Ministry of higher education and scientific research

AlSafwa University College

Department of Computer Techniques Engineering

Third Stage

Digital Signal
:Report Title
structure of fir filter

Prepared by: Yousif Abdullah Sajet

1441 ‫هـ‬ 2020 ‫م‬

Introduction :
When designing a filter, we start from a set of specifications which are generally
determined by a particular application. For example, we may need to suppress the 50-
Hz noise which appears at the output of a sensor and makes our measurements
inaccurate. Based on the frequency and strength of the noise component, we can
determine the filter specifications such as the passband and stopband edge, the transition
bandwidth, the ultimate out-of-band rejection, etc. Now, we can find the system

function,  H( z ) H(z), which satisfies these requirements.

For a FIR design, we have a couple of options such as the windowing method, the
frequency sampling method, and more. Then, we need to choose a realization
structure for the obtained system function. In other words, there are several structures

which exhibit the same system function  H( z ) H(z). One consideration for choosing

the appropriate structure is the sensitivity to coefficient quantization. Since a digital

filter uses a finite number of bits to represent signals and coefficients, we need
structures which can somehow retain the target filter specifications even after
quantizing the coefficients. In addition, sometimes we observe that a particular structure
can dramatically reduce the computational complexity of the system.
The Direct-Form Structure

The direct-form structure is directly obtained from the difference equation. Assume that
the difference equation of the FIR filter is given by

y ( n ) = M − 1 ∑ k = 0bk x ( n− k) y(n)=∑k=0M−1bkx(n−k)

Equation 1

 
Based on the above equation, we need the current input sample

and  M − 1 M−1 previous samples of the input to produce an output point.

For  M = 5 M=5, we can simply obtain the following diagram from Equation 1.

Figure 1.  Direct-form structure for a fourth-order FIR filter.

Using the direct-form realization of Figure 1, we need  M M multipliers for

an  (M − 1) (M−1)th-order FIR filter. However, usually, we can almost halve the

number of multipliers. This can be achieved by noting that we are mainly interested in
linear-phase FIR filters. In fact, the main advantage of a FIR filter over an infinite
impulse response (IIR) design is its linear-phase response, otherwise, for a given set of
specifications, an IIR design can offer a filter of lower order and reduce the
computational complexity. On the other hand, for a linear-phase FIR filter, we observe
the following symmetry in the coefficients of the difference equation
 

bk = ±bM − 1 − k bk=±bM−1−k

For  M = 5 M=5, Equation 1 gives

 
 y ( n ) = b0 x ( n )

+ b1 x ( n− 1) + b2 x ( n− 2) + b3 x ( n− 3) + b4 x ( n− 4) y(n)=b0

x(n)+b1x(n−1)+b2x(n−2)+b3x(n−3)+b4x(n−4)
 

Assuming  bk = bM − 1 − k bk=bM−1−k, we obtain

y ( n ) = b0( x ( n ) +x ( n− 4)) + b1( x ( n− 1) +x ( n− 3))

+ b2 x ( n− 2) y(n)=b0(x(n)+x(n−4))+b1(x(n−1)+x(n−3))+b2x(n−2)

The structure obtained from the above equation is shown in Figure 2. While Figure 1
requires five multipliers, employing the symmetry of a linear-phase FIR filter, we can

implement the filter using only three multipliers. This example shows that for an

odd  M M, the symmetry property reduces the number of multipliers of an  (M − 1)

(M−1)th-order FIR filter from  M M to  M + 12 M+12. For a brief discussion about

the importance of linear-phase response see this article.

 
 Figure 2. The symmetry of a linear-phase FIR filter can be used to reduce the number
of multipliers.

The Cascade-Form Structure

While the direct form is derived from the difference equation, the cascade structure is

obtained from the system function  H( z ) H(z). The idea is to decompose the target

system function into a cascade of second-order FIR systems. In other words, we need to
find second-order systems which satisfy
 

H( z ) = M − 1 ∑ k = 0bk z− k = P ∏ k = 1 ( b0k + b1k z− 1

+ b2k z− 2 ) H(z)=∑k=0M−1bkz−k=∏k=1P(b0k+b1kz−1+b2kz−2)

Equation 2

where  P P is the integer part of  M2 M2. For

example,  M = 5 M=5,  H( z ) H(z) will be a polynomial of degree four which can

be decomposed into two second-order sections. Each of these second-order filters can
be realized using a direct form structure. It is desirable to set a pair of complex-
conjugate roots for each of the second-order sections so that the coefficients become

real. The reader may wonder why we need to rewrite a given  H( z ) H(z) in terms of

second-order sections. In a future article, we will see that the main advantage of the
cascade structure is its smaller sensitivity to the coefficient quantization.
To clarify converting a system function into the cascade form, let’s review an example.

Summary

 There are several structures to realize a given system function  H( z ) H(z).

One consideration choosing the appropriate structure is the sensitivity to

coefficient quantization. In addition, sometimes we observe that a particular
structure can dramatically reduce the computational complexity of the
system.
 The symmetry property of a linear-phase FIR filter can be used to reduce the
number of the required multiplications.
 The main advantage of the cascade structure is its smaller sensitivity to the
coefficient quantization.
 We can use the tf2sos command to rewrite the system function of a FIR filter
as the product of second-order sections; however, these second-order sections
are not necessarily linear-phase. To have a cascade of linear-phase elements,
we need to group the zeros of the transfer function appropriately.

References :
1. allaboutcircuits.com/technical-articles/structures-for-implementing-finite-
impulse-response-filters/