Sensitivity of broadband microwave receiver with consideration nonlinear part

The radioelectronic receiver, from the analysis of the signal to noise point of view, consists of two blocks: linear and nonlinear. Sensitivity of the linear block is generally defined on noise factor or working noise temperature. The influence of the nonlinear receiver's block on the sensitivity of the receiver is rarely considered. Taking into consideration a nonlinear block, especially in broadband receivers (as IFM are) causes significant improvement of sensitivity compared with the obtained sensitivity of the linear block.