Proceedings of ICSP ' 96

MAGNITUDE RESPONSE OPTIMIZATION OF DELTA OPERATOR FILTERS

P. Tanelz H a r p ' , Juha Kauraniema', and Seppo J . Ovaslca3

',3Laboratory of Telecommunications Technology, Helsinki University of Technology,

Otakaari 5 A, FIN-02150 Espoo, FINLAND
'Laboratory of Signal Processing and Computer Technology, Helsinki University of Technology,
Otakaari 5 A, FIN-02150 Espoo, FINLAND

'email: taneli .harjumhut .fi, phone: +358-0-451 2469, FAX: +358-0-460 224
'email: juha.kauraniemimhut .fi, phone: +358-0-451 2455, FAX: +358-0-460 224
3email: seppo .ovaskamhut .f i, phone: +358-0-451 2468, FAX: +358-0-460 224

Abstract - Digital filters that use the delta operator
have been shown to be less sensitive to filter coefficient
quantization than filters using the shift operator when the
poles and zeroes lie near the point z = ztl. It is custom-
ary to simply round the prototype filter coefficients to the
nearest fixed-point numbers for the implementation. In this
paper, we show that when very few bits are allocated for
each coefficient in a delta filter, some other quantized point
than the directly rounded point is likely to offer magnitude
response that more closely matches the required character-
istics. Furthermore, a neighborhood search may even find a
solution that fulfills the given specifications with fewer bits
than by using direct rounding. This is of particular im-
portance in Application-Specific Integrated Circuit imple-
mentations where expensive die area can be saved by using
fewer bits to represent a coefficient. Our experiments also
confirm the result that delta parameterization regularly re-
quires at least two or three bits less than shift parameteri-
zation to fulfill the same narrowband filter specifications.
1 Introduction
Delta operator realizations of digital filters [I, 21 are
claimed to fare better than traditional shift operator real-
izations when narrowband filters with limited wordlength
coefficients are to be realized [3, 41. This means that using
the delta operator, less bits are required to impIement a fil-
ter with similar characteristics than with the shift operator.
This is of considerable importance in Application-Specific
Integrated Circuit (ASIC) implementations, where each bit
added to the wordlength translates to increased die area,
which in turn rises cost and hinders speed.
Generally, the design of delta-operator filters is done
by first computing the shift domain coefficients, transform-
ing these coefficients to the delta domain coefficients, and
finally performing quantization according to the number
of bits available. Traditionally, digital filter quantization
is performed by truncating, or, more commonly, rounding
the coefficients to the closest finite-wordlength coefficient
available.
P. T. Harju has been supported by the Nokia Foundation.
In this paper, we show that direct rounding does not
necessarily produce the optimal results, however. This fact
becomes especially pronounced when very few bits are al-
located for the coefficients. In such a case, the magnitude
response of the directly rounded filter is likely to be quite
far from that of the floating point prototype, and subse-
quently may fail to meet the specifications set by the filter
designer. Our study shows that going through other fixed-
point neighbors of the floating point coefficients besides the
one obtained by direct rounding is very likely to yield better
sets of coefficients in terms of magnitude response charac-
teristics. Since the computational burden of searching the
full quantized neighborhood increases exponentially with
the number of filter coefficients, we also propose an effi-
cient iterative algorithm for performing the search.
The structure of the paper is as follows. In section 2,
we review the use of delta operator in digital filters, and in
section 3 the problem of optimal quantization is addressed.
In section 4, we present examples of optimal delta filter
quantization, and propose a computationally lighter algo-
rithm for the neighborhood search in section 5. Section 6
concludes the paper.
2 Delta Filters
The delta operator is defined as
6=- 2 - 1
A '
where z is the shift operator and A is a parameter that
may be chosen freely to optimize filter performance, e.g.
to minimize roundoff noise. In this paper we only consider
the case A = 1, however [l].
In delta filters, the 6-' block is used instead of z-'.
Directly from ( l ) , we get
Consider a second-order IIR, with the transfer function
(3)

0-7803-2912-0
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where bo, b l , b 2 , a i , and a2 are the filter Coefficients. Con-
verting the filter to the delta domain, we get the structure
depicted in Figure 1, with the transfer function
(4)
where the filter coefficients a,, i = 1 , 2 , and ,6, i = 0,1,2,
can be obtained from a, and b, as indicated in Table 1.
These transforms are calculated by substituting (2) into
(4) and equating this with (3) [5].
PO bo
Pi (2bo + b l ) / A ai (2+ai)/A
PZ (bo + bi + b2)/A2 az +
(1 + a i a2)/A2
Table 1. Converting second-order shift filter coefficients
to the delta domain Coefficients.
For realizing filters with infinite-wordlength coefficients,
both shift and delta realizations are equivalent. When
the coefficients are quantized, certain important differences
emerge, however Quantization of the coefficients limits the
zeroes and poles to lie in specific locations on the complex
plane only, and depending on the coefficient parameteriza-
tion, different sets of possible pole/zero locations are ob-
tained For delta realizations, this location grid is more
dense near the point z = f l than for shift realizations.
Hence with delta realizations, the locations of poles and ze-
roes near zero frequency can be more accurately controlled.
This makes delta filters more appropriate for realizing nar-
rowband filters with limited wordlength than shift realiza-
tions Delta filters excel in applications where the sampling
frequency is very high compared to the frequency band of
interest, as in digital control systems [3, 41
3 Coefficient Quantization
When digital filters are realized in hardware, b bits are
used for representing the filter coefficients. The result-
ing level of quantization is dependent on both the type
of arithmetic used and the number of bits available. In
fixed-point arithmetic, 2' points are evely spread over the
dynamic range, and hence the quantization resolution is
equal everywhere. Floating-point arithmetic designates TZ
bits for the exponent and b - n bits for the mantissa, thus
effectively maintaining the same number of significant fig-
ures throughout the dynamic range. While floating-point
arithmetic offers a comfortable compromise between large
dynamic range and relatively fine, although variable reso-
lution, it requires much more complicated hardware than
fixed-point arithmetic [6]. Therefore, while floating-point
arithmetic is getting increasingly popular in Digital Sig-
nal Processors (DSPs), fixed-point arithmetic is still widely
used in ASIC implementations where die area is at a pre-
mium. When designing ASIC digital filters, the less bits
are required to represent a number, the less silicon surface
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is needed, and the che
factured. In this paper, we concentrate on quantization for
fixed-point arithmetic.
A straightforward way of creating finite-wordlength
fixed-point filter coefficients from the infinite-wordlength
or floating-point prototype coefficients is by rouding. Con-
sider the two-dimensional example of Figure 2, where the
crossings of the gridlines correspond to possible quantiza-
tion points, and the circle denotes the infinite-wordlength
point. The solid arrow denotes rounding to the closest
finite-wordlength point.
When only a few bits are used to represent each coeffi-
cient, rounding the coefficients may perturb the magnitude
response of the filter considerably. The effect may be so
violent that the filter does not conform to the desired spec-
ifications after quantization, or at least deviate disturbingly
much from the prototype filter. In such a case, a better so-
lution may be found in some other quantized point near the
original prototype coefficients. The computational burden
of searching all the points of the quantized coefficient space
is unthinkable for most designs, however, and the optimal
coefficients are likely to be found quite near the original,
unquantized coefficients. Therefore, a good alternative to
a complete search of the coefficient space is to search only
the neighboring quantized coefficients. This means round-
ing each coefficient up and down to the closest possible
quantized values, a total of 2' distinct points for a filter
with c coefficients. This scheme is illustrated in Figure 2
by the dashed arrows.
Searching a larger neighborhood using this method is
not computationally feasible for most cases, although even
better quantized solutions might be found that way.
4 Examples
In this section, we present two examples of creating finite-
wordlength delta filters using fixed-point arithmetic. In
both cases, we are interested in constraining the passband
and stopband magnitude response side prescribed limits.
In both cases, we use three second-order delta filter blocks
in cascade.
The design procedure used is as follows. We first cre-
ate a prototype filter using the elliptic approximation, per-
form scaling to embed the gain term in the numerator
coefficients, and convert the coefficients to the delta do-
main. We then perform an exhaustive neighborhood search
by going through all the immediate quantized neighbors
of the infinite-wordlength prototype coefficients and see
if the specifications by any of these points. In
the case of three se er filters, this means consid-
ering 215 = 32768 different points. If no suitable filters
were found, the number of bits available per coefficient is
increased by one, and a new neig hood search is per-
formed. We also design a correspo shift domain filter
to see how many bits are required to implement it.
In example 1, we implement a sixth-order lowpass fil-
ter with upper passband edge at 0.1885 and lower stop-
band edge at 0.2262, denoting sampling frequency by 27~.
The passband magnitude response is required to stay be-
tween -1.5 and +IdB, and the maximum gain at stopband
-40dB. The lowest number of bits with which the specifi-
cations could be met was eight. Magnitude responses of the
prototype (solid), the directly rounded finite-wordlength
(dashed), and the best neighboring finite-wordlength fil-
ters (dash-dotted) are shown in Figures 3 (0 to the Nyquist
frequency) and 4 (passband only). Note how badly the
directly rounded filter behaves on the passband, while the
best result of the neighborhood search neatly complies with
the specifications. Direct rounding produced an acceptable
result after increasing the number of bits to nine, but 11
bits were required for the shift operator structure of the
same size to yield a result within the set boundaries, even
using an exhaustive neighborhood search.
In example 2, we create a sixth-order bandpass filter
with passband edges at 0.1916 and 0.3110 and stopband
edges at 0.1257 and 0.3770. Passband was constrained be-
tween -1.5 and OdB, and stopband gain was required to be
smaller than -30dB. Again, eight bits were sufficient for
the neighborhood search scheme to yield an acceptable de-
sign. Magnitude responses of the prototype (solid), directly
rounded (dashed), and best neighbor filter (dash-dotted)
are shown in Figures 5 and 6 for the frequency range of
interest and the passband only, respectively. Note that
the directly rounded filter fails to meet the specifications
on both passband and stopband, while the neighborhood
search reveals an adequate solution. Only when the number
of bits was increased to nine could a satisfactory solution
be found by direct rounding. 10 bits were required by a
shift domain structure to achieve acceptable magnitude re-
sponse.
5 Efficient Neighborhood Search
Performing an exhaustive search of the quantized neigh-
borhood for filters with many coefficients, or extending the
neighborhood beyond one point in each direction for any
one coefficient soon becomes computationally overwhelm-
ing for modern personal computers. As revealed by our
study, searching the neighborhood can significantly im-
prove the quality of filters produced, however. Therefore,
a computationally lighter method for finding quantized co-
efficients that perform better than directly rounded coeffi-
cients would be in clear demand.
One way to lower the computational burden of the
neighborhood search is to take an iterative approach, and
consider one second-order filter block at a time. This
greatly reduces the number of points to be examined in
one search, as with five coefficients, only 25 = 32 immedi-
ate neighbors exist. In this approach, all filter coefficients
are first rounded directly, and then a full neighborhood
search is performed for one filter block at a time while keep-
ing the rest of the filter coefficients stationary. Once the
neighborhood of one block has been thoroughly searched,
the coefficients that produce the best results by some pre-
defined measure are selected and they are set as the new
85
coefficients for the block in question. After this, another
block is chosen for a full neighborhood search. If no im-
provement in filter quality is achieved for a certain number
of neighborhood searches, the algorithm is terminated.
Using this algorithm, the search can easily be extended
beyond the immediate neighborhood, as including for in-
stance four of the closest points for all coefficients would
only mean 4' = 1024 points for a second-order block.
6 Conclusions
We have shown that for delta operator filters with finite-
wordlength fixed-point coefficients, some other quantized
coefficients than those obtained by direct rounding fre-
quently result in a more accurate approximation of the orig-
inal prototype filter. Since performing an exhaustive search
of the quantized neighborhood of the infinite-wordlength
coefficients can easily become computationally unfeasible,
we have also outlined a computationally efficient iterative
method for searching the quantized coefficient space.
Our preliminary results suggest that the results pre-
sented for delta operator filters are directly applicable to
the traditional shift operator filters as well. Confirming this
fact would require additional studies, however. Whether
extending the neighborhood search to more than one point
in each direction can further improve quantized filter qual-
ity is a problem that also needs to be addressed in the
future. Further research is required on finding a suitable,
computationally light method for performing the neighbor-
hood search.
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[3] G. Li and M. Gevers, "Roundoff noise minimization
using delta-operator realizations," IEEE Puns. Sig.
Proc., Vol. 41, pp. 629-637, Feb. 1993.
[4] G. Li and M. Gevers, "Comparative study of finite
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803-807, May 1993.
[5] J. Kauraniemi, T. I. Laakso, I. Hartimo, and S. J.
Ovaska, "Delta operator realizations of recursive digi-
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[6] A. Antoniou, Digital Falters: Analysis, Design, and
Applications, second ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill,
1993.
 Figure 2. Rounding the infinite-wordlength coefficient
(circle) to the closest quantized point (solid arrow) and to
Figure 1. second-order delta-operator filter. the other neighboring quantized points (dashed arrow).

-10
O h

-30 002 004 006 008 01 0.12 014 016 018 02

FREQUENCY

Figure 3. Magnitude responses of example 1 prototype Figure 4. Passband magnitude responses of example 1
(solid), directly rounded (dashed) and best quantized prototype (solid), directly rounded
neighbor (dash-dotted) filters. Required magnitude quantized neighbor
response limits are denoted by lines.

018 02 022 0.24 028 028 0.3 032

FREQUENCY

Figure 5. Close-ups of magnitude responses of example Figure 6. Passband magnitude resp

2 prototype (solid), directly rounded (dashed), and best prototype (solid), directly rounded (
quantized neighbor (dash-dotted) filters. Required quantized neighbor (dash-dotted) filters. Required
magnitude response limits are denoted by lines. magnitude response limits are denoted by lines.

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