Microwave Noise Standards in the United Kingdom

This paper outlines the work currently being carried out at the Royal Radar Establishment (RRE) in the RF and Microwave National Standards Division of the British Calibration Service, on both hot and cold noise standards and comparator systems. The design of three cryogenic noise sources for use in WG15 are described in detail along with the theoretical calculation of their output noise power spectral density. A noise-adding radiometer is analyzed, and finally the sources of uncertainty involved in a recent calibration are discussed.