03/02/2017 dBconversion

Decibelconversion

1 dB

compute

Selectthevaluetobeconvertandinputvaluethenpress"Compute"button.
dB..Decibels
Powerratio..P2/P1(P2isthepowerbeingmeasured,andP1isthereference)
Voltageratio..V2/V1(V2isthevoltagebeingmeasured,andV1isthereference)
dBm..dBforreference1mW(Audio,600Ohm)or1mV(Television,75Ohm)
or1mW(Radiofrequency,50Ohm)
dBu..dBforreference1uVor1uV/m
mV..voltageinmVormV/m
uV..voltageinuVoruV/m
Nepers..voltageratiousedintheoreticalcomputings

Decibelsexpressapowerratio,notanamount.Theytellhowmanytimesmore(positivedB)orless
(negativedB)butnothowmuchinabsoluteterms.Decibelsarelogarithmic,notlinear.Forexample,20dB
isnottwicethepowerratioof10dB.

Thedefiningequationfordecibelsis
A=10*log10(P2/P1)(dB)

whereP1isthepowerbeingmeasured,andP1isthereferencetowhichP2isbeingcompared.

Toconvertfromdecibelmeasurebacktopowerratio:

P2/P1=10^(A/10)

Voltageismoreeasilymeasuredthanpower,makingitgenerallymoreconvenienttouse:

A=20*log10(V2/V1)(Z2==Z1)

TheequationforobtainingvoltageratiofromdBis
V2/V1=10^(A/20)

DecibelsaredefinedintermsofPowerratios.Notewellthatthevoltageratioequationsarevalidonlyifthe
twovoltagesappearacrossequalimpedances.

However,inaudiosystemswhereZ0isessentiallyzeroandZinisessentiallyinfinite,itiscommontouse
thevoltageequationwithoutregardtoimpedances.Ifthisisdone,thedecibelvaluesobtaindmustinnocase
beappliedtopowerorpowergaincalculations.
ZerodBstandards:

Audioindustory:0dB=1mWin600Ohmresistance
(MeasurementstothisstandardsusetheunitsymboldBm)

Relevisionindustory:0dB=1mVrmsacross75Ohm

Radiofrequencyengineering:0dB=1mWin50Ohmresistance
or0dB=1uV/mforelectromagneticfieldstrength

RadioengineersuseabsolutedBmofwhichzerodBstandardis1mWorabsolutedBuofwhichzerodB
standardis1uV.

Nepersbydefinitionarealogarithmicmeasureoftheratiooftwovoltagemagnitudesowtwocurrent
magnitudes,thelogarithmbeingtothebasee.

http://www.mogami.com/e/cad/db.html 1/1