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Safety and Common Symbols
The following safety and common symbols may be used in this manual and on
the equipment:
Symbol Description
Direct current
Alternating current
Symbol Description
Equipotentiality
On (supply)
Off (supply)
Exercise 2 Losses, Radiated Power and Receiver Input Power ............... 71
DISCUSSION ................................................................................... 71
Effective isotropic radiated power of a directional antenna ... 71
Friis transmission equation .................................................... 72
Free-space loss...................................................................... 73
Notes on free-space loss .......................................................... 73
Atmospheric attenuation and path loss .................................. 75
Feeder loss ............................................................................ 75
Pointing loss ........................................................................... 76
Polarization mismatch loss .................................................... 76
Receiver input power ............................................................. 77
PROCEDURE ................................................................................... 78
System startup ....................................................................... 78
Preliminary measurements .................................................... 79
Free-space loss...................................................................... 79
Set up for measuring free-space loss ....................................... 80
Notes on measuring the transmitted and received power ......... 82
Determining the effective isotropic radiated power ................... 82
Measuring the receiver input power .......................................... 84
Calculating the free-space loss ................................................. 86
Receiver input power ............................................................. 92
Polarization mismatch loss .................................................... 94
Manual Objective
When you have completed this manual, you will be familiar with the main
concepts and parameters that characterize microwave links and link
performance. These concepts and parameters apply to both terrestrial and
satellite RF links.
You will be familiar with the parameters that characterize antennas and with the
different losses in a microwave link. You will also be familiar with the origins and
characteristics of noise and with the noise parameters used to characterize
components and systems.
Finally, you will be familiar with the analysis of an RF link known as a link budget,
a mathematical model of the link that predicts its performance.
a The objective of this manual is to demonstrate the concepts that determine link
performance and not to make precise measurements, since precise
measurements require specialized equipment and ideal conditions.
b Many calculations will be required as you carry out the exercise procedures.
Although tables are provided to facilitate these calculations, you are
encouraged to use a spreadsheet program or a mathematics application such
as Matlab or Scilab for these calculations.
Description
This Student Manual is divided into several units each of which covers one topic.
Each unit begins with an Introduction presenting important background
information. Following this are a number of exercises designed to present the
subject matter in convenient instructional segments. In each exercise, principles
and concepts are presented first followed by a step-by-step, hands-on procedure
to complete the learning process.
a In this manual, all New Terms are defined in the Glossary of New Terms. In
addition, an Index of New Terms is provided at the end of the manual.
Prerequisite
As a prerequisite to this course, you should have performed the exercises in the
manual Principles of Satellite Communications, part number 86311-00. This
manual contains many tips on using the Satellite Communications Training
System and the optional Telemetry and Instrumentation Add-On. Most of these
tips are not repeated in the present manual.
Systems of units
Safety considerations
Safety symbols that may be used in this manual and on the equipment are listed
in the Safety Symbols table at the beginning of the manual.
Safety procedures related to the tasks that you will be asked to perform are
indicated in each exercise.
Make sure that you are wearing appropriate protective equipment when
performing the tasks. You should never perform a task if you have any reason to
think that a manipulation could be dangerous for you or your teammates.
The radiation levels in the Satellite Communications Training System are too low
to be dangerous. The highest power level in the system is at the RF OUTPUT of
the Earth Station Transmitter and is typically 5 dBm (approximately 3.2 mW) at
11 GHz. The maximum power density that can be produced by the Satellite
Communications Training System using the supplied equipment is approximately
0.13 mW/cm2, well below all Canadian, American, and European standards for
both microwave exposed workers and the general public.
c For more detailed information, refer to Safety with RF fields in Exercise 1-1 of
the manual Principles of Satellite Communications, part number 86311-00.
Accuracy of measurements
The numerical results of the hands-on exercises may differ from one student to
another. For this reason, the results and answers given in this manual should be
considered as a guide. Students who correctly performed the exercises should
expect to demonstrate the principles involved and make observations and
measurements similar to those given as answers.
EXERCISE OBJECTIVE When you have completed this exercise, you will be familiar with noise in
communications systems and with the characteristics of noise. You will also be
familiar with various parameters concerning noise and how they are calculated.
You will see how a link budget is calculated to include all the gains, losses and
noise in the system.
DISCUSSION OUTLINE The Discussion of this exercise covers the following points:
John Bertrand Johnson was Much of the potential noise in a communication system can be reduced or
a Swedish-born American eliminated by careful design. However, there is one natural source of noise that
electrical engineer and can never be eliminated. This is called thermal noise, Johnson noise, or
physicist. Johnson first Johnson-Nyquist noise and is caused by the random, thermal agitation of an
measured thermal noise at extremely large number of charged carriers (electrons) in electrical conductors.
Bell Telephone Laboratories
in 1926. He concluded that Not all random noise in a system is thermal noise. Shot noise, for example arises
thermal noise is intrinsic to from the quantized nature of current flow. This and other random phenomena
all electrical components, produce noise whose characteristics are similar to thermal noise. The combined
even in the absence of an effect of all these random phenomena is often treated as if it were all caused by
applied voltage. thermal noise.
1
Amplitude (V)
Time
1
Amplitude distribution
From one instant to the next, the amplitude of unfiltered thermal noise may
change very little or it may swing widely from one extreme value to another.
These values can be analyzed statistically. If the noise is sampled (that is, the
instantaneous noise amplitude is measured at regular intervals) and the
observed range of amplitudes is divided into small ranges, it is possible to
determine how many samples fall within each of the ranges. The results can be
plotted as a histogram. This histogram gives an idea of the statistical distribution
of different amplitudes in the noise.
Figure 44 shows the same noise trace as Figure 43 but rotated 90. The sampled
amplitudes are shown as dots. The vertical lines divide the possible amplitudes
into a number of equally-spaced ranges. The histogram below the trace shows
the relative number samples that fall within each amplitude range.
Amplitude
Time
Number of samples
Amplitudes ranges
Figure 44. Noise trace and amplitude histogram of 1 V rms thermal noise.
If an extremely large number of samples are taken of the noise, and if the
amplitude interval of the histogram is made extremely small, the histogram tends
toward a continuous curve called the probability density function. In the case
of thermal noise, the probability density function has the familiar bell-curve shape
of the Gaussian, or normal, probability density function shown in Figure 45.
Thermal noise results from contributions of an almost infinite number of
independent sources. For this reason, it can be described as a Gaussian
random process.
In a normal distribution,
approximately 68% of the
values are within one
Value (e.g. amplitude in V)
standard deviation from the
mean; approximately 95% Figure 45. Gaussian (normal) probability density function ( , ).
of the values lie within two
standard deviations; and In theory, the domain of a probability density function ranges from to .
99.7% of the values within
However, the function approaches zero for values far from the mean value.
three standard deviations
from the mean.
The probability density function shows the relative likelihood for a random
variable, such as a voltage, to take on a given value. The probability that the
variable will fall within a particular range is given by the area under the density
function between the limits of the specified range. For example, in Figure 45, the
probability that a single voltage sample will fall between -1 V and +1 V is equal to
the area under the curve between -1 and +1. In Figure 45, this area is
approximately 0.68. Since the probability that any value will lie somewhere under
the curve is 1.0 (100%), the total area under the curve is equal to one.
Frequency distribution
Johnson showed that thermal noise power is constant throughout the frequency
spectrum. For this reason, thermal noise is referred to as white noise. Just as
white light contains equal amounts of all frequencies within the visible band of
electromagnetic radiation, white noise contains equal amounts of all frequencies.
More precisely, thermal noise contains an equal amount of noise power per unit
bandwidth at all frequencies from dc to about 1000 GHz. For this reason, its
power spectrum can be represented as a straight, horizontal line, as shown in
Figure 46a extending from 0 Hz to a very high frequency.
Spectral density
0
0 Frequency
1
Magnitude
0
0 Frequency
b) Brickwall band-pass filter transfer function
Spectral Density
0
0 Frequency
The symbol for noise power The noise power per unit bandwidth is referred to as the noise power spectral
spectral density (N-zero) density (N-zero). Its units are W/Hz or dBm/Hz.
should not be confused with
the symbol for output noise Although white noise contains a vast range of frequencies, harmful noise power
power (N-o). is that which occurs in the bandwidth of the communications channel or the
bandwidth of the receiver. The channel along with the receiver input stage (as
well as the IF stage of a spectrum analyzer) limit the bandwidth, that is, they act
as a band-pass filter.
Figure 46b shows the magnitude transfer function of an ideal band-pass filter.
This ideal filter is called a brickwall filter because it allows all frequencies within
its bandwidth to pass unaffected and completely blocks all other frequencies.
If white noise is applied to the input of the brickwall filter, the spectrum of the
noise at the output resembles Figure 46c. This is essentially a rectangular slice
of the input noise power with power spectral density within the filter bandwidth
and zero elsewhere.
Regardless of whether the If at the input of a network (an electrical component, circuit, or
device in question is a com- communications channel) is known, and if the network acts as an ideal (brickwall)
ponent, a cascade of com- filter with bandwidth , then the noise power at the output is simply the power
ponents, or an entire sys- spectral density multiplied by the bandwidth:
tem, we will refer to the
device as a network. (43)
An ideal rectangular filter has uniform frequency response within its bandwidth
and zero response outside its bandwidth, as shown in Figure 46b. Unfortunately,
this ideal response is unattainable in real systems. Instead of stopping abruptly,
the frequency response rolls off gradually. For this reason, many different
definitions of bandwidth are used, the most common of which is the familiar half-
power bandwidth or 3 dB bandwidth. This is the interval between frequencies
at which the gain of the system has dropped to half power (3 dB below) the peak
value.
The 3 dB bandwidth of a practical filter is shown in blue in Figure 47. Since the
power is proportional to the square of the voltage, the half-power point occurs at
of the peak amplitude.
The equivalent noise band- Although the 3 dB bandwidth is very useful when dealing with signals, it does not
width also called the noise give accurate values when dealing with noise. This is due to the fact that there is
equivalent bandwidth, the no direct relationship between the amount of noise power a filter passes and its
noise-power equivalent 3 dB bandwidth.
bandwidth, or simply the
noise bandwidth. Instead, the equivalent noise bandwidth is used. This is defined as the
bandwidth of a fictitious, ideal rectangular filter (brickwall filter) with the same
Common symbols for band-center gain as the actual system, which would pass exactly as much white
equivalent noise bandwidth noise power as the actual system does. Both of these bandwidths are illustrated
are , , and in Figure 47.
1.1
1
0.9
0.8 3 dB
(half-power)
Amplitude [V]
0.7 0.707
bandwidth Practical filter
0.6
0.5 Ideal Filter
0.4
0.3
0.2 Equivalent
0.1 noise
bandwidth
0
For most analog filters and band-limited circuits, the equivalent noise bandwidth
is slightly larger than the half-power bandwidth. Since a spectrum analyzer uses
a narrow band-pass filter, the difference between equivalent noise bandwidth and
half-power bandwidth must be taken into consideration when measuring noise
power with this type of instrument.
a Since the narrow band-pass filter in a spectrum analyzer allows the instrument
to resolve closely-spaced frequency components, its 3 dB bandwidth is
referred to as the resolution bandwidth. The ENB of this filter may be greater
than its 3 dB bandwidth. This is explained in Appendix F Noise Measurement
Using a Spectrometer. It is important to read this appendix before beginning
the Procedure of this exercise.
Transmitted Received
signal Signal
Channel
Noise
x The noise is white, that is, its power spectral density is flat. In theory, white
noise has unlimited bandwidth and all frequencies are represented equally.
In practice, white noise has a uniform spectral density within the bandwidth of
interest.
x The noise has a Gaussian, or normal probability density because it results
from the agitation of a very large number of independent atomic particles.
This distribution arises when a large number of independent sources
contribute additively to the end result, as long as the contribution of each is
small compared to the sum. With this type of distribution, instantaneous
noise voltages near the mean value are more probable than voltages much
higher or lower than the mean value.
This model for thermal noise is often referred to as additive white Gaussian
noise (AWGN).
Noiseless
resistor
Noise source
with no
resistance
b) Equivalent circuit
Figure 48. Network consisting of a matched noise source and load (an amplifier).
Since the resistor has two terminals, where the current into one is identical to the
current out of the other, it referred to as a one-port element.
(45)
Figure 48b shows an electrically equivalent model of the circuit in Figure 48a. It
consists of a noiseless resister in series with an ideal noise source which as no
resistance.
Maximum power is delivered when the impedance of the source and of the load
are matched (in this case, when the resistance of the load equals that of the
source). The input noise voltage delivered to the impedance-matched load is one
half the source noise voltage. The input noise power delivered to the amplifier,
expressed in watts and in dBm, is given by:
(46)
Equation (46) shows that the power delivered by a thermal noise source to the
impedance-matched load depends only on the temperature and the bandwidth. It
is independent of the impedance. The input noise power spectral density is
therefore:
(47)
The noise power spectral density at any point in a circuit is simply the noise
power contained in a bandwidth of 1 Hz. With white noise, the noise power
spectral density is constant over a vast range of frequencies. The noise power at
any point can be therefore determined from the noise power spectral density and
the bandwidth using Equation (43).
(48)
(49)
Signal-to-noise ratio
The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR or S/N) is a measure that compares the level of
a signal to the level of background noise. It is defined as the power ratio between
a signal and the background noise. It can be expressed as a ratio or in decibels.
(50)
An ideal amplifier would amplify the noise and the signal at its input equally
without adding any noise of its own. The signal-to-noise ratio at the output would
therefore be the same as at the input.
Unfortunately, every component and network adds some noise of its own. To
characterize this added noise, it is not sufficient to compare the output noise
power to the input noise power because the network may amplify or attenuate
both the input noise and signal while adding noise of its own. For this reason, the
noise figure is used.
Noise figure
Since a receiving system must process very weak signals in the presence of
noise, it is important to be able to characterize the ability of the system to
process these low-level signals. One very useful parameter is the noise figure,
defined in the 1940s by Harald T. Friis. This parameter is suitable for
characterizing an entire receiving system as well as individual system
components such as amplifiers and mixers. It is also used to characterize any
number of components in cascade. Because the networks shown in Figure 49
have both an input and an output, they are referred to as two-port elements.
Input Output
(51)
Like gain, the noise figure can be expressed either as a unitless ratio or in
decibels. When expressed as a ratio, as in Equation (51), it is sometimes
referred to as the noise factor. When expressed in decibels, the noise figure is
usually written as :
(52)
a In this manual, the term noise figure is the term generally used in phrases
referring to the degradation in signal-to-noise ratio with no units being implied.
Where necessary, the term noise factor is used for the ratio and the term
noise figure is used for the value in decibels.
When the gain , the input noise power and the output noise power in
decibels are known, the noise figure in decibels can be calculated directly:
(53)
The noise figure of a system does not depend on the type of modulation used.
Since the noise power is proportional to the bandwidth (Equation (43)), the same
bandwidth must be considered at the input and the output of the network when
determining and . For this reason, the noise figure is independent of
bandwidth.
Power [dBm]
Power [dBm]
Frequency [GHz] Frequency [GHz]
The signal at the input of the amplifier is at -40 dBm, 30 dB above the noise floor
(-70 dBm), as displayed by a spectrum analyzer with a certain resolution
bandwidth. The gain of the amplifier is 20 dB. The amplifier amplifies both the
input signal and the input noise by 20 dB and adds 5 dB of noise. As a result, the
signal at the output is only 25 dB above the noise floor. The noise figure of this
amplifier is therefore:
(54)
Equation (54) shows that the noise added by the network can be considered
separately from the input noise . This is illustrated in Figure 51.
Noiseless
(55)
where is the noise power added by the network, referred to the input
( )
An ideal network that contributes no noise would have and a noise factor
of 1 (a 0 dB noise figure).
Equation (54) and Equation (55) show that the noise figure is not an absolute
measure of noise. Rather, it expresses the noisiness of a network relative to the
input noise. The noise added by the network is fixed and does not change with
the input signal. As a result, when more noise is present at the input, the
contribution of the added noise to the total noise is less significant.
In order to make comparisons between different devices using the noise figure, a
reference value for the input noise source must be chosen. Friis suggested that
the noise figure be defined for an input noise source at a standard temperature
(16.8C or 62.3F). The suggestion was later adopted by the IEEE as
part of its standard definition of noise figure.
Equation (56) shows that the input noise spectral density from a resistance at
temperature is:
(56)
The definition of noise factor adopted by the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers) is therefore:
(57)
(58)
where is the noise power added by the network, referred to the output
is the noise power added by the network, referred to the input
Since the noise figure is defined for a reference temperature of 290 K, a different
value is used when the source temperature is not 290 K. This value is called
the operational noise figure (or factor) or effective noise figure (or factor) and
is related to the noise factor by Equation (59).
(59)
Note, however, that for small deviations in source temperature, the difference
between and may not be significant. For source temperatures between
approximately 260 K and 330 K, the difference between and in decibels is
less than 0.5 dB and it is less than 0.25 dB for source temperatures between
280 K and 300 K.
Noise temperature
Equation (46) showed that the power delivered by a thermal noise source at the
input of an impedance-matched network depends only on the temperature (in
kelvin) and the bandwidth: .
Gain
Noise
a) Noisy amplifier
Gain
Noiseless
b) Equivalent circuit
The temperature is often The temperature is called the effective input noise temperature and is
referred to as the effective always measured in kelvin. This is defined as the temperature of a fictitious noise
noise temperature or just source at the input of a two-port network or amplifier that would result in the
the noise temperature and same output noise power, when connected to a noise-free network or amplifier,
sometimes as simply the as that of the actual network or amplifier connected to a noise-free source.
temperature, even though
it is not the physical tem- Note that in Figure 52, if the input noise source temperature was absolute zero
perature. (0 K), then there would be no noise at the input of the amplifier ( ). In this
case, the only noise at the output would be the noise produced by the
amplifier where .
(60)
Equation (60) shows that the noisiness of a network can be modeled as if it were
caused by an additional noise source operating at the effective noise
temperature . Powers from uncorrelated sources are additive so noise
temperatures are also additive. A network that adds no noise at all has and
.
If the noise figure is known, the effective noise temperature is given by:
(61)
The noise figure and the effective noise temperature both represent the noise
performance of devices. Figure 53 shows the relationship between the noise
figure, the noise factor, and the noise temperature in K.
5.0
4.5
4.0
3.5
Noise figure or factor
3.0
2.5 [ dB]
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500
Effective noise temperature (K)
Figure 53. Noise figure [dB] and (noise factor) versus effective noise temperature .
Although the noise figure and the effective noise temperature are both
parameters that represent the noisiness of a network, there are cases where one
is easier to use than the other. In terrestrial applications, the physical
temperature is usually close to 290 K (16.85C or 62.33F). Since the noise
figure is defined for this temperature, the noise figure is the parameter usually
used for terrestrial applications. Noise figures for these applications typically fall
in the range of 1 to 10 dB.
For satellite communications however, receivers typically have low noise figures,
typically between 0.5 and 1.5 dB. Comparing two devices with low noise figures
would require specifying the noise figure to several decimal places. In this case,
it is usually more convenient to use the effective noise temperature since the
numbers are larger. Besides, with satellite communications, the reference
temperature of 290 K may not be appropriate. When using the noise
temperature, no reference temperature is required.
Another you reason for using noise temperature instead of noise figure is that
noise figure only applies to two-port devices (devices with both an input and an
output) whereas noise temperature also applies to one-port devices (devices with
only an output), such as antennas.
Friis developed formulas for determining the noise factor and the noise
temperature of two-port elements connected in cascade. Each element may be a
single component or a more complex network.
Figure 54. Noise factors and effective input temperatures of elements in cascade.
Equation (62) shows the Friis formula for the noise factor of cascaded elements:
(62)
(63)
These equations show that the first stage in a network is most susceptible to add
noise to the system, since the noise figure and noise temperature of the
subsequent stages are reduced by the product of the gains of the preceding
stages. It is therefore important that the first stage in the receiver have as low
noise figure as possible, as well as high gain. This is why the first active
component in a receiver is a low-noise amplifier (LNA).
Figure 55a shows a network made up of two amplifiers in series. Figure 55b
shows an electrically equivalent circuit. All impedances are matched (those of the
sources, of the amplifiers, and of the load at the output). and are the
noise factors of amplifier 1 and 2, respectively.
Amplifier 1 Amplifier 2
Signal
Input noise
(Noise source
at )
Matched Matched
source load
a) Two-stage network
Amplifier 1 Amplifier 2
Signal
Input noise
Added noise
b) Equivalent circuit
Figure 55. Two-stage network and equivalent circuit for determining noise figure.
The input noise and signal sources are shown in series. As these signals are
uncorrelated, they simply add together.
For this example, we will assign values to each parameter and calculate the
result.
Amplifiers 1 and 2 are identical; each amplifier has a gain and a noise
figure . In linear terms, the gain and the noise factor for
each amplifier. The signal at the input of the network .
We wish to calculate the noise figure of the entire network. The noise source at
the input must therefore be at temperature since this is the
temperature required by the definition of noise figure.
In the equivalent circuit, the first amplifier is represented showing three sources
at its input: , , and .
represents the noise from the source at 290 K (for convenience, we will
calculate noise in units of ):
represents the noise added by amplifier 1, referred to its input. Since the
noise factor , from Equation (55):
The signal at the output of amplifier 1 (and at the input of amplifier 2) is:
The noise at the output of amplifier 1 (and at the input of amplifier 2) is:
The second amplifier can also be represented as having three sources at its
input: , , and the noise added by amplifier 2: .
a The noise added by amplifier 2 is the same as the noise added by amplifier
one, since they both have the same noise figure.
From Equation (62), the theoretical noise factor for this network is:
This example illustrates why the noise figure of a network depends mostly on the
noise figure of the first stage of the network. According to the definition of noise
figure, the noise at the input of the network must be equal to in order to
calculate the noise figure of the network. The noise added by this first stage can
be significant in proportion to its input noise. The deterioration of the signal-to-
noise ratio in the first stage is therefore significant.
Since the first stage of the network amplifies this noise by its gain, and adds
noise of its own, the noise at the input of the second stage is much greater
than . Hence the noise added by the second stage is less significant, in
proportion to its input noise, than the noise added by the first stage is to its input
noise. Therefore, the deterioration of the signal-to-noise ratio in the second stage
is much less than in the first stage.
With satellite communications, the received signal is very weak because of the
great distance between the transmitter and the receiver. For this reason, the
noise figure of the receiver must be very low. What changes in the circuit of
Figure 55 would be most effective in reducing the total noise figure?
Table 26 shows the effect of certain changes that could be made in the
components of the circuit of this example in an attempt to reduce the total noise
figure. It also shows the effective input noise temperature of the entire network
for each case.
Three parameters are shown in the table: , , and . The Example column
shows the values already used in the example and which yield a total noise
figure of 3.22 dB. The various changes and the results of each change are
shown using columns of different colors.
Gain 10 dB 50 dB
Total noise
3.22 dB 3.01 dB 3.03 dB 0.86 dB 0.53 dB
figure
Effective
input noise 319 K 290 K 293 K 64 K 38 K
temperature
From Equation (62), we know that the gain of the last stage of the network has
no effect on the total noise figure, so no change in is shown in the table.
In the green column, the gain of the first stage is changed from 10 dB to 50 dB
(a 10 000-fold increase in gain). As a result, the total noise figure of the network
becomes 3.01 dB, a reduction of approximately 0.2 dB. The improvement is
small because increasing the gain of the first stage only reduces the noise
contribution of the second stage.
In the purple column, the noise figure of the second amplifier is reduced from
3 dB to 0.5 dB. As a result, the total noise figure is reduced by approximately
0.2 dB, again a small improvement.
In the blue column, the noise figure of the first amplifier is changed from 3 dB to
0.5 dB. This causes the total noise figure to drop to 0.86 dB, an improvement of
2.36 dB.
The orange column of Table 26 shows the effect of reducing the noise figure of
the second stage as well as that of the first stage. Although this would yield a
small additional improvement of 0.33 dB, this improvement may not be enough to
justify the cost of two low-noise amplifiers.
The bottom row of Table 26 shows the effective input noise temperature that
corresponds to each total noise figure . As already mentioned, for low noise
devices, it is often more convenient to use the effective input noise temperature,
rather than the noise figure.
It is only when evaluating the noise figure of a network that the noise source is
considered to be at the standard temperature of 290 K. Once the noise figure is
known and the effective input noise temperature calculated, the noisiness of the
entire network is equal to that of one noise-free amplifier with a resistance
connected to its input whose temperature is equal to the physical temperature
of the source, and an additional resistance whose temperature is equal to the
effective input noise temperature of the network. This is illustrated in Figure 56.
Amplifier 1 Amplifier 2
Signal
Input noise
Matched Matched
Source Load
a) Two-stage network
Signal
Input noise
Noiseless
Added noise
Matched Matched
Source Load
b) Equivalent circuit
Figure 56. Network and an equivalent one-stage circuit showing the physical source
temperature and the effective input noise temperature .
Loss
a) Attenuator
Amplifier
Feed line
Loss
a) Feed line
Figure 58 shows a typical attenuator circuit with a matched input and output
impedance.
Series resistance
Input shunt
Output shunt
Attenuators and feed lines are both passive, impedance matched devices. The
device loss is defined as:
(64)
The noise figure for an attenuator or feed-line is defined the same way as for an
active component, that is, considering an input noise source at the standard
temperature of 290 K. When connected to a matched load, the input noise and
the attenuator or feed-line together appear to the matched load as a simple noise
source at 290 K, providing that no components are higher than this temperature.
The noise at the output of the attenuator (or line) is therefore .
If the input signal power to the attenuator or feed-line is , then the noise factor
is:
(65)
Equation (65) shows that noise figure of an attenuator or of a lossy line is equal
to its loss . This is because the signal-to-noise degradation results from the
signal being attenuated while the noise level remains fixed.
Only the noise factor is The effective input noise temperature of a passive, lossy device with loss is
defined in reference to a related to its physical temperature:
standard temperature of
290K. The effective input (66)
noise temperature is not
related to a standard tem-
perature.
where is the effective input noise temperature of a passive, lossy device
is the physical temperature of the lossy device
is the device loss
See also Equation (61). Note that, when the temperature of the lossy device is 290 K, the effective
input noise temperature is:
(67)
The antenna noise temperature is the effective temperature such that the
noise at the terminals of the antenna over a bandwidth is:
(68)
In addition, the radiation from the ground may be captured by the side lobes of
the antenna and to some extent by the main lobe is the elevation angle is small.
The noise contribution from the ground is represented by the
temperature .
Neglecting the small amount of noise due to the antennas ohmic resistance, the
total antenna noise temperature is given by .
From Equation (66) since the feed line acts as an attenuator with loss , its
effective noise temperature is .
The feed line and the receiver can be considered as two cascaded elements.
The composite noise temperature of these two elements is determined by
applying Equation (63):
(69)
where is the composite noise temperature of the feed line and receiver
is the effective input noise temperature of the receiver
is the effective noise temperature of the feed line
is the loss of the feed-line
Transmitter designers often Imagine first of all that this fictitious resistance is placed at the output of the
prefer to refer the system antenna. In Figure 59, the system noise temperature referred to the output of the
noise temperature to the antenna is . Since the antenna acts as an noise source, the noise temperature
output of the antenna. of the entire system , referred to the output of the antenna, is simply equal to
the sum :
(70)
Receiver designers often Now imagine that the fictitious resistance is placed at the input of the receiver,
prefer to refer the system rather than at the output of the antenna. The temperature of this fictitious
noise temperature to the resistance is the system temperature referred to the input of the receiver.
input of the receiver.
How does the system temperature , referred to the receiver input, compare to
the system temperature , referred to the antenna output? Referring to
Figure 52 on page 118, recall that noise added by an amplifier with gain can
be represented by a noise source at the input of a noiseless amplifier where
. The effective noise temperature of the amplifier is
referred to the input of the amplifier. If the noise source was located at the output
of the amplifier, rather than at the input, the added noise could be represented
This also holds if the amplifier is replaced by a feed line whose gain .
The system temperature , referred to the output of the feed line (the input of
the receiver) is therefore:
(71)
Both system noise temperatures and take into account the noise produced
by the antenna, the feed line, and the receiver. The noise temperature is
called the system noise temperature at the receiver input.
In many terrestrial systems, the antenna temperature and the feed line
physical temperature are both close to 290 K. When , this is also their
composite temperature, regardless of the feed-line loss:
The received carrier power is simply the power received at the input of the
receiver. From Equation (42) on page 77:
(72)
The noise power spectral density at the receiver input is proportional to the
system noise temperature referred to the receiver input:
(73)
Therefore, the carrier power to the noise power spectral density at the receiver
input is:
(74)
The carrier power to the noise power spectral density is the key parameter
in evaluating the performance of a link.
Although Equation (74) was derived by determining the values at the receiver
input, the ratio is independent of the point chosen in the receiving chain as
long as the carrier power and the system noise power spectral density are
calculated (not measured) at the same point. This is because the system
temperature is calculated as though all components are ideal (noiseless) and
all of the noise in the system results from a single, fictitious noise source at the
receiver input.
Because the components of the receiver are not ideal, each component adds
noise. For this reason, the ratio can only be directly measured at the output
of the RF front end (at the input of the demodulator).
The ratio of the composite receiving gain to the system noise temperature is
called the figure of merit of the receiving equipment.
Link budget
The transmitter power in this example is 10 W. The earth station is within the
3 dB beamwidth of the downlink antenna. The values for this example are shown
in Table 27.
a When necessary, both the absolute value and the value in decibels are given
in the example tables. Values in parentheses are shown for information only;
conversion into these values is not necessary for the calculations.
The path loss is calculated for a range of 40 000 km, a downlink frequency of
11 GHz, and an atmospheric attenuation of 0.3 dB.
Distance 40 000 km
Frequency 11 GHz
The composite receiver gain is calculated using the values in Table 29,
assuming there is no polarization mismatch loss:
The earth station antenna points to a clear sky; its temperature is 65 K. The
feed line temperature , however, is 290K. The noise figure of the receiver
is 1 dB. The receiver antenna feed-line loss is given in Table 29.
Antenna temperature 65 K
The link budget says a great deal about the overall system design and
performance. When the system is being designed, a minimal value is
calculated that will provide the desired performance, and a link margin is added.
The system is then designed to meet this value while making trade-offs between
the system cost and various other constraints.
For example, if the system described above required a value of 83 dB, then
a system built respecting parameters given in the tables would have a link margin
of 6.8 dB.
(75)
(76)
System startup
Noise figure
Set up for measuring noise figure. Measuring received carrier power and
RF front end gain. Measuring the gain of the preamplifier. Measuring the
receiver output noise power. Calculating the receiver noise figure and
effective input noise temperature.
System noise temperature
Link budget
1. If not already done, set up the system and align the antennas visually as
shown in Appendix B.
2. Make sure that no hardware faults have been activated in the Earth Station
Transmitter or the Earth Station Receiver.
b Faults in these modules are activated for troubleshooting exercises using DIP
switches located behind a removable panel on the back of these modules. For
normal operation, all fault DIP switches should be in the O position.
3. Turn on each module that has a front panel Power switch (push the switch
into the I position). After a few seconds, the Power LED should light.
Noise figure
5. Position the Earth Station Receiver, its antenna, and the spectrum analyzer
so that you can easily connect this antenna to either to the RF INPUT of the
Earth Station Receiver or to the input of the spectrum analyzer without
putting tension on the cable.
a During this exercise, you will connect the antenna at the Earth Station
Receiver to the RF INPUT of the Earth Station Receiver and then directly to
the input of the spectrum analyzer. It is important to be able to make these
connections without putting tension on the cable as this could move the
antenna or change its orientation.
6. Make the connections shown in Figure 60 (you will require the RF Amplifier
and the spectrum analyzer, but do not connect them now). In this exercise,
the external RF Amplifier will be used as a spectrum analyzer preamplifier
when measuring the noise power, as described in Appendix F. The
RF Amplifier and the spectrum analyzer will be connected later as required.
RF
OUTPUT
Digital Up Converter Up Converter
Modulator 1 2
I Q I Q
Large-Aperture
Earth Station Transmitter Horn Antenna
I OUTPUT Q OUTPUT (Uplink)
to to
I INPUT Q INPUT
RF
OUTPUT
Small-Aperture Small-Aperture
Satellite
Horn Antenna Horn Antenna
(Uplink) Repeater (Downlink)
Long cable
Earth Station Receiver
7. On the Earth Station Transmitter and the Earth Station Receiver, select a
Channel not being used by another system in the same laboratory.
8. Align the antennas and optimize the alignment (see Aligning the antennas on
page 38). Make sure the knob on the mast of the antenna at the Earth
Station Receiver is tight.
Adjust the Gain control on the Earth Station Receiver so that the green Level
LED is lit.
In this section, you will measure the carrier power at the input of the receiver and
at the output of the RF front end (the IF 1 OUTPUT) with the Gain control set to
maximum. This will allow you to calculate the maximum gain on the RF front end,
which consists of Down Converter 2 and Down Converter 1.
9. Taking care not to change the orientation of the antenna, disconnect the
cable at the RF INPUT of the Earth Station Receiver and connect it to the
input of the spectrum analyzer, as shown in Figure 61. The antenna should
not move at all (i.e. its orientation should not change). If it does move,
reconnect it to the Earth Station Receiver and realign the antennas.
Spectrum
Analyzer
Enter the measured input carrier power in the first column of Table 32.
[dBm] [dBm] [dB]
[dBm] [dBm] [dB]
Being very careful not to move the antenna, disconnect the cable from the
input of the spectrum analyzer and connect it to the RF INPUT of the Earth
Station Receiver, as shown in Figure 62. Use the remaining long cable to
connect the IF 1 OUTPUT to the spectrum analyzer.
Spectrum
Analyzer
On the Earth Station Receiver, turn the Gain control to the maximum
position and measure the carrier power at the IF 1 OUTPUT using the
required settings and attenuation. Enter this value into Table 32.
Calculate the gain of the receiver and enter this into Table 32.
10. The gain of the preamplifier (RF Amplifier) is approximately 20 dB. However,
it is preferable measure its gain more precisely.
On the Earth Station Receiver, reduce the Gain control until the peak on the
spectrum analyzer is approximately -20 dBm (considering any attenuation
used). Do not change the Gain setting for the rest of this section. Note the
power in the first column of Table 33.
[dBm] [dBm] [dB]
[dBm] [dBm] [dB]
Power off the receiver and disconnect the power cable on the rear panel of
the receiver.
RF Amplifier
RF Amplifier output
Spectrum
Analyzer
Note the power of the peak displayed on the spectrum analyzer in the
second column of Table 33. Calculate the gain of the preamplifier.
13. Disconnect the cable at the RF INPUT of the Earth Station Receiver and
connect a 50 load (a matched load) in its place.
Spectrum
Analyzer
Power off the Earth Station Transmitter. This will reduce extraneous noise.
On the Earth Station Receiver, turn the Gain control to the maximum
position and measure the noise level at the output of the preamplifier using
the spectrum analyzer. Enter this value as in Table 34.
Preamplifier gain
Averaging correction
Calculating the receiver noise figure and effective input noise temperature
14. Using the receiver gain from Table 32, the receiver input noise power
spectral density from Equation (56), and the receiver output noise power
spectral density from Table 34 (all in dB), calculate the noise figure
of the Earth Station Receiver.
Calculate the noise factor of the receiver and the equivalent input noise
temperature .
While observing the spectrum analyzer display, remove the 50 load at the
RF INPUT of the receiver and connect the antenna. Is the noise level at the
IF 1 OUTPUT different with the antenna connected rather than the 50
load?
What can you conclude about the noise temperature of the antenna and
cable together as compared to the noise temperature of the 50 load?
The noise temperature of the antenna and cable together is the same as that
of the 50 load, that is, .
16. Considering that the antenna temperature and the feed cable
temperature are both 290K, calculate the system temperature referred
to the input of the receiver.
The output noise power spectral density of such a system with a gain of
47.1 dB is calculated as follows:
This is exactly the same receiver output noise power spectral density
measured in Table 34.
Link budget
In this section, you will calculate the figure of merit of the receiver. You will also
value for the downlink and compare this with the measured value.
17. Measure the distance between the downlink antennas and enter this in
Table 35.
Measure the power at the output of the repeater. If you use the Power
Sensor on the repeater (via telemetry), you can measure this power directly.
If you use a spectrum analyze, you must take into consideration the cable
loss. Enter this power in Table 35.
Then fill in the remainder of the table. These values will be used in
subsequent calculations and should be entered in the following tables as
required.
Channel
Downlink frequency
GHz
(from Table 1 on page 32)
Distance
m
Transmitter power
dBm
Channel
Downlink frequency
9.0 GHz
(from Table 1 on page 3232)
Distance
2.01 m
(measured)
Transmitter power
-12.4 dBm
or
Transmitter power
a When necessary, both the absolute value and the value in decibels are given
in the example tables. Values in parentheses are shown for information only;
conversion into these values is not necessary for the calculations.
[dBm] [dB]
Distance
Frequency
Free-space loss
Atmospheric attenuation 0 dB
Path loss
Distance 2.01 m
Frequency 9 GHz
Atmospheric attenuation 0 dB
When all values are expressed in decibels, the composite receiver gain is:
21. Both the antenna and the feed line are at room temperature (290 K).
Antenna temperature
Figure of merit
Boltzmanns constant
[dB] [all in dB]
23. Use the values measured in Table 32 and Table 34 to determine the link
performance figure at the IF 1 OUTPUT of the receiver.
Carrier power
dBm
Carrier power
1.57 dBm
The measured value and the calculated value are fairly close.
24. When you have finished using the system, exit any software being used and
turn off the equipment.
CONCLUSION In this exercise, you measured the noise figure of the receiver and calculated the
receiver noise temperature. Then you determined the system noise temperature
referred to the input of the receiver and calculated the figure of merit . You
also calculated the value for the system.
The ratio (carrier power to the noise power spectral density) determines
the performance of a link.
Antenna-theory.com, http://www.antenna-theory.com.