ACTIVE FILTERS

IEE – INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS LEC

ENGR. KATHERINE T. ESCANO

 Filters

• A filter is a circuit that passes certain frequencies and attenuates

or reject all other frequencies.
• Filters that include one or more op-amps in the design are called
active filters
• The passband of a filter is the range of frequencies that are
allowed to pass through the filter with minimum attenuation
(usually defined as less than – 3dB of attenuation)
• The critical frequency, fC, (also called cutoff frequency) defines
the end of the passband and is normally specified at the point
where the response drops -3 dB (70.7%) from the passband
response.
 Filters
• Following the passband is a
region called the transition
region that leads into a region
called the stopband.
• The high input impedance of
the op-amp prevents
excessive loading of the
driving source, and the low
output impedance of the op-
amp prevents the filter from
being affected by the load that
it is driving
 Filters

• The most basic filter is a

simple RC circuit consisting
of just 1 resistor and 1
capacitor
• Actual filter responses depend
on the number of poles, a
term used to describe the
number of RC circuits
contained in the filter.
 Filters

• The frequency response of a filter is the graph of its voltage gain

and frequency.
• There are five types of filters:
✓Low-pass
✓High-pass
✓Bandpass
✓Band-stop
✓All-pass
ACTIVE FILTERS

TYPES OF FILTERS
 Low-pass Filter

• A low-pass filter is one that passes frequencies from dc (0 Hz) to

fC and significantly attenuates all other frequencies.
• An ideal low-pass filter has zero phase shift for all frequencies in
the passband
• The ideal response is sometimes referred to as a “brick wall”
because nothing gets through beyond the wall.
• The bandwidth of an ideal low-pass filter is equal to fC.
• The most basic low-pass filter is a simple RC circuit consisting of
just 1 resistor and 1 capacitor; the output is taken from the
capacitor
Low-pass Filter
Low-pass Filter
 Low-pass Filter

• The critical frequency of a low-pass RC filter occurs when Xc = R,

where
 Low-pass Filter
Example: Calculate the cutoff frequency of a first-order low-pass
filter for R = 1.2 kΩ and C = 0.02 µF.
 High-pass Filter

• A high-pass filter is one that significantly attenuates or rejects all

frequencies below fC and passes all frequencies above fC.
• Ideally, the passband of a high-pass filter is all frequencies above
the critical frequency.
• A simple RC circuit consisting of a single resistor and capacitor
can be configured as a high-pass filter by taking the output across
the resistor.
High-pass Filter
 High-pass Filter

• The critical frequency of a high-pass RC filter occurs when Xc =

R, where
 Band-pass Filter

• A band-pass filter passes all signals lying within a band between a

lower-frequency limit and an upper-frequency limit and essentially
rejects all other frequencies that are outside this specific band.
• The bandwidth (BW) is defined as the difference between the
upper critical frequency (fC2) and the lower critical frequency (fC1)

BW = fC2 - fC1
Band-pass Filter
• The center frequency is
symbolized by f0 and is given by
the geometric average of two
cutoff frequencies:

• Quality factor (Q) of a band-pass

filter is the ratio of the center
frequency to the bandwidth
 Band-pass Filter

• The value of Q is an indication of the selectivity of a band-pass

filter.
• The higher the value of Q, the narrower the bandwidth and the
better the selectivity for a given value of f0.
• Band-pass filter are sometimes classified as narrowband (Q > 10)
or wideband (Q < 10)
• The quality factor can also be expressed in terms of the damping
factor (DF)
 Band-pass Filter
Example: A certain band-pass filter has a lower cutoff frequency of
11.25 kHz and an upper cutoff frequency of 20 kHz. Determine Q
and classify the filter as narrowband or wideband.
 Band-stop Filter

• Another category of active

filter is the band-stop filter,
also known as notch, band-
reject, or band-elimination
filter.
• Frequencies within a certain
bandwidth are rejected, and
frequencies outside the
bandwidth are passed.
 All-pass Filter

• An ideal all-pass filter has a passband and no stopband.

• It passes all frequencies between zero and infinite frequency.
• The all-pass filter is useful when we want to produce a certain
amount of phase shift for the signal being filtered without
changing its amplitude.
• The phase response of a filter is defined as the graph of phase
shift versus frequency.
• With the all-pass filter, each distinct frequency can be shifted by a
certain amount as it passes through the filter.
ACTIVE FILTERS

FILTER RESPONSE CHARACTERISTICS

Filter Response Characteristics

• Each type of filter response can be tailored by circuit component

values to have either a Butterworth, Chebyshev, or Bessel
characteristic.
• Each of these characteristics is identified by the shape of the
response curve, and each has an advantage in certain
applications
 Butterworth Characteristic

• It provides a very flat amplitude response in the passband and a

roll-off rate of -20 dB/decade/pole or -6 dB/octave/pole.
• The phase response is not linear, and the phase shift (thus, time
delay) of signal passing through the filter varies nonlinearly with
frequency.
• Filters with the Butterworth response are normally used when all
frequencies in the passband must have the same gain.
• It is often referred to as a maximally flat response.
Butterworth Characteristic
 Butterworth Characteristic

• The major advantage of a Butterworth filter is the flatness of the

passband response.
• The major disadvantage of a Butterworth filter is the relatively
slow roll-off rate compared to others.
• Because of its maximally flat response, the Butterworth
characteristic is the most widely used.
 Chebyshev Characteristic

• Filters with the Chebyshev response characteristic are useful

when a rapid roll-off is required because it provides a roll-off rate
greater than -20 dB/decade/pole or -6 dB/octave/pole.
• This type of filter response is characterized by overshoot or
ripples in the passband and an even less linear phase response
than the Butterworth.
Chebyshev Characteristic
 Bessel Characteristic

• The Bessel filter response exhibits a linear phase characteristic,

meaning that the phase shift increases linearly with frequency.
• In other words, the Bessel filter trades off some of the roll-off rate
to get a linear phase shift.
• The result is almost no overshoot on the output with a pulse input.
• Filters with Bessel response are used for filtering pulse
waveforms without distortion.
• The major advantage of the Bessel filter is that it produces the
least distortion of non-sinusoidal signal.
• The Bessel filter has the best step response of all the filters.
Bessel Characteristic
Filter Response Characteristic
 Damping Factor

• It determines which response characteristic the filter exhibits.

• The damping factor affects the filter response by negative
feedback action.
• The value of the damping factor required to produce a desired
response characteristic depends on the order (number of poles) of
the filter.

• The more poles a filter has, the faster its roll-off rate is
Damping Factor
ACTIVE FILTERS

FILTER CIRCUITS
Filter Circuits
Single-pole Low-pass Filter
 Sallen-Key Low-pass Filter

• The Sallen-Key is the most

common configurations for a
second-order filter.
• It is also known as a VCVS
(voltage controlled, voltage
source) filter.
• The critical frequency for the
Sallen-Key filter is
 Sallen-Key Low-pass Filter
Example: Determine the critical frequency of the Sallen-Key low-pass
filter shown to the right.
Single-pole High-pass Filter
Single-pole High-pass Filter
Sallen-Key High-pass Filter
 Active Band-pass Filter

• One way to implement a band-pass filter is a cascaded

arrangement of a high-pass filter and a low-pass filter, if the
critical frequencies are sufficiently separated.
• The critical frequency of each filter is chosen so that the response
curves overlap sufficiently.
• The critical frequency of the high-pass filter must be sufficiently
lower than that of the low-pass stage.
• This filter is generally limited to wide bandwidth applications.
Cascaded Band-pass Filter
Multiple-Feedback Band-pass Filter
Multiple-Feedback Band-pass Filter

Example: Determine the center frequency, maximum gain, and

bandwidth for the filter shown.
 State-Variable Filter
• The state-variable or universal active filter is widely used for band-
pass applications
• it consists of a summing amplifier and two op-amp integrators
(which act as single-pole low-pass filters) that are combined in a
cascaded arrangement to form a second-order filter.
• Although used primarily as a band-pass (BP) filter, the state-
variable configuration also provides low-pass (LP) and high-pass
(HP) outputs.
• The center frequency is set by the RC circuits in both integrators.
• When used as a band-pass filter, the critical frequencies of the
integrators are usually made equal, thus setting the center
frequency of the passband.
State-Variable Filter
State-Variable Filter Basic Operation

At input frequencies below fc, the input signal passes through

the summing amplifier and integrators and is fed back out of phase.
Thus, the feedback signal and input signal cancel for all frequencies
below approximately fc. As the low-pass response of the integrators
rolls off, the feedback signal diminishes, thus allowing the input to
pass through to the band-pass output. Above fc, the low-pass
response disappears, thus preventing the input signal from passing
through the integrators. As a result, the band-pass filter output
peaks sharply at fc.
 State-Variable Filter
Example: Determine the center frequency, Q, and bandwidth passband
of the state-variable filter shown.
 Biquad Filter

• The biquad filter is similar to the state-variable filter except that it

consists of an integrator, followed by an inverting amplifier, and
then another integrator, as shown.
• In a biquad filter, the bandwidth is independent, and the Q is
dependent on the critical frequency; however, in the state-variable
filter it is just the opposite: the bandwidth is dependent, and the Q
is independent on the critical frequency.
• Also, the biquad filter provides only band-pass and low-pass
outputs.
Biquad Filter
Multiple-Feedback Band-stop Filter

• Notice that this configuration is

like the band-pass version
except that R3 has been
moved and R4 has been
added.
State-Variable Band-stop Filter

• Summing the low-pass and

the high-pass responses of
the state-variable filter with a
summing amplifier creates a
band-stop filter, as shown
• One important application of
this filter is minimizing the 60
Hz “hum” in audio systems by
setting the center frequency to
60 Hz.
ACTIVE FILTERS

END OF DISCUSSION