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The decibel watt (dBW or dB W) is a unit for the measurement of the strength of a signal expressed in decibels relative to one watt.It is used because of its capability to express both very large and very small values of power in a short range of number; e.g., 1 milliwatt = −30 dBW, 1 watt = 0 dBW, 10 watts = 10 dBW, 100 watts = 20 dBW, and 1,000,000 W = 60 dBW.
The decibel originates from methods used to quantify signal loss in telegraph and telephone circuits. Until the mid-1920s, the unit for loss was miles of standard cable (MSC). 1 MSC corresponded to the loss of power over one mile (approximately 1.6 km) of standard telephone cable at a frequency of 5000 radians per second (795.8 Hz), and matched closely the smallest attenuation detectable to a ...
dBm or dB mW (decibel-milliwatts) is a unit of power level expressed using a logarithmic decibel (dB) scale respective to one milliwatt (mW). It is commonly used by radio, microwave and fiber-optical communication technicians & engineers to measure the power of system transmissions on a log scale , which can express both very large and very ...
A gain greater than one (greater than zero dB), that is, amplification, is the defining property of an active device or circuit, while a passive circuit will have a gain of less than one. [4] The term gain alone is ambiguous, and can refer to the ratio of output to input voltage (voltage gain), current (current gain) or electric power (power ...
Decibels relative to full scale (dBFS or dB FS) is a unit of measurement for amplitude levels in digital systems, such as pulse-code modulation (PCM), which have a defined maximum peak level. The unit is similar to the units dBov and decibels relative to overload ( dBO ).
The neper is defined in terms of ratios of field quantities — also called root-power quantities — (for example, voltage or current amplitudes in electrical circuits, or pressure in acoustics), whereas the decibel was originally defined in terms of power ratios. A power ratio 10 log r dB is equivalent to a field-quantity ratio 20 log r dB ...
dBc (decibels relative to the carrier) is the power ratio of a signal to a carrier signal, expressed in decibels.For example, phase noise is expressed in dBc/Hz at a given frequency offset from the carrier. dBc can also be used as a measurement of Spurious-Free Dynamic Range between the desired signal and unwanted spurious outputs resulting from the use of signal converters such as a digital ...
For very low-power systems, such as mobile phones, signal strength is usually expressed in dB-microvolts per metre (dBμV/m) or in decibels above a reference level of one milliwatt . In broadcasting terminology, 1 mV/m is 1000 μV/m or 60 dBμ (often written dBu).