RL-TR-93-151

In-House Report
August 1983
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LOW NOISE MEASUREMENTS
IN AN RF ENVIRONMENT
Danle' E. Warren
OTIC
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ELECTED
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93-30400
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Rome Laboratory
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August 1993 In-House
4. TInE AND SUBTm. S. FUNDING NUMBEr;S
LOW NOISE HEASUREMENTS IN AN RF ENVIRONMENT PE - 35889E
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Daniel E. \oJarren
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RL-TR-93-151
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1:l. ABSTRACT(IoIai'7un.....
This report describes a problem that is often ignored when making radiated noise
measurements. The measurements in this report are secondary to the "cleaning up"
,-
of the total spectrum before any measurements can be made of a selected bandwidth.

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14. SUBJECTTERMS
1 ..
Noise, Noise Figure, Antennas, Galactic Noise, EMC, RFI, VHF, 20
Meteor Burst, Measurements Instrumentation
' II PRICE CODE
17. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION 18. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION 19. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION 20. UMITATION OF ABSTRACT
OF REPORT OF THIS PAGE OF ABSTRACT
UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED U/L
N N "
LOW NOISE MEASUREMENTS IN AN RF ENVIRONMENT
1. INTRODUCTION
This report describes a recent VHF noise measurement that was performed in
support of a meteor burst evaluation program. It highlights a pitfall that may occur if
one w e r ~ to make electromagnetic noise measurements over a limited spectrum
when the measurement equipment is functional over a much wider spectrum.
2. PURPOSE
The purpose of this measurement was to determine the electromagnetic noise
environment at the Rome laboratory's Verona Research Facility in order to
determine the suitability of using this site to evaluate antenna array techniques that
might apply to meteor burst communications. The spectrum of interest was 40-43
MHz; however, it was later noted that a much larger spectrum must be examined.
3. DISCUSSION
It is often convenient to use a spectrum analyzer to study a range of frequencies
to determine if there are any objectionable signals that might cause interference.
The noise figure of most spectrum analyzers, however, is so poor (typically about
20-30 dB) that they must be used in conjunction with a low noise preamplifier.
While a spectrum analyzer might have a rather large linear dynamic range, this
cannot be expected of a low noise amplifier. Therefore, care must be taken not to
overdrive the amplifier, even at frequencies out of the displayed spectrum or
phantom signals and noise may appear in the frequency band of interest due to
nonlinear mixing of out of band signals. First, the amplifier must be examined to
1
determine what level of signal is required to raise the level of the nonlinear products
above its noise floor. Then, when initially making noise measurements, it is
necessary to examine the entire range of frequencies to which the amplifier may
respond so that any high level out of band signals may be limited by appropriate
filtering. The same consideration must also be given to the spectrum analyzer itself
because it may be dri>/en into its nonlinear range and further restrict the maximum
signal allowed at the input of the preamplifier.
There are two types of noise to be concerned with, interferers and broadband
noise. The interferers, which are other transmitters in the vicinity, will generally be
very sporadic and have a finite bandwidth and their signal level is measured in
terms of power. The broadband noise, generally a combination of galactic noise
and manmade noise, will be distributed in frequency and is measured in terms of
spectral power density. When using an HP-8562A spectrum analyzer as the
measurement receiver, the marker can be toggled to read either the absolute
magnitude of an interferer or to read the spectral power density, using an averaging
technique to measure the broadband noise. One must be careful to use the proper
marker setting when making such measurements since erroneous results may be
obtained when trying to measure discrete signals in terms of power density.
4. AMPLIFIER CHARACTERIZATION
The preamplifier used for these measurements was an ENI-500-L which :las a
typical noise figure of 8 dB and a maximum output power of 300 m i l l i w a t ~ s over a
frequency range of .5 MHz to 500 MHz. In order to keep the nonlinear products of
extraneous signals down to the noise amplifier floor, it is necessary to limit all input
si'Jnals to the amplifier to about -40 dBm. This was determined by exciting the
broadband amplifier at the lower end of its frequency response and observing the
2
level of the harmonics. Figure 1 shows that the second harmonic, tne largest of the
nonlinear products, of a 40 MHz signal is suppressed to the noise level of the
amplifier, measured over a 10KHz bandwidth, with the applied signal level less
than -40 dBm. Under these conditions, all nonlinear products are better than 7 dB
below the expected galactic noise level (about 15 dB above thermal).
5. INITIAL MEASUREMENTS
For the purpose of identifying any signals between .5 MHz and 500 MHz that
may drive the preamplifier hard enough to produce objectionable nonlinear
products, the spectrum analyzer, with no preselection filters, was connected to a
dipole that was resonate in the 40-43 MHz band of interest. This initial
measurement identified three types of interfering signals with signal strengths
above -40 dBm, AM, FM and television broadcasting stations as shown in Figure 2.
The discrete levels were not recorded because the level of the signals was high
enough to drive the spectrum analyzer to saturation and produce erroneous results.
As a result of these initial measurements, preselection filters were designed to limit
all signals into the preamplifier to less than -40 dBm.
6. FILTER DESIGN
An off-the-shelf 50 MHz low pass filter, with the loss vs frequency response,
shown in Figure 3, was used to suppress the FM stations and marginally suppress
the television station. A coaxial.stub filter was designed and fabricated for a
bandpass response as shown in Figure 4. The response of the combination of both
filters is shown in Figure 5. When these two filters were incorporated in the
measurement system, all of the interfering signals to the input of the amplifier were
suppressed to less than -40 dBm. The amplifier was then included in the
3
Figure la Second Harmonic of a 40 Mhi
Signal lith a of -30 dbm
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Figure Ie Second Harmonic of a 40 Mhz
Signal lith a of -40 dbm
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4
HIGH LEVEL OUT OF BAND SIGNALS
AM BROADCAST
MEASUREMENT
BAND OF
INTEREST
TV CHANNEL 2 FM BROADCAST
1.4 1.6 40 43 55 88 108
Figure 2 Major Sources of Interference
s
FREQUENCY MHz
CH1 A/R log MAG 10 dBI REF 0 dB 3; -2.8625 dB
Cor
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L 55. WO OC 0 MHz
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-- ---L-- .. -
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START .300 000 MHZ STOP 200.000 000 MHZ
Figure 3 Response of 50mhz low pass filler
6
CH1 AIR log MAG 10 dBI REF 0 dB 3; -7.0141 dB
Cor'
~ O f Z B P
55. ~ O O OC o MHz
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START . 300 000 MHz STOP 200.000 000 MHZ
Figure 4 Response of band pass stub filler
7
CH1 AIR log MAG 10 dBI REF 0 dB 3; - 11 - 152 d8
0iJ40 ~ H Z
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"rss.r
C 0 MHz
p MHZ LP
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+ 5
Cor
START .300 000 MHz STOP 200.000 000 MHZ
Figure 5 Response of both fillers
8
measurement configuration depicted by the block diagram in Figure 6. As a check,
the spectrum analyzer was scanned from .5 MHz to 500 MHz to insure that there
were no signals passed by the amplifier and filters to the spectrum analyzer that
would exceed the -20 dB limit at which the analyzer becomes excessively
nonlinear.
7. CALIBRATION
The amplitude measurements displayed on the spectrum analyzer were
corrected to account for the amplifier gain of 27 dB, about 2 dB insertion loss in the
pass band of the filters and about 2 dB insertion loss of the 60 foot of RG-58
transmission line as shown in Figure 7.
8. FINAL NOISE MEASUREMENTS RESULTS
Several measurements were made at Verona on different days and different
times of the day. Two typical noise measurements are shown in Figures 8 and 9
where several traces were made on each graph. Figure 8 identifies typical discrete
interferers, measured in dBm, and Figure 9 defines the broadband noise as a power
density measurement in terms of dBm/Hz. After the calibration factors to
account for amplifier gain and insertion loss, the broadband noise at this: site
referenced to the antenna terminals, was typically -154 dBm/Hz. This is about 5 dB
above the expected level of -159 dBm/Hz for galactic noise at these frequencies. It
must be emphasized that this is typical data as there was considerable variation of
the number and the intensity of the discrete interferers. The broadband noise,
however, was more consistent over time.
9
BLOCK DIAGRAM VHF NOISE MEASUREMENT
SPECTRUM
ANALYZER
!--__-j PLOTTER
Figure 6 Block diagram of measurement system
10
CHi AIR log MAG 10 dBI REF 0 dB ~ -3.05 dB
Cor
!rP-l 100. ()00 OC a MHz
M A R ~ (ER 4
1 00
"
Hz
-
It
~ ~
START .300 000 MHz STOP 500.000 000 MHz
Figure 7 Insertion loss of 60 ft. ofRG-58 ' "axial cable
11
-B.:1.. 33dB-rl
RL -3D.edBm :. DdB, 41..
-
START 40. OCOMHz
-RSW 10kHz VBW
STOP
10kHz
43_000MHz
SWP BOrns
Figure 8 Typical measurement of discrete signals
(Note marker reads dbm.)
12
-,A., T 7 E ~ ; OdB
R L -- 3 O. 0 d B tTl lOdB/
/'v1KR -131.3dBrn,'H;z
4 1. 4 2 0 ~ , 1H :z:
o
S T , ~ R T 40.000fv1Hz
,>(- R E3 '/'- : 0 r-: H z '/B','/
STOP 43. OOOtv1Hz
10kH ::.: S 't..' P 80tTl so
Figure 9 Typical measurement of broadband noise
(Note marker reads dbmIHz)
13
9. CONCLUSIQN
In order to be certain that one has made accurate noise measurements of
radiated fields, the entire frequency spectrum to which the measurement equipment
will respond must be examined. Also, the equipment must be operating in a suit-
ably linear range so that the nonlinear products do not raise the noise floor at the
frequencies to be measured. In order to be within this linear range, the amplifier
will be operating well below its maximum power output; in this case, about 60 dB
below the 1 dB saturation point. Only after it has been determined that all equip-
ment is operating in a suitably linear range, the spectrum may be narrowed to
include only the frequencies of interest.
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OF
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Rome Laboratory plans and executes an interdisciplinary
program in research, development, test, and technology
transition in support of Air Force command, Control,
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other ESC elements to perform effective acquisition of
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