CHAPTER FOUR

Digital Filters
”filter” is just a synonym for ”system”, i.e.
a processing unit that alters the signal
characteristics in a specific manner.
”digital filter” is reserved for linear
discrete-time systems that are designed to
alter the frequency spectrum of the
discrete-time signal in a particular way.
We can classify discrete-time systems
based on the length of the impulse
response.
1. systems having an impulse
response of finite length, so-called FIR
systems, and
2. systems which have an infinitely
long impulse response, i.e. IIR systems.
The same classification is applicable to
the more confined set of digital filters.
 4.2 Representation and properties of FIR
filters
4.2.1 Difference equation
The difference equation
is a non-recursive linear difference
equation, which describes a general causal
time-invariant FIR filter of order N.
x[k]= input to the filter ,
y[k] = the output
bn = filter taps or coefficients = N + 1
y[k] depends on the current input x[k]
and on previous inputs x[k − n] hence it is
a causal filter.
FIR filtering operation comes down to
performing a discrete linear convolution of
input signal x[k] and the filter coefficients
bk.
digital filtering comes down to a discrete
convolution in the time domain,
and hence, to a multiplication in the
frequency domain
FIR is also called a moving average filter.
A moving average filter is a filter that
calculates the mean of N+1 consecutive
signal samples.

Which can be implemented as FIR filter

with coefficients 1/(N + 1)
4.2.2 Impulse Response
the impulse response of
is h[k] = bk, if 0 ≤ k ≤ N,
= 0, elsewhere
the length of the impulse response of
an N-th order FIR filter is N = N + 1.
FIR filter has length N +1, or that it is
an (N + 1)-taps filter.
4.2.3 Transfer function
by replacing time delays with powers
of z−1 in
leads to a transfer function FIR filter of
order N :

z-transform converts the convolution

operation equation into a
multiplication Y (z) = H(z) · X(z), which
is easier to handle.
in terms of polynomials depending on z
rather than on z−1 :

As the highest power in z is N, the FIR filter of length

N = N +1 is said to be of order N.
4.2.4 Poles and zeros
poles = roots of the denominator and
zeros= root of the numerator
polynomial
FIR filter has:
N poles in the origin of the complex
plane (pm = 0) and
N zeros at arbitrary positions
determined by the filter coefficients
bn.
As all the poles are in the origin of the
complex plane and therefore lie inside the unit
circle, stability is ensured. Hence, FIR filters are
always stable, whatever the filter coefficients
bn. This appears to be a big advantage over IIR
filters.
As all the poles are at a fixed position (i.e. in the
origin of the complex plane) the filter
characteristics are controlled by the zeros. FIR
filters are therefore sometimes also, somewhat
imprecisely, called all-zero filters.
4.2.5 Frequency response
The frequency response can be derived by
replacing z with

A Bode plot of the frequency response is a

helpful tool to visualize the spectral
characteristics of the filter. The magnitude
response is commonly expressed in dB, the
phase response is shown in degrees.
 4.3 Filter types
Classical or traditional filters
work fine in basic scenarios, e.g. to
suppress noise on top of a signal-of-
interest, where signal and noise have
clearly distinct frequency spectra.
Example: FIR filters
 FIR filters can be designed to have a
typical low pass, high pass, band pass
or band stop response.
data-driven filters
In many cases, however, the frequency
spectrum of the signal-of-interest and
of the noise considerably overlap, and
hence, classical filters (partly) fail. In
such scenarios data-driven filters
generally offer better performance.
The Wiener filter is an example of a
data-driven filter. It minimizes the
noise that is added to the signal-of-
interest at the output of the filter. The
Wiener filter coefficients are
determined from the spectral
characteristics of the noise and of the
desired signal.
matched filters
- used in telecommunications
- maximizes the signal-to-noise ratio at
the output of the filter by taking into
account the (time-domain)
characteristics of the signal-of-interest.
Adaptive filters
- continuously change their coefficients
to e.g. suppress additive noise on top
of the signal-of-interest. The frequency
response of the filter therefore
permanently changes. In this way,
optimal noise suppression can be
offered at each moment in time.
parametric filters
- They are put in such a form that the
filter characteristics (e.g. bandwidth,
cut-off frequency) can be easily
controlled by a small number of
(independent) parameters. Parametric
filters are often used in equalizer and
filter bank applications.
4.4 IIR filters
-has an Infinite Impulse Response
4.4.1 Representation and properties of
IIR filters
4.4.1.1 IIR filters versus (non-)recursive
discrete-time systems
”IIR filter” and ”recursive discrete-time
system” are considered synonyms.
4.4.1.2 Difference equation
-the recursive linear difference equation

describes a general causal time-invariant

IIR filter of order max(M,N).
x[k]-the input
y[k]- output
 This filter is :
1. time-invariant filter because the M +
N + 1 filter coefficients or filter taps, bn
and am are constant and do not
depend on k.
2. causal as the output only depends
on the present and past input and the
previous output.
FIR filters
-also called moving average filters, because of
the presence of the
term in the difference equation.
IIR filters contains
1. moving average filters
2. autoregressive term ,
which operates on past outputs. Because of the
combined moving average (MA) and
autoregressive (AR) term, IIR filters are
sometimes called ARMA filters or ARMA
systems.
a moving average filter is a filter that
calculates the mean of N + 1 (consecutive)
signal samples, e.g.

which can be implemented as an FIR filter

with all the coefficients equal to 1/(
N+1) .
4.4.1.3 Impulse Response
-The length of the impulse response of
(almost all) recursive discrete-time filters is
infinite.
-the impulse response is found by applying
a discrete Dirac impulse to the filter input
and recording the output. It can also be
retrieved by calculating the inverse discrete
time FT of the frequency response H(φ), or
the inverse z-transform of the transfer
function H(z).
4.4.1.4 Transfer function
- the transfer function or system function is
:
4.4.1.5 Frequency response
The frequency response of a stable IIR
filter can be retrieved by replacing z
with exp(j2πφ) :
 Figure :Typical low pass prototype filter Responses :
the order of the filters is 6 and fc = φ = 0.2.