KJ’s Educational Institute

TRINITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND RESEARCH

Unit V: Noise
By

Vaibhav S.. Hendre

Head & Associate Professor

Department of Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering

 Syllabus Contents
 Sources of Noise,
 Types of Noise,
 White Noise, Thermal Noise, Shot Noise, Partition
Noise,
 Low frequency or flicker noise, burst noise, avalanche
noise,
 Signal to Noise Ratio, SNR of tandem connection,
 Noise Figure, Noise Temperature,
 Friis formula for Noise Figure,
 Noise Bandwidth,
 Behavior of Baseband systems and Amplitude
modulated systems i.e. DSBSC and SSBSC in presence
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of noise. 12/16/2016
Vaibhav Hendre, Department of E&TC, TCOER, Pune
 Chapter Objectives
 Define and identify the various sources and types of
noise.
 Explain signal to noise ratio, noise figure and noise
temperature for single and cascaded stages in a
communication system.
 Study the behavior of Baseband systems and
Amplitude modulated systems such as DSB-SC and
SSB-SC in presence of noise.
 To solve numericals on the dependency of Signal to
Noise Ratio on different parameters.

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 List of Books
Text Books :
•T1. George Kennedy, “Electronic Communication Systems” 5th Edition,
McGraw-Hill
•T2. Dennis Roddy & John Coolen, Electronic Communications, 4th
Edition, Prentice Hall

Reference Books :
•R1. B. P. Lathi , “Modern Digital and Analog. Communication Systems”,
3rd Edition, Oxford University Press
•R2 Simon Haykin, “Communication Systems”, 4th Edition, John Wiley &
Sons
•R3. Taub & Schilling, “Principles of Communication Systems”, Tata Mc-
Graw-Hill
•R4. Frenzel, “Principles of Electronic Communication Systems” 3rd
Edition, Tata McGraw-Hill
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 Teacher’s Manual
Lect. Name of Topic Reference Bit No. & Remark
No. Page no.

1 Sources of Noise, Types of Noise, R3 7.1(315) Numerical are

White Noise, Thermal noise T1 2.1(15-20) expected from
R2 1.9(61,62) topic Thermal
T2 4.2(119-129) Noise
2 Shot noise, partition noise, Low frequency or 4.3(130-131)
flicker noise, burst noise, avalanche noise, T2 4.4(131),4.5,
4.6(132), 4.7,
Signal to Noise Ratio , 4.11(135-136)

3 SNR of tandem connection, T2 4.12(137) Numerical are

Noise Figure, 4.13(137-141) expected from
Noise Temperature SNR, tandem
4 Friis formula for Noise Figure, Noise T2 4.14(144-145) connection and
Bandwidth. R2 7.10(333) Noise Figure

5 Behavior of Baseband systems in presence of R1 12.1 (532-534) Numerical are

Noise, Amplitude modulated systems i.e. 12.2 (534-537) expected from
DSBSC in presence of noise. noise analysis of
6 Behavior of Amplitude modulated systems baseband and AM
i.e. SSBSC in presence of noise and systems
Numerical
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Vaibhav Hendre, Department of E&TC, TCOER, Pune 12/16/2016
 INTRODUCTION
 Noise is a general term which is used to describe an unwanted signal
which affects a wanted signal. These unwanted signals arise from a
variety of sources which may be considered in one of two main
categories:-
• Interference, usually from a human source (man made)
• Naturally occurring random noise
 Interference
 Interference arises for example, from other communication systems
(cross talk), 50 Hz supplies (hum) and harmonics, switched mode
power supplies, thyristor circuits, ignition (car spark plugs) motors …
etc.
 Natural Noise
 Naturally occurring external noise sources include atmosphere
disturbance (e.g. electric storms, lighting, ionospheric effect etc), so
called ‘Sky Noise’ or Cosmic noise which includes noise from galaxy,
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solar noise and ‘hot spot’ due to oxygen and water vapour resonance in
the earth’s atmosphere. 12/16/2016
 Definition
 Noise may be defined as any unwanted introduction of energy
tending to interfere with the proper reception and reproduction of
transmitted signal.
 Noise is random energy that interfere with the information signal.
 In radio receiver, noise may produce hiss in the loudspeaker output.
 Noise may sometimes even force a reduction in the bandwidth of
system. It affects the sensitivity of the receiver.
 Two general categories:
 Correlated noise – implies relationship between the signal and the
noise, exist only when signal is present.
 Uncorrelated noise – present at all time, whether there is signal or
not.

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 SOURCES OF NOISE
NOISE

EXTERNAL INTERNAL

THERMAL NOISE
ATMOSPHERIC INDUSTRIAL
NOISE NOISE SHOT NOISE

PARTITION NOISE
EXTRATERRESTRIAL
NOISE FLICKER NOISE

BURST NOISE

SOLAR COSMIC AVALANCHE

NOISE NOISE NOISE

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Vaibhav Hendre, Department of E&TC, TCOER, Pune
 EXTERNAL NOISE
 The various forms of noise created outside the receiver.
1. ATMOSPHERIC NOISE
 Caused by lightning discharges in thunderstorms and other natural
electric disturbances occurring in the atmosphere.
 Consist of spurious radio signal with components distributed over
a wide range of frequencies.
 It propagates over the earth in the same way as ordinary radio
waves of the same frequencies.
 Field strength is inversely proportional to frequency so that this
noise will interfere more with reception of radio than television.
 Become less severe at frequencies above 30MHz because:

 The higher frequencies are limited to line-of-sight propagation.

 Nature of the mechanism generating this noise is such that very

little of it is created in the VHF range and above.
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 2. EXTRATERRESTRIAL NOISE
 SOLAR NOISE:
 Under normal condition, there is a constant noise radiation
from the sun, simply because it is a large body at a very high
temperature(over 6000 centigrade).
 Radiates over a very broad frequency spectrum which includes
frequencies used for communications.

 COSMIC NOISE:
 Stars radiate RF noise in the same manner of sun.
 The noise received is called thermal noise and distributed fairly
uniformly over the entire sky.

 SUMMARY
 Space Noise is observed significantly from 8 MHz to 1.43
GHz.
 Apart from man-made noise it is the strongest component over
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Vaibhav Hendre, Department of E&TC, TCOER, Pune
 3. INDUSTRIAL NOISE
 Between 1 to 600 MHz [In urban, semi urban & other
industrial areas], the intensity noise made by humans easily
outstrips that created by any other source, internal or external
to the receiver.

 Sources such as: automobile, aircraft ignition, electric motors

and other heavy machines, leakages from high voltage lines,
florescent lights etc…

 The nature of industrial noise is so variable that it is difficult to

analyze it on any basis other than the statistical.

 Industrial noise obeys the general principle that received noise

increases as the receiver bandwidth is increased.
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Vaibhav Hendre, Department of E&TC, TCOER, Pune
 INTERNAL NOISE
 It is the noise created by any of the active or passive devices in
the receivers. Such noise is random, easy to observe & describe
statistically. Random noise power is proportional to the
bandwidth of measurement.
THERMAL NOISE
 Is associated with the rapid and random movement of electrons
within a conductor due to thermal agitation.
 Present in all electronic components
and communications systems.
 Referred as white noise or Johnson Noise.
 Is a form of additive noise, cannot be eliminated.
 It increases in intensity with the number of devices in a circuit.
 This type of noise is generated by all resistances and hence also
called as Resistor noise.
12  It is independent of the frequency at which it is measured.
Vaibhav Hendre, Department of E&TC, TCOER, Pune 12/16/2016
Experimental results (by Johnson) and theoretical studies (by Nyquist)
give the mean square noise voltage as
_ 2
V  4 k TBn R (volt 2 )

Where k = Boltzmann’s constant = 1.38 x 10-23 Joules per K

T = absolute temperature
Bn = noise bandwidth measured in (Hz)
R = resistance (ohms)

The law relating noise power, Pn, to the temperature and bandwidth is

13
Pn  k T Bn watts 12/16/2016
Vaibhav Hendre, Department of E&TC, TCOER, Pune
 Equivalent Circuits of Thermal Noise

14 Vaibhav Hendre, Department of E&TC, TCOER, Pune 12/16/2016

 NOISE VOLTAGE
• Figure 4.2 shows the equivalent Noise Source

circuit for a thermal noise source. VN/2

RI
• Internal resistance RI in series VN R VN/2
with the rms noise voltage VN. VN  4RkTB

• For the worst condition, the

load resistance R = RI , noise Figure 4.2 : Noise source
voltage dropped across R = half equivalent circuit
the noise source (VR=VN/2) and The mathematical expression :

• From the final equation The PN  KTB 

VN / 2 
2

VN2
noise power PN , developed R 4R
across the load resistor = KTB VN2  4 RKTB
VN  4 RKTB

15 Vaibhav Hendre, Department of E&TC, TCOER, Pune 12/16/2016

 Example
 R.F. amplifier is saving an input resistor of 8 Kohm and
works in the frequency range of 12 to 15.5 MHz
Calculate the rms noise voltage at the input to this
amplifier at an ambient temperature of 17oC?
 Solution:

16 Vaibhav Hendre, Department of E&TC, TCOER, Pune 12/16/2016

 Resistors in Series

Assume that R1 at
temperature T1 and R2 at
temperature T2, then
____ ___ ___
V V V
2 2 2
n n1 n2
____
 4 k T1 B R1
2
V n1
____
Vn 2  4 k T2 B R2
2

____
 V  4 k B (T1 R1  T2 R2 )
2
n
____
 4 kT B ( R1  R2 )
2
Vn

i.e. The resistor in series at same temperature behave as a single

resistor
17 Vaibhav Hendre, Department of E&TC, TCOER, Pune 12/16/2016
Resistance in Parallel R2 R1
Vo1  Vn1 Vo 2  Vn 2
R1  R2 R1  R2
____ ___ ___
V V V
2 2 2
n o1 o2

 R1 R2 
 
____
4kB
V 
2
R 2
T R R 2
T R   
n
R1  R2 2 2 1 1 1 2 2
 R1 R2 

_____
4kB R1 R2 (T1 R1 T2 R2 )
V 2

n
R1  R2 2
_____
 R1 R2 
V 2
 4kTB  
 R1  R2 
n

18 Vaibhav Hendre, Department of E&TC, TCOER, Pune 12/16/2016

Resistance in Parallel

19 Vaibhav Hendre, Department of E&TC, TCOER, Pune 12/16/2016

 Example

Two resistor of 20k  and 50 k are at room temperature (290K).

For a bandwidth of 100kHz, calculate the thermal noise voltage
generated by
1. each resistor
2. the two resistor in series
3. the two resistor in parallel

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 WHITE NOISE
 Thermal noise falls in to the category of power signals & hence it has
a spectral density. The bandwidth B is assumed flat i.e. independent
of frequency as shown in the figure. This thermal noise is referred to
as white noise.
 The power spectral density in watts per Hertz or joules is given as

 Pn 
Ga ( f )     kT
 Bn 
 The spectral density for the mean square voltage is given as

 En 
2

Gv( f )     4 RkT
 Bn 

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 Thermal noise (White Noise) Spectral Density

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 If we assume the bandwidth W is infinite (Idealization), then the
autocorrelation of the noise is;

Where we use a subscript “w” to emphasize that the noise is white.

Note that w(t) is uncorrelated with for any

The noise power in bandwidth W is;

23 Vaibhav Hendre, Department of E&TC, TCOER, Pune 12/16/2016

 SHOT NOISE
 Shot noise is a random fluctuation that accompanies any direct
current crossing a potential barrier.

 Caused by the random arrival of carriers at the output element

of an electronic device.

 First observed in the anode current of a vacuum-tube amplifier.

 The current carriers are not moving in continuous steady flow.

 Randomly varying and superimposed onto any signal present.

24 Vaibhav Hendre, Department of E&TC, TCOER, Pune 12/16/2016

 The mean square noise component is proportional to the dc flowing
& shot noise current is given by;

I n2  2( I  2 I o ) q B Amperes2
where, I  Direct current across the junction (in Amp)
I o  Reverse saturation current (inAmp)
q  Electron chagre  1.6 10 19 C
B  Effective noise bandwidth in Hz

25 Vaibhav Hendre, Department of E&TC, TCOER, Pune 12/16/2016

 LOW FREQUENCY OR FLICKER NOISE

 Active devices, integrated circuit, diodes, transistors etc also

exhibits a low frequency noise, which is frequency dependent (i.e.
non uniform) known as flicker noise. The spectral density of the
noise increases as the frequency decreases (1/f noise).

 Flicker noise is due to impurities in the material which in turn cause

charge carrier fluctuations.

 In semiconductors Flicker noise arises due to the fluctuations in

carrier densities.

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 BURST NOISE OR POPCORN NOISE
 Low Frequency Noise observed in BJT is known as Burst Noise.
 Noise appears as a series of bursts at two or more levels.
 When present in an audio system , the noise produces popping
sounds.
 Its Spectral density increases as frequency decreases
 It is also low frequency noise.

27 Vaibhav Hendre, Department of E&TC, TCOER, Pune 12/16/2016

 PARTITION NOISE
 It occurs whenever current has to divide between 2 or more
electrodes and results from the random fluctuations in the
division.
 The spectrum of Partition Noise is flat
 Diode is said to be less noisy than transistor for the same
reason( third electrode makes more noisy).

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 AVALANCHE NOISE
 It occurs due to avalanche i.e. ionizing where additional holes
and electrons are produced , which in turn contribute to the
ionization process.
 Large Noise spikes are present in the avalanche current.
 The spectral density of Avalanche Noise is flat.
 In Zener diodes avalanche noise is nuisance to be avoided

29 Vaibhav Hendre, Department of E&TC, TCOER, Pune 12/16/2016

 Noise due to several amplifiers in
cascade

En  4 Req KTBn
where
R2 R3
Req  R1  
A12 A12 A22
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 Signal To Noise Ratio (SNR)
Signal Power Ps

Noise Power Pn
Vs2 Vn2
But PS  , Pn 
R R
Vs2 2
S R  Vs 
    2   
 N  Vn  Vn 
R
2
S  Vs   Vs 
   10. log10    20. log10  
 N  dB  Vn   Vn 
Q. A receiver has an input signal power of l.2µW. The noise power is 0.80µW. The
signal to noise ratio is
Signal to Noise Ratio = 10 Log (1.2/0.8)
= 10 log 1.5
= 10 (0.176)
31 = 1.76 dB 12/16/2016
Vaibhav Hendre, Department of E&TC, TCOER, Pune
32 Vaibhav Hendre, Department of E&TC, TCOER, Pune 12/16/2016
 SNR OF TANDEM CONNECTION
 If Power loss of a line is L then gain of amplifier is chosen
such that LG=1

 Power O/p at each repeater = Ps (as LG=1)

 But Total Noise is additive..

33 Vaibhav Hendre, Department of E&TC, TCOER, Pune 12/16/2016

 Q. Calculate the output signal-to-noise ration in decibels for three
identical links, given that the signal-to-noise ratio for any one link is 60
dB.

34 Vaibhav Hendre, Department of E&TC, TCOER, Pune 12/16/2016
35 Vaibhav Hendre, Department of E&TC, TCOER, Pune 12/16/2016
 NOISE FACTOR- NOISE FIGURE
Consider the network shown below,

• The amount of noise added by the network is embodied in the

Noise Factor F, which is defined by
S N 
Noise factor F =
S N 
IN

OUT

36 Vaibhav Hendre, Department of E&TC, TCOER, Pune 12/16/2016

 Noise Factor
For an antenna
( S / N )input Psi Pno
F  
( S / N )output Pni Pso
S S
( )input ( )output
N N
F 1, ideally 1

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Vaibhav Hendre, Department of E&TC, TCOER, Pune
 Noise Factor- Noise Figure (Cont’d)
• F equals to 1 for noiseless network and in general F > 1. The
noise figure in the noise factor quoted in dB
i.e. Noise Figure F dB = 10 log10 F F ≥ 0 dB
• The noise figure / factor is the measure of how much a network
degrades the (S/N)IN, the lower the value of F, the better the
network.

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Vaibhav Hendre, Department of E&TC, TCOER, Pune
 Noise Factor of Amplifiers in Cascade/
Friis’s Formula

Available noise power at input of amplifier 2

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 For additional stages of amplifiers equation can
be written as:
F2  1 F3  1 F4  1 Fn  1
Fsys  F1     ........... 
G1 G1G2 G1G2 G3 G1G2 ..........Gn1

This is knows as Friis’s Formula .

By making G1 large , contribution of other
stages can be made negligible.

Examples:
1) Satellite receivers with low noise front –
end amplifier
2) Mixer with RF amplifier in radio receiver.
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 Qs

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 Noise Temperature
 Noise Temperature is measured generally for antenna and low
noise amplifiers.

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  Friss’s Formula can be expressed in terms of Noise
temperature
where Te sys is overall noise temperature of the system and
Te1, Te2… are noise temperature of individual stages:

45 Vaibhav Hendre, Department of E&TC, TCOER, Pune 12/16/2016

 Noise Bandwidth
 Since any communication system has a front end filter. The noise
bandwidth of interest is the bandwidth of this filter
 Receiver filter transfer function is H(f) . Ideally it should be
rectangular as shown to transmit the same power as that of real filter.
 Noise bandwidth Bn is adjusted to get the same
Bn= (Π/2) * fc
Where fc= 3-db
bandwidth

46 Vaibhav Hendre, Department of E&TC, TCOER, Pune 12/16/2016

 Behavior of Baseband Systems in Presence
of Noise
 Why to learn the behavior of Comm. System in presence of
Noise?
Hp(w) Hc(w) Hd(w)

Include a filter that keeps the Include a filter that

signal spectrum within rejects out of band
channel bandwidth noise

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Vaibhav Hendre, Department of E&TC, TCOER, Pune
 The power or the mean square value of m(t) is
B
m 2  2 S m ( w) df
0

In analog Signals SNR is basic parameter to specify the

signal quality.

Voice signals : Required SNR of 5 to 10 dB at the Rx

Telephone Quality Signals: Required SNR of 25 to 35 dB
Television Signals: Required 45 to 55 dB

48 Vaibhav Hendre, Department of E&TC, TCOER, Pune 12/16/2016

 Behavior of DSB-SC Systems in Presence
of Noise

The input signal power is the power of the modulated signal m(t)

Si  [ 2 m(t ) cos wct ]2  m2 (t )  m2

To determine the output powers, let us consider

yi (t )  2 m(t ) cos wct  n(t )

49 Vaibhav Hendre, Department of E&TC, TCOER, Pune 12/16/2016

Expressing n(t) in terms of its Quadrature components

n(t )  nc (t ) cos wct  ns (t ) sin wct

Therefore,
yi (t )  2 m(t ) cos wct  nc (t ) cos wct  ns (t ) sin wct
 [ 2 m(t )  nc (t )] cos wct  ns (t ) sin wct
In Synchronous demodulation process, this signal is multiplies by
2 cos wct , This will nullify the effect of Cos and Sin terms and
gives the output signal as 1
yo (t )  m(t )  nc (t )
2
S o  m 2  Si
Therefore, 1 2
N o  nc (t )
50 2 12/16/2016
Vaibhav Hendre, Department of E&TC, TCOER, Pune
For white noise with PSD of  / 2

nc2 (t )  n 2 (t )  2 B
And N o   B

Hence,
So Si
 
No  B
This shows that for fixed transmitted power, SNR at the
demodulator output is the same for the basedband and DSB-SC
system

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 Behavior of SSB-SC Systems in Presence
of Noise

The SSB signal can be expressed in terms of the Hilbert

transform of m(t) as  (t )  m(t ) cos w t  m (t ) sin w t
SSB c h c

The power of the modulated signal 2 m(t ) cos wct is m2

Suppression of one side band halves the power, Hence

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Si  m 2 12/16/2016
Vaibhav Hendre, Department of E&TC, TCOER, Pune
Expressing n(t) in terms of its Quadrature components

n(t )  nc (t ) cos wct  ns (t ) sin wct

Therefore,
yi (t )  [ m(t )  nc (t )] cos wct  [mh (t )  ns (t )] sin wct

In Synchronous demodulation process, this signal is multiplies by

2 cos wct , This will nullify the effect of Cos and Sin terms and
gives the output signal as
yo (t )  m(t )  nc (t )

Therefore, So  m 2  Si
N o  nc2 (t )
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For white noise with PSD of  / 2

N o  n 2 (t )  B

Hence,
So Si
 
No  B

This shows that for fixed transmitted power, SNR at the

demodulator output is the same for the basedband, DSB-SC and
SSB-SC systems

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