INSTRUMENTATION:

ACTIVE FILTERS
BME 214L – lecture 12

Dr. Dan Puperi

Assistant Professor of Instruction, Biomedical Engineering The University of Texas at Austin
 Generalized bio-instrumentation system

Power source
Measurand

Signal Signal Signal

Transducer Acquisition Processing
Conditioning
Instrumentation
system Calibration
signal Data storage
or display
Radiation,
electric current,
or other
Applied energy

Why do we need to process the ECG data?

What is wrong with the raw data?
 Passive filters use a resistor and a capacitor

Active filters use resistors, a capacitor, and

an operational amplifier (op-amp)

Operational
amplifiers

𝑅𝑓 𝑅𝑓
Gain = Gain(dB) = 20log10( )
𝑅𝑖𝑛 𝑅𝑖𝑛
Image from http://www.wikipedia.com
High-pass
active filter
𝑅2 1
𝐺= 𝑓𝑐 =
𝑅1 2𝜋𝑅1 𝐶

How does a capacitor work?

What kind of filter is this?
Image from http://www.wikipedia.com
Low-pass
active filter
𝑅2 1
𝐺= 𝑓𝑐 =
𝑅1 2𝜋𝑅2 𝐶

Image from http://www.wikipedia.com

Band-pass
active filter

Images from http://www.electronic-circuits.ws

Band-pass
C = 0.51 µF C = 0.40 µF
active filter R1 = 99.67 kΩ R1 = 9.95 kΩ
R2 = 1.01 MΩ R2 = 9.94 kΩ

G = 10.08
? = ?20dB
dB G = ?1.00 = ?0 dB

fc = ?3.1 Hz fc = ?39.5 Hz

Overall gain = ?20 dB

Band-pass
active filter
Another way
to build a
band-pass
active filter Let’s build this in TinkerCAD !

C1 = 0.51 µF
R1 = 99.67 kΩ

C2 = 4.37 nF
R2 = 1.01 MΩ
 Start with function generator: 1V, 20Hz, no DC
offset

1. Does the gain you see on the oscilloscope the same

gain you expected?

2. What happens to the output signal when you set the

TinkerCAD frequency below and above the bandpass?
tests 3. What happens to the output signal when you add a DC
offset? Why?

4. What happens to the output signal when you increase

the voltage of the input signal, say up to 5V? You may
want to use a lower frequency within the passband to
see this effect most clearly.