Showing posts with label additive white Gaussian noise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label additive white Gaussian noise. Show all posts

05 September 2012

John Cage, AWGN

In honor of John Cage's 100th birthday, I would like to call attention to a fine application note from Maxim Semiconductor, describing a simple circuit for generating random noise. As can be seen in Figure 2, the circuit generates a practical white Gaussian noise signal from DC to several hundred Megahertz.





I've been meaning to build myself one of these circuits for years--not for the alleged pleasure of pretending to enjoy aleatoric nonsense while in the company of academic snobs, but for the practical purpose of testing communication circuits in a noisy environment.  

NOTES

1. Both figures are from the application note, "Building a Low-Cost White-Noise Generator," Maxim Semiconductor, March 14, 2005, http://pdfserv.maximintegrated.com/en/an/AN3469.pdf.