NOISE-FIGURE, ANTENNA TEMPERATURE AND SENSITIVITY LEVEL FOR WIRELESS COMMUNICATION RECEIVERS

This article is the first in a two-part series that examines the prima ry factors affecting cs the sensitivity level of a typical wireless co mmunication base station. This first part will discuss the details of noise figure, including its definition and how different components co ntribute to the overall noise in a system, along with the correspondin g concept of effective noise temperature. Effective antenna temperatur e as a means for characterizing background noise detected by the recei ver also will be addressed, as well as the relationship between noise figure, effective antenna temperature and base station sensitivity. Pa rt two, to be published in a subsequent issue of Microwave Journal, wi ll provide a brief summary of the wireless communication systems of in terest and discuss sensitivity improvements made possible by tower-top amplifiers.