 Design and Frequency scaling of First Order

Active LP, BP, HP

 Design and Frequency scaling of Second
Order Active LP, BP, HP
 Wide and Narrow Band BR Butterworth and
Notch Filter
 All pass Filters
 An electronic filter is a circuit designed to
pass specific frequencies while blocking or
attenuating others, effectively shaping the
frequency response of a signal. They are
essential in electronics to remove noise,
separate signals, and select desired frequency
bands using components like resistors,
capacitors, and inductors.
 Functionality: Filters pass, block, or attenuate
specific signal frequencies, often used to
separate AC from DC or to remove unwanted
noise.
 Main Types:
 Low-pass: Passes low frequencies, blocks high
frequencies.
 High-pass: Passes high frequencies, blocks low
frequencies.
 Band-pass: Passes a specific range of
frequencies.
 Band-reject (Notch): Blocks a specific narrow
range of frequencies.
Passive Filter Active Filter

No amplifier Uses Op-Amp

No gain Can amplify

Limited performance Better control

 Components: Built using passive components
(resistors, capacitors, inductors) or active
components (op-amps).

 Applications: Essential in power supplies

(smoothing ripples), audio systems (crossover
networks), radio communications (selecting
stations), and signal processing.

 Performance: Classified by their cutoff frequency,

which separates the passband (frequencies
allowed) from the stopband (frequencies
blocked).
 Filters can be broadly categorized as passive (no
external power) or active (requires external
power)
 An Active Low Pass Filter Circuit is a passive RC
low pass filter section but uses an operational
amplifier as its active device for voltage
amplification and gain.
 Active filters such as the Active Low Pass
Filter circuit, are RC filter circuits that use along
with some resistors and capacitors, an
operational amplifier (op-amp) as the their main
amplifying device to provide voltage gain as well
as greater control and filter performance in the
low frequency passband.
 Basic first-order passive RC filter circuits, such as
a low pass or a high pass filter, can be
constructed using just a single resistor in series
with a non-polarized capacitor connected across
a sinusoidal input signal.
 This 1st-order low pass active
filter, consists simply of a
passive RC filter stage providing
a low frequency path to the
input of a non-inverting
operational amplifier.

 The operational amplifier is

configured as a voltage-follower
(Buffer) giving it a DC gain of
one. That is: Av = +1 or unity
gain.

 The advantage of this

configuration is that the op-
amps high input impedance
prevents excessive loading on
the filters output while its low
output impedance prevents the
filters cut-off frequency point
from being affected by changes
in the impedance of the load.
 Capacitor behavior:
◦ Low freq → acts open → signal passes
◦ High freq → acts short → signal blocked

 Capacitor is key element

 Frequency-dependent behavior
 Where:
 A = gain
 R, C = components
 Also called -3 dB frequency
 Output = 0.707 × input
 If the external impedance connected to the input
of the filter circuit changes, this impedance
change would also affect the corner frequency of
the filter (components connected together in
series or parallel).
 One way of avoiding any external influence is to
place the capacitor in parallel with the feedback
resistor R2 effectively removing it from the input
but still maintaining the filters characteristics.
 However, the value of the capacitor will change
slightly from being 100nF to 110nF to take
account of the 9k1Ω resistor. But the formula
used to calculate the cut-off corner frequency is
the same as that used for the RC passive low
pass filter.
 Choose cutoff frequency (fc) :
Define the desired -3db frequency
 Select capacitor (C) :
Choose a standard capacitor value,
typically <=1µf(e.g. 0.01µf,or 0.1 µf).
 Calculate resistor (R) :
Calculate the resistor value required for the RC
network using:

 Set gain (if needed)

 Frequency scaling means:
Changing the cutoff frequency without
changing circuit shape

 Why do we need it?

 To adapt a design to different frequency
ranges
 Example:
◦ Audio → kHz
◦ RF → MHz
 If original cutoff frequency =
 New cutoff frequency =

 Scaling factor:
 To increase frequency:
 Reduce R or C

 Or
 Original:

 Target:

 New Resistor

 Frequency depends on RC time constant

 Smaller RC → faster response → higher cutoff
frequency
 Larger RC → slower response → lower cutoff
frequency
 Audio filtering (noise removal)
 Signal conditioning
 Anti-aliasing filters
 Sensor circuits
 A band-pass filter (BPF): Allows signals within
a specific frequency band
 Attenuates signals below and above that band
 It is formed by combining:
A high-pass filter (HPF)
A low-pass filter (LPF)
An op-amp (active element)
 The principal characteristic of an Active Band Pass
Filter or any electronic filter for that matter, is its
ability to pass frequencies relatively unattenuated
over a specified band or spread of frequencies called
the “Pass Band”.
 For a low pass filter this pass-band starts from 0Hz,
(DC) and continues up to the specified cut-off
frequency point at -3dB down from the maximum
pass-band gain. Equally, for a high pass filter circuit
its pass-band starts from this -3dB cut-off frequency
and continues up to infinity or the maximum open-
loop gain for an active filter.
 However, the active band pass filter is slightly
different in that it is a frequency selective filter circuit
which can be used in electronic systems to separate a
signal at one particular frequency, or a range of
signals that lie within a certain “band” of frequencies
from all other frequencies.
 This band or range of frequencies is set
between two cut-off or corner frequency
points labelled as the “lower frequency” (ƒL)
and the “higher frequency” (ƒH). Any signal
frequencies higher or lower than the these
two cut-off points which form the filters
passband are significantly attenuated,
effectively filtering them out.
 It passes signals between:
 This cascading together of the individual low and
high pass passive filters produces a low “Q-
factor” type filter circuit which has a wide pass
band. The first stage of the filter will be the high
pass stage that uses the capacitor to block any
DC biasing from the source.
 This design has the advantage of producing a
relatively flat asymmetrical pass band frequency
response with one half representing the low pass
response and the other half representing high
pass response as shown.
 The higher corner point (ƒH) as well as the
lower corner frequency cut-off point (ƒL) are
calculated the same as before in the standard
first-order low and high pass filter circuits.
 Obviously, a reasonable separation is
required between the two cut-off points to
prevent any interaction between the two low
pass and high pass stages. The non-inverting
operational amplifier also provides isolation
between the two stages and defines the
overall voltage gain of the circuit.
 Frequency scaling means:
 Shifting the entire passband to a new
frequency range without changing the circuit
structure.
 HPF sets lower boundary
 LPF sets upper boundary
 Scaling changes speed of circuit response
 Smaller RC → higher frequency band

 Applications
 Audio equalizers
 Communication systems
 ECG/biomedical filtering
 Noise isolation