Elements Of

Telecommunication
CHAPTER 12
NOISE
Aim

To equip participants with the fundamental knowledge of noise

interference found in transmission systems.
Objectives

At the end of the chapter participants should be able to:

• Identify different types of noises

• Calculate noise in a system
• Define signal to noise ratio
Introduction

• Electrical noise may be defined as undesired voltages or

currents that ultimately end up appearing in the load of a
communication system.
• Noise signals at their point of origin are generally very small
e.g in the microvolt or millivolt level.
• However, they become important if the level of a desired
signal is also very low.
EXTERNAL NOISE IN RADIO
SYSTEMS
• The noise arising in the radio transmitting medium and picked
up by the receiving aerial can be classified in man-made noise
and noise of natural origin.
MAN-MADE NOISE
Adjacent-channel Interference

• The available frequency spectrum for the various radio services is limited, and
band width allocated to each channel, or station, is the minimum practicable.
• For example, medium-wave broadcast stations have a bandwidth of about 9 kHz.
• One consequence of this is that signals modulated at frequencies close to that of
the wanted signal may also be received.
• Such adjacent-channel signals cause interference and I or whistles at the output
of a receiver, and this interference may be considered to be a form of noise.
Interference From Electrical
Apparatus
• When an electric current is switched on and/ or off its
waveform is abruptly changed and a number of
components at radio frequencies are produced.
• These radio-frequency components may be radiated
directly from the point where the current is interrupted
or they may be propagated along the mains radiation
accounts for most cases of interference since the
interference can be radiated over a fairly wide area.
• Typical sources of such interference are electric motors
in domestic apparatus, and car ignition systems.
• This form of interference may be significant up to 100
MHz or so.
• Since man-made noise is weakest in sparsely populated
areas, this explains the locations of extremely sensitive
communications equipment, such as satellite earth
stations, in desert-type locations (Mazowe).
NATURAL NOISE
Atmospheric Noise
• Atmospheric noise is caused by naturally occurring disturbances in
the earth's atmosphere, lighting discharges being the most
prominent contributors.
• Its frequency content is spread over the entire radio spectrum, but
its intensity is inversely related to frequency.
• It is therefore, most troublesome at the lower frequencies.
• It manifests itself in the static noise that you hear on standard AM
radio receivers.
• It is not significant factor for frequencies exceeding about 20MHz.
 Space Noise
• The other form of external noise arrives from outer space and is
therefore termed space noise.
• The noise originating from our star (the sun) is termed solar noise.
Solar noise is cyclical and reaches very annoying peaks every 11
years.
• These 11 years peaks are also cyclical, with the 1957 peak being the
highest in recorded history.
• All the other stars also generate this space noise, and their
contribution is termed cosmic noise.
• Since they are much further away than the sun, their individual
effects are small but they make up for this by their countless
numbers and their additive effects.
• Space noise occurs at frequencies from about 8 MHz to over 1 GHz.
• While space noise contains energy at less than 8MHz. these
components are absorbed by the earth's ionosphere before they
can reach the atmosphere.
• The ionosphere is a region above the atmosphere where free ions
and electrons exist in sufficient quantity to have an appreciable
effect on wave travel.
• It includes the area from about 100 kilometers up to several
hundred kilometers above the earth.
EXTERNAL NOISE IN LINE
SYSTEMS
Interference
• If a transmission line runs more or less parallel to a power line or an electric
railway, it may have unwanted power-frequency voltages induced in it via
induction and /or capacitive couplings between the lines.
• Underground cables often have a metallic sheath, and this acts as a screen
to reduce the magnitude of the unwanted voltages.
• Coaxial pairs are generally operated with their outer conductor earthed and
are quite efficiently self-screened.
• This type of interference is minimized by keeping telecommunication cables
spaced as far away from power lines as possible.
Crosstalk

• Crosstalk is a voltage appearing in one pair in a

cable when a signal is applied to another pair.
• Any multi-pair will experience crosstalk
between all its pairs to a greater or less extent.
• Crosstalk in a cable is caused by electrical
couplings between the conductors; these
couplings may be capacitive, inductive or via
insulation resistances.
• The construction of a cable is designed to
minimize crosstalk, and, when necessary,
balancing the couplings between pairs at the
end of each section of line can give a further
reduction.
Internal Noise
• Internal noise is that which is
produced by the receiver itself.
• Thus, the noise already present in
the received signal (external noise)
has another component added to
it before it reaches the receiver's
output.
• The receiver's effective noise
contribution is normally limited to
its very first stage of amplification.
• It is there that the desired signal is
at its lowest level, and noise
injected at that point will be at its
largest value in proportion to the
intelligence signal.
Thermal Noise
•• This
  basic type of noise generated by electronic
circuits is due to thermal interaction between the
free electrons and vibrating ions in a conductor.
• Resistors are the major contributors, but noise
exists within all other electrical devices. Thus, a
resistor, all by itself, is constantly producing a
voltage.
• Since it is dependent on temperature, it is referred
to as thermal noise. Its frequency content is spread
equally throughout the usable spectrum. 
• The power of this generated noise is given by:

• Where
• K= Boltzmann’s constant ()
• T= resistor temperature ()
• B = bandwidth of frequencies that the subsequent
amplifier is able to amplify.
•• It  is the bandwidth and not the frequency of operation that is important
with regard to thermal noise.
• Thus a wide band amplifier is noisier than a narrow-band amplifier
whatever their operating frequencies may be.
• Since, it is possible to rewrite eq. (1) to determine the noise voltage
generated by a resistor:

• Where
• en = noise voltage generated in V (r.m.s.)
• R =resistance (Ω)
 
• Equation (2) applies to copper wire-wound resistors, with all others
exhibiting somewhat greater noise voltages.
• Thus, dissimilar resistors or equal value exhibit different noise levels, which
gives rise to the term “low-noise resistor”, which you may have heard
before but not understood.
• Standard carbon resistors tend to be the noisiest ones while metal film
resistors can be used in all but the most demanding low-noise designs.
• The best low noise performance is obtained with wire-wound resistors.
Noise In Semiconductors
Diodes
•• The
  major contributor of semiconductor noise is called shot noise.
• It is due to the discrete-particle nature of the current carriers in all semi-
conductors.
• These current carriers are not moving in a continuous flow since the distance they
travel is somewhat different for each carrier, because of their random motion.
• The name “shot noise” is derived from the fact that when driving a speaker,
excessive shot noise sounds like a shower of lead shot falling on a metallic surface.
• Shot noise and thermal noise are additive.
• The equation for shot noise in a diode is:

• Where
• In= shot noise in A (r .m .s.)
• q = electron charge (= 1.6 10-19 Coulomb)
• Idc = diode DC current (A)
• B = bandwidth of frequencies involved (Hz)
NOISE IN SEMICONDUCTORS
transistors
• Unfortunately, there no valid formula to calculate its
value for a complete transistor
• Shot noise generally increases proportionally with d.c
bias currents.
• Two other little understood forms of devise noise
Occur at the opposite extremes of frequency.
• The low frequency effect is called excess noise and
occurs at frequencies below about 1kHz.
• Fluctuations in the conductivity of the semiconductor
material produce a noise source which is inversely
proportional to frequency and directly proportional
to temperature and dc current levels.
• Excess noise is often referred to as I/f noise.
• It is present in both bipolar junction transistors (BJT)
and field effect transistors (FET).
• At the upper end of the frequency spectrum, device
noise starts to increase rapidly in the vicinity of the
device's high frequency cutoff.
• These high- and low-frequency effects
are relatively unimportant in the design
of receivers, since the critical stages
will usually be working well above 1
kHz and hopefully below the device's
high-frequency cutoff area.
• The low frequency effects are,
however. Important to the design of
low-level, low-frequency amplifiers.
• The overall noise intensity versus
frequency curves for semiconductor
devices have a bathtub Shape
• At low frequencies, the excess noise is
dominant, while in the mid-range, shot
noise and thermal noise predominate
and above that the high frequency
effects take over.
• Since semiconductor possesses
inherent resistance, they generate
thermal noise in addition to shot noise.
SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO
Signal-to-noise Ratio
• The
  most fundamental tool is known as
the signal-to-noise ratio, which is a
relative measure of the desired signal
power to the noise signal power at any
given point in an electronic system.
• The signal-to-noise ratio is often
designated simply as S/N and can be
expressed mathematically as

• If the signal and the noise powers are

already expressed in absolute
logarithmic units like dBm then equals
to the difference between the two
levels: