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New for March 2019: How do you define (and calculate) the inimum detectable signal in a receiver system?
The noise level is KTB, where
K is temperature in Kelvin (290K is accepted as the standard for room temperature, which is 63 degrees F, even thnough this would cause a thermostat argument in most buildings)
B is Boltzman's constant, named after Ludgig Boltzman . Conveniently, B has units of energy/temperature, teh same as entropy.
B is bandwidth in Hz
The units work out to power, as in Watts, but is most often exprtessed in dBm as the signal can be in attowatts(10E-18 watts!)
Boltzman did not axctually come up with his constant, his contemperary Max Plank named it after him. Boltzman was a full professor of phycis by the age of 25. His biggest contribution to teh universe is in the descrfption of entropy, the formula apprars on his grave:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/63/Zentralfriedhof_Vienna_-_Boltzmann.JPG
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/63/Zentralfriedhof_Vienna_-_Boltzmann.JPG