COMMUNICATION NETWORKS

The Noise

The Noise
LINEAR CHANNELS

Supposing to operate with linear transmission channels, we can

give a general model to the channel

VTx (t ) VRx (t )
?

VTx (t ) VRx (t )
Transfer
Loss +
function n(t )

Noise
The Noise 2
SOUND NOISE

Sound is a sensation of acoustic waves

Unpleasant, unwanted, disturbing sound is generally treated as Noise and is a highly

subjective feeling

The Noise 3
NOISE IN COMMUNICATIONS

Noise is a general term which is used to describe an unwanted

signal which affects a wanted signal. These unwanted signals arise
from a variety of sources which may be considered in one of two
main categories:

•Interference, usually from a human source (man made)

•Naturally occurring random noise

Interference
Interference arises for example, from other communication systems
(cross talk), 50 Hz supplies (hum) and harmonics, switched mode
power supplies, electronics circuits, ignition (car spark plugs) motors,
etc...

The Noise 4
NATURAL NOISE
Naturally occurring external noise sources include atmosphere
disturbance (e.g. electric storms, lighting, ionospheric effect etc), so called
‘Sky Noise’ or Cosmic noise which includes noise from galaxy, solar noise
and ‘hot spot’ due to oxygen and water vapour resonance in the earth’s
atmosphere.

The Noise 5
THERMAL NOISE (JOHNSON NOISE)
This type of noise is 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).

Experimental results (by Johnson) and theoretical studies (by Nyquist) give
the mean square noise voltage as
_ 2
V = 4 k TBR (volt 2 )
Where k = Boltzmann’s constant = 1.38 x 10-23 Joules per K
T = absolute temperature
B = bandwidth noise measured in (Hz)
R = resistance (ohms)
The Noise 6
NOISE SOURCES

▪ In general, the disturbance we call noise is the sum of several

sources, each characterized as a random process
▪ Individual components making the noise may carry information
(e.g., speech of a single person)
▪ But when they add-up the result is a… mess (e.g., sound in a
room where several people are talking)
▪ Noise is a signal and it is a random process, but it does not carry
any information
▪ Mathematically, also the noise is characterized by the probability
density function, the autocorrelation and its Fourier transform
that is the power spectral density

The Noise 7
CENTRAL LIMIT THEOREM

▪ It is a powerful and fundamental theorem for statistics

▪ For our purposes, we can simplify it saying that it states that
A random process that is the sum of N random
processes is Gaussian distributed, if N is large

The Noise 8
NOISE IN COMMUNICATIONS

▪ Most of the time, in communications, noise is the sum of

several sources
▪ They can be natural or induced by humans
▪ Practically, the result is that the disturbances in
telecommunications are most of the time Gaussian random
processes

( x−m )2
−
1 2 2
f n ( x) = e
2 

The Noise 9
…AND THE PSD? (I)

▪ If a signal is noisy must be “very random”

▪ So a sample at a certain time is poorly correlated to another
one, even if the delay is small
▪ What does it mean? Autocorrelation for random processes
modeling noise sources is typical very short in time
▪ And the spectrum?
▪ The PSD is the Fourier transform of the autocorrelation…
▪ … and to a signal whose “memory” is short in time
corresponds a wide spectrum, in the frequency domain
▪ Noise PSD is typically very wide

The Noise 10
…AND THE PSD? (II)

▪ We have understood that the PSD of a noise source is typically

wide
▪ But what about its shape?
▪ The shape of a PSD carries the meaning of the “prevalent tones”…
if any…
▪ But a noise typically does not have “prevalent tones” at least in
the interesting bandwidth

The PSD of a noise source is typically wide and

flat

The Noise 11
WHITE AND GAUSSIAN NOISE

▪ In accordance to the prevoius comments, a mathematical

model that is extensively used for the additive noise is
▪ White and Gaussian
▪ Where Gaussian comes from the Probability Density
Function (PDF) and white comes from optics and means that
all frequencies are present with the same intensity
▪ The PSD function is

N0
Pn ( f ) =
2
The Noise 12
FILTERED WHITE AND GAUSSIAN NOISE

▪ Of course a PSD that extends from –∞ to +∞ is not realistic. Hence,

what is always considered is the noise in the bandwidth we are
interested on
▪ It is a noise filtered by an ideal filter that identifies the bandwidth

PN(f) PN_F(f)
No/2
No/2

f -B +B f

H(f)|2
PN(f)
PN_F(f)

-B +B
The Noise 13
NOISE AVERAGE POWER, BASEBAND
PN_F(f)
No/2

--B +B f

Using the definition…

+ N0
PN _ F = 
−
PN _ F ( f )df =
2
2B = N 0 B

The Noise 14
NOISE AVERAGE POWER, PASSBAND

No/2

-fc-B -fc+B fc-B fc+B

f

PN_F(f)
Using the definition…

+ N0 N0
PN _ F = 
−
PN _ F ( f )df =
2
2B +
2
2B = 2 N 0 B

The Noise 15
THE SIGNAL TO NOISE RATIO

▪ The most important parameter used as a metric for quality

of communication channels is the
Signal-to-Noise Ratio
▪ It is defined as
PRx
SNR =
PN
▪ Where
▪ PRx is the power of the signal carrying information at the Rx input
▪ PN is the power of the noise in the bandwidth where the
information signal is

The Noise 16
SNR: BASEBAND VS. BANDPASS

▪ Baseband link +
PN_F(f)
PN _ F = 
−
PN _ F ( f )df = N 0 B
No/2

PRx
--B +B f SNRBB =
N0B
▪ Bandpass
No/2

-fc-B -fc+B fc-B fc+B

f
+ PRx
PN _ F =  −
PN _ F ( f )df = 2 N 0 B SNR =
2N0 B
The Noise 17
COMMUNICATION LINK

channel PRX,BT
TX filtering
and loss
+ RX
n(t )

N0/2
SNRout

Transmission quality in communication links is given by

1. Good channel quality: minimum filtering to the signal spectrum
2. Large SNR: large power for the signal carrying information and
low noise in the signal bandwidth

The Noise 18
RX QUALITY

▪ In order to have good received signals the channel must

satisfy the following requirements:
1. Low filtering effect
2. Low noise
▪ For analog transmission the tolerable filtering effect
depends on the transmitted signal… the problem with
analog signal is that we do not know where the
information is in the time or frequency
▪ Regarding noise, for analog transmission, typical we refer
to the SNR after receiver referred to the baseband SNR
that is taken as a reference

The Noise 19