Chapter III

NOISE IN COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

This chapter serves to introduce the reader to different types of noise.

Noise is probably the only topic in electronics and telecommunications
with which everyone must be familiar, no matter what his or her
specialization. Electrical disturbances interface with signals, producing
noise.

3.1 Introduction
Noise may be defined as a not pertinent form of energy with random frequency
and amplitude, which tends to interfere with reception of a signal from a distant
station. Alternatively, noise is an unwanted energy that disturbs transmission and
processing of signals in systems and over which control is incomplete.

3.2 Nature of Noise

Sound is the transmission of vibrations at different frequencies; noise is defined
as unwanted sound. The ear is a pressure sensitive mechanism, detecting small
changes of pressure over a wide range of frequencies; in humans the ear is most
sensitive to sounds at frequencies of 1000- 5000 cycles per second. This unit of
measurement is known as the Hertz (Hz). Dogs are most sensitive to sounds at
frequencies from 500 Hz to 16 kHz.
Reverberation Time
This is the time taken for the sound to decay to 60dB. Kennels by their very
nature have poor acoustic properties; hard smooth surfaces do not absorb noise,
therefore, any noise generated tends to reverberate around the inside of the
building. The longer the reverberation time, the more uncomfortable & echoing
the building will be. For offices a comfortable working environment is
considered to be 0.4-0.6 seconds, in sports halls & swimming pools this time can
be as long as 4-6 seconds.

3.3 Different Types of Noise

There are two types of noise. These are:
1. External noise, and
2. Internal noise.
3.3.1 External Noise
Communication theory shows us that receiving messages from the external
environment is made difficult by the multitude of signals that we receive. The

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theory says that less than 1/3 of communication comes from what someone says
(the words), and over 2/3 comes from how it is said. We hear someone say words
to us. We hear and see how they say it. We see how they are dressed. We are
distracted by other objects that come into and out of our field of vision and other
sounds that we attempt to filter or not.
From all of these cues that we receive in a given message at a given
time, we have to choose what to recognize and process. What seems to us, at the
time, to be the most important information to take in and process? This decision
is the realm of the psychologist, as it deals with a greater internal purpose, what is
it that I want? Further, how many cues can I process at one time? Experience
substantiates the theory that we cannot remember more than 7 ± 2 numbers at the
various forms of noise created outside the receiver come under the heading of
external noise and include atmospheric, man-made and extraterrestrial noise and
industrial noise.
1. Atmospheric noise:- Commonly referred to as a static. This is caused by
electrical discharges in the air usually associated with thunderstorms. These
storms don’t have to be local; even storms thousands of miles away produce
signals that propagate for great distances.
2. Man-made:- Such as automobile ignition systems, fluorescent lights,
electrical arcing from switchgear, and commentator-brush motors. This
noise is more severe near cities and industrial areas.
3. Extraterrestrial noise:- The sun, moon, planets, and all stars act as sources
of radio signals for several reasons. First of all, any hot object radiates
energy, some of which is visible if the object is hot enough. Then there are
other signals from solar flares and mysterious creaks and groans from some
of the planets. This noises may seem relatively insignificant but the become
very disturbing to highly directional antennas tracking apace craft,
especially, for example, if one passes in front of the sun.
4. Industrial noise:- Between the frequencies of 1 to 600 MHz the intensity of
noise made by humans easily outstrips that created by any other sources,
internal or external to the receiver. Under this heading, sources such as
automobile and aircraft ignition, electric motors and switching equipment,
leakage from high-voltage lines and a multitude of other heavy electric
machines are included. The nature of industrial noise is so variable that it is
so difficult to analyze it on any basis other than the statistical.

3.3.2 Internal Noise

Under the basis of internal noise, we discuss noise created by any of the active or
passive devices found in receivers. Such noise is generally random, impossible to
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treat on individual voltage basis, but easy to observe and describe statistically.
The main examples of the internal noise are:
 Thermal noise
 Shot noise, and
 Transit-time noise

Thermal noise
It is the noise resulting from the random motion of electrons in a conducting
medium. Thermal noise arises from both the photodetector and the load resistor.
Amplifier noise also contributes to thermal noise. A reduction in thermal noise is
possible by increasing the value of the load resistor. However, increasing the
value of the load resistor to reduce thermal noise reduces the receiver bandwidth.
In APDs, the thermal noise is unaffected by the internal carrier multiplication.

Characteristics of thermal noise:

The characteristics of thermal noises are like that:
1. Thermal noise is called by the random movements of free electron in any
conductor.
2. Since electron movement increases with temperature the noise voltage will
too.
3. The average amplitude will be constant at all frequencies. This type of noise
is called white noise.
Thermal noise equation:
Thermal noise voltage across a register R, noise voltage,
En=4KTBR volt.
Where,
k=boatman’s constant=1.38*10-23 j/k.
T=absolute constant.
B=bandwidth.
R=resistance
En=noise voltage.

Shot noise
It is noise caused by current fluctuations because of the discrete nature of charge
carriers. Dark current and quantum noises are two types of noise that manifest
themselves as shot noise. Dark current noise results from dark current that
continues to flow in the photodiode when there is no incident light. Dark current
noise is independent of the optical signal. In addition, the discrete nature of the
photo detection process creates a signal dependent shot noise called quantum

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noise. Quantum noise results from the random generation of electrons by the
incident optical radiation.

Characteristics of shot noise:

The characteristics are like that:
1. Shot noise is actually fluctuations over an average white noise.
2. The electrons are naturally emitted at random times denoted by Tk.
Shot noise equation:
In=(2QIB)1/2 ampere.
Where, In=noise current.
Q= electron charge=1.6*10-19 c.
I= Bias current.
B= bandwidth.

Receiver noise
Noise corrupts the transmitted signal in a fiber optic system. This means that
noise sets a lower limit on the amount of optical power required for proper
receiver operation. There are many sources of noise in fiber optic systems. They
include the following:
 Noise from the light source
 Noise from the interaction of light with the optical fiber
 Noise from the receiver itself
Because the intent of this chapter is to discuss optical detector and
receiver properties, only noise associated with the photo detection process is
discussed. Receiver noise includes thermal noise, dark current noise, and
quantum noise. Noise is the main factor that limits receiver sensitivity.
Noise introduced by the receiver is either signal dependent or signal
independent. Signal dependent noise results from the random generation of
electrons by the incident optical power. Signal independent noise is independent
of the incident optical power level.

Transmit-Time Noise
If the time taken by electron to travel from the emitter to the collector of a
transistor because significant to the period of the signal being amplified, the so-
called transit-time effect takes place and the noise input admittance of the
transistor increases.

3.4 Few Other Noises

Inter modulation noise: When signals at different frequencies share the same
transmission medium, the result may be inter modulation noise. The effect of

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inter modulation noise is to produce signals at a frequency that is the sum or

difference of the two original frequencies or multiple of those frequencies.
Cross talk: Cross talk is an unwanted coupling between signal paths. It can occur
by electrical coupling between nearby twisted pairs or, rarely, coax cable lines
carrying multiple signals.
Impulse noise: Impulse noise is non continuous, consisting of irregular pulses or
noise spikes of short duration and of relatively high amplitude.
Narrowband Noise: The receiver of a communication system usually includes
some provision for preprocessing the received signal. The preprocessing may
take the form of a narrowband filter whose bandwidth is just large enough to pass
the modulated component of the received signal essentially undistorted but not so
large as to admit excessive noise through the receiver. The noise process
appearing at the output of such a filter is called narrowband noise with the
spectral components of narrowband noise concentrated about some midband
frequency fc. The block diagram of a narrowband FM signal is given below
(Figure 3.1):

Figure 3.1: Block diagram of a narrowband FM signal.

To analyze the effects of narrowband noise on the performance of a

communication system, we need a mathematical representation of it. Depending
on the application of interest, there are two specific representations of
narrowband noise:
1. The narrowband noise is defined in terms of a pair of components
called the in-phase and quadrature components.
2. The narrowband noise is defined in terms of two other components
called the envelope and phase.

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3.5 Signal To Noise Ratio (SNR)

The signal to noise ratio (SNR), which is the ratio of the power in a signal to the
power contained in the noise that is present at a particular point in the
transmission. Typically the ratio is measured at a receiver, because it is at this
point that an attempt is made to process the signal and eliminate the unwanted
noise. For convenience, this ratio is often reported in decibels:
(SNR)dB=10log10 Signal power/Noise power.
A high SNR will mean a high-quality signal and a low number of
required intermediate repeaters. The SNR ratio is important in the transmission of
digital data because it sets the upper bound on the achievable data rate.
Shannon’s result is that the maximum channel capacity, in bits per second, obeys
the equation
C=Blog2(1+SNR).
Where,
C is the capacity of the channel in bits per second and B is the bandwidth of the
channel in hertz.

3.6 Noise figure

The noise figure, sometimes called noise factor, F is defined as the ratio of the
signal-to-noise power supplied to the input terminals of the receiver or amplifier
to the signal-to-noise power supplied to the input or load resistor. Thus
F= input signal-to-noise ratio/Output signal-to-noise ratio.
It can be seen immediately that a practical receiver will generate some
noise, and the S/N will deteriorate as one moves towards the output. The noise
figure may be expressed as an actual ratio or in decibels.

3.7 Noise Temperature

The noise temperature, in radio astronomy, is employed extensively for antennas
and low-noise microwave amplifiers. Not the least reason for its uses is
convenience, in that it is an additive like noise power. This may be seen in the
following equation
Pt=KT f
=p1+p2=KT1 f+ KT2 f
KTt f =KT1 f+ KT2 f
Tt = T1+T2
Where,
p1 and p2 = two individual noise powers and Pt is their sum.
T1 and T2 = the individual noise temperatures.
Tt = the “total” noise noise temperature.
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3.8 Summary
In this chapter several types of noises are introduced with some related
terminology. In short, the ways by which noise may be adopted to a system is:
 Through direct radiations from a noise source.
 The disturbances may reduce RF current in the main lines and these
currents reach the receivers either directly of through inductive or
capacitive coupling to receiver aerials.
 Even when the disturbing machinery and receiver operate indifferent
supply lines, interference may be caused by stray coupling between the
two supply systems.
Placing receiver aerials in a high, open position and connecting them to
the receivers through screened cables may reduce these interferences. The
improved signal to noise ratio outweighs the attenuation introduced by the feeder.
The receivers must also be shielded if full benefit of this arrangement is to be
derived.

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