Pard Periodic and Random Deviation | Agilent Technologies AN 372-1

PARD (Periodic and Random Deviation)

PARD (formerly known as ripple and noise) is the periodic and random deviation of the DC output voltage from its average value, over a specified bandwidth, and with all other parameters con- stant. It is representative of all undesirable AC and noise components that remain in the DC output voltage after the regulation and filtering circuitry (see Figure 7).

PARD is measured in rms or peak-to-peak values, and is typically specified over a bandwidth range of 20 Hz to 20 MHz. Any deviation below 20 Hz is included in a specification called output drift. In

some applications, a low output ripple specifica- tion is critical. An example would be where the power supply is providing power to a high gain amplifier with inadequate ripple rejection for the application. In this case, a portion of the power supply PARD would be amplified along with the desired signal. It is extremely important that the PARD value be specified as a peak-to-peak value as well as an rms value in this application. The peak-to-peak value would provide information on high magnitude, short duration noise spikes while the rms value would be beneficial for determina- tion of the expected signal-to-noise ratio.

Figure 6. Test Configuration and Results for Current Limit Characterization

Figure 7. PARD Consists of Undesirable Signals Superimposed on the DC Output of a Power Supply

AN 372-1 specifications

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