CHAPTER 6.

Signals and Noise

in Measurement
Systems
Problem 6.4
A thermocouple giving a 10 mV d.c. output voltage is connected to a high
impedance digital voltmeter some distance away. A difference in potential
exists between earth at the thermocouple and earth at the voltmeter. Using
the equivalent circuit given in Figure Prob. 4.
(a) Calculate the r.m.s. values of the series mode and common mode
interference voltages at the voltmeter input.
(b) If the digital voltmeter has a common mode rejection ratio of 100 dB,
find the minimum and maximum possible measured voltages.
Z
E
V
E
Z
SE
R
C
/2

R
C
/2

Z
RE
Vout=eth+vsm+((Vcm-Vsm)/cmmr)
A sinusoidal signal is transmitted over a noisy transmission link to a remote
correlator acting as a receiver. Figure Prob. 5 shows a typical autocorrelation
function. Use the figure to estimate the following quantities:
(a) Signal power
(b) Noise power
(c) Signal-to-noise ratio in decibels
(d) Signal amplitude
(e) Signal frequency
(f ) Noise standard deviation (assume zero mean).
Hint: use eqns [6.27] and [6.33].
Problem 6.5
a) Signal power = 1.5 mW
b) Noise power
= P
sI
-P
S
=10 - 1.5 =8.5 mW
P
sI

P
s

c) SNR = 10 log (P
S
/P
N
)
= 10 log (1,5 x 10
-3
/8,5x10
-3
)=-7,5 dB

d) Signal amplitude:

The form of is shown in Figure 6.15; at large values of the A(sin
c
)/
term due to the noise decays to zero, leaving the (b
2
/2) cos
1
term due to the
signal. Thus the amplitude b and period 2/1of the original signal can be found
from the amplitude and period of the autocorrelation function at large values of time
delay.

N S
yy
R





c
A
b
N S
yy
R
sin
cos
2
1
2

mV b
x x b
x
b
55
10 5 , 1 2
10 5 , 1
2
3
3
2

e) Signal frequency:
f = 1/T = 1/(3,25x10
-3
) = 307 Hz
10,25 13,5
T= 13,5 - 10,25 = 3,25 ms
f) Noise standard deviation (assume zero mean).

mV
N S
yy
R 5 , 8
2

mV 18 , 92