06/09/2016

Groupdelayrfcurrent.com

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Home Group delay

Introduction and some

basics

Group delay
When thinking about lters, the lter amplitude frequency response is usually in the foreground of most
considerations. After all what we want from a lter is selectivity. But, like all other 2-port networks, lters also have

How do Filters Work ?

a phase frequency response. The lter transfer function value at a given frequency is a complex number it has a
magnitude and a phase angle. The resonators of a lter if it is a bandpass lter store the input energy for

Poles and zeroes

The concept of coupling

signicant amounts of time, rather than allowing it to pass right through. Storage implies delay and the delay is
frequencydependent.
The phase response of a bandpass lter is an important parameter for the transmission of signals through the lter.

Text books on lter theory &

Unless the signal is just a sine-wave, the lter phase response will always create a nite amount of signal distortion.

design

The time domain waveform of a signal at the input port of the lter will undergo a nite amount of change while it
passes through the lter. The phase relationships of the signal frequency components are aected by the lters
phase response.

Filter topics

A lter phase response is not linear because of a relationship between amplitude response and phase response.
Given, that the amplitude response of a bandpass lter below and above the passband is usually very steep, this

Filter responses the easy way

Filter design by synthesis
Filter Resonators and Quality

steepness is also felt in the phase response especially towards the edges of the lters passband.
In other words: the lter phase is not linear vs frequency. But what is group delay now? It is a poorly chosen word for
something relatively simple. Historically, it describes delay properties of a group of signals travelling through a
transmission channel.The group delay response of a lter simply tells us how much a lter deviates from a linear

Factor

phase response. A linear phase response implies at (constant) group delay. This is calculated by the derivative of the

Group delay

lters passband is just the time a sine-wave signal would take to pass through the lter and appear at the lter output

lter phase function with respect to the angular frequency (omega). The group delay value at a single frequency in the
port. The dierence in group delay for signals spread out over a lters passband is a measure for the phase distortion

3D EM Simulation Aided Filter

introduced by the lter. Unlike in the time of analogue FDM (frequency division multiplex) many modern transmission

Design

modes or modulations like OFDM are relatively immune to phase distortion, but lter phase distortion is still

Eigenmodes and Eigenmode

important as it aects the transmission quality (BER, MER) and needs to be kept to an acceptable minimum.

Solvers

Filter group delay also has a relationship to the insertion loss of a bandpass lter. This can be understood by

Port tuning of 3D EM lter

current swings in the resonators: more losses.

considering that the longer a signal is kept in the lter, the more loss will occur. More signal amplitude swings: more

models
CAT Computer aided lter
tuning
Planar Filters
Variations of a 3-pole bandpass
a k and Q design example
N E W: Chebyshev lowpass lter
calculation of lumped (LC)
element values

Other
Filter Design Blog
Contact
Links
German

http://www.rfcurrent.com/groupdelay

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06/09/2016

Groupdelayrfcurrent.com

My patents
My publications
Make a donation

Filter responses the easy way

Design

Filter design by synthesis

Eigenmodes and Eigenmode Solvers

Filter Resonators and Quality Factor

Port tuning of 3D EM lter models

3-pole bandpass a k and Q design example

Group delay

CAT Computer aided lter tuning

3D EM Simulation Aided Filter

Planar Filters

Variations of a

N E W: Chebyshev lowpass lter calculation of lumped (LC) element values

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