EDN

System Noise

A mixer stage has a noise figure of 20 dB. This mixer stage is preceded by an amplifier which has a noise figure of 9 dB and an available power gain of 15 dB. Solve for the the overall noise figure ...
Electronic Design

Let your digital receiver measure its own noise figure

Modern digital receiver/exciters (DREX) used in radar and communications systems are capable of significant self-testing in a production factory environment. Long past are the days where the analog ...
EDN

Improve phase noise by down-converting the VCO frequency

Phase noise is a critical parameter in most phase-locked loop (PLL) synthesizer applications. In radars, for example, phase noise at low-offset frequencies translates to the ability to discern between ...
Electronic Design

Making RF-to-Baseband Noise Figure Measurements

RF-to-baseband front ends consisting of a low-noise amplifier (LNA) cascaded with a mixer downconverting RF signals to baseband have become the epitome of RF devices tested in high-volume ...