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Decibelconversion
1 dB
compute
Selectthevaluetobeconvertandinputvaluethenpress"Compute"button.
dB..Decibels
Powerratio..P2/P1(P2isthepowerbeingmeasured,andP1isthereference)
Voltageratio..V2/V1(V2isthevoltagebeingmeasured,andV1isthereference)
dBm..dBforreference1mW(Audio,600Ohm)or1mV(Television,75Ohm)
or1mW(Radiofrequency,50Ohm)
dBu..dBforreference1uVor1uV/m
mV..voltageinmVormV/m
uV..voltageinuVoruV/m
Nepers..voltageratiousedintheoreticalcomputings
Decibelsexpressapowerratio,notanamount.Theytellhowmanytimesmore(positivedB)orless
(negativedB)butnothowmuchinabsoluteterms.Decibelsarelogarithmic,notlinear.Forexample,20dB
isnottwicethepowerratioof10dB.
Thedefiningequationfordecibelsis
A=10*log10(P2/P1)(dB)
whereP1isthepowerbeingmeasured,andP1isthereferencetowhichP2isbeingcompared.
Toconvertfromdecibelmeasurebacktopowerratio:
P2/P1=10^(A/10)
Voltageismoreeasilymeasuredthanpower,makingitgenerallymoreconvenienttouse:
A=20*log10(V2/V1)(Z2==Z1)
TheequationforobtainingvoltageratiofromdBis
V2/V1=10^(A/20)
DecibelsaredefinedintermsofPowerratios.Notewellthatthevoltageratioequationsarevalidonlyifthe
twovoltagesappearacrossequalimpedances.
However,inaudiosystemswhereZ0isessentiallyzeroandZinisessentiallyinfinite,itiscommontouse
thevoltageequationwithoutregardtoimpedances.Ifthisisdone,thedecibelvaluesobtaindmustinnocase
beappliedtopowerorpowergaincalculations.
ZerodBstandards:
Audioindustory:0dB=1mWin600Ohmresistance
(MeasurementstothisstandardsusetheunitsymboldBm)
Relevisionindustory:0dB=1mVrmsacross75Ohm
Radiofrequencyengineering:0dB=1mWin50Ohmresistance
or0dB=1uV/mforelectromagneticfieldstrength
RadioengineersuseabsolutedBmofwhichzerodBstandardis1mWorabsolutedBuofwhichzerodB
standardis1uV.
Nepersbydefinitionarealogarithmicmeasureoftheratiooftwovoltagemagnitudesowtwocurrent
magnitudes,thelogarithmbeingtothebasee.
http://www.mogami.com/e/cad/db.html 1/1