Arthur D. Spaulding and Robert T. Disney

Abstract: The Office of Telecommunications, Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (OT/ITS), over the past several years, has accumulated a data base of man-made radio noise measurements in the frequency range from 250 kHz through 250 MHz taken in a number of geographical areas. This data base has been analyzed to provide estimates of the expected characteristics of man-made radio noise in business, residential, and rural areas. The parameters used are the average available power spectral density, the ratio of the rms to the average voltage of the noise envelope, and the ratio of the rms to the average logarithm of the envelope voltage. The variation of these parameters as a function of frequency, location, and time are shown and discussed. Examples of amplitude and time statistics of the received man-mad e radio noise process also are shown and discussed. The use of the estimates is shown (principally by references in Part II, Bibliography) in the solution of problems encountered in frequency management and telecommunication system design.

Keywords: non-Gaussian noise; system performance; impulsive noise; man-made radio noise; noise levels; noise characteristics

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