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Telecommunications Technology
Chapter 1
Noise in Communication System

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Signal and Noise
• Consist of Transmission(Tx) & Reception(Rx) information between two
or more locations using electronic circuit
• Designing electronic communication circuit, requires to analyze the
performance of the circuit based on:
• Power distribution
• Frequency composition

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DC Signals & AC Signal
• DC signals are rarely to used in communication
• Difficult to be processed(step-up, step-down, amplification, etc)
• Unable to go wireless, i.e. always need wires

• AC signal overcome the problems of DC signal:

• Can be processed easily
• Can be radiated if suitable antenna can be found

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 Sinusoidal Signals
• Peak voltage
• Vp is the maximum instantaneous value of a waveform
from 0V. Vp

Vpp

• Peak-to-peak voltage
• Vpp is the full voltage between positive and negative
peaks of the waveform

• Period (T)
• Time interval between successive repetitions (cycles) of T

a periodic waveform
• Unit is second (s). v(t) = Vsin(2 ft + )

• Frequency (f)
• Number of repetitions that occur in one second
• Unit is Hertz (Hz)
f= T=
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 Sinusoidal Signals Vp
Vpp

• Mathematically, a single-frequency
repetitive voltage waveform:
T
v(t) = Vsin(2 ft + )
v(t) = Vsin(2ft + )

Where V= peak voltage / amplitude (volts) 180o 360o degree or

0  2 radian
f= frequency (hertz)
2f = ω = angular frequency (radians per second)
= phase shift (radians)
1ms 2ms
t
0
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Sinusoidal Signals
• Velocity with which a radius vector rotates about the center,
called the angular velocity ():
• Unit is radians per second (rad/s).

2π
ω= or 2πf
T t

• Since ω = 2f , the waveform can be written as

T
v(t) = Vsin(ωt + )

• The basic relationship among the velocity v, wavelength  and

frequency f of a wave is:
f = v
V can be written as “c” which means “speed of light” = 3x108 m/s
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Phase Relations
• If a waveform is shifted to the left or right, the expression becomes:
Vpsin(t  )

• The terms lead and lag are used to indicate the relationship between
two sinusoidal waveforms of the same frequency.
• the cosine curve is said to lead the sine curve by 90.
• the sine curve is said to lag the cosine curve by 90.

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Phase Relations
• If the waveform passes through the
horizontal axis with a positive-going
slope before 0:


Vpsin(t + )

• If the waveform passes through the

horizontal axis with a positive-going
slope after 0: 


Vpsin(t - )
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 Frequency & Time domain
• A standard oscilloscope is a time-domain instrument that displays the
signal amplitude variations against time (usually called the waveform).

• A spectrum analyzer is a frequency-domain instrument that displays the

signal amplitude variations against frequency (usually called the spectrum).

amplitude amplitude

t f

(b) Time waveform of a sine wave (b) Frequency spectrum of a sine wave (c) Diagram of time & frequency domain

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Average Value
• It is the algebraic sum of the areas under the AC waveform over one
complete cycle.
• areas above the horizontal axis are positive.
• areas below the horizontal axis are negative.

• It is the value indicated on a DC meter.

• the average value of AC is the equivalent DC value.

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Effective (rms) Values
• The average of AC voltage/current waveform over a cycle is zero.

• It is the value indicated on a DC meter.

• the average value of AC is the equivalent DC value.

• However, AC voltage/current through a resistor will dissipate power.

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Effective (rms) Values
• The power delivered by an AC supply at any instant of time is:

• the average power delivered is just the first term.

• The equivalent DC value of a sinusoidal current

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Effective (rms) Values
• The solution gives the root-mean-square (rms) value of the current.
The same applies to sinusoidal voltage:

• For non-sinusoidal periodic waveform:

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RMS Phasor Representation of Sinusoidal
Waveforms
• Commonly used in Power System Analysis.
• The rotating vectors are called phasors when applied to electric circuits.
• Addition and subtraction of two sinusoidal waveforms requires putting
each in the phasor format and performing the required vector algebra.

v1 = Vpsin(t + 1)  V1 = 0.707Vp1

i1 = Ipsin(t + 2)  I1 = 0.707Ip2

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Example 2:
• Write the sinusoidal expression for the following phasors if the frequency is
60 Hz.

Phasor Domain
• a) I = 1030 b) V = 115-70

a) I = 10 1.414 sin (260t +30)

= 14.14 sin (377t + 30) A

b) V = 115  1.414 sin (260t -70)

= 162.6 sin (377t -70) V
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Impedance of Resistor
• Power is dissipated in the resistor irrespective of the current direction inside the
resistor.
• The applied voltage and the resulting current are in-phase.
• The impedance of a resistive element is:

ZR = R0o (ohms, )

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Impedance of Inductor
• The opposition of an inductor to current flow is the inductance. It also depends on
the frequency.
• This opposition is called inductive reactance.

XL = 2fL = L (ohms, )

• Reactance is different from resistance in that the electrical energy transferred to an

ideal inductor is not dissipated but stored in the form of a magnetic field.

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Impedance of Inductor
The voltage across an inductor
leads the current through the
inductor by 90 since: cosine sine
vL iL

t
0

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Impedance of Inductor
The impedance of an inductor will be defined by:

ZL = XL90o = L90o = +jL (ohms, )

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Impedance of Capacitor
• The larger the capacitance of a capacitor, the smaller the opposition to
the current flow.
• The higher the applied frequency, the less the opposition factor, termed
capacitive reactance.




• This reactance is different from resistance in that the electrical energy

transferred to an ideal capacitor is not dissipated but stored in the form
of an electric field.

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Impedance of Capacitor
The current of a capacitor
leads the voltage across the
capacitor by 90 since: cosine sine
iC vC
dv d V sinωt
i=C =C = CV cost
dt dt
t
0

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Impedance of Capacitor
The impedance of a capacitor will be defined by:

ZC = XC-90o = -90o = -j (ohms, )



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Impedance Diagram:
j
ZL = XL+90o

ZR = R0o

ZC = XC-90o

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Series Configuration
• The total impedance of series AC elements is the sum of the individual impedances.

• ZT = Z1 + Z2 + … + ZN

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Series Configuration
XL
•We can find the total
impedance using vector algebra.
ZT
XL - XC

T
R

XC
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Example
Find the impedance of the series network. Draw the impedance diagram.

R = 6 XL = 10 XC = 12

Answer:

ZT = 6 + j(10 – 12)
= 6.32Ω  -18.43

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Parallel Configuration
• For the parallel combination of elements, the total impedance is:

• Admittance, Y (unit is Siemen, S)

Y= ,G= ,B=

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Example
a) Find the admittance of each parallel branch; 20
b) Determine the input admittance YT; 8
c) Calculate the input impedance ZT;
5
d) Draw the impedance diagram; and
e) Draw the admittance diagram.

Answer
a) YR = 0.2 + j0S ; YL = 0 - j0.125S ; YC = 0 + j0.05S d) e)
b) YT = 0.2 - j0.075S
c) ZT = 4.38 + j1.64Ω

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Frequency Response of the R
•For the ideal resistor, frequency will have no effect on the impedance level.

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Frequency Response of the L
• At a frequency of 0Hz an inductor takes on the characteristics of a short-
circuit.

• At very high frequencies the characteristics of an inductor approach those

of an open-circuit.

XL= L= fL (ohms, )

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Frequency Response of the C
• At, or near, 0 Hz the characteristics of a capacitor approach those of an
open-circuit.

• At very high frequencies, a capacitor takes on the characteristics of a short

circuit.

XC = = (ohms, )
 C

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Definition of dB
Why do we use decibels in calculations?

• Engineer are required to deal with large numerical ranges, it is convenient to use the logarithm
of the numbers. We can directly use decibels to calculate by addition or subtraction.
• For example, if a cascade two amplifiers with power gain of 12 and 16 respectively, the total
gain is 12 x 16 = 192.
• If we convert the two gains in decibels, the gain of two amplifiers are 10.8dB and 12dB.
Therefore, the total gain is 10.8 + 12dB = 22.8dB

• It is easy to add and subtract in decibel vales, instead of multiply or divide the values.

• The advantage of using decibels is that the huge range of the signals commonly encountered in
telecommunications and radio frequency engineering can be represented with more
manageable numbers.

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Example
In the case of series connection (cascading) of two-port circuits, we can easily compute
the total gain (or total attenuation) by adding the decibel values.

• The total gain is computed as follows: a = a1 + a2 + … + an dB

• a = -0.7 dB + 12 dB - 7 dB + 23 dB = 27.3 dB
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Power Ratio to dB
• The decibel is a logarithmic unit of power ratio, although it is commonly also used for
current ratio and voltage ratio. If the input power P1 and the output power P2 of a
network are expressed in the same units.

• Ratio of two powers in log10 scale can be converted to Decibel (dB)

Notes that
• -3 dB corresponds to P2 less than P1 by approximately a factor of 2.
• +3dB corresponds to P2 more than P1 by approximately a factor of 2.

• Decibel (dB) can be converted back to a ratio of two powers

( )
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Example
a) P1 is equal to 200 W and P2 is equal to 100 mW. What is their ratio a in dB?
b) If the ratio of P1/P2 is a = 33.01 dB, what is P1/P2?

a) a = 10 log dB
= 10 log (200W/100mW)
= 10log (2000)
= 33.01 dB

b) = 10 ( )
.
( )
=
= 1999
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dBW and dBm
dBW
• The general power ratio P1 to P2 now becomes a ratio of P1 to 1W.
• The absolute power levels are expressed in dBW, which is defined as the
power level P in reference to 1W:

Where dBW – absolute level relative to 1 W (watt)

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dBW and dBm
dBm
• The reference quantity most commonly used in telecommunications and radio frequency engineering is a
power of 1 mW (one thousandth of one Watt) into 50 Ohm.
• The general power ratio P1 to P2 now becomes a ratio of P1 to 1 mW.
• The absolute power levels are expressed in dBm, which is defined as the power level P in reference to 1
mW:

a = 10 log ( ) dBm
Where dBW – absolute level relative to 1 mW (milli-watt)

• It can be written as
dBm = 10log(P1) – 10log(1m)

• Therefore dBm can be converted as below:

dBm = dBW + 30
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Example
• A transmission link consists of 3 functional blocks and their gain or loss are as follows:

P1(dB) P2 (dB) P3 (dB)

Pin(dBW) =10log (5x10-3) = -23dBW = P1(dBW)
P2(dBW) = P1(dBW) + (-11dB)= -23dBW - 11dB = -34dBW
P3(dBW) = P2(dBW) + (2dB)= -34dBW + 2dB = -32dBW
Pout(dBW) = P3(dBW) + (-6dB)= -32dBW - 6dB = -38dBW

Pout(dBW) = Pin(dBW) – 11dB + 2dB -6dB = -38dBW

Pout(dBm) = Pout(dBW) + 30 = -8 dBm
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Noise
• Noises are presented anywhere

• If a small signal is contaminated by noise, then further amplification will

amplify both signal and the noise by the same amount

• Thermal Noise
• Shot Noise
• Spectrum of Noise
• Atmospheric and Galactic Noise
• Man-Made Noise
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Noise
Thermal Noise
• Free electrons inside conductor process kinetic energy at above absolute temperature.
• The random motion of electrons causes fluctuation of electron density inside conductor
which leads to voltage across the conductor.
• The mean value of this noise is zero.

• Root-mean-square (rms) value is given as:

En2 = 4RkTBn
where En = rms noise voltage, volts
R = resistance of the conductor, ohms
T = absolute temperature, kelvins
Bn = noise bandwidth, hertz
k = Boltzmann’s constant, 1.38  10-23 J/K

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Noise
Thermal Noise
• In analogy with any electrical source, the maximum average power the
source can deliver is E2/4R.

• Applying to previous Eq., we have:

Pn = kTBn

where, Ts = absolute temperature of the system in degrees Kelvin, B = bandwidth in Hz, K = Boltzmann’s constant expressed in watts per degree Kelvin per Hz
= 1.38 10−23 W/K/Hz.

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Noise
Shot Noise
• Shot Noise is a random fluctuation that accompanies any direct current
crossing a potential barrier.

• Carriers (holes and electrons in semiconductors) do not cross the

barrier simultaneously but rather with a random distribution in the
timing for each carrier, which leads to fluctuation of voltage.

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Noise
Spectrum of Noise
• Noise is a random signal having amplitudes following a certain
distribution.
• Both thermal and shot noise result from an ‘infinite’ number of
statistically independent disturbances, and their noise amplitudes
follow the normal (Gaussian) distribution.

• Thermal noise has a very flat and large bandwidth which can be
analogue to white light spectrum, it is called the Additive White
Gaussian Noise (AWGN).
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Noise
Atmospheric and Galactic Noise
• Atmospheric noise is mainly caused by lightning discharges.

• All sorts of noise that originate outside the Earth are classified as
galactic noise and the main source is the Sun.

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Noise
Man-Made Noise
• Caused by the use of car, electrical appliance and electronic equipment.
• This type of noise is more significant in urban areas than in suburban
areas.

Noise powers vs. frequency

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Representation of Noise:
Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR, S/N)
• In communication it is the signal-to-noise ratio, is the ratio of before modulated power level
to the noise level in the bandwidth of a system.
• Signal-to-noise is defined as a power ratio:

SNR objective
• Reduce as much of the noise as possible by carefully controlling conditions
• Temperature, power supply variations, etc
• Increase the signal to noise ratio
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Representation of Noise:
Noise factor
A signal source is connected to the input of a signal processing two-port whose output is
connected to a signal receiver.
The signal source in series with an internal impedance Zs, also deliver noise as thermal
noise due to Zs.
In addition, as the two port contains electronic devices that are all noisy, it will add its own
noise to the output signal.
By definition, the noise factor F of a two-port provides information on the degradation of
the signal-to-noise between the input and out of a two port, as indicated by the equation:

• Noise Factor (F):

( / )
F=
( / )

• Noise Figure (F)dB:

(F)dB = 10 log F dB
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Representation of Noise:
Carrier-to-Noise Ratio (CNR, C/N)
• CNR is the ratio of the modulated power
level to the noise level in the bandwidth of
a system.

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Representation of Noise:
Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR, S/N)
• Consider a signal source with power Psi at room temperature T0 = 290K providing an input to an
amplifier, the available noise power from the source Pni = kT0Bn.

Input S/N is
𝑖

0 𝑛

If amplifier is noiseless, output S/N will be equal to input S/N. Real amplifiers contribute noise, thus
noise factor F is greater than 1.

 Pno = FGkT0Bn

F can be interpreted as the factor by which the amplifier increases the output noise, if the amplifier
were noiseless, the output noise would be GkT
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0Bn.
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Representation of Noise:
Equivalent Input Noise in terms of F
• It is convenient to assume the amplifier noise is
originated from equivalent power source at the
input of amplifier.

• The total available input noise is

Pni = Pno / G = FkT0Bn Pna = (F-1)kT0Bn

Noiseless
• The source contributes an available power kT0Bn kT0Bn
Amplifier
Gain G Pno = FGkT0Bn
and hence the amplifier Noise Factor
F

Pna = FkT0Bn - kT0Bn Equivalent input noise power

=(F - 1)kTEEE3460
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Representation of Noise:
Noise Factor of Amplifiers in Cascade
• The overall noise factor is given by Friis’s formula:
Amplifier 1 Amplifier 2
F 1 F Gain G1 Gain G2
F  F1  2 Noise Factor Noise Factor
G1 F1 F2
• In general
Noise Factor of two amplifiers in cascade
F  1 F3  1
F  F1  2   ...
G1 G 1G 2
• The above shows the important of noise figure of the first stage. This explains why low-noise amplifier is used in satellite
receiver.
• For LOSSY network:

• since Noutput = Ninput

F = Sinput/Soutput = Sinput/(Sinput/L) = L, where L is the power loss
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Example
A 5W source is connected to an amplifier through a cable of 7dB loss. The amplifier
has a gain of 10dB. What is the output power of the amplifier in dBm?

• Source power in dBm = 10log(5 / 0.001) = 37dBm

• The output power in dBm = 37 - 7 + 10 = 40dBm

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Example
Assume the amplifier of has a noise figure of 5dB, calculate the output S/N ratio in
decibel when noise bandwidth is 1MHz.

• Thermal noise = kToB = 1.38  10-23  290  106 = 4 10-15 W = -114dBm,

• and 5dB = 3.16 : 1, 7dB = 5.01 :1

F2  1
• For cascade system, use F  F1  to find the equivalent noise factor.
G1

• F = 5.01 + (3.16 - 1)  5.01 = 15.84 = 12dB [notice that L = 1/G]

• (S/N)input = 37dBm – (-114dBm) = 151dB
• (S/N)output = (S/N)input / F = 151dB - 12dB = 139dB
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Representation of Noise:
Noise Temperature
• Amplifier can also be represented by noise temperature. The amplifier noise in Eq. (14.6) can be
expressed in term of equivalent noise temperature Te in kelvin (K).

Pna = (F - 1)kT0Bn = TekBn  Te = (F - 1)T0

• Friis’s formula can be expressed in terms of equivalent noise temperatures

Te 2 T
Te  Te1   e3  ...
G1 G1G 2

• Noise temperature is the better measure for low-noise devices, while noise factor is a better
measure for main receiving system.

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