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Butterworth Filter Design

In the previous filter tutorials we looked at simple first-order type low and high pass filters that contain
only one single resistor and a single reactive component (a capacitor) within their RC filter circuit
design.

In applications that use filters to shape the frequency spectrum of a signal such as in
communications or control systems, the shape or width of the roll-off also called the
“transition band”, for a simple first-order filter may be too long or wide and so active filters
designed with more than one “order” are required. These types of filters are commonly
known as “High-order” or “nth-order” filters.
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 nth 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), and a
fourth-order filter has a roll-off rate of 80dB/decade (24dB/octave), etc, etc.
High-order filters, such as third, fourth, and fifth-order are usually formed by cascading
together single first-order and second-order filters.
For example, two second-order low pass filters can be cascaded together to produce a
fourth-order low pass filter, and so on. Although there is no limit to the order of the filter
that can be formed, as the order increases so does its size and cost, also its accuracy
declines.

Decades and Octaves

One final comment about Decades and Octaves. On the frequency scale, a Decade is a
tenfold increase (multiply by 10) or tenfold decrease (divide by 10). For example, 2 to
20Hz represents one decade, whereas 50 to 5000Hz represents two decades (50 to
500Hz and then 500 to 5000Hz).
An Octave is a doubling (multiply by 2) or halving (divide by 2) of the frequency scale. For
example, 10 to 20Hz represents one octave, while 2 to 16Hz is three octaves (2 to 4, 4 to
8 and finally 8 to 16Hz) doubling the frequency each time. Either way, Logarithmic scales
are used extensively in the frequency domain to denote a frequency value when working
with amplifiers and filters so it is important to understand them.

Logarithmic Frequency Scale

Since the frequency determining resistors are all equal, and as are the frequency
determining capacitors, the cut-off or corner frequency ( ƒC ) for either a first, second, third
or even a fourth-order filter must also be equal and is found by using our now old familiar
equation:

As with the first and second-order filters, the third and fourth-order high pass filters are
formed by simply interchanging the positions of the frequency determining components
(resistors and capacitors) in the equivalent low pass filter. High-order filters can be
designed by following the procedures we saw previously in the Low Pass filter and High
Pass filter tutorials. However, the overall gain of high-order filters is fixed because all the
frequency determining components are equal.

Filter Approximations
So far we have looked at a low and high pass first-order filter circuits, their resultant
frequency and phase responses. An ideal filter would give us specifications of maximum
pass band gain and flatness, minimum stop band attenuation and also a very steep pass
band to stop band roll-off (the transition band) and it is therefore apparent that a large
number of network responses would satisfy these requirements.
Not surprisingly then that there are a number of “approximation functions” in linear
analogue filter design that use a mathematical approach to best approximate the transfer
function we require for the filters design.
Such designs are known as Elliptical, Butterworth, Chebyshev, Bessel, Cauer as well
as many others. Of these five “classic” linear analogue filter approximation functions only
the Butterworth Filter and especially the low pass Butterworth filter design will be
considered here as its the most commonly used function.

Low Pass Butterworth Filter Design

The frequency response of the Butterworth Filter approximation function is also often
referred to as “maximally flat” (no ripples) response because the pass band is designed to
have a frequency response which is as flat as mathematically possible from 0Hz (DC) until
the cut-off frequency at -3dB with no ripples. Higher frequencies beyond the cut-off point
rolls-off down to zero in the stop band at 20dB/decade or 6dB/octave. This is because it
has a “quality factor”, “Q” of just 0.707.
However, one main disadvantage of the Butterworth filter is that it achieves this pass band
flatness at the expense of a wide transition band as the filter changes from the pass band
to the stop band. It also has poor phase characteristics as well. The ideal frequency
response, referred to as a “brick wall” filter, and the standard Butterworth approximations,
for different filter orders are given below.

Ideal Frequency Response for a Butterworth Filter

Note that the higher the Butterworth filter order, the higher the number of cascaded stages
there are within the filter design, and the closer the filter becomes to the ideal “brick wall”
response.
In practice however, Butterworth’s ideal frequency response is unattainable as it produces
excessive passband ripple.

Where the generalised equation representing a “nth” Order Butterworth filter, the
frequency response is given as:
Where: n represents the filter order, Omega ω is equal to 2πƒ and Epsilon ε is the
maximum pass band gain, (Amax). If Amax is defined at a frequency equal to the cut-off -3dB
corner point (ƒc), ε will then be equal to one and therefore ε2 will also be one. However, if
you now wish to define Amax at a different voltage gain value, for example 1dB, or 1.1220
(1dB = 20*logAmax) then the new value of epsilon, ε is found by:

 Where:
 H0 = the Maximum Pass band Gain,
Amax.
 H1 = the Minimum Pass band Gain.

Transpose the equation to give:

The Frequency Response of a filter can be defined mathematically by its Transfer

Function with the standard Voltage Transfer Function H(jω) written as:

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

Note: ( jω ) 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:

Normalised Low Pass Butterworth Filter Polynomials

To help in the design of his low pass filters, Butterworth produced standard tables of
normalised second-order low pass polynomials given the values of coefficient that
correspond to a cut-off corner frequency of 1 radian/sec.

n Normalised Denominator Polynomials in Factored Form

1 (1+s)

2 (1+1.414s+s2)

3 (1+s)(1+s+s2)

4 (1+0.765s+s2)(1+1.848s+s2)

5 (1+s)(1+0.618s+s2)(1+1.618s+s2)

6 (1+0.518s+s2)(1+1.414s+s2)(1+1.932s+s2)

7 (1+s)(1+0.445s+s2)(1+1.247s+s2)(1+1.802s+s2)

8 (1+0.390s+s2)(1+1.111s+s2)(1+1.663s+s2)(1+1.962s+s2)

9 (1+s)(1+0.347s+s2)(1+s+s2)(1+1.532s+s2)(1+1.879s+s2)

10 (1+0.313s+s2)(1+0.908s+s2)(1+1.414s+s2)(1+1.782s+s2)(1+1.975s+s2)
Filter Design – Butterworth Low Pass
Find the order of an active low pass Butterworth filter whose specifications are given
as: Amax = 0.5dB at a pass band frequency (ωp) of 200 radian/sec (31.8Hz), and Amin = -
20dB at a stop band frequency (ωs) of 800 radian/sec. Also design a suitable Butterworth
filter circuit to match these requirements.
Firstly, the maximum pass band gain Amax = 0.5dB which is equal to a gain of 1.0593,
remember that: 0.5dB = 20*log(A) at a frequency (ωp) of 200 rads/s, so the value of
epsilon ε is found by:

Secondly, the minimum stop band gain Amin = -20dB which is equal to a gain of 10 (-20dB =
20*log(A)) at a stop band frequency (ωs) of 800 rads/s or 127.3Hz.
Substituting the values into the general equation for a Butterworth filters frequency
response gives us the following:
Since n must always be an integer ( whole number ) then the next highest value to 2.42
is n = 3, therefore a “a third-order filter is required” and to produce a third-
order Butterworth filter, a second-order filter stage cascaded together with a first-order
filter stage is required.
From the normalised low pass Butterworth Polynomials table above, the coefficient for a
third-order filter is given as (1+s)(1+s+s2) and this gives us a gain of 3-A = 1, or A = 2.
As A = 1 + (Rf/R1), choosing a value for both the feedback resistor Rf and
resistor R1 gives us values of 1kΩ and 1kΩ respectively as: ( 1kΩ/1kΩ ) + 1 = 2.
We know that the cut-off corner frequency, the -3dB point (ωo) can be found using the
formula 1/CR, but we need to find ωo from the pass band frequency ωp then,
So, the cut-off corner frequency is given as 284 rads/s or 45.2Hz, (284/2π) and using the
familiar formula 1/CR we can find the values of the resistors and capacitors for our third-
order circuit.

Note that the nearest preferred value to 0.352uF would be 0.36uF, or 360nF.

Third-order Butterworth Low Pass Filter

and finally our circuit of the third-order low pass Butterworth Filter with a cut-off corner
frequency of 284 rads/s or 45.2Hz, a maximum pass band gain of 0.5dB and a minimum
stop band gain of 20dB is constructed as follows.

So for our 3rd-order Butterworth Low Pass Filter with a corner frequency of 45.2Hz, C =
360nF and R = 10kΩ