Filters
Digital Radio Laboratory
Chillarige Ajay Kumar
Dhanush D Pai
Prof. Shrishailayya Mallikarjunayya Hiremath
National Institute of Technology Rourkela
CONTENT
1. Filters
2. Active and Passive Filters
3. FIR and IIR filters
4. Types of filters
5. References
6. Assignment
Filters
● Selecting the desired signal while rejecting all other unwanted signals or
noise (assuming that the other signals have different frequency content).
● Used in Radio tuning to a specific frequency and eliminate background
Noise
● Filters are used on a power supply's output to reduce ripples.
● Filters are placed in front of an ADC input to minimize aliasing.
● Filters can be used to eliminate the ac component present in the rectified
output and allows the dc component to reach the load.
● Used in Pre-amplification, Equalization, Tone Control in Audio Systems
Filters - Parameters
● -3 dB frequency - It is called as Cutoff frequency or half power frequency as output
voltage is 1/(2)1/2 times input voltage or the the output power is half the input
voltage. For a RC circuit, cutoff frequency is give as-
● Center frequency - Geometric mean of the lower cutoff and higher cutoff
frequencies in band pass and notch filters.
● Bandwidth -band of frequencies that do not experience significant attenuation
when moving from the input to the output of the bandpass filter.
● Quality Factor- Conveys the amount of oscillation in the system’s step response. For
a bandpass or notch filter, Q represents the ratio between the center frequency and
the -3dB bandwidth.
Active and Passive Filters
Active Filters Passive Filters
It consists of active components like Transistors and It consists of passive components such as Resistors,
Op-amps in addition to Resistors and Capacitors Capacitors and Inductors.
It needs an external source of power for its No external source is needed.
operation
It is less suitable for very-high-frequency applications It is most responsive to a frequency range from
because of amplifier bandwidth limitations. roughly 100 Hz to 300 MHz. Radio-frequency circuits
must often utilize passive filters.
High Q factor,more sensitive and higher complexity Low Q factor, relatively less sensitive and lower
of the circuit. complexity of the circuit.
Types of Filters ● Low Pass filters - It attenuates all the
frequencies above the cut-off
frequencies.
● High Pass filters - It attenuates all the
frequencies below the cut-off
frequencies.
● Band Pass filters - It is a type of filter
TYPES OF FILTERS which allows specific Band of frequencies
to pass through and all other frequencies
outside the band are attenuated.
● Band Stop filters - Specific Band of
frequencies gets rejected and allows
passing of frequencies outside the Band.
● All Pass filters - It passes all frequencies
equally. It is also known as Phase-Shift
filter, time-delay filter.
Low Pass Filters
Advantages of Low pass filter
1. Provide smoothening of output signals.
2. Avoid Aliasing error.
3. Eliminate the unwanted high frequency signals and allow the low frequency Information
content signals through it.
Application of Low pass filter
1. Used in Audio application for equalization process.
2. Used in super heterodyne receivers for the efficient reception of base band signals.
3. Used as an anti-imaging and anti-aliasing filters in various digital signal processing
application.
High Pass Filters
Disadvantages of High pass filter
1. High pass filter filters out the DC offset of a signal.
2. An unwanted ripple in the pass band/stop band is generated if the component is not
properly selected.
Application of High pass filter
1. Used in Audio amplifier for amplifying the audio signals.
2. Used in imaging processing and in various digital signals processing application.
3. Used in the loudspeakers to reduce the low level noise
Band Pass Filters
Application of Band pass filter
1. Bandpass filters are widely used in wireless communication system.
2. In a receiver, a bandpass filter allows signals within a selected range of frequencies to be
heard thus preventing the signals from getting unwanted frequencies.
3. Bandpass filters are used in all kinds of instrumentation, Sonar, even medical
applications like Electrocardiograms, etc.
Band Stop Filters
Application of Band Reject filter
1. In image and signal processing Band Reject filter is used to reject noise.
2. It is also used in medical field applications like removing line noise.
3. It is used in high quality audio applications like buffers.
4. It is used as the telephone line noise reducers and DSL internet services.
Filters - Important points
● Pass band is an area of frequency band in which attenuation (reduction in the
amplitude of signals) is nearly equal to zero (α = 0). Stop band is defined as an area
of frequency band in which attenuation factor is extremely high.
● Based on the comparison, it can be said that FIR filter has more advantages as
compared to IIR filter.
● The higher the Q (Quality Factor) the lower the rate of energy loss and hence
oscillations will reduce more slowly, i.e. they will have a low level of damping and
they will ring for longer.
Filters Experiment - Outputs
Fig 2.a Original signal Fig 2.b Original signal passed Fig 2.c Original signal passed
through a LPF through a HPF
Filters Experiment
Filters Experiment - Outputs
Fig 2.d Original signal Fig 2.e Original signal passed Fig 2.f Original signal passed
through a BPF through a BRF
FIR and IIR Filters
FIR Filters IIR Filters
Output depends on present and past Output depends on present and past
inputs. inputs as well as on past outputs.
Limited or finite memory Infinite memory
Are always stable. IIR filter with improperly placed poles (or
improper feedback) will always be
unstable.
FIR filter has impulse response is as long An IIR filter has, at least in principle, an
as its tap count infinitely long impulse response.
Always make linear phase. Difficult to control and has no particular
phase.
FIR Filters
Advantage of FIR filter
1. FIR filters can have exactly linear phase
2. FIR filters are convenient and easy to implement.
3. FIR filters can have long delay between input and output.
Disadvantages of FIR filter
1. Large and complicated circuit
2. Consumed too much of power.
3. Does not provide accuracy in the frequency response.
Application of FIR filter
1. It is used in Bandlimited devices which can avoid the aliasing effect and ensure that the transmitted bit
lies within the bandwidth range.
2. It is used in Noise suppression techniques devices like biomedical devices, imaging devices
IIR Filters
Advantage of IIR filter
1. IIR need less calculation as compared to FIR
2. IIR provides more stability as compared to FIR due to its feedback concept.
Disadvantages of IIR filter
1. Complicated circuit due to its feedback concept.
2. It contains large number of delay, hence provide stability but reduces the efficiency.
3. It is more susceptible to problems like noise like when the output isn’t computed perfectly and is fed
back, the imperfection can compound.
Application of IIR filter
1. It is used in various digital signals processing application.
2. It is used in Image processing application used in medical field.
3. It is used in loudspeaker to avoid problems like crossover errors.
Window Function
● Windowing technique is a process of taking a small subset of a larger dataset, for
processing and analysis.
● It is normally symmetric around the middle of the interval, usually near a maximum
in the middle, and usually tapering away from the middle.
● The waveform/data-sequence is "multiplied" by a window function, the product is
also zero-valued outside the interval.
● It is used in spectral analysis/modification/resynthesis, the design of finite impulse
response filters, as well as beamforming and antenna design.
● It is used in the design of digital filters, in particular to convert an "ideal" impulse
response of infinite duration.
Window Function
● Rectangular Window -
● Kaiser Window -
● Hamming Window -
● Hanning Window -
● Blackman Window -
References
1. Ram, Amitesh Pandey. Practical approach to Software Defined
[Link], 2019.
2.[Link]
Assignment
● Questions in GNU Radio Companion-
1. Generate a signal which is sum of 3 cosine waves with frequencies of 1 KHz, 5 KHz and 10
KHz. (Transition width = 5 Hz for all filters)
(a) Plot the frequency plot of the signal and the signal after passing through a LPF with
cutoff frequency of 8 KHz.
(b) Plot the frequency plot of the signal and the signal after passing through a HPF with
cutoff frequency of 3 KHz.
(c) Plot the frequency plot of the signal and the signal after passing through a BPF with
lower cutoff frequency of 3 KHz and lower cutoff frequency of 8 KHz.
(d) Plot the frequency plot of the signal and the signal after passing through a BSF /BRF
with lower cutoff frequency of 3 KHz and lower cutoff frequency of 8 KHz.
2. Perform the Question 1 by replacing the signal by a wav source.
Assignment
● Questions in GNU Radio Companion-
3. (a) Plot the time and frequency domain representation of the wav source and it after passing
through a FIR filter with taps = 2 and decimation = 1.
(b) Plot the time and frequency domain representation of the wav source and it after passing
through a IIR filter with Feed forward taps = 2 and Feedback taps = 1.
4. Plot the frequency domain representation of the following windows functions by passing any
wav file through an LPF with cut-off freq = 5.3KHz and transition width = 1KHz -
(a) Rectangular Window
(b) Hanning Window
(c) Hamming Window
(d) Kaiser Window
(NOTE : Refer Chapter 4 from the book - ‘Practical Approach to Software Defined Radios ‘ )
