express the noise in an amplifier or receiver.
Noise temperature is expressed in kelvins.

Temparature in Kelvin is given by the relationship TK = TC + 273.

The relationship between noise temperature and NR is given by

TN = 290(NR - 1)

For example, if the noise ratio is 1.5, the equivalent noise temperature
is
TN = 290(1.5 - 1) = 290(0.5) = 145 K.
SINAD: Another way of expressing the quality and sensitivity of
communication receivers is SINAD—the composite signal plus the
noise and distortion divided by noise and distortion contributed by
the receiver. In symbolic form,
Distortion refers to the harmonics present in a signal caused by
nonlinearities.

The SINAD ratio is also used to express the sensitivity of a receiver.

Note that the SINAD ratio makes no attempt to discriminate between
or to separate noise and distortion signals.

SINAD is the most often used measure of sensitivity for FM receivers

used in two-way radios. It can also be used for AM and SSB radios.

Noise in Cascaded Stages:

Noise has its greatest effect at the input to a receiver simply because
that is the point at which the signal level is lowest.

The noise performance of a receiver is invariably determined in the

very first stage of the receiver, usually an RF amplifier or mixer.

Design of these circuits must ensure the use of very low-noise

components, taking into consideration current, resistance, bandwidth,
and gain figures in the circuit. Beyond the first and second stages,
noise is basically no longer a problem.
This calculation means that the first stage controls the noise
performance for the whole amplifier chain.

This is true even though stage 1 has the lowest NR, because after the
first stage, the signal is large enough to overpower the noise. This
result is true for almost all receivers and other equipment
incorporating multistage amplifiers.