What Are dB, Noise Floor & Dynamic Range?
We are often asked what noise floor & dynamic range actually are. Most engineers are probably familiar with or have come across the decibel or dB as a unit of…
Noise & Vibration Analysis: Back To Basics
Sometimes it doesn't hurt to revisit some of the basic building blocks that form the foundation of what we do. And so we have gathered together a few of our…
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…
High Dynamic Range – Fact or Fiction?
At least one manufacturer of data acquisition systems claims to achieve an incredibly high dynamic range (160dB) when capturing data. This is supposedly achieved by the use of dual-range data acquisition architecture. Such systems have two analog-to-digital convertors for each input channel; one of the ADCs captures the full voltage range of the input signal and the other ADC captures the input signal only when it is small. This article explains the facts behind the figures and shows that the use of Dynamic Range as a measure of precision can be misleading.
Removing A-Weighting From Time History Signals
It sometimes occurs that signals are captured with A-weighting applied to the data by the acquisition device. This can be a problem if, for example, you wish to use the data in a hearing test or to use it for a structural vibration analysis. Now, A-weighting allegedly mimics what the ear does to a signal. If we play back an A weighted sound then we perceive a double A-weighted signal which is clearly not intended. When doing structural work it is usually the lower frequencies, say 2kHz or less, that is generally required. A-weighting seriously attenuates the low frequencies and also applies gain above 1kHz.
Dynamic Range And Overall Level : What Are They ?
Accurate measurement of a signal depends on the dynamic range and the overall level of the data acquisition system. The overall level setting may be thought of as determining the largest signal that can be measured. This clearly depends on the present gain setting. That is the overall level is related to the gain. Clearly if the overall level is too small (gain too high) then the signal will be clipped and we will have poor quality data. The dynamic range then tells us that for the given overall level what is the smallest signal we can measure accurately whilst simultaneously measuring the large signal.
In a very simple sense suppose we have an artificial signal which consists of a sinewave at a large amplitude A for the first half and that this is followed by a sinewave with a small amplitude a for the second half. We will set the gain (the overall level) to allow the best measurement of the A sinewave. The dynamic range tells us how small a may be so we can also measure that without changing settings.
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