TUTORIAL: NOISE

1. Develop the Thevenin’s equivalent model of a thermal resistor and show that the rms
thermal noise voltage is given by v 2n  t   4RKTB , where R is the resistance on Ohms,
k is the Boltzmann constant and T is the temperature in Kelvin.

Solution:
Represent the phenomenon of thermal noise by replacing the resistance a fictitious
noiseless resistance of same value and the noise by a mean square noise voltage
generator source, as shown.

From quantum mechanics it can be shown that the power spectrum corresponding to
 
h f hf 
the noise voltage is Sn  f   2R   hf  ,where “h” is Planck’s constant.
2
 KT 
 e  1
hf 1
At room temperature 300 K and for frequencies below 1000 GHz KT  and therefore
5
using the approximation e =1+x for small x, we can write
x

 
h f h f  h f  h f 
Sn  f   2R     2R   KT   RKT   2  2RKT
 2 hf   2   KT 
 KT 

Above equation implies than Sn(f) is independent of frequency till 100 GHz.
B B
Now v2n  t    Sn  f  df   2RKTdf  4RKTB [Proved]
B B

2. An antenna having a noise temperature of 30 K is connected to an amplifier having

a gain of 100 dB and an equivalent noise bandwidth of 1.5 MHz. The equivalent noise
temperature of the amplifier is 270 K. Find the available noise output power.

Solution:
10log10(G)=100 Or, G=1010
Pno  GKB  T  Te   1010  1.38  1023  1.5  106  300  62  106 W  62μW
3. An amplifier has a bandwidth of 500 kHz, and an input resistance of 50 Ohm. When
a 0.5 μV input signal level is applied to the amplifier input under matched condition,
the output SNR is 0 dB. Determine the noise figure of the amplifier.

Solution:
Output SNR is 0 dB = 1
The input noise power
Pni  KTB  1.38  1023  290  5  105  2  1015 W
V 2 0.25  10 12
The signal input, Psi    5  10 15 W
R 50
Psi 5  1015
Input SNR, SNR in    2.5
Pni 2  1015
SNR in
Noise factor, F   2.5
SNRout
Noise figure  10 log10  F   10 log10  2.5   4 dB

4. Show that the overall noise figure for cascaded linear devices is
F  1 F3  1 F 1
F  F1  2   4  (Friss’s noise formula)
G1 G1G2 G1G2G3

Solution:
Let us first consider a cascaded connection of two noisy network with noise figure F 1
and F2, respectively. The gain of the networks are G1 and G2, respectively. The noise
output power Pno  FGPni  GPni  Pna .
The total noise generated by the amplifier, Pna   F  1 GPni
This noise when referred to input,   F  1 Pni
When a second amplifier is added in series, the total output noise would consists of the
first-stage noise amplified by the second-stage gain, plus the additional noise of the
second amplifier.
Pno  PniG1G2   F1  1 PniG1G2   F2  1 PniG2
Pno Pno  F  1  F  1
F   1   F1  1  2  F1  2
GPni G1G2Pni G1 G1
Similarly, the result can be generalized to several cascaded stages as
F  1 F3  1 F 1
F  F1  2   4  [Proved]
G1 G1G2 G1G2G3

5. Given three amplifiers in which there is impedance matching between the stages
having an overall system noise 5.6 dB
Stage 1: SNRout=120, Pni=0.01µW, G=20
Stage 2: F=12, G=30
Stage 3: F = 9.3 dB, G = 35
 Find (a) Noise factor and noise figure of stage 1 (b) Input signal power of stage 1 (c)
Noise added by the stage 1 amplifier.

Solution:
The overall noise figure F  100.56  3.63
The noise figure of the third stage F  100.93  8.51
F  1 F3  1 12  1 8.51  1
(a) F1  F  2   3.63    3.07
G1 G1G2 20 20  30
The noise factor of stage 1 is thus 3.07.
The noise figure of stage 1 is 10 log10  3.07   4.87 dB
(b) SNRin  F  SNRout
Hence the input signal power of stage 1
Psi  PniF  SNR out  0.01  106  3.07  120  3.68  106 W  3.68μW
(c) The noise added by the stage 1 amplifier is
 F1  1 GPni   3.07  1  20  0.01  106  414  109 W  414 nW

6. A satellite receiver with noise figure of 12 dB has a bandwidth of 1 MHz and consists
of a preamplifier with a noise temperature of 127 K and a gain of 20 dB. Calculate
the overall noise figure and equivalent noise temperature of the receiver. Assume a
reference temperature of 290 K.

Solution:
Te
For the first stage pre-amplifier F1  1  , G  102
T
For the second stage, the receiver, F2 = 12 dB.
F 1 T F 1 127 101.2  1
F  F1  2  1 e  2  1   1.585  2 dB
G1 T G1 290 100
The equivalent noise temperature is Te   F  1 T  1.585  1  290  169.8 K

7. Consider a lossy line or attenuator with a loss factor L (i.e. the ratio of the input
power to the output power) and temperature TL. Determine the noise figure of the
system. Hence show that the noise figure of the line can be expressed as F = L, when
the line is at the reference temperature. Assume the line is matched with its
characteristic impedance at the source and load end.

Solution:
Let Ni be the input noise power. Then Ni  KTL B .
Since the entire system is in thermal equivalence, the total output noise power flowing
from the network into the load, No, must remain the same as input power. Therefore
Ni  No  GKTL B  GNa  KTL B
1  G  KTL B 
This gives Na   L  1 KTL B
G
 GNa N 1  G  TL  L  1 T
The equivalent noise temperature of the lossy line Te   a    L
GKB KB G
Te T
For a standard temperature of T F  1   1   L  1 L
T T
For TL=T, above equation gives, F = L. [Proved]

8. Consider the following wireless local area network (WLAN) receiver, shown below,
where the bandwidth of the bandpass filter is 100 MHz centered at 2.4 GHz. If the
system is at room temperature (a) find the noise figure of the overall system. (b) What
is the resulting signal-to-noise ratio at the output, if the input power level is -90
dBm? (c) Can the components be rearranged to give a better noise figure?

Solution:
(a) The first stage is an attenuator section that has a loss factor of 1.5 dB = 10 0.015=1.41
From previous example, the noise figure of this section is also 1.41 and the gain factor
of this stage is G1=1/1.41=0.71
The second stage has G=10, F =100.2 =1.58
The third stage has G=100, F = 100.2 =1.58
The noise figure of the cascade is
F  1 F3  1 1.58  1 1.58  1
F  F1  2   1.41    2.31  3.64 dB
G1 G1G2 0.71 0.71 10
(b) If Pin=-90 dBm then we get Pout=-90 dBm-1.5dB+10dB+20dB = -61.5 dBm
The noise output power is Pn  Gcas KTe,casB  K  Fcas  1 T0BGcas
Or, Pn  1.38  1023   2.31  1  290  108  0.71  10  100  3.72  10 10 W  64.3 dBm
Thus, So /N  61.5  64.3  2.8 dB
(c) The best noise figure would be achieved with that arrangement as shown below:

Then the noise figure is

F  1 F3  1 1.58  1 1.41  1
F  F1  2   1.58    1.586  2.00 dB
G1 G1G2 100 100 10
In practice, however, the essential filter may serve to present overload of the amplifier
and may not be allowed to be moved.
9 A receiver with 80-dB gain and an effective noise temperature of 3000 K is connected
to an antenna that has a noise temperature of 600 K. Find the receiver noise power
output over a 40 MHz band.

Solution:
The input noise power that is available from the antenna source
Nant  KTant B  1.38  1023  600  40 108  3.3 1013 W
The receiver noise power referred to the receiver input
Nrec  KTrecB  1.38  1023  3000  40  108  1.66  1012 W
The total receiver noise power output therefore
 
Nout  G  Nant  Nrec   108  3.3 1013  1.66  1012  199  106 W  199 μW

10. Two amplifiers A and B are to be connected in cascade. Find out the order in which
the amplifiers must be connected to minimize noise. Amplifier A has a noise factor
of 1.5 and a gain of 10 dB while amplifier B has noise figure of 3 dB with a gain of
15 dB. Also determine the equivalent noise temperature of both the amplifiers
assuming a reference temperature of 20oC, and compare with that of the cascaded
amplifier.

Solution:
Case I: Amplifier A followed by amplifier B
F 1 100.3  1
F  FA  B  1.5   1.6
GA 10
Case II: Amplifier B followed by amplifier A
F 1 1.5  1
F  FB  A  100.3   2.01
GB 101.5
Therefore Case I (Amplifier A followed by amplifier B) gives the lowest noise figure.
For amplifier A: Te   FA  1 To  1.5  1  293  175.8 K

 
For amplifier B: Te   FB  1 To  100.3  1  293  296 K
When amplifier A followed by amplifier B, Te   FCaseI  1 To  1.6  1  293  175.8 K
When amplifier B followed by amplifier A , Te   FCaseII  1 To   2.01  1  293  296 K

11. A noise power of -100 dBm is available from a receiver antenna system over a 20
MHz bandwidth. Assume room temperature of 290 K. (a) Determine the noise
temperature of the antenna. (b) The antenna is connected to an amplifier that has a
noise figure of 1.6 dB and an available gain of 30 dB over the effective bandwidth.
Find the available noise power out of the amplifier in dBm.

Solution:
(a) Pni  100 dBm  1010  103 W  1013 W
 Pni 1013
Therefore, Te    362 K
KB 1.38 1023  20  106
(b) Gain of the amplifier = 30 dB = 1000
The effective noise temperature of the amplifier is
 
Te   F  1 To  100.16  1  290  129 K
Output noise
Pno  KTeBG  1.38  1023   362  129   20  106  1.356  1010 W  68.7 dBm

12 For the given receiver system (a) find the overall noise figure of the system. (b) What
will be effect on the noise figure, if the pre-amplifier is removed and instead the gain
of the receiver front end is increased by 20 dB? (c) Will the noise figure of the system
change if the pre-amplifier is inserted after the cable?

Solution:
(a) The noise figure of the lossy cable is 3 dB = 100.3 = 2.
The gain factor of the cable is 1/2= 0.5.
F  1 F3  1 2  1 101.6  1
F  F1  2   100.6    4.776  6.8 dB
G1 G1G2 100 100  0.5
(b) Upon removal of the pre-amplifier and increasing the gain of the receiver front end
by 20 dB
F 1 103.6  1
F  F1  2  2  7962.14  39.01 dB
G1 0.5
(c) When the pre-amplifier is placed after the cable
F  1 F3  1 100.6  1 101.6  1
F  F1  2   2   8.736  9.4 dB
G1 G1G2 0.5 100  0.5

13 A receiver with 5 dB noise figure, 10 dB gain and 5 kHz noise bandwidth is connected
to an antenna that has a noise temperature of 1050 K. (a) what is the overall noise
figure? (b) Find the input signal power needed to obtain an output SNR of 6 dB. (c)
If a pre-amplifier of gain 7 dB and noise figure 3 dB is inserted between the antenna
and the receiver, what is the minimum detectable signal for obtaining SNR of 10 dB.
Assume the source resistance is due to a 50 Ohm coaxial cable with negligible loss
and that reference temperature is about 20oC.

Solution:
(a) To  273  20  293 K
  
The effective noise temperature of the receiver, Te   F  1 To  100.5  1  293  633 K
The overall noise temperature of the receiver TIN  Ta  Te  1050  633  1683 K
TIN 1683
Overall noise figure, F  1   1  6.74  8.29 dB
T0 293
(b) SNR o  6 dB  100.6  3.98
SNRi  F  SNRo  6.74  3.98  26.83
Input noise = KTINB  1.38  1023  1683  50 103  1.16  1015 W
Input signal power = 26.83 1.16 1015  3.111014 W  135 dBW
(c) When the pre-amplifier is inserted
F 1 100.5  1
F  F1  2  100.3   2.43  3.85 dB
G1 100.7
The equivalent noise temperature of the combined block
Te   F  1 To   2.43  1  293  419 K
TIN  Ta  Te  1050  419  1469 K
Input noise = KTINB  1.38  1023 1469  50 103  1.01 1015 W
TIN 1469
Therefore overall system noise figure F  1   1 6
T0 293
SNRi  F  SNRo  6 10  60
Input signal power = 60 1.011015  60.6 1015 W
v 2min
 60.6  10 15 or, vmin  50  60.6 1015  1.74 106 V  1.74 μV
50

14 Prove that the effective noise temperature of K – 2 port networks in cascade is

T T TeK
Te  Te1  e2  e3   .
G1 G1G2 G1G2 GK
Solution:
Using Friss’s formula
F  1 F3  1 FK  1
F  F1  2   
G1 G1G2 G1G2 GK
F2  1 F3  1 FK  1
F  1  F1  1    
G1 G1G2 G1G2 GK
Te Te1 T Te3 TeK
  e2   
To To G1To G1G2 To G1G2 GK To
Te2 T TeK
Te  Te1   e3  
G1 G1G2 G1G2 GK

15 Prove that the overall noise figure for a cascade of m identical repeater cable systems
is simply m times the noise figure of one segment. It may be assumed that the
amplifier gains are designed to offset the losses in each segment.
Solution:
A single segment of the repeater can be represented as follows:

If L is the loss factor of the channel and Fa is the noise figure of the amplifier then the
F 1
overall noise figure of this cascade connection will be F  L  a  LFa
1L
Thus a single repeater-channel segment represents a noise figure of LFa with an overall
gain of Ga/L.
If the signal is transmitted over m segments of the channel, where each segment has its
own repeater then fi=LiFai can represent the noise figure of the ith segment (i=1 to m).
The overall noise figure for the m segments can be found
L F 1 L 3Fa3  1
FTotal  L1Fa1  2 a2  
Ga1 L1  Ga1 L1   Ga2 L1 

If the segments are identical Fai=Fa for all “i” and if the amplifier gain offsets the
transmission loss, then Gai = Li for all “i” and Li = L for all “i”.
FTotal  L1Fa1   L 2Fa2  1   L 3Fa3  1  L mFam  1
FTotal  mLFa   m  1  mLFa  mF

16 A signal with bandwidth 4 kHz is to be transmitted a distance of 200 km over a

channel that has an attenuation of 2 dB/km. At the output of the receiver amplifier
(having a noise figure of 5 dB) an SNR of 30 dB is needed for proper reception.
Calculate the power that needs to be transmitted when (a) No repeaters are
employed, (b) 20 repeaters are employed (one every 10 km) and each repeater has a
gain of 20 dB, noise figure of 5 dB and noise bandwidth of 4 kHz. Assume N o, one
PT
sided power spectral density as 4 1021 W/Hz. Provided, SNR in  .
NoBeq
Solution:
(a) Noise figure of a single channel amplifier F=LFa
L  2  200  400 dB
Since noise figure represents the degradation factor of SNR, so
SNR in 1  PT 
SNRout    
F LFa  NoBeq 
PT  dB  SNRout dB  L dB  Fa dB  10log10 NoBeq 


PT  dB  30  400  5  10 log10 4 1021  4 103  267 dB 
PT  1026.7  5  1026 W
(b) When 20 repeaters are used the overall noise figure is 20 F, and
1  PT 
SNRout   
20LFa  NoBeq 
PT  dB  SNRout  dB  10log10 20  L dB  Fa dB  10log10 NoBeq 


PT  dB  30  13  5  20  10 log10 4 1021  4 103  100 dB 
PT  1010 W

17 Find the available noise power and the equivalent noise temperature of a series and
a parallel network of resistors when the resistors are at (a) same temperature and
(b) different temperatures.

Solution:
(a) The Thevenin’s model of series resistors are shown below.

 
2
v2n  t   vn1  t   vn2  t   v2n1  t   v2n2  t   2vn1  t  vn2  t 
Since v n1  t  and v n2  t  are statistically independent, v n1  t  v n2  t   0
Therefore, v 2n  t   v 2n1  t   v 2n2  t 
The mean square noise voltages can be added vectorically, v2n  t   4R1KBT  4R 2KBT
v2n  t 
Available power, Pa  ,Where, R  R1  R2
4R
4KBT  R1  R 2 
Therefore, Pa   KBT
4  R1  R 2 
Pa
Effective noise temperature, Te  T
KB
Thus the available noise power remains the same
The Norton’s model for parallel resistors are shown below.

1 1
G1  and G2 
R1 R2
Similar to earlier reasoning, i2n  t   i2n1  t   i2n2  t  ,
Or, 4GKBT  4G1KBT  4G2KBT
i2n  t 
Pa   KBT
4G
Pa
Effective noise temperature, Te  T
KB
(b) For the series connection
v2n  t   4R1KBT1  4R 2KBT2
v2n  t  4KB  R1T1  R 2 T2  KB  R1T1  R 2 T2 
Pa   
4  R1  R 2  4  R1  R 2   R1  R 2 
Pa R T  R2 T2
Te   1 1
KB R1  R2
For parallel combination,
i2n  t   4G1KBT1  4G2KBT2
i2n  t  KB  G1T1  G2 T2 
Pa  
4G  G1  G2 
P G T  G2 T2  T1 R1    T2 R 2  T1R 2  T2R1
Te  a  1 1  
KB G1  G2 1 R1   1 R 2  R1  R 2

18 Show that the rms value of the thermal noise voltage that appears across the parallel
KT
RC circuit is given by nrms  , where the resistor R is at a temperature of ToK.
C

Solution:
The Thevenin’s model of the RC circuit is shown below. The thermal resistor is the only
source of noise here.
 
No 2
The output noise power Pno  n2rms   Sno  f  df ,where Sno  f  
2
H f 


1
jωC 1 1
Hf  
2
 Or, H  f  
1 1  jωRC 2
1  ω R 2C 2
R
jωC
No
is the two sided PSD of thermal noise and is given by
2
No Input noise power 4RKTB
   2RK
2 2B 2B

1
Therefore, n2rms   2RKT 1   2πf 2 R2C2 df


Assuming x  2πfRC
  
2RKT 1 KT 1 2KT 1 2KT 
n2rms   2
dx   2
dx   2
dx  tan1  x 
2πRC  1  x πC  1  x πC 0 1  x πC 0

2KT 2KT  π  KT KT
Or, n2rms  tan1     tan1  0     0  Or, nrms 
πC   πC  2  C C