Noise :

Noise is an unwanted signal that tend to disturb the transmission and

processing of signals in communication systems.

The noise may be :

1. External (eg. Atmospheric noise, man mode noise, galactic noise)

2. Internal.

The internal noise arises from spontaneous fluctuations of current or voltage in

electrical circuits. This type of noise represents a basic limitation on the transmission
or detection of signals in communication slms.

Eg: Shot noise and thermal noise.

Shot noise:

Shot noise is generated in electronic devices such as diodes and transistors.

For example, in a photodetector circuit a current pulse is generated every time an

electron is emitted by the cathode due to incident light from a source of constant
intensity.

The electrons are naturally emitted at random time denoted by k, where

-<K<. The total current flowing through the photodetector may be modeled as an
infinite sum of current pulses as show by :

X ( t )= h ( t k )(1)
K =

Where h(t-k) is the current pulse generated at time k.

The process x(t) defined by eqn(1) is a stationary process called shot noise.

The number of electrons, N(t) emitted in the time interval (O,t). the value of
N(t) increases by one each time an electron is emitted as shown in fig below.

Fig: Sample function of a poirson counting process

The total number of electrons emitted in the interval (t, t+t0)

V = N (t+t0) N(t)

Thermal noise:

Thermal noise is the electrical noise arising from the random motion of
electrons in a conductor.

The mean square value of the thermal voltage, TTN appearing across the
terminals of a resistor, measured in a band width of f hertz is given by :

Where K is Boltzmann constant = 1.38 x 10-3 J/K

R is the resistance in ohms.

We may thus model a noisy resistor by the the venin equivalent circuit
consisting of a noise voltage generator of mean square value E[V 2TN] in series
with a noiseless resistor as shown in fig:

We may use the Norton Equivalent circuit

Consisting of noise current generator in parallel with a noiseless conductance as

shown in fig below:

Fig : Norton equivalent circuit

1 1
E[I2TN] = 2 E[V2TN] = 21 4KTRf
R R

E[I2TN] = 4 KTGf amps2

1
Where G = is the conductance.
R
White noise:

A white noise w(t) is an idealized form of noise in a communication system.

The power spectral density of white noise is independent of the operating

frequency.

The adjective white is used in the sense that white light contains equal amount
of all frequencies within the visible band

The power spectral density of white noise is :

No
Sw(f) = where No is noise power in watts/Hz.
2

Fig : PSD of white noise

The parameter N0 is usually referenced to the input stage of the receiver of a

communication system. It may be expressed as:

N0 = KTe

Where K is Boltzmann constant

Te is equivalent noise temperature of the receiver.

The equivalent noise temperature Te of a system is defined as the temperature

at which a noisy resistor has to be maintained such that, by connecting the
resistor to the input of a noiseless version of the system, it produces the same
available noise power at the output of the system as that produced by all the
sources of noise in actual system.

Since the autocorrelation function in the inverse fourier transform of the PSD,
its auto correlation of white noise is:

N0
Rw() = d()
2

Fig : Autocorrelation function.

Ideal low pass filtered white noise

w(t) LPF h(t) n(t)

suppose that a white gaussian noise w(t) of zero mean and power spectral density N 0/2
is applied to an ideal low pass filter of bandwidth B and passband amplitude response
of one.

i.e.; H(f) = 1 for (f) < B

0 for (f) > B

The PSD at the O/P of filter is:

SN(f) = N0/2, -B<f<B

0, |f| > B

The auto correlation function of n(t) is the inverse fourier transform of PSD.

N0
RN() = 2
exp (j2 fz) df

RN() = N0B sinc (2BZ)

Fig : Auto Correlation Function

The autocorrelation function RN() has its maximum value of N0B at the origin

K
and it passes through zero at = + 2 B , where K = 1, 2, 3

RC Low pass filtered white noise

Fig : Low pass RC Filter

N0
A white Gaussian noise w(t) of zero mean & PSD 2
applied to a low pass

RC filter as shown in fig.

The transfer function is

1
H(f) =
1+ j2 fRC

PSD of input white Gaussian noise process w(t) is

N0
Sw(f) =
2
 PSD of noise n(t) appearing at the low pass RC filter O/P is :

SN(f) = Sw(f) [H(f)]2

2 fRC 2
1+
SN(f) = N0 1
2

Fig : PSD of filter O/P n(t)

The autocorrelation function of filtered noise n(t) is

N0 Z
RN(z) = exp (- RC )
4 RC

Fig : Autocorrelation function of n(t)

Noise equivalent band width:

Let us consider a general LPF having a frequency response (H(f). Also, let the
input to such a filter be a white noise source having a mean equal to zero and

N0
PSD equal to . then, the PSD of the O/P noise is:
2

SN(f) = Sw(f) [H(f)]2

N0
SN(f) = [H(f)]2 (1)
2

The average O/P noise power is :

H ( f )2

Nout = N0 df (2)

2

Since, [H(f)]2 is an even function of frequency, eqn (2) can be written as:
 2
H (f )
N0
Nout = x2 df
2
0

2
H ( f )

Nout = N0 df (3)

0

If now, the general LPF is replaced by an ideal LPF, the average noise power is
obtained as:
B

Nout = Sw ( f )[H (f )]2 df

B

Since [H(f)]2= [H(O)]2 (f) < B

0 , (f) < B

H (O)2 df
B
N
N out = 0
B 2

B
H (O ) 2 1 df
B
N
0
2
2
H (O ) [ B(B ) ]df
N
0
2

N0 2
= H (O) 2 B
2

Nout = N0BH2(O) (4)

Therefore, equating average noise power i.e; eqn (3) to that of eqn(4), we may define
the noise equivalent bandwidth as:

No = (H(f)]2df = No B H2(O)
 2
H ( f ) df


B=

Fig : Illustrating the definition of noise equivalent bandwidth

Noise figure:

The noise figure F is defined as the ratio of the total available output noise
power per unit band width to the portion there of solely due to source.

S N 0 (f )
F=
G ( f ) S NS (f )

Where : SNO(f) is available noise power at the device O/P. SNS(f) is available noise
power from the source at the device input.

Available power implies the maximum power that may be delivered to an

external load when the source and load impedance are matached.

NOTE:

Representation of IN-Phase :Quadrature components:

We may represent n(t) in canonical form:

n(t) = nI(t) cos (2fct) N2(t) sin (2fct)

Where nI(t) is in-phase component of n(t) and

n2(t) is called the quadrature component of n(t).

 MODULE-4

Noise in Analog modulation: Introduction, Receiver model, noise in DSB-SC

receivers, noise in AM receivers, threshold effect, noise in FM receivers, capture
effect, FM threshold effect, FM threshold reduction, pre-emphasis and de-emphasis in
FM (refer chapter 6 of text).

Introduction:

Whenever a modulated signal is transmitted through a channel. It is always

corrupted by random noise either in the channel or in the receiver circuit.