Course Materials

Communication Theory 21ET44

BE II Year IV Sem
Module 3- Noise in Analog Modulation

 Noise is unwanted signal that affects wanted signal.

 Noise is random signal that exists in communication
systems.

 Degrades system performance (Analog and digital)

 Receiver cannot distinguish signal from noise
 Efficiency of communication system
reduces

Types of Noise
Noise may be classified depending on the location of the source. External and Internal with
reference to the receiver.

Sources:
 Internal to the system
Due to spontaneous fluctuation in current and voltages in the electrical circuit.
 External to the system.
Due to atmospheric, extraterrestrial and manmade noise.

External Noise:
Atmospheric noise (also called static) it dominants at lower frequencies. Atmosphere
disturbance like electric storms, lighting, ionosphere effect also contributes to ‘Sky Noise’.
Cosmic noise includes noise from galaxy, solar noise. ‘Hot spot’ due to oxygen and water
vapor resonance in the earth’s atmosphere.

Man-Made Noise sources are aircraft ignition, automobile ignition, fluorescent lamps. It
ranges between 1MHz-500MHz range. These noises are more intense in urban areas than
rural areas. They can travel considerable distance.
Types of noise

 Thermal noise/white noise/Johnson noise or fluctuation noise

 Shot noise.
 White Noise

Thermal Noise and Shot Noise both are examples of White Noise

White noise

White light contain equal amount of all frequencies in visible spectrum. It also gives
you perfect randomness, which cannot be attained in real systems. Generally, noise
Analysis is based on idealized form of noise called WHITE NOISE. The Power
Spectral Density is of white noise is independent of operating frequency. The time-
average autocorrelation function of the noise voltage is:

… (4.06)
Assumptions
• The vn(t+τ) and vn(t) values are random and independent.
• The condition holds no matter how small t is, provided it is not zero.
• The autocorrelation function of white noise is:

… (4.07)
• Rw(t) is a zero width of height Pn with an area under the pulse = η o/2

Fig. 4.3: Power spectral density of white noise

The corresponding autocorrelation function is given by

where is the Dirac delta.

The autocorrelation function and the PSD of a white noise process is shown in
Figure 1 below.

fig: auto correlation and psd of white noise

• Hence this type of noise is called Additive White Gaussian (AWGN) with power spectral
density of

… (4.08)
• Where

N0 = k *Te
• k = Boltzmann’s constant
• Te = Equivalent Noise temperature of receiver.
 It’s not a physical temperature.
 A theoretical construct i.e equivalent temperature that produces that amount of
noise power internal to the device
 Noise equivalent temperature (T e) is expressed as
T e= T(F-1)
Where,
 T= environmental temperature (290 K)
F= Noise factor

4.2 Noise Calculation:

4.3.1 Signal to noise ratio (SNR)- SNR is the ratio of signal power to noise power. SNR in
decibels is expressed as
SNRdB = 10*log10(Ps/Pn) ... (4.12)
Where, Ps is the signal power in watts and Pn is the noise power in watts.

Noise Power
Noise power generated is proportional to the temperature and the BW. In dB it is defined as
PdBm = 10log(KTB/0.001) … (4.04)
Noise power can be modeled using voltage equivalent circuit ( Thevenin equivalent circuit)
or current equivalent circuit (Norton equivalent circuit)

4.3.2 Noise Figure (F) – Noise figure is defined as signal to noise ratio at input to signal
to noise ratio at output.
 … (4.12)
Where, Nout=Noise output of actual receiver
GNin=Noise output of ideal receiver
G= Antenna Gain

A disadvantage of the noise figure F is that, when it is used to compare low-noise

devices, the
values are all close to unity, which makes the comparison difficult.

5 Spot Noise Figure- as it varies with frequency.

6 Integrated Noise Figure-over the entire bandwidth of interest.
7 Noise factor (NF) – When noise figure is expressed in dB it is called as noise factor.

Noise Figure = 10 Log10(Noise Factor)

Noise Factor = F= (Si/Ni)/ (So/No)

… (4.13)
 Noise Factor- Noise Figure
 Lower the value of F the better the network.
 F =1 for noiseless; In general F<1.
 Noise figure (NF) is the Noise factor converted to dB
 Noise figure = 10 log10 (F)
 NFdB = SNR in – SNR out
Problem 4.1
For an amplifier with an output signal power of 10 W and an output noise power of 0.01 w
determine the signal to noise power ratio

Problem 4.2
The signal to noise ratio at the input to a communication receiver is 40 dB. If the receiver
has a noise figure of 12 dB, calculate the output signal to noise ratio.

Noise Equivalent Bandwidth:

A system with transfer function H(ω) and input signal power density spectrum S i(ω)
has a mean square valve of the output signal

… (4.09)
If Bandwidth is low then noise has constant power spectral density and it is expressed as,

… (4.10)
i.e. Si(ω) is constant, say K.
Therefore equivalent noise bandwidth is given by

… (4.11)

Problem 4.4
For three cascaded amplifier stages each with noise factor of 2 dB and power gains of 10
dB, determine the total noise figure.
Problem 4.5
Cascade three amplifiers ABC was connected in series. Noise figure and power gain of the
amplifiers are given below
Amplifier A GA=20 dB; FA=3 dB
Amplifier B GB=10 dB; FB= 5 dB
Amplifier C GC=5 dB; FC=10dB
An input signal of 50 dB higher than noise level was fed at the input of the network.
Calculate (a) Total noise factor (b) SNR at the output.

4.2.1 Thermal noise:

Random free electron movement in a conductor (resistor) due to thermal agitation.
Generated by all resistances.(e.g. a resistor semiconductor the resistance of a resonant
circuit i.e. the real part of the impedance cable etc).Kinetic energy is formed in the
conductor due the movement of the electrons. This is related to the temperature of the
conductor. With increase in temperature, the movements of free electrons will increases.
This causes current flows through the conductor. Creates random voltage across conductor.
Noise voltage fluctuates about the mean valve of zero. Thermal noise is often referred to as
white noise. Because it has a uniform spectral density across the EM frequency spectrum.
Analogous to the color white which consists of the entire spectrum. The power spectral
density of thermal noise across a conductor having resistance of R ohm is

… (4.01)
-34
Where h=Planck’s constant=6.63*10 joules/second
k = Boltzmann’s constant
Maximum P(f) occurs at f=0 using L’Hospital’s rule

… (4.02)
With variation in P(f) is very small Hence it is constant and independent of frequency. Let
the Thermal Noise Voltage appearing across the two terminals of a resistor be VTN , let Δf
be the bandwidth or frequency of the applied voltage .Then the Mean Square value of VTN
is given by:
… (4.03)
Where
k = Boltzmann’s constant =1.38 x 10-23 Joules per oK
T = absolute temperature in oK
R = resistance in ohms

4.2.2 Shot noise:

Shot noise arises in electronic devices due to the discrete nature of current flow in the
device. The process assumes the existence of an average current flow that manifests itself in
the form of electrons flowing from the cathode to the plate in vacuum tubes; holes and
electrons flowing in semi-conductor devices; and photons emitted in photodiodes. Although
the average number of particles moving across the device per unit time is assumed to be
constant, the process of current flow through the device exhibits fluctuations about the
average value. The manner in which these fluctuations arise varies from one device to
another. In a vacuum- tube device, the fluctuations are produced by the random emission of
electrons from the cathode. In a semiconductor device, the cause is the random diffusion of
electrons or the
Due to random variation in current superimposed upon the DC value. It is due to
variation in arrival time of charge carriers in active devices. The shot noise arises due to
 Arises due to discrete nature of current flow in Diodes and Transistors.
 Photons in an optical device or electrons in an electronic circuit. If we assume the
electrons in these components are emitted at random interval, τk
 where -∞< k <∞
 If this random emission are observed for a long period.
 The total current flow through the component can be expressed as

… (4.05)
Where X(t) is stationary Process and is called shot-noise.
Receiver Model
Effect of Noise in DSB-SC Receiver
Noise in AM Receivers
Fig below shows the phasor diagram for x(t)

Fig. 5.9: Phasor diagram for AM wave plus narrow-band noise

for the case of high carrier –to- noise for the case of high carrier-to-noise ratio
From this phasor diagram the receiver output can be obtained as
y(t) = envelope of x(t)= { [Ac +Ackam(t) + nI(t) ]2 + nQ(t)2}1/2… (5.22)
When the average carrier power is large compared with the average noise power,
i.e., the signal term Ac+Ackam(t) is large compared with the nI(t), nQ(t). Then, we may approximate the
output y(t) as
y(t) = Ac +Ackam(t) + nI(t) … (5.23)

The term Ac is DC component and is neglected.

The output signal power is Ac2ka2P. The output noise power is 2WN0.
This expression valid only if,
1. The noise at the receiver is small compared to the signal
2. The amplitude sensitivity ka is adjusted for a percentage modulation less than
or equal to 100%
Then, FOM is

… (5.25)
The FOM of AM receiver using envelope detection is always less than unity.
When compared to DSBSC and SSB the noise performance of AM is always
inferior.
Threshold effect:
When the carrier-to-noise ratio at the receiver input of a standard AM is small compared to
unity, the noise term dominates, and the performance of the envelope detector changes
completely. In this case it is convenient to represent the narrow band noise n(t) in terms of
its envelope r(t) and phase ψ(t), as given by
n(t) = r(t) cos [ 2πfct + ψ(t) ] … (5.26)
The phasor diagram of the detector input x(t) = s(t) + n(t) is shown in fig below,

Fig 5.10 Phasor diagram for AM wave plus narrow-band noise for the case of low
carrier-to-noise ratio
 In the fig, we have used the noise as a reference, because it is a dominant term. To
the noise phasor, we added a phasor representing the signal term Ac[ 1+ kam(t) ], with the
angle between them is ψ(t). From the fig it is observed that carrier amplitude is small
compared to the noise envelope r(t). Then, we may approximate the envelope detector
output as
y(t) = r(t) + Accos [ ψ(t) ] + Ackam(t)cos [ ψ(t) ] … (5.27)
The above relation shows that, the detector output is not proportional to the message
signal m(t). The last term contains the message signal m(t) multiplied by noise in the form
of cos [ ψ(t) ]. The phase ψ(t) of a noise uniformly distributed over 2π radians, and it can
have values between 0 to 2π with equal probability. Therefore, we have a complete loss of
information. The loss of a message in an envelope detector that operates at a low carrier to
noise ratio is referred to as threshold effect. It means a value of the carrier to noise ratio
below which the noise performance of a detector deteriorates much more rapidly than high
carrier to noise ratio.

Noise in FM Receiver

To study the noise performance of a FM receiver idealized FM receiver model is

required. Fig below shows the idealized FM receiver model,
Since, frequency deviation Δf is proportional to the frequency sensitivity k f of the
modulator, and by definition deviation ratio D is equal to the frequency deviation Δf
divided by message bandwidth W, thus deviation ration D is proportional to the
kfP1/2 / W, thus figure of merit of WBFM is a quadratic function of deviation ratio. , Now in
WBFM transmission bandwidth BT is approximately proportional to deviation ratio D,
Accordingly, we may state that when the carrier to noise ratio is high, an increase in the
transmission bandwidth BT provides corresponding increase in the output signal to noise
ratio and hence Figure of Merit of the FM system. The important point to note from this
statement, unlike AM the use of FM provides useful mechanism for the increase in the
transmission bandwidth for improved noise performance.
Example: Single Tone Modulation
Capture effect:
In frequency modulation, the signal can be affected by another frequency modulated
signal whose frequency content is close to the carrier frequency of the desired FM wave.
The receiver may lock such an interference signal and suppress the desired FM wave when
the interference signal is stronger than the desired signal. When the strength of the desired
signal and interference signal are nearly equal, the receiver fluctuates back and forth
between them, i.e., receiver locks interference signal for some times and desired signal for
some time and this goes on randomly. This phenomenon is known as the capture effect.

5.7 FM Threshold Effect:

The output signal to noise ratio of FM receiver is valid only if the carrier to noise
ratio is measured at the discriminator input is high compared to unity. It is observed that as
the input noise is increased so that the carrier to noise ratio decreased, the FM receiver
breaks. At first individual clicks are heard in the receiver output and as the carrier to noise
ratio decreases still further, the clicks rapidly merge into a crackling or sputtering sound.
Near the break point eqn 6.40 begins to fail predicting values of output SNR larger than the
actual ones. This phenomenon is known as the threshold effect. The threshold effect is
defined as the minimum carrier to noise ratio that gives the output SNR not less than the
value predicted by the usual signal to noise formula assuming a small noise power. For a
qualitative discussion of the FM threshold effect, Consider, when there is no signal present,
so that the carrier is unmodulated. Then the composite signal at the frequency discriminator
input is

… (5.50)
Where nI(t) and nQ(t) are in-phase and quadrature component of the narrow band noise n(t)
with respect to carrier wave AcCos2πfct. The phasor diagram of fig 5.17 below shows the
phase relations b/n the various components of x(t) in equation (5.50).

Fig. 5.17: Phase diagram interpretation of equation (5.50)

As the amplitudes and phases of nI(t) and nQ(t) change randomly with time the point P
wanders around the point Q. When the carrier to noise ratio is large nI(t) and nQ(t) are small
compared to Ac, so that point P always around Q. Thus the angle θ(t) small and within a
multiple of 2π radians.
The point P occasionally sweeps around the origin and θ(t) increases or decreases by 2π
radians, When the carrier to noise ratio is small. The clicks are produced only when θ(t)
changes by ±2π radians. From the phasor diagram of fig above, we may deduce the
condition required for clicks to occur. A positive going click occurs when the envelope r(t)
and phase ψ(t) of the narrow band noise n(t) satisfy the following conditions:
 … (5.51)
These conditions ensure that θ(t) changes by 2π radians in the time increment dt, during
which the phase of the narrow band noise increases by the incremental amount dψ(t).
Similarly, the conditions for negative going click to occur are

… (5.52)
These conditions ensure that θ(t) changes by - 2π radians in the time increment dt As the
carrier to noise ratio decreased, the average number of clicks per unit time increases. When
this number becomes large, the threshold is said to occur. Consequently, the output SNR
deviates from a linear function of the carrier to noise ratio when the latter falls below the
threshold. This effect is shown in figure below; this calculation is based on the following
two assumptions:
1. The output signal is taken as the receiver output measured in the absence of noise. The
average output signal power is calculated for a sinusoidal modulation that produces a
frequency deviation Δf equal to 1/2 of the band pass filter bandwidth B, The carrier is thus
enabled to swing back and forth across the entire IF band.
2. The average output noise power is calculated when there is no signal present, i.e., the
carrier is unmodulated, with no restriction placed on the value of the carrier to noise ratio.
 The curve plotted in fig above for the ratio (B/2W) = 5. The linear portion of the
curve corresponds to the limiting value 3ρ(B/2W)3. From the fig we may observe that the
output SNR deviates appreciably from a linear function of the carrier to noise ratio ρ, when
ρ becomes less than a threshold of 10dB. The threshold carrier to noise ratio ρ th depends on
the ratio of band pass filter bandwidth to message bandwidth B/W and ρ this influenced by
the presence of modulation.

We may state that the loss of message at an FM receiver output is negligible if the carrier to
noise ratio satisfies the condition or SNR greater than 13 Db.
… (5.53)
5.8 FM threshold reduction:
In Specific applications such as space communications, it is required to reduce the
noise threshold in an FM receiver so as to satisfactorily operate the receiver with the
minimum signal power possible. This can be achieved by using an FM demodulator with
negative feedback (FMFB) or by using a phase locked loop demodulator.

Fig. 5.19: FMFB demodulator

Fig above is a block diagram of an FMFB demodulator. The conventional local oscillator is
replaced by VCO. To understand the operation of this receiver, suppose that VCO is
removed from the circuit and the feedback path is left open. Assume that the wide band FM
is applied to the receiver input, and a second FM from the same source but with a
modulation index a fraction smaller is applied to the VCO terminal of the product
modulator. The output of the product modulator consists of sum and difference frequency
components. The band pass filter is designed to pass only difference frequency component.
The frequency deviation of the BP filter output would be small, although the frequency
deviation of both input FM wave is large, since the difference between their instantaneous
deviations is small. Hence, the modulation indices would subtract, and the resulting FM
wave at the BPF filter output have a smaller modulation index than the input FM waves.
This means that the BP filter bandwidth in fig above need only be a fraction of that required
for either wideband FM wave. The FM wave with reduced modulation index passed by the
BPF filter is then frequency - demodulated by the combination of limiter/discriminator and
finally processed by the base band filter. It is now apparent that second wide band FM
waves replaced by VCO feed by o/p of low pass filter as in fig above. Now, it will be shown
that the SNR of an FMFB receiver is same as that of conventional FM receiver with the
same input signal and noise power if the carrier to noise ratio is sufficiently large. Assume
for the moment there is no feedback around the demodulator. In the combined presence of
an unmodulated carrier Ac cos2πfct and a narrow band noise
n(t) = nI(t)cos2πfct - nQ(t)sin2πfct,
the phase of the composite signal x(t) at the limiter - discriminator input is approximately
equal to nQ(t)/Ac. This assumes that the carrier to noise ratio is high. The envelope of x(t) is
of no interest to us, because the limiter removes all variations in the envelope. Thus the
composite signal at the frequency discriminator input consists of a small index phase -
modulated wave with the modulation derived from the component n Q(t) of noise that is in
phase quadrature with the carrier. When feedback is applied, the VCO generates a wave that
reduces the phase – modulation index of the wave at the band pass filter output, i.e., the
quadrature component nQ(t) of noise. Thus we see that as long as the carrier - to noise ratio
is sufficiently large, the FMFB receiver does not respond to the in-phase noise component
nI(t), but it would demodulate the quadrature noise like a signal.
An FMFB demodulator is essentially a tracking filter that can track only the slowly
varying the frequency of wideband FM waves. Consequently it responds only to a narrow
band of noise centered about the instantaneous carrier frequency. The bandwidth of noise to
which the FMFB receiver responds is precisely the band of noise that the VCO tracks. As a
result, FMFB receivers allow a threshold extension.
Like the FMFB demodulator, the PLL is also a tracking filter and hence it also
provides threshold extension.

5.9 Pre-Emphasis and De-Emphasis in FM:

WKT the power spectral density of the noise at the receiver output has a square law
dependence on the operating frequency as shown in fig below.
SNo(f)

Fig. 5.20: PSD of noise at FM receiver output

Fig. 5.21: PSD of a typical message source

Figure 5.20 shows the PSD of message source have spectra of this form. We see that the
PSD of the message falls off appreciably at higher frequencies. On the other hand PSD of
noise increases rapidly with frequency. Thus at ±W, relative spectral density of message is
low, where as that of the output noise is very high. It means, the message is not using the
allocated bandwidth efficiently. So, to improve the noise performance by slightly reducing
the bandwidth of the low pass filter to reject large amount of noise power while losing only
a small amount of message power. But this approach is not satisfactory because the
distortion of the message. A more satisfactory approach is the use of pre-emphasis in the
transmitter and de-emphasis in the receiver as shown in fig below.

Fig. 5.22: Use of pre-emphasis and de-emphasis in FM system

In this method, we artificially emphasize the high frequency components of the message
signal prior modulation in the transmitter before the noise is introduced in the receiver. The
low frequency and high frequency portions of the PSD of the message are equalized in such
a way that the message fully occupies the frequency band allotted to it. Then, at the
discriminator output in the receiver perform the inverse operation by de-emphasizing the
high frequency components to restore the message. In this process, the high frequency noise
is reduced thereby effectively increasing the output SNR of the system. To produce an
undistorted version of the message at the receiver the filter transfer functions are the inverse
of each other.

… (5.57)
The average message power is independent of filter transfer functions. The pre-emphasis
filter is selected so that the average power of the emphasized message m 1(t) (o/p of pre-
emphasis ) has the same average power as of the message m(t). Then,

… (5.58)
It is a constraint on the transfer function Hpe(f) of pre-emphasis filter. i.e., the bandwidth of
the transmitted signal remains same, with or without pre-emphasis, the PSD of the n d(t) at
the discriminator output is

… (5.59)
Therefore, the PSD of the noise at the de-emphasis filter output is equal to |Hde(f)2SNd(f)|.
The bandwidth of the post detection filter is W and is less than BT/2, then, the average
power of the modified noise at the receiver output is

... (5.60)
Because the average message power at the receiver output is unaffected by the pre-emphasis
and de-emphasis. The improvement in output SNR due to pre-emphasis and de-emphasis is
defined by

OR

… (5.61)
Note: Improvement factor assumes high carrier to noise ratio at the discriminator input.
Figure ;(a) Preemphasis network. (b) Frequency response of pre-emphasis network.
The frequency response of pre-emphasis network is:

Hpe (f) = 1+jf/f0 R<<r, 2πfCR<<1, f0 = 1/2πfCR

Hde(f) = 1/ (1+jf/)

I=
∫

In commercial FM broadcasting, we typically have f0= 2.1 KHz, and we reasonably assume
that W= 15 KHz, This set of values gives I = 22, which is corresponds to an improvement
of 13 dB in the output signal to noise ratio of the receiver,