A FIGURE OF MERIT FOR DIGITAL FILTERS

L.J. Fruit

E-Systems,ECI Division
1501 - 72nd StreetNorth, P.O. Box 12248
St. Petersburg, FL. 33733
ABSTRACT
The combinedeffects of amplitudequantizationare
brought together in such a way that the designer
can readily choose cost effectiveword lengths for
his A-D converter and digital filter. A degrada-
tion factor is suggestedwhich relates the perform-
ance of the digital circuit to its analog counterpart
in terms of the filter's frequency transfer char-
acteristic, samplingrate, input noise, dynamic
range and word length. Only low-pass filters using
fixed-point arithmetic and rounding are consider-
ed. A practicaldesign illustrationis presented
using the degradationfactor and a Fortran IV
computer program to define word lengths and to
choose the best realization from among the paral-
lel or cascade digital filter realizations with first
and second-order sections.
INTRODUCTION
Modern digital processing technology has brought
forth a new set of considerations which must be
used in the design of a digital filter to take the
place of its analog counterpart. If the digital filter
is to be used to process signals in real time, the
computationalspeed is a very important consider-
ation. Other design considerations are brought
about by errors due to finite word lengths. These
errors resultfrom the digital approximationof the
analog input signal in the analog-to-digital conver-
sion, the digitalrepresentation of the filter coef-
ficients and the rounding of the results of arith-
metic operations. Digital filter performanceis de-
graded with respectto its analog counterpart and
the amountof degradation is dependent upon the reg-
ister word length.
This paper presents a basic idea of a figure of
merit, herein called the degradationfactor, which-
combinesthe effects of quantization so that the de
signer can readily choose system compatible and
cost effective word lengths for his analog-to-digital
converter and digital filter. The degradationfac-
tor relates the performance of the digital filter to
its analog counterpart in terms of the filter's fre-
quencytransfer characteristic, sampling fre-
CH1285—6/78/0000—0062$00. 75@19781EEE
quençy, input noise, dynamic range and word length.
Only low-pass filters using fixed-point arithmetic
and roundingare considered. In addition, a prac-
tical design problem is presented to illustrate the
use of the degradationfactor.
DEFINITION OF DEGRADATION FACTCL
Since analog filter theory and design is perhaps
more familiar to many electricalengineers, it is
logical that the performance of a digital filter be
compared in some manner with its analog counter-
part. The basic premise asserted here is to define
the degradationfactor D in terms of the analog fil-
ter output signal-to-noise ratio N A and the dig- ()
ital filter output signal-to-noise ratio
cordingto
D ac- ()
fs\ - fs\
D_A \iJD
kN)A
with both filters subjected to a known input signal-
to-noise ratio .
The use of the signal-to-
noise ratio is particularly convenient because the
effect of gain differences between the analog and
digitalfilters are canceled out.
A block diagram illustrating the degradationfactor
is shown in Figure 1. The frequency transfer char-
acteristics of the analogand digital filter are de-
noted by H( w) and H(Z), respectively. In this in-
stance, the discrete transfer functionH(Z) is the
digital counterpart of the analogfilter transfer func-
tion H( w).
fs
Figure1. Illustration of Degradation Factor
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When a signaland noise are input into both the
analog and digital systems, the degradingeffects
of coefficient rounding, inputquantizationand
arithmetic roundofftend to increase the digital
output noise ND with respectto the analog output
noise N and therefore the digital output signal-
to-noise ratio (__ becomes less than the ana-
\N/D
log output signal-to-noise ratio A The dif-
ference betweenthe analog and digitaloutput signal-
to-noise ratios is then an indication of the degrad-
ingeffects of the digital approximationprocess.
By normalizingthe difference betweenthe analog
and digital output signal-to-noise ratios with re-
spect to the analog signal-to-noise ratio, the re-
sulting degradation factor D represents the degra-
dation with respeét to the analog signal-to-noise
ratio Thus, the range of D is from zero to one
representing no degradation to total degradation,
respectively.
Normally, a designer wants the digital filter's
frequencycharacteristic to be a very close ap-
proximationto a theoretically desired frequency
characteristic over a specified frequency range.
Therefore a digital circuitrealizationmust be
chosen such that
H(LlJ)=H*(eJWTs) (2)
over the frequencyrange of interest. The analog
and digital filter output signals SA and SD are
thereforeequal and can be canceled from equation
(1) to give a simplifieddegradation factor expres-
sion N tion, the spectral density of n(t) can be observed
D=1--
Since the degradation factor can be determined
from the analog and digital filter output noise, the
input Signal S is nO longer needed providedthe
system input noise is of sufficient amplitudewith
respect to the quantizationlevel so as to stimulate
the A-D cOnverterand arithmetic roundofferror
processes.
ANALOG AND DIGITAL NOISE
Attention is now focused on determining the var -
iances of the noise outputs of the analog and digital
filter counterparts. In order to accomplish this,
the characteristic of the noise which is input into
both the analog and digital filters must be consider-
ed in a practicalsense. Refer to the illustration
shown in Figure 2.
w(t) 0
B(Qi)
i___-on(t)
Figure 2. Input Noise Illustration
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The noise w(t) is assumed to be stationary gauss-
iannoise with a zero mean and a spectral den-
siYSw(a) given by
s.w((Q) =02TP(w) (4)
where P(w) is a unit pulse of width centered
about zero frequency, is the variance of the
noise for an equivalentbandwidth of and T5
is the sampling time intervalat which the noise
n(t) is sampled by the digital system I B(w) is
assumed to be a unity gain Linear lowpass fre-
quencytransfer functionwhich shapes the white
noise spectrum to form the noise signal n(t) which
is the noiseinputto both the analog anddigital
filters. The variance of n(t) is
2
rc-2 (5)
cn
where is defined for convenience to be the
sampling factor
+ 00
B(w) 2dw
ws J (6)
-00
In practice, the designedcan observe the actual
signal n(t) on an oscilloscope. The variance
can be determined by squaring the value of
n(t) as measured on an RMS voltmeter. In addi-
on a spectrum analyzer, therefore an approximate
(3) expression representing B() can be formulated.
Once the designed has selected a sampling rate
for his digital system, the sampling factor can
be calculated Therefore, values for all of the
r
parameters in equation (5) can be determined
The variance of the analog filter output noise is
+00
2
ffr(
2
NA
=
2
H(w)I
d (7)
-00
If the bandwidth of B(w) is large compared to the
bandwidth of 11(w), then NA can be represented by
1The sampling intervalT5 is included in the defi-
nition of SW(w.)because once it is sampied in the
digital system, the sampled spectrum does not
overlap and has a variance of
63
 d degradationfactor in a z-transform representation
NA (8) is 0=1—
S
J 1
N

i * —3 2
2 -21
0 (Z)GjZ )Z
l2+1 _______________
— ——
' 2)
To find the variance of the digital filter output (_L_) I 1d2j(1 H(Z)H(Z1)r'dZ

noise, it is assumed the time varying signal with- where denotes integration around the unit circle
in both the A-D converter and digital filter are in the Z'-plane.
large compared to the quantizationlevel. There-
fore, the productroundoffnoise and A-D quantiza- ILLUSTRATION
tion noiseare essentially white and uncorrelated It is desired to replace a third order Butterworth
with respect to eachother and to the input noise. low-pass analog filter with its digital filter counter-
The digital system output noise variance ND is part and to do it as economically as possible.
therefore
• The analog filter has a 3 dB cutoff frequency of 10
N
0
=
2
• 2
d+
2

IH JoTS) I do
2 hertz and the frequency response of the digital
filter must be within .5dB of the frequency
--'—fi' T1)1 12,
±1_f I
sponse of the analog filter down to -60dB. System
2 2 (9) studies reveal that a maximum of one-half percent
additionaloutput noise due to digital processes can
(e1 's) j 2 d, be tolerated.

where q quantization step size of A-D

converter
r = quantization step size of digi-
tal filter
0
H*(e wT) = digital filter frequency
response
) = transferfunctionfrom the 6
Gi(e th multiplier to
output of the
2

the digital filter output

N = number of digitalfilter multi-
pliers which generate product FREQUENCY (Hi)
roundoff noise
Figure 3. Input Noise Spectrum
The first term of equation (9) is the filtered input
noise. Filtered quantizationand product roundoff The analoginput noise spectrum is observed on a
noise contributions are contained in the second and
third terms, respectively. spectrum analyzer as shown in Figure 3, and the
samplingfrequency is chosen to be 4000 hertz so
that aliasing will occur at the -60 dB point of the
if two's complement arithmetic is used to imple- inputnoise spectrum. The unity gain low-pass fre-
ment the fixed point digital filter, then the quanti-
zation step q of the A-D converter and the quanti- quency transfer functionwhichyields the analog
zation step r of the digital filter are given by input noise spectrum shown in Figure 3 can be ap-
proximatedby
q =—- (10)
2m-1 1
B(w) = (13)
r = E (11) (1+j
a 3
1256
where m is the word length of the A-D converter
and is the word length of the digital filter with one The samplingfactor rcan be evaluatedfrom equa-
signbit in each word. The symbol E denotes the tion (6) using Cauchy's residue the theorem, thus
dynamic range or maximum signal amplitudepos- +00
sible in both the A-D converter and digital filter, 1
therefore equations (10) and (11) represent the
resolution of the A-D converter and Digital filter,
-——.
— 1
j
S I 1+:
' 2 3
tha=5.89x102

respectively. Substituting equations (2), (8), (9), — 1.58 xlOI (14)

64

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The rms voltage of the input noise is measured to cc AB

be 33.3 millivolts and the maximumpossible de- CC

AS

sired signal level is 10 volts. Parallel and cascade 022

digital filter circuits as shown in Figure 4 are de-

signed using the bilineartransformation and the 10

third order Butterworthlow-pass filter transfer

functiongiven by Or

C
11
0
21 C

(15) FwOoso.d.fornroilsAD 0.5word

(.._+i)(. B

C
lb
I.I1Ith.ot bib.. 110*1 .lbio
P1001 5.1.4.Ions with ADownool..
hoØrnf20b41 IkIlowdos
word

Fillloo.d.Ronn ooith AD0011.10.5wood

A

lllbil..olio..ioo
where is the radian cutoff frequency. 0 F1.0.10.3.loom
l.ith42060.
,00lw.1.rword
.1100

lb l
1 15 lB 313 2 22
DIGITALFILTER WOOD LENGTh
Al 24 2

Figure 6. Degradationversus Word Length for

First afid Second Versions of First Cascade

FIRST PARALLEL FORM SECONDPARALLEL FORM

10

FIRST VERSION OFFIRsr FIRSTVERSIONOPSECOND

CASCADEFORM CASCADEFORM 0

0 A
I
C

A E.oood..o0dl lflr
.34010.00430.0.5 O,d A
IBI*thoR11616.0.10ow1100
.1
B Sroosd 0.d.
form .oldlA.Dowlrod.rword
I..,hot20 bIB 110*1bbolbwl
C
B
SECONDVERSION OFFIRST SECONDVERSION OFSECOND withAD00110.01w
0
C S.owod.d.lOnw Rood
CASCADEFORM CASCADEFORM io.othollibit..o.oondo.ooioo
D S.00Il0.oOd.f.0.00GthADowO.wlrwood
0120 bIt,...oood0.110w

Figure 4. Digital Filter Forms

I I I I
bc - - 11121314151R1715I920.21 22232425
DIGITALFILTER WORD LENGTH

Figure 7. Degradationversus Word Length for

First and Second VersinsofSecond Cascade
10
Th 20

A Fir
io
0
lororwill wr,
161w
llr
word

B FillSSwIll. looro wHOA.DowI.PHrwood

1 I0ntho121bllo
C S.ow.dIwo OlboowowithA.Doww00.rwb,d
• 0
I.wBll
Sw
1.0
111640.
10.1fosswiSI
bIB
AD brwOrd I -20
I
— — Sl4lFT01. •1.
'.'\
-20 PHASE
0
-: -

-DO \..0'•'\ ,,
\.,_.
WO

.01
II
—
15 13 14 IS 48 17 10 44
— - 8 .1
.2 22 23 20 20 1.0
DIGITALFILTERWORD LENGTH FREQUENCY 0.1

Figure 5. Degradationversus Word Length for Figure 8. Frequency Response of FLrst

Firstand Second Parallel Forms Form with 23 Bits Word Length

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 0
1

..- '_
'' ''\
—
—'fl
AMPLITUDE
—--TRANSFORM FORM EQ

'\
+ 100
,*
z
I

' \\
——IDEALTHIRD OR

\ \\
ER
ISUTTEHWORTH TEA
DIGITAL FILTER —
-. —PHA5ESIIIFT— C
.4
C
t 220

-1 10

FREQUENCY 11*)

Figure 9. Frequency Response of Second Paral-

lel Form, First and Second Versions of First
Cascade Form and Firstand Second Versions of
Second Cascade Form with 23 Bits Word Length

A computer program is used to compute the fre-

quency response and degradationfactor versus
digitalfilter and A-D converter word lengthsfor
each digital filter form as shown in Figures 5
through 9.
From Figures 5, 6 and 7, it can be seen that all
of the digital filter forms with a word length of
23 bits will yield a noise degradation of less
than the maximum allowable .5 percent. Further-
more, the A-D converter word length has little
effect uponthe degradation, therefore an A-D con-
verter word length of eleven bits is the most eco-
nomical choice. The frequency response of the
first parallel form shown in Figure 8 is far from
being within . 5 dB of the desired third order
Butterworth response, therefore it is eliminated
from further consideration. On the other hand,
Figure 9 shows that the frequency responses of
the second parallel form and the first and second
versions of both the first and second cascade
forms are all within .5 dB of the desired third
order Butterworthresponse.
The final choice betweenthe remaining digital
filter forms can be made by considering simpli-
fications of the circuits, the number and types of
elements and the executiontime of each filter
form.
REFERENCES
1. L. J. Fruit, "Degradationdue to Quantization
Effects in Digital Low-Pass Filters," PhD
Dissertation, Dept. of Elec. Engrg., The Ohio
State State University, Columbus, Ohio, 1975.

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