Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Analog Electronics Laboratory 3 (Active Filters)

Name -:

E.J.P Nisal Nuwan Senarathne

Introduction
A filter is a network that provides perfect transmission for signal with frequencies in certain
pass band region and infinite attenuation in the stop band regions. Such ideal characteristics
cannot be attained, and the goal of filter design is to approximate the ideal requirements to
within an acceptable tolerance. Usually the filters are of low pass, high pass, band pass or band
stop (notch) type.

Figure 1-: Low Pass Filter

Figure 1-: Chebychev Low Pass Filter

Figure 3-:Butterworth Low Pass Filter

The objective of this lab is to build and test a first order, low-pass filter, 2nd order chebychev
Low Pass Filter, and 2nd Order Butterworth Low Pass filter with resistors, capacitors &
Operational amplifiers. Then we measured the magnitude response of the filter to sinusoidal
inputs of various frequencies by doing a frequency domain analysis using Orcad Capture CIS.
Results
Part 1: Low-Pass First Order Filter
A) Theory
A low-pass filter is a filter that passes low-frequency signals and attenuates (reduces
the amplitude of) signals with frequencies higher than the cutoff frequency. The actual amount
of attenuation for each frequency varies depending on specific filter design.
In the operational amplifier circuit shown in the figure, the cutoff frequency (in hertz) is defined
as:

or equivalently (in radians per second):

The gain in the passband is R2/R1, and the stopband drops off at 20 dB per decade as
it is a first-order filter.

The derivation for the transfer function of the op amp filter in the above Figure is as follows

B) Orcad Capture CIS Results

Low-Pass First Order Filter Schematic

Time Domain Analysis

Frequency Domain Analysis

Part 2: 2nd Order Chebychev Low Pass Filter

Chebychev filters are analog or digital filters having a steeper roll-off and more pass
band ripple or stop band ripple than Butterworth filters. Chebychev filters have the property
that they minimize the error between the idealized and the actual filter characteristic over the
range of the filter (that means the order of the filter) but with ripples in the pass band.

2nd Order Chebychev Low Pass Filter Schematic

Frequency Domain Analysis

Part 03: 2nd Order Butterworth Low Pass Filter
The Butterworth filter is a type of signal processing filter designed to have as flat a frequency
response as possible in the pass band. It is also referred to as a maximally flat magnitude filter.
The attenuation is 3 dB at the cutoff frequency. Above the cutoff frequency the attenuation is
20 dB/decade/order, that means -40db per decade as it is a 2nd order filter. The transient
response of a Butterworth filter to a pulse input shows moderate overshoot and ringing.

nd

2 Order Butterworth Low Pass Filter schematic

Frequency Domain Analysis

Post-Lab Work
Part 3-:2nd Order Butterworth High Pass Filter

nd

2 Order Butterworth High Pass Filter Schematic

Frequency Domain Anlaysis

Part 2-: 2nd order chebychev High Pass Filter

nd

2 Order Chebychev High Pass Filter Schematic

Frequency Domain Analysis

Discussion

The complexity or Filter Type is defined by the filters order, and which is dependant upon the
number of reactive components such as capacitors or inductors within its design. We also know
that the rate of roll-off and therefore the width of the transition band, depends upon the order
number of the filter and that for a simple first-order filter it has a standard roll-off rate of
20dB/decade or 6dB/octave. Then, for a filter that has an n th number order, it will have a
subsequent roll-off rate of 20n dB/decade or 6n dB/octave. So a first-order filter has a roll-off
rate of 20dB/decade (6dB/octave), a second-order filter has a roll-off rate of 40dB/decade
(12dB/octave).The higher the Active filter order, the higher the number of cascaded stages
there are within the filter design, and the closer the filter becomes to the ideal response.

The Frequency Response of a filter can be defined mathematically by its Transfer Function with
the standard Voltage Transfer Function H(j) written as:

Where:
Vout = the output signal voltage.
Vin = the input signal voltage.
j = to the square root of -1 (-1)
= the radian frequency (2)

The ( j ) can also be written as ( s ) to denote the S-domain. and the resultant transfer
function for a second-order low pass filter is given as:

This second order low pass filter circuit has two RC networks, R1 C1 and R2 C2 which give
the filter its frequency response properties. The filter design is based around a non-inverting
op-amp configuration so the filters gain, A will always be greater than 1. Also the op-amp has a
high input impedance which means that it can be easily cascaded with other active filter circuits
to give more complex filter designs.
The normalised frequency response of the second order low pass filter is fixed by the RC
network and is generally identical to that of the first order type. The main difference between a
1st and 2nd order low pass filter is that the stop band roll-off will be twice the 1st order filters
at 40dB/decade (12dB/octave) as the operating frequency increases above the cut-off
frequency c.

Conclusions
We can now design Low Pass and High Pass filters with response at any frequency. Band Pass
and Band Stop filters can be implemented with single op amps using techniques similar to the
circuits we simulate. We build different filters for different cut of frequencies (wc). Using the
same techniques even better filter can be obtained. By increasing design order, even more
noise frequencies can be eliminated from the inputted signal. Also, low noise operational
amplifier can be used to remove additional background noises. Butterworth filters are fast and
simple to use. They are frequency-based and the effect of filtering can be easily understood and
predicted.