Noise Figure of Digital Communication Receivers—Revisited

Noise figure (NF) is a commonly used system parameter that quantifies the degradation in the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) as the signal passes through a receiving system. Because of the difficulty in defining the SNR, NF depends on how the SNR is computed and the underlying assumptions that are made. Existing NF measures and their shortcomings are explained. A new NF suitable for a digital communic...