A general mechanical model for |f|&lt;sup&gt;&amp;#945;&lt;/sup&gt;spectral density random noise with special reference to flicker noise 1/|f|

D Halford

doi:10.1109/proc.1968.6269

Abstract

Any class of reasonable time-dependent perturbations occurring at random, under certain internal contraints, generates random noise having a spectral density varying as |f| α over an arbitrarily large range of spectral frequency f only for - 2 ≤ α ≤ 0. A class is the set of all perturbations which are equivalent under some individual indenpendent scaling of amplitute, scaling of time, and translation of time. A subclass is characterized by P(τ) and A 2 (τ). P(τ) is the lifetime probability desity. A 2 (τ) is a mean square amplitude of perturbations having lifetime τ. For a given class, |f| α <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">∞</inf> and |f| α 0 are the frequency-smoothed laws in the limits of infinite and zero frequencies, respectively. Any reasonable perturbation has α <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">∞</inf> ≤ - 2 and α <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">0</inf> ≥ 0. To generate random noise having an |f| α law over an arbitrarily large range of f from a subclass chosen from any class characterized by α <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">∞</inf> and α <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">0</inf> , it is necessary that α <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">∞</inf> ≤ α ≤ α <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">0</inf> . For α <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">∞</inf> < α < α <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">0</inf> , it is necessary and sufficient that such subclasses satisfy the condition, P(τ)A 2 (τ) ≈ Bτ - α - 3 with B constant, over a suitable range of τ, and that P(τ)A 2 (τ) not be larger than Bτ - α - 3 outside the range. This general mechanical model is of immediate value in the formulation and criticism of specific physical models of |f| α noise, including flicker noise, and in computer simulation of |f| α noise.

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