Understanding & Measuring Noise
There are many reasons to measure and analyze noise. It may relate to legislation or regulations that limit noise in certain environments, we could be using the noise to investigate…
What’s All The Noise About?
We've come across a number of great noise related resources lately. So, rather than keep them all to ourselves, we have decided to share them with our readers. Thanks should…
What Are dB, Noise Floor & Dynamic Range?
Most engineers are probably familiar with or have come across the decibel or dB as a unit of measurement. Its most common use is in the field of acoustics where it is used to quantify sound levels. However, as will be explained in this article, it is also useful for a wide variety of measurements in other fields such as electronics and communications.
One particular use of dB is to quantify the dynamic range and accuracy of an analogue to digital conversion system. This applies to Prosig’s P8000 range of data acquisition hardware where the noise floor, dynamic range and resolution are all specified in terms of dB.
