DIT, Kevin St

Electric circuits

Waed 3

Chapter 8
The State-variable filter
The state-variable filter has a similar appearance, at first glance, to the biquad
filter covered in chapter 7. The difference between the two circuits accounts for
the state variable circuit being a much more useful circuit. This circuit can achieve
very high Q-factors but with the added advantage of a high pass output. One
popular application for this circuit is in the equalizer section of an audio-mixing
desk.

Figure 8.49: State variable circuit.

Figure 8.49 shows a typical three-operational amplifier circuit. The transfer
functions for the three stages are:
High-pass =

V2
V1

Bandpass =

V3
V1

V4
V1
Consider the transfer function for the first stage. Applying the principle of
superposition, we may write the output voltage:
Low-pass =

V2 =

R3
R2
R
R
}{1 + 2 } (8.1)
V1 2 V4 + V3 {
R1
R1
R3 + R4
R1 / 2

But V4 can be written in terms of the previous output voltage as

Copyright: Paul Tobin School of Electronics and Comms. Eng.

69

DIT, Kevin St

Electric circuits

V4 =

1
V3
sCR

Waed 3

(8.2)

We can write for the BP output voltage as:

V3 =

1
V2
sCR

(8.3)

Substituting V4 and V3 into 8.1

V4 = {

V2 =

V
1
1
}{
}V2 = 2 22 2
sCR
sCR
s C R

2R
R3
R2
R
V
V
V1 2 2 22 2 2 {
}1 + 2
R1 s C R
sCR R3 + R4
R1
R1

(8.4)

(8.5)

Let R1 = R2 = R
s2
V2
=
R3
3
1
V1
s2 + s
{
}+ 2 2
C1 R2 R3 + R4
C R

(8.6)

If we substitute for V4 and V3 from equations 8.2 and 8.3, we can write
V4 =

1
V3
sCR

V3 =

1
V2
sCR

But

1
V2
( sC 2 R3 ) 2
Substituting 8.6 into 8.3 yields
V4 =

1
V3
CR
=
V1 s 2 + s 3 { R3 } + 1
CR2 R3 + R4
C 2R2
s

(8.7)

Copyright: Paul Tobin School of Electronics and Comms. Eng.

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DIT, Kevin St

Electric circuits

Waed 3

If R1 = R2 = R, The low-pass transfer function is:

1
V4
C R2
=
3
R3
1
V1
s2 + s
{
}+ 2 2
CR R3 + R4
C R
The standard form for a second order bandpass function is:
2

Vout
=
Vin

sK
s +s
2

p
Q

p
Q

+ p

(8.10)
2

We can write expressions for the passband edge frequency, Q-factor and gain in
terms of the circuit components by comparing coefficients of (8.6) and (8.10)
yields.
H (0) = K =

o =
Q=

R2
=1
R1

1
CR
1 R3 + R4
3 R3

BW =

1
2CR

In this situation, we can see that the Q-factor and the resonant frequency are
independent of each other (unlike the biquad circuit).
Example 1
Obtain the transfer function for the bandpass, state-variable filter circuit shown in
figure 8.1. Assume a value for R = 10 k, calculate a value for C which will set
the centre frequency to 10 krs-1. Calculate suitable values for R3 and R4, which will
produce a Q-factor of 50. A fourth-order bandpass filter, whose transfer function
is:
H (s) =

s2
( s 2 + 0.765s + 1)( s 2 + s1.848s + 1)

Copyright: Paul Tobin School of Electronics and Comms. Eng.

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DIT, Kevin St

Electric circuits

Waed 3

Calculate suitable component values for two cascaded state-variable bandpass

transfer functions, whose overall transfer function is H(s).

Figure 8.50: Frequency response of a state variable filter.

Copyright: Paul Tobin School of Electronics and Comms. Eng.

72