Active RC filters derivable from LC ladder filters via linear transformations

A. G. Constantinides and H. G. Dimopoulos

Indexing terms: Active filters, Ladder networks, Linear-network synthesis Abstract: This paper contains a new approach to the design of active RC filters that simulate lossless ladder doubly terminated filters. The method relies on linear transformations of port variables, and it is shown that the wave-active-filter procedure proposed elsewhere is a special case of the present method. Another particular choice of the transformations is proposed in this paper and employed in a specific example. The results are very encouraging.
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Introduction

A C

B D

There exist several procedures for the realisation of active RC networks that simulate lossless ladder doubly terminated filters.1"3 The origin of this simulation approach has been the work of Orchard,4 in which it is argued that lossless ladder doubly terminated filters have their first order sensitivity function equal to zero at frequencies at which maximum power transfer takes place from source to load. In the digital-filter domain, the above has been used very effectively to derive digital filters based on scattering parameters.s~8 The same idea of scattering parameters has been employed recently9"11 for the realisation of active RC filters. It should be emphasised here that the scatteringparameter approach is merely a port-variable transformation method of a specific kind having directly interpretable new variables (i.e. incident and reflected voltage waves). It is therefore of interest to examine some general linear port transformations and to realise appropriate circuits dependent on these. The general approach is outlined in this paper and a specific form of the transformation is chosen (other than the scattering parameter choice) and applied. The results obtained are very encouraging indeed for the particular choice of the transformations.
2 2.1 General considerations Basic theory

0)

where both /1 and I2 are assumed to flow into the network, and hence any negative signs that arise as a result of considering 72 entering the network, rather than leaving it in the conventional chain-matrix formulation, are assimilated in the signs of the B and D parameters. The active realisations that are to be derived will have the transformed-port-network variables appearing as inputs and outputs of appropriate operational-amplifier circuits, and hence it is reasonable to consider both port variables to be dimensionally the same. Thus the new port variables can be defined in terms of two nonsingular transformation matrices dx and(J 2 as follows:

(2) where
i Ji fit 5,-

1 = 1,2

It is advantageous for many reasons to describe the interrelationships between the port variables of a 2-portnetwork in terms of the modified chain matrix. For the present analysis it is desirable to have the currents flowing into the network to keep the definitions for the new port variables similar. The approach adopted in this paper is based on a 2-port element-by-element transformation, i.e. of the individual ladder-filter components, and hence finally one has series elements and shunt elements for consideration. Irrespective of the element under examination we can write
Paper T8, first received 27th February and in revised form 9th June 1976 Dr. Constantinides and Mr. Dimopoulos are with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Imperial College of Science & Technology, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2BT, England

Consequently the new port variables are related through the equation

" "1 I*2

where
a = { b = { c = { d= {

(3)

A 2 = ot282 (52y2

For the purpose of realising the relationships of eqn. 3 we must assign causal interpretations to the variables whereby
17

ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS, SEPTEMBER 1976, Vol. l,No. 1

the left-hand side of an equation is, in general, considered as the result of the stimuli that appear on the right-hand side. Thus by rewriting eqn. 3 with the variables JCJ and x2 considered to be excitations, it can be seen t h a t ^ and.y2 arise as linear combinations of the excitations, where the constants involved are to be interpreted as transfer ratios. This interpretation is precisely analogous to the approach in wave active filters.9"11
2.2 Transforms tions for ladder elemen ts

Ai = A2 = <*!&! - 0 i T J

Therefore we have the causal relationships

For the purpose of transforming a ladder filter by means of the proposed approach, each series and shunt element must be transformed individually and the transformed structures must be interconnected accordingly. The question of interconnection is of paramount importance since, as will be seen presently, it influences the complexity of the activeRC simulation. It will be observed that, in eqn. 3, the series and shunt element modified chain matrices to be used are 1 0

(8) These are the general relationships that will be constrained later for realisation purposes.
2.3 Terminations

-z
-1

and

1 \Y

0 -1

In addition to the 2-port considerations above, we must examine the 1-port networks that are used as terminations at the input and output ends of the ladder filter. With reference to Fig. 2, we can write

and hence, for both matrices, A = 1, D = 1 and BC = 0. In addition, the interconnection required as shown in the VI domain in Fig. 1 is described by the interconnection matrix 1 0 0 -1
(4)

7i and, in addition, V\ E-RJx

5,

From these relationships we obtain The corresponding interconnection relationship for the transformed variables is obtainable from eqns. 3 and 4 as (9) In a manner similar to the above, the relationship for the output termination can be derived as (10)

L^iJ

(5) The interconnection as defined by eqn. 5 involves a large degree of complexity which has a direct bearing on the complexity of the actual realisation. Since our aim is to
Ii

Fig. 11nterconnection in the VI domain

12 o

have simple realisations, we constrain the interconnection to be simplified as

Fig. 2 Input and output terminations

(6) where ex = 1 and, independently, e2 = 1. Hence (from eqns. 5 and 6) the elements of the transformation matrices dx and Q 2 are related by the equation
0 0 2.4 Particular transformations

1 0

0 -1
(7)

It should be noted that the final circuit realisations are directly determined by the choice of the transformation parameters a l 9 j31} yx, and 8X. Specifically it can be seen that wave active filters are derivable from the above considerations by setting the parameters to the following values: <*i = 7i = 1, 0i = R, 5i = ~R, e, = e a = l

We define the crosscascade interconnection as being the case that corresponds to ex = e2 = 1 in eqn. 7, from which we can see directly that 18

where R is the port normalisation resistance. Active RC

ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS, SEPTEMBER 1976, Vol. l.No. 1

realisations from this choice have been obtained from other considerations as shown in References 9,10 and 11. A particularly simple set of expressions is derivable by setting a, = ! = 0, 7i = 7 and < 3 x = -R. In this case we have the expressions given in Table 1 corresponding to the series-arm impedance Z and the shunt-arm admittance Y. Realisations of networks for this case are considered in the rest of this paper.
3 Circuit realisations

The realisations for the elements that may occur in a ladder filter are directly obtainable from the expressions of Table 1 by replacing Z and Y by their frequency-dependent expressions and interpreting the variables as voltages. This has been carried out and the expressions, together with the

original passive branches and their corresponding active-/?C counterparts, are shown in Fig. 3. The LC parallel (series) section as a shunt (series) arm is not included in this Figure, since the corresponding simulated circuits can be derived in a straightforward manner from the rest of the Figure. For the purpose of reducing the number of amplifiers used in a realisation, we have considered the input termination in conjunction with the first element of the ladder as one single building block. In order to reduce the complexity of the realisation, we inverted the sign of the source E which adds an extra 180 overall constant phase shift to the original response but without influencing the amplitude characteristic. The same ideas were applied to the output termination with the result that, for an th order polynomial ladder filter, we require only n amplifiers. The circuits corresponding to the above situation are shown in Figs. 4 and 5.

Co

L o

L-o

,c 0 ' "Co

Fig. 4 Input termination with reduced active components (a)Rx = RsR3/yR;Cl (b)Rx = RR3y/Rs;C1 (c)Cx = y LJR1;C4 (d)C, = RsCJRxy2;C3
2

= RC0/yR3;R3 = yL0/RR3;R3 = yLJRR3;R4

is arbitrary is arbitrary = RR3/(2RS - yR);

Rx and R3 are arbitrary Fig. 3 Active equivalent circuits for ladder components sRC_ (b)yx x2;y2 = xx 4 = RC0/R,y;R3 = RA(2Rs-yR)/yR Rx and i?4 are arbitrary Application of method

= - ^ - x, + x2 ; y2 = 7

(c) >j = x2 ; >>2 = x, + (d)^, = xi;y2 =

syL, (e)R' = 2L0/CR;Rl - RC0/C {f)R' = RCJC;R1 = 2LJCR

To illustrate the method as proposed in this paper under the description of Table 1, let us consider the 3rd-order lowpass filter of Fig. 6A. In the /?C-active realisation shown, we have taken Rs and Cx together to form the first active section. A similar situation exists with respect to C2 and RL. The active filter is shown redrawn in Fig. 6B. The component Cmax has been found by computer analysis to 19

ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS, SEPTEMBER 1976, Vol. 1, No. 1

Co

be the most sensitive part of the circuit. All resistors have been chosen to be 1 kh 5%. The cutoff frequency of the active-RC realisation was chosen to be 1 kHz. The attenuation characteristics of both the original LC ladder and the active-/? C simulated filters are shown in Fig. 7. It may be observed from this Figure that, at least for the filter under consideration, the active-realisation performance follows very closely the LC-filter performance. We have augmented the most sensitive component in the active realisation by + 10%, and we show the deviation of the resulting characteristic from its nominal values in Fig. 7. It will be observed that the deviation is most perceptible near the cutoff region.
Table 1 Series-arm Z Shunt-arm Y

Co

yZ
= - x,+x2
n

RY

y2 = x, + 7

x2

Fig. 5 Output termination with reduced active components (a)Rr (b)Rt (c)Rx (d)Rt = yRLR2/R,Cl = yR2Rj/R;Cl - RC0/yR2;R2 = = - RC0/yR2;R2 is arbitrary yL0/RRl is arbitrary yL0IRxR -8 dB -16 is arbitrary ;R2 = RRJyRL;C2 is arbitrary;R2 = RxRlyRL\C2
Rc=1

10

100

frequency, Hz Fig. 7 Gain characteristics of filter ideal response actual i?C-active response o o o o response after a + 10% change of most sensitive component (C m a x in Fig. 6B) Fig. 6A Analogue LC doubly terminated filter and equivalent RCactive realisation
Ct C2 3-35;L = 0-71;C = O - 5 3 3 M F ; C / = 0113MF

1000

Conclusions

Fig. 6B Active filter redrawn

20

We have proposed a general approach to the simulation of LC ladder filters by active-^C techniques, whereby the wave-active-filter approach appears to be one special case. The general transformations have also been constrained in order to produce simple expressions for the port-network variables, and these expressions produced the necessary network-element equivalents in active-/?C forms. The present disadvantage of these equivalent circuits is the use of two capacitors for the simulation of a single storage element of the original LC ladder. However, this did not seem to affect the expected practical results, from which it was observed that the active-/?C filters derived in this way have a desirable low-sensitivity performance. Further work is needed in two major areas: (i) the general transformations incorporate a large degree of freedom in the choice of the
ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS, SEPTEMBER 1976, Vol. l,No. 1

transformation parameters and hence it is conceivable that another choice may produce active-/?C circuits containing one capacitor per original storage element; (ii) analytical description of the sensitivity performance of the transformations as given in Table 1 is required so as to indicate the most sensitive part of a given active RC equivalent circuit. Such an analysis, to be of value, must be done with reference to the effects on the attenuation characteristics of the overall filter realisation. An important attribute of the proposed method is concerned with the choice of component values. The capacitors, for example, could all be chosen to be equal, with the effect that the resistors in the realisation would be unequal. In the example given in this paper, we have chosen all resistors to be equal, and hence the capacitors would, in general, have different values. Naturally a comparison of such alternative realisations would have to be made in the future so as to determine any differences in the performance of these realisations. An important point to note is the reduced number of operational amplifiers used in the realisations considered in this paper compared to the number needed in the waveactive-filter approach. For example, the wave-active realisation of the filter shown in Fig. 6A requires six amplifiers, two of which (operational amplifiers 1 and 2) may be removed without detrimental effects. The corresponding realisation, as proposed in this paper and shown in Fig. 6A (or 6B) requires only three operational amplifiers. The commercially available juA741 operational amplifier has been employed in the realisations given in this paper.

References

1 2 3

4 5 6 7

8 9

10 11

GORSKI-POPIEL, J.: 7?C-active synthesis using positive immittance converters', Electron. Lett. 1967, 3, pp. 381-382 BRUTON, L.T.: 'Network transfer functions using the concept of frequency dependent negative resistance', IEEE Trans., 1969, CT-16, pp. 406-408 HAIGH, D.G., and SARAGA, W.: 'Practical LC filter simulation techniques for the design of active RC band-pass filters'. Proceedings of the 1st European Conference on Circuit Theory and Design, London, 1974, pp. 336-341 ORCHARD, H.J.: 'Inductorless filters', Electron. Lett., 1966, 22, pp. 224-225 FETTWEIS, A.: 'Digital filter structures related to classical filter networks', Arch. Electron. & Uebertragungstech., 1971, 25, pp. 79-89 FETTWEIS, A.: 'Wave digital filters with reduced number of delays',/. Circuit Theory & Appl., 1974,2,pp. 319-330 LAWSON, S.S., and CONSTANTINIDES, A.G.: 'A method of deriving digital filter structures from classical filter networks'. Proceedings of the IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems, 1975,pp. 170-173 CONSTANTINIDES, A.G.: 'Alternative approach to the design of wave digital filters', Electron. Lett., 1974, 10, pp. 59-60 WUPPER, H., and MEERKOTTER, K.: 'New active filter synthesis based on scattering parameters', Proceedings of the IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and systems, 1975, pp. 254-257 CONSTANTINIDES, A.G., and HARITANTIS, G.: 'Wave active filters', Electron. Lett., 1975, 11, pp. 254-256 WUPPER, S.H., MEERKOTTER, K.: 'New active filter synthesis based on scattering parameters', IEEE Trans., 1975, CAS-22, pp. 594-602

A.G. Constantinides received in 1965 the B.Sc. (Eng.) degree of the University of London with First Class Honours, and in 1968 he was awarded a Ph.D. degree from the same university for his research in digitalfilter design. In 1969 he was an S.T.L.-sponsored research fellow at the City University, London, and later he became a senior research fellow with the British Post Office research department. In 1971 he joined the department of electrical engineering of the Imperial College of Science & Technology, University of London, where he is currently a lecturer. He is the coeditor of the book 'Introduction to digital filtering', and his current research activities include digital signal processing, circuit theory, and communication networks. He is a member of the IEE and the IEEE.

H. Dimopoulos was born in Greece in 1951. He received his degree from the National Technical University, Athens, Greece in 1974. In 1975 he was awarded the Diploma of Membership of Imperial College for his research on impedance-scaling concepts in simulating ladder filters by active means. Mr. Dimopoulos is currently working towards his Ph.D. degree on active filter design.

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