Introduction

The function of the communication system is to make available at the destination a signal
originating at a distant point. This signal is called the desired signal. Unfortunately,
during the passage of the signal through the channel and front-end of the receiver, this
desired signal gets corrupted by a number of undesired signals. This is referred to as
Noise. Noise is any unknown or unwanted signal. Noise is the static you hear in the
speaker when you tune any AM or FM receiver to any position between stations. It is also
the snow or confetti that is visible on a TV screen.

The received signal is modeled as

r (t) = s (t) + n (t)
Where s (t) is the transmitted/desired signal
n (t) is the additive noise/unwanted signal

The signal n (t) gets added at the channel. It disturbs the transmission and processing
of signal in Communication System. Over which one cannot have a control. In
general term it is an unwanted signal that affects a wanted signal. It is a random
signal that cannot be represented with a simple equation. But some time can be
deterministic components (power supply hum, certain oscillations).Deterministic
Components can be eliminated by proper shielding and introduction of notch filters.
If their were no noise perfect communication would be possible with minimum
transmitted power. At the receiver only amplification of the signal power to the
desired level is required.

If R (x)=T (x) then e (x)=0

Transmitter Receiver
T (x) R (x)
If R (x) ≠ T (x) then e (x) ≠ 0.The received signal is corrupted. If channel is
noiseless then e (x)=0.If channel is noisy then e (x) ≠ 0

Transmitter Channel Receiver

T (x) e (x) R (x)

During the course of signal T (x) travel it experience attenuation, time delay, additive
noise. These disturbance, attenuation, interference are termed as noise. Practically
Noise is always possible.Amplifying the received signal does not help. As Amplifiers
amplify both signal as well as noise components equally. Noise cannot be removed by
filtering. Because of very large bandwidth. More than the signal bandwidth. In band
noise is the noise within the signal bandwidth. Out of band noise is the noise outside
 the signal bandwidth. In band noise cannot be removed by filters, whereas Out of
band noise can be removed by filters. Its effect is degrading system performance for
both analog and digital systems. Receiver cannot understand the original signal and
hence cannot function as it should be. This reduces the efficiency of communication
system. The key contributors for noise interference is Crosstalk, Coupling by
scattering of signal in the atmosphere, Cross-polarization: two system that transmit
on the same frequency, and interference due to insufficient guard bands or filtering

Signal Impairment occurs due to

 Attenuation
- Loss of energy due to resistance of medium.]

 Distortion
- The signal changes its form due to the differing propagating speed of each of the

 Noise
-External environment that corrupt a signal.

Noise Level of a system is proportional to:

Temperature and Bandwidth.

Amount of current flowing in a component.

Gain of the circuit.

Resistance of the circuit
Types of Noise:

Noise may be classified depending on the location of the source. External and Internal
with reference to the receiver.
Types of Internal Noise:

Shot Noise:
 Shot noise is produced by random movement of electrons or holes across a amplifying
device due to discontinuities.
 The shot noise is produced due to shot effect. Due to the shot effect, shot noise is
produced in all the amplifying devices rather in all the active devices.
 It appears as a randomly varying noise current superimposed on the output.
 The shot noise "sounds" like a shower of lead shots falling on a metal sheet.
 The shot noise has a uniform spectral density like thermal noise. The exact formula for
the shot noise can be obtained only for diodes.
 For all other devices an approximate equation is stated. The mean square shot noise
current for a diode is given as,

-------- (1)

 Here,
I = direct current across the junction (in amp)
Io = reverse saturation current (in amp)
q = electron charge = 1.6 x 10-19 C.
B = effective noise bandwidth in Hz.
 For the amplifying devices the shot noise is:
1. Inversely proportional to the transconductance of the device.
2. Directly proportional to the output current.

Low Frequency or Flicker Noise:

 The flicker noise will appear at frequencies below a few kilohertz. It is sometimes called
as “1/f” noise.
 The power spectral density of this noise increases as the frequency decreases.
 In the semiconductor devices, the flicker noise is generated due to the fluctuations in the
carrier density. These fluctuations in the carrier density will cause the fluctuations in the
conductivity of the material.
 This will produce a fluctuating voltage drop when a direct current flows through a device.
This fluctuating voltage is called as flicker noise voltage.
 The mean square value of flicker noise voltage is proportional to the square of direct
current flowing through the device.
  It is proportional to emitter current and junction temperature, inversely proportional to
frequency.

High Frequency or Transit Time Noise:

 If the time taken by an electron to travel from the emitter to the collector of a transistor
becomes comparable to the period of the signal which is being amplified then the transit
time effect takes place.
 This effect is observed at very high frequencies. Due to the transit time effect some of the
carriers may diffuse back to the emitter. This gives rise to an input admittance, the
conductance component of which increases with frequency.
 The minute currents induced in the input of the device by the random fluctuations in the
output current, will create random noise at high frequencies.
 This process gives rise to an admittance in which the conductance component increases
with frequency. This conductance has a noise current source which is associated with it in
parallel.
 This conductance increases with frequency, the power spectral density increase.
 Once this noise appears, it goes on increasing with frequency at a rate of 6 dB per octave.

Partition Noise:
 This noise is generated when the current gets divided between two or more paths.
 It is generated due to the random fluctuation in the current divisions.
 This type of noise is higher in transistor as compared to the diode.

Thermal Noise or Johnson Noise:

 Also known as White noise or Johnson noise.
 It is a random noise which is generated in a resistor or the resistive component of the
complex impedance due to the rapid and random motion of the molecules, atoms and
electrons.
 The free electrons within a conductor are always in random motion. This random motion
is due to the thermal energy received by them. The distribution of these free electrons
within a conductor at a given instant of time is not uniform.
 It is possible that an excess number of electrons may appear at one end or the other of the
conductor. The average voltage resulting from this non-uniform distribution is zero but
the average power is not zero. As this power results from the thermal energy, it is called
as the "thermal noise power".
  According to the kinetic theory of thermodynamics, the temperature of a particle denotes
its internal kinetic energy. This means that the temperature of a body expresses the rms
value of the velocity of motion of the particles in body.
 As per this kinetic theory, the kinetic energy of these particles becomes approximately
zero (i.e. velocity) at absolute zero.
 Therefore, the noise power produced in a resistor is proportional to its absolute
temperature. Also the noise power is proportional to the bandwidth over which the noise
is measured.
 Therefore the expression for maximum noise power output of a resistor may be given as

----------------- (1)

 Here,
k = Boltzmann’s constant = 1.38 X 10-23 Joule/Kelvin
T = Temperature of the conductor in o Kelvin
B = Bandwidth of interest in Hz.
 Equation (1) indicates that a conductor operated at a finite temperature can work as a
generator of electrical energy.
 The thermal noise power Pn is proportional to the noise BW and conductor temperature.

Voltage and Current Models of a Noisy Resistor:

 If we connect a DC voltmeter across any given resistor at room temperature i.e. 27oC (or
300K), then no voltage is displayed by the dc voltmeter. However, if a sensitive
electronic voltmeter is used, then it displays some reading.
 This happens because of the fact that every resistor may be treated as a noise generator so
a sufficiently large voltage may develop across it.
 The noise voltage generated is always random and thus it has zero dc value but a definite
RMS value. Therefore only an AC meter across the resistor would register a value. This
noise voltage is produced by the random movement of electrons within the resistor
constituting a current.
 When measured over a long period of a time, as many electrons arrive at one end of the
resistor as at the other. But, at any particular instant of time, this principle does not hold
good i.e. more electrons arrive at one end than at the other due to their random
movement. This means that the rate of arrival of electrons at either end of the resistor will
 vary randomly and there the potential difference between the two ends will also vary
randomly.
 This random voltage across the resistor can be both measured and calculated. The random
noise voltage is always expressed in terms of RMS value rather than instantaneous value.
 Now, we can draw an equivalent circuit of a resistor as a noise voltage genera as shown
in figure below. This equivalent circuit is also called as voltage model of a Noisy
resistor.

 From this equivalent circuit, we can compute the resistor's equivalent noise voltage V n.
 Let us consider that a noiseless load resistor RL, is connected across the noise generator
as shown in figure.
 According to maximum power transfer theorem, for maximum transfer of power from
noise voltage source Vn to load resistor RL, we must have

----------- (1)
 Then the maximum noise power so transferred will be given as

 Applying voltage-divider method in figure, we get

 Thus,
 ------------ (2)
 But, , thus

----------- (3)

 We may conclude that the square of the RMS noise voltage associated with a resistor is
proportional to the absolute temperature T of resistor, value R of the resistor and the
bandwidth B over which noise is being measured.
 At this point, it may be noted that the noise voltage is independent of the frequency at
which it is measured. This happens because of the fact that this noise is random and so on
an average is evenly distributed over the frequency spectrum.
 Norton's theorem may be used to find an equivalent current generator as shown in figure
below. This equivalent current generator is called as current model of a noisy resistor.

 Using conductance G = 1/R , the RMS noise current In for current model of a noisy
resistor will be expressed as

------------- (4)
Thermal Noise Due to Several Sources (Resistors):

Resistors in Series:

 The resistors act as the sources of thermal noise.

 We shall see the effect of connecting two noise sources i.e. two resistors in series with
each other. The situation is as shown in Figures (a) and (b) as shown above. The two
resistances R1 and R2 are replaced by the voltage source equivalent circuits.
 Since the two resistors are in series they can be replaced by a resistance R = R 1 + R2.
 The noise voltage generated by the resistor R is given by,

------------- (1)

---------- (2)

 Using the same logic if a number of resistors are connected in series then the resultant
noise voltage is given by

----------- (3)

 Thus, the effective resistance R is given as,

------------- (4)
Resistors in Parallel:
 For the parallel connection of the resistors R1 and R2 the current (Norton) equivalent
circuits should be used. The equivalent circuits are as shown in the Figures (a) and (b)
below.

 As the two conductances G1 and G2 are in parallel, the effective value of conductance is
given by Gp = G1+G2.
 The noise current generated by the conductance Gp is given as,

---------- (1)

---------- (2)

 Using the same logic if a number of resistors are connected in parallel then the resultant
noise voltage is given by

----------- (3)

 If it is required to obtain the voltage generator equivalent circuit for parallel connection
of the resistors then the equivalent parallel resistance Rp is given as,

------- (4)
 Thus,
------- (5)
White Noise:
 Noise in an idealized form is known as white noise. Thus, in a communication system,
the noise analysis is based on an idealized form of noise, i.e., white noise.
 As white light consists of all colure frequencies, in the same manner, white noise contains
all frequencies in equal amount.
 The power density spectrum of a white noise is independent of frequency. This means
that white noise consists of all the frequency components in equal amount.
 If the probability of occurrence of a white noise is specified by a Gaussian distribution
function, it is called as white Gaussian Noise.
 Since the power density spectrum of thermal and shot noise is independent of the
operating frequencies, therefore, shot noise and thermal noise can be treated as white
Gaussian Noise for all practical purposes.
 The power spectrum density of white noise is expressed as,

-------- (1)

 Here, the factor 1/2 has been included to show that half of the power is associated with
the positive frequencies and remaining half with the negative frequencies. This has been
shown in figure below.

 The power spectrum density of white noise shown in figure above reveals the fact that it
has no dc power, i.e., the mean or average value of white noise is zero. In addition to this,
the auto-correlation function of the power spectrum density of white noise may be
obtained by simply taking the inverse Fourier transform of both sides of expression

 The power spectral density and auto correlation function form a Fourier transform pair,
  Above is the expression for the auto correlation function of white noise. The auto
correlation function can is plotted below

Noise Equivalent Bandwidth:

 Consider a white noise present at the input of a receiver. Let the filter have a transfer
function H(f) as shown in Figure below.

 The filter above is being used to reduce the noise power actually passed on to the
receiver. Now consider an ideal (rectangular) filter as shown by the dotted plot in Figure
above. The center frequency of this ideal filter also is fo.
 Let the bandwidth "BN" of the ideal filler be adjusted in such a way that the noise output
power of the ideal filter is exactly equal to the noise output power of a real R-C filter.
Then BN is called as the noise bandwidth of the real filter.
Properties of Inphase and Quadrature components of a Narrowband Noise:
1. The in-phase component nI(t) and quadrature component nQ(t) of narrowband noise n(t)
have zero mean.
2. If the narrowband noise n(t) is Gaussian, then its in-phase component nI(t) and quadrature
component nQ(t) are jointly Gaussian.
3. If the narrowband noise n(t) is stationary, then its in-phase component nI(t) and
quadrature component nQ(t) are jointly stationary.
4. Both the in-phase component nI(t) and quadrature component nQ(t) have the same power
spectral density.
5. The in-phase component nI(t) and quadrature component nQ(t) have the same variance as
the narrowband noise n(t).
6. The cross-spectral density of the in-phase and quadrature components of narrow-band
noise n(t) is purely imaginary.
7. If the narrowband noise n(t) is Gaussian and its power spectral density S n(t) is symmetric
about the mid-band frequency fc, then the in-phase component nI(t) and quadrature
component nQ(t) are statistically independent.

Noise Factor:
 It is defined as the ratio of the signal to noise power ratio supplied to the input terminals
of a receiver or amplifier to the signal to noise power ratio supplied to the output or load
resistor.
 It is denoted by F and is given as,

------------- (1)

 Here,
Psi and Pni = Signal and noise power at the input
Pso and Pno = Signal and noise power at the output.
  The temperature to calculate the noise power is assumed to be the room temperature.
 The S/N at the input will always be greater than that at the output. This is due to the noise
added by the amplifier. Therefore the noise factor is the means to measure the amount of
noise added and it will always be greater than one. The ideal value of the noise factor is
unity.
 The noise factor F is sometimes frequency dependent. Then its value determined at one
frequency is known as the spot nose factor and the frequency must be stated along with
the spot noise factor.

Noise Output Power in Terms of F:

 Noise factor is given as,
---------- (1)

 The available power gain is defined as,

---------- (2)
 Substituting equation (2) in (1)

 Thus noise power at the amplifier output is given by,

--------- (4)

 But and noise factor is determined at room temperature. Therefore substitute

To in the equation for Pni.

 Thus,
------------ (3)

 Thus with increase in the noise factor F, the noise power at the output will increase.
Higher the noise factor value is more will be noise contributed by the amplifier.
Noise Figure:
 Often the noise factor is expressed in decibels. When noise factor is expressed in
decibels it is called noise figure.

-------- (1)

 The ideal value of noise figure is 0 dB.

Noise Temperature:
 The equivalent noise temperature is another way of measuring noise alternative to noise
figure or noise factor.
 The equivalent noise temperature is used in dealing with the UHF and microwave low
noise antennas, receivers or devices.
 Definition: The temperature at which the noisy resistor has to be maintained so that by
connecting this resistor to the input of a noiseless version of the system, it will produce
the same amount of noise power at the system output as that produced by the actual
system.
Problems:

1. A noise generator using diode is required to produce 15µV noise voltage in a receiver which
has an input impedance of 75Ω. The receiver has a noise power bandwidth of 200 kHz. Find the
current through the diode.
Solution:
Given: Vn=15µV, R=75Ω, B=200 kHz
Current through the diode is given by,

Neglecting Io in above equation we get

------- (1)
Calculating the noise current

Now substituting In in equation (1)

2. A receiver has a noise power bandwidth of 12 kHz. A resistor which matches with the receiver
input impedance is connected across the antennas terminals. What is the noise power contributed
by this receiver bandwidth? Assume temperature to be 300 C.
Solution:
Given: B=12 kHz, T=300 C=30+273=3030K
Noise power contributed by the receiver is,

3. A 600 Ω resistor is connected across a 600 Ω antenna input of a radio receiver. The bandwidth
of the radio receiver is 20 kHz and the resistor is at room temperature of 270 C. Calculate the
noise power and the noise voltage applied at the input of the receiver.
Solution:
Given: R1=600 Ω , R2=600 Ω , B=20 kHz, T=270 C=27+273=3000 K

As two resistors are in series thus,

Noise power is given as,

Noise voltage applied at the input of the receiver:

4. Two resistors 28 kΩ and 51 kΩ are at room temperature T = 290 o Kelvin. Calculate for a
bandwidth of 100 kHz, the mean square value and RMS value of thermal noise voltage:
a. For each resistor
b. For two resistors in series and
c. For two resistors in parallel
Solution:
Given: R1=28 kΩ, R2=51 kΩ, T=290o Kelvin, B=100 kHz
a. the mean square value of thermal noise voltage for each resistors

R1=28 kΩ

R2=51 kΩ
RMS value of thermal noise voltage for each resistor:

R1=28 kΩ

R2=51 kΩ

b. For two resistors in series the mean square value of thermal noise voltage:

or two resistors in series the RMS value of thermal noise voltage:

c. For two resistors in parallel the Resistance is:

For two resistors in parallel the mean square value of thermal noise voltage:
For two resistors in parallel the RMS value of thermal noise voltage:

5. An amplifier is fed from a 100 Ω, 15 µV RMS sinusoidal signal source. Its equivalent input
noise resistance and equivalent input current are 250 Ω and 6 µA, respectively. Calculate the
individual noise voltages at the input and the input SNR. Assume noise bandwidth is 10MHz and
temperature is 30oC.
Solution:
Given: Rs=100 Ω, Vs=15 µV, Ran=250 Ω, Ia=6 µA, B=10MHz, T=273+30=303oK
Noise voltage due signal source:

Noise voltage due Amplifier noise:

Noise voltage due input shot noise current:

Expression for shot noise current is:
Shot noise voltage is given as:

Total noise voltage at the input of the amplifier:

The Signal-to-noise ratio in desibles is:

6. The signal power and noise power measured at the input of an amplifier are 150 µW and 1.5
µW respectively. If the signal power at the output 1.5 W and noise power is 40 mW, Calculate
the amplifier noise factor and noise figure.
Solution:
Given: Psi= 150 µW, Pni=1.5 µW, Pso= 1.5 W, Pno=40 mW