Industry White Paper
dB or not dB? Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Decibels But Were Afraid to Ask…
May 06, 2021 by Rohde & Schwarz
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Application Note Overview
%, dB, dBm and dB (µV/m) are important concepts that every engineer should understand in his (or her) sleep. Because if he does not, he is bound to be at a disadvantage in his work. When these terms come up in discussions with customers or colleagues, he will have trouble focusing on the real issue if he is busy wondering whether 3 dB means a factor of 2 or 4 (or something else). It is well worth the effort to review these concepts from time to time and keep familiar with them.
While this Application Note is not intended as a textbook, it will help to refresh your knowledge of this topic if you studied it before or provide a decent introduction if it is new to you.
You Will Learn:
- Why use decibels in our calculations?
- Conversion from decibels to percentage and vice versa
- Using dB values in computations
- What do we measure in decibels?
- A few numbers worth knowing
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