RF Cafe Homepage
Rigol DHO1000 Oscilloscope - RF Cafe

ConductRF Phased Matched RF Cables - RF Cafe

Innovative Power Products (IPP) Directional Couplers

Please Support RF Cafe by purchasing my  ridiculously low-priced products, all of which I created.

RF Cascade Workbook for Excel

RF & Electronics Symbols for Visio

RF & Electronics Symbols for Office

RF & Electronics Stencils for Visio

RF Workbench

T-Shirts, Mugs, Cups, Ball Caps, Mouse Pads

These Are Available for Free

Espresso Engineering Workbook™

Smith Chart™ for Excel

Axiom Test Equipment - RF Cafe

Noise Figure  <-->  Noise Temperature Calculator

Noise figure equation graph - RF Cafe

NF(dB) TN (°K) NF(dB) TN (°K)
0.1 7 2.1 180
0.2 14 2.2 191
0.3 21 2.3 202
0.4 28 2.4 214
0.5 35 2.5 226
0.6 43 2.6 238
0.7 51 2.7 250
0.8 59 2.8 263
0.9 67 2.9 275
1.0 75 3.0 289
1.1 84 3.1 302
1.2 92 3.2 316
1.3 101 3.3 330
1.4 110 3.4 344
1.5 120 3.5 359
1.6 129 3.6 374
1.7 139 3.7 390
1.8 149 3.8 406
1.9 159 3.9 422
2.0 170 4.0 438

This JavaScript calculator converts between noise figure and the equivalent noise temperature.

Conversion Between Noise Figure
and Noise Temperature

Noise Temperature (K) = TREF *

Noise Figure (dB) = 10 * log10 RF Cafe - Noise temperature to noise figure conversion equation

Note that unless otherwise specified TRef = 290 K

Calculated values do not change until the "Calculate" button is clicked.
Reference Temperature: K    
Noise Figure: dB =
Noise Temperature: K =

Numerical inputs are not error trapped but are converted to absolute values (no negatives).

Just what is noise temperature and why is it used? Simply put, noise temperature is the temperature at which a resistor at the component / system input would generate the same amount of noise measured at the output. It goes back to the familiar kTB calculation for thermal noise power. Noise temperature is often used in calculating the overall noise figure of a system that includes an antenna at the input. That is because strictly speaking, a 1-port device like an antenna cannot be defined in terms of noise figure. If you begin with a system at room temperature (290 K) and add a component at the input that itself has a noise temperature of 290 K, the doubling of noise power increases the overall noise figure by 3 dB (2*290-290=290). A 6 dB increase is a 4x increase in noise power (4*290-290=870). Cascaded noise temperature is done just like with noise figure.

   

Related Pages on RF Cafe

- Noise Figure <--> Noise Temperature Calculator

- Noise Power and Voltage

- Cascaded Noise Figure

- Noise Figure Meters & Noise Generators

- Noise Sources

Axiom Test Equipment - RF Cafe
RF Cascade Workbook 2018 by RF Cafe

Anatech Electronics RF Microwave Filters - RF Cafe

Windfreak Technologies Frequency Synthesizers - RF Cafe