Beating the noise

Noise adversely affects a radio system's performance. It can be naturally occurring or man-made and sometimes intentionally introduced as jamming. Good engineering practice based on 100 years of research and development can reduce noise and its effects to manageable levels, but there are some fundamental limits. "Know your enemy" has always been a good maxim and this paper looks at some of the milestones of understanding in radio science and reviews the means by which noise and the effects of noise are managed to provide the highly reliable radio communication systems available today.