db - Convert energy or power measurements to decibels

Syntax

Description

dboutput = db(X) converts the elements of the vector or matrix X to decibels (dB). The elements of X are voltage measurements across a resistance of 1 ohm.

dboutput = db(X,SignalType) specifies the signal type represented by the elements of X as 'voltage' or 'power'. The entries are not case sensitive. The default value is 'voltage'. For voltage measurements, the resistance defaults to 1 ohm. If you specify SignalType as 'power', the elements of X must be nonnegative.

dboutput = db(X,R) specifies the resistance R for voltage measurements. You can specify a resistance only when the signal measurements are voltages.

dboutput = db(X,'voltage',R) specifies the resistance R for voltage measurements. This syntax is equivalent to db(X,R).

Input Arguments

X	Signal measurements. X must be a vector or matrix. If the elements of X are power measurements, all elements must be nonnegative.
SignalType	Type of signal measurements. Valid entries for SignalType are 'voltage' or 'power'. The entries are not case sensitive. If you specify SignalType as 'power', the elements of X must be nonnegative. Default: 'voltage'
R	Resistive load in ohms. You can specify resistance only when the SignalType is 'voltage'. Default: 1

Output Arguments

dboutput

The energy or power measurements in the input X in decibels. dboutput has the same dimensions as the input X. If the input X contains voltage (energy) measurements, dboutput is: If the input X contains power measurements, dboutput is:

Examples

Convert voltage to decibels. Assume that the resistance is 2 ohms.

V = 1;
R = 2;
dboutput = db(V,2)
% equivalent to 10*log10(1/2)

Convert a vector of power measurements to decibels.

rng default
X = abs(randn(10,1));
dboutput = db(X,'power')

Alternatives

• mag2db — Converts magnitude measurements to decibels.

• pow2db — Converts power measurements to decibels.

See Also

db2mag | db2pow | mag2db | pow2db

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