The noise figure is the difference in decibel (dB) between the noise output of the actual receiver to the noise output of an "ideal" receiver with the same overall gain and bandwidth when the receivers are connected to matched sources at the standard noise temperature T0 (usually 290. The noise figure is the difference in decibel (dB) between the noise output of the actual receiver to the noise output of an "ideal" receiver with the same overall gain and bandwidth when the receivers are connected to matched sources at the standard noise temperature T0 (usually 290. Electrical noise figure (NF) is standardized since many decades. Traditional optical noise figure Fpnf was defined in 1990ies, for optical direct detection receivers (DD RX). These figures of merit are used to evaluate the performance of an amplifier or a radio receiver, with lower values indicating. The noise factor F of an (electronic or optical) amplifier is a measure of how much excess noise the amplifier adds to the signal. Learn how to calculate NF, measure it with the Y-Factor and Gain Methods, and apply it in design.
[PDF Version]