Measuring Noise Floors Robustly Using Percentile Statistics in DSP Systems
Introduction Accurate noise floor estimation is fundamental to spectral analysis, detection thresholds, and filter verification. Yet many DSP pipelines still rely on simple averaging: mean PSD levels RMS magnitude global spectral averages In real signals, these methods frequently produce unstable and misleading results. This article explains why average-based noise estimates fail in practice and how percentile statistics provide robust noise floor measurement for engineering-grade DSP systems. The Reality of Real-World Noise Ideal Gaussian noise assumptions rarely hold in production systems. ...