Statistics of man-made noise at 137 MHz

Statistical noise models that simulate man-made noise are essential for the design of radio systems. Recently, the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences measured man-made VHF radio noise in the 136 to 138 MHz meteorological satellite band. These measurements were made as part of a link analysis for the broadcast of digital satellite weather images at 137 MHz. The measured noise statistics were used to develop analytical representations of the first-order probability distributions for man-made noise in various environments (business, residential and rural). Such noise models are useful for simulating the performance of communications systems in environments where nonGaussian man-made noise may degrade system performance. The statistical models as well as first-order probability distributions for several environments are presented in this paper.