Floating Inductors

 A single Generalised Impedance Convertor

(GIC) can simulate a grounded inductor.
 This is fine for high-pass filters.
 The inductors in a low-pass filter are
floating…
Three Pole Example

Three pole high-pass filter.

One grounded inductor and
two capacitors.

Three pole low-pass filter.

One floating inductor and two
capacitors.
Floating Inductor Properties
I1 I2

L
V1 V2

 Current in equals current out

I1  I 2

 Impedance equals sL
V1  V2
 sL
I1
 Floating Inductor Replacement
I1 I2 R I3 I4

V1 GIC 1 V1 V2 GIC 2 V2

sK sK

V1  V2
I2   sKI 1
I 2  sKI 1 & I 3  sKI 4 R
 sKI 1   sKI 4  I1   I 4 V1  V2
  sKR
I1
Floating Inductor Replacement

i1  i2
v1  v2
 sCR 2
i1
Floating Inductor Drawback
 A floating inductor requires two GIC circuits,
i.e. four op-amps.
 An N-th order low pass filter requires N/2
floating inductors = 2N op-amps.
 An N-th order high pass filter requires only N
op-amps.
 Solution : Frequency Dependent Negative
Resistors (FDNRs)
Component Scaling
 The frequency response of a passive network
depends on the ratios between the impedances.
 If all impedances are multiplied by the same factor,
the frequency response is unchanged.
 NB. Impedance of a capacitor = 1/sC

(Cut-off frequency = 10 kHz)

Component Scaling II
 What if all impedances are scaled by a factor
of 1/s ?
Before After

Resistor, Z = R Capacitor, Z = R/s

Inductor, Z = sL Resistor, Z = L

Capacitor, Z = 1/sC “Super Capacitor”, Z = 1/s2C

Frequency Dependant Negative
Resistance
1 1 1
Z 2  
s D  j  D   2 D
2

 Impedance is real – i.e. a resistance

 It is also negative…
 …and inversely proportional to the square of
frequency
 Hence – Frequency Dependent Negative Resistance
(FDNR)
 Unfortunately, it doesn’t exist…
Realising a Grounded FDNR

 1  1  R
  
 1 3 5    2   2 2  2
ZZZ sC sC 1 1
Z IN
Z2Z4 R sC R s D
 Low Pass Filter Design using FDNRs

Original passive filter

3 pole Butterworth
LPF, fc = 10 kHz

All impedances scaled

by 1/s.

All impedances scaled

by 107.
Very Low Frequency Performance
 Low pass filters should work all the way down to
0 Hz (d.c.)
 At 0 Hz…

Capacitor impedance  
FDNR impedance   2

 Theoretically, gain is still unity.

 In practice, gain is undefined – dominated by
the leakage resistances of the capacitors.
 Solution – add a known loss resistance.
 Low Frequency Stability

At cut-off frequency (10 kHz)

1 1
XC    8000
2fC 2 10  2 10
4 9

Loss resistors, r, should be much bigger (at least 50 times

bigger in practice)
Practical Design
 The input and output impedances are now
(predominantly) capacitive.
 For practical use, buffer amplifiers are
required on the input and output.
 Passive Filters Component Scaling
Normalised Practical

0 1  0 
2fC

  L 
 sL  s  i.e. divide all inductances
2f C  2f C  and capacitances by the
s 1 1  2f C  desired cut-off frequency (in
s    rad/s).
2f C sC s C 
 Passive Filters Component Scaling II
Normalised Practical – High Pass

0 1  0 
2fC

2f C 2f C L 1
 sL  C  i.e. capacitors become
 s 2f C L
inductors and vice versa.
2f C 1 s 1
s  L
s sC 2f C C 2f C C
Summary
 Two GICs can be used to simulate a floating inductor.
 A more efficient approach scales all impedances by
1/s.
 Then, the only components requiring synthesis are
FDNRs.
 Op-amp requirements are one-per-pole (rather than
two-per-pole for floating inductor synthesis)
 NB. Component simulation techniques can be used
on more complex passive networks – see tutorial for
example.