Measurement Method of Noise Correlation Matrix Using Relative Noise Ratio

Abstract

In general, noise measurement results show larger random ripple than those of the network analyzer. The reason for the lager random ripple of the noise measurements is considered that the general noise measurements uses absolute measured noise powers, while the network analyzer measures using a ratio of the measured powers. In this paper, a novel measurement method of noise correlation matrix using relative noise ratios is proposed. Proposed method measures the five noise powers of DUT for the five input impedance variations and the four relative noise ratios are formed using the five measured noise powers. The four noise ratios are used to compute the noise correlation matrix and noise parameters. The resulting noise parameters for a 0.5 dB attenuator show good agreements with theoretical values calculated by S-parameters. Also, the noise parameters of an active DUT with a noise figure of less than 1 dB are measured and the measured results show a small random ripple as expected and their values are physically acceptable. In conclusion, the proposed method can be applied to the noise parameter measurements for DUT with a noise figure below 1 dB.