CHAPTER 4

GROUNDING, SHIELDING AND

NOISE
 Introduction
• Measurements of voltage levels less than 100mV are
frequently required.

• These signals are often affected by noise and interference.

• The unwanted signals such as noise and interference also get

amplified along with the measured signals.
 Introduction
we will study:
• Noise (Its types).
• SNR, Noise figure.
• Interference (Its types).
• Grounds and Grounding (Faults, instrument grounds).
• Crosstalk.
• Shielding and Filtering .
 Noise
• Any undesired electrical signal that is present in addition to the
voltage or current being measured or processed is termed noise.

• Natural and Man made are two types of Noises.

• Natural noise is produced by noise-producing phenomena inherent in

the component or the atmosphere.

• Man-made noise is has its origins from power supplies, motors, X-ray
machines, electrical welders, ignition systems or fluorescent lamps.
 Noise
• No electrical signal is free of noise due to small, random voltages and
currents which occur naturally in every electrical component whose
temperature is above the absolute zero.

• Noise can be divided into the categories namely, white noise, pink
noise and atmospheric noise.
• white noise has a frequency spectrum composed of all frequencies
with amplitudes that are “flat” with frequency. Its major examples are
thermal noise and shot noise.
• 
• Thermal Noise: The motion of an electron defines a current travelling
in a conductor, which can be thought of as a resistance in series with a
noise generator producing thermal noise. It arises from the motion of
electrons in a conductor and increases with increasing temperature.

• It is generally associated with carbon and wire-wound resistors and is

frequently called resistance noise, in addition to the terms Johnson or
Nyquist noise.
• In terms of RMS voltage, the level of thermal noise is found from:
Vrms = 4 k TR
 Thermal Noise
• To derive the temperature in Kelvin`s, we use the following formulas to
convert to Kelvin from Celsius and Fahrenheit:
K= 273+ °C = 273+ 5/9 (°F – 32)7
• The Power dissipated in the resistor is given as:

• The Effective Noise Bandwidth is defined as the width of rectangle with

the same height and area as the frequency response curve:
 Shot Noise
• It is also called Schottky, Schrot or partition noise. It is due to the
inherent small fluctuations in the instantaneous values of a DC current
wherever it flows.
• Its RMS value of current is given by:
 Pink Noise
• It is called pink because pink color contains the lower frequencies of the visible
spectrum and pink noise contains frequency components that have higher amplitudes at
lower frequencies. Its examples are: Flicker and Burst noise.

• Flicker Noise: It decreases as the operating frequency is increased and so is called 1/f
noise. Its caused by the variations of the velocity of electrons as a result of defects in
semiconductor materials.

• It is proportional to a DC bias current.

• Its magnitude depends on the devices they occur and is difficult to predict their
magnitude with any degree of certainty.
 Pink Noise

• Burst Noise: Its random and varies inversely with frequency and is
hence represented as 1/f^2 noise.

• It is a low-frequency noise whose sound can be described as similar to

the popcorn popping, therefore also known as popcorn noise.

• Its magnitude depends on the devices they occur and is difficult to

predict their magnitude with any degree of certainty.
 Atmospheric Noise

• It is caused by lightning which causes electromagnetic radiation that

travels over great distances.

• Its amplitude increases as frequency decreases.

 Signal to Noise Ratio and Noise Figure
• It is the ratio of the overall signal power or voltage level S to the
existing noise power or voltage level N.
• In terms of Power levels:

• As power is proportional to V^2, we get in terms of voltage:

 Signal to Noise Ratio and Noise Figure
• The Noise Figure (NF) is a measure of how much noise a given
network or amplifier stage adds to the signal.
• It is given by:

• Otherwise:
 Interference
• Any signal disturbance other than the desired signal is termed as
interference. These signals make the measurement of the desired signals
more difficult, assume a variety of forms and easily able to enter and
exit electronic equipment.
• Interference can be divided into 4 major types:

1) Electrically coupled.

2) Magnetically coupled.

3) Electromagnetic.
 Electrically Coupled Interference
• Electrically coupled or capacitive interference is the situation where
the signal of a nearby conductor is capacitively coupled to a nearby
wire or cable.
• An electrostatic field is created between conductors with different
potentials.
• Its sources are fluorescent light bulbs, unconnected power-line and
ceiling light sockets.
 Capacitively coupled interference from one
wire to another
Physical arrangement Equivalent circuit
 Electrically Coupled Interference
• The voltages from point A to B are given as:

• This shows that voltage at point B increases as:

1) The capacitance between source and the pickup circuit increases.
2) The frequency of the voltage source increases
3) The level of the voltage source increases
4) The input impedance of the pickup circuit increases
 Magnetically coupled interference

• A magnetic field is created around a current carrying conductor.

Which can vary with change in current.
• Magnetically or inductive interference arises due to magnetic field
created from varying conductors.
• Its normal sources are from power transformers, the power cord wires,
and large ground loop currents.
• Coupling between source of interference and any pickup current is
inversely proportional to both frequency and distance
 Magnetically coupled interference
• It can be reduced by:

1) Use of low current and high impedance level.

2) Large spacing.
3) Short current carrying wires.
4) Increase level of capacitive interference.
5) Eliminating low frequency responses.
 Electromagnetic Interference (EMI)

• Capacitive coupled interference produces an electric field and

magnetically coupled interference creates a magnetic field.
• Electromagnetic field contains both electric and magnetic effects.
• Either magnetic or electric field components are reduced than the
electromagnetic field is reduced.
 Grounds and Grounding

• The term ground is loosely used to mean any point having a zero
voltage reference.

• The electrically ground was originally considered as a low resistance

connection between a given circuit and the earth.

• A long copper rod, called a ground rod , was driven at least four feet
into the earth and ground connections was made to it.
 The AC Power Lines

• The AC power lines contain hot, neutral and ground for single-phase
power lines.

• Color coding is used to identify these wire such as:

1) Black for hot line.
2) White for neutral line.
3) Green for ground.

• Ideally the ground wire is at ground potential and the potential difference
between ground and neutral is zero.
 The 3-wire power AC power line

Wire connections Polarized plug and receptacle

 Ground Faults

• A ground fault refers to the return of current to ground by any path

other than the neutral wire.
• There are two paths to flow current. one is hot line to neutral and
than to ground (safe path) and the second is hot line to directly ground
(ground fault).
• Two paths for the flow of current are:

1) Normal current path.

2) Ground fault path.
 Ground Faults

• The current flowing due to ground fault is called fault current.

• The fault current is much larger than the normal current of circuit.
• The ground fault can be avoided by using fuse and circuit breaker.
• These devices break the circuit when a large current flows through it.
 Current flowing in the AC power line

Normal current path Ground fault path

 Instrument Ground

• There are three basic categories of grounds associated with electronic

systems:
1) Power Ground:
A return path for the current that provides the power required to operate the
equipment.
2) Signal Ground:
Ground for both the reference point and the return path for all the signal
current that flows.
3) Chassis and Shield Grounds:
The connections made at the chassis or outer metal case of an instrument and
any shielded cable.
 Crosstalk

• Multichannel system has many signals present simultaneously in

different channels.
• Crosstalk is the appearance of one channel signal into adjacent
channel.
• It is caused by something common shared by subsystems like signal
ground or power supply ground.
• It can be avoided by using separate power supplies and complete
shielding between the two circuits.
 Shielding and Filtering

• The most effective methods of filtering is the use of shield at the noise
source.
• The basic method is to enclose the device in a shield that reflects or
absorb electromagnetic energy.
• The design of shield depends on frequencies and the type of
interference the must be contained or excluded.
 Filtering

• The other method of reducing interference is by using filters.

• The type of filter used is selected according to the frequency of the
desired and the frequency of the signals to be rejected.
• Four Basic types of filters:
1) Low-pass.
2) High-pass.
3) Band-pass.
4) Band reject or notch.
 Filtering

• Filters may be passive or active.

• Filters may be installed carefully to ensure their effectiveness in
reducing the interference in audio systems.
• The frequency at which the rejection is a maximum is called the notch
frequency given by: