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composed of resistors and capacitors driven by a voltage or current source. A first order RC
circuit is composed of one resistor and one capacitor and is the simplest type of RC circuit.
RC circuits can be used to filter a signal by blocking certain frequencies and passing others.
The four most common RC filters are the high-pass filter, low-pass filter, band-pass filter, and
band-stop filter.
There are three basic, linear passive lumped analog circuit components: the resistor (R),
capacitor (C) and inductor (L). These may be combined in: the RC circuit, the RL circuit, the
LC circuit and the RLC circuit with the abbreviations indicating which components are used.
These circuits, between them, exhibit a large number of important types of behaviour that are
fundamental to much of analog electronics. In particular, they are able to act as passive filters.
This article considers the RC circuit, in both series and parallel as shown in the diagrams.
The simplest RC circuit is a capacitor and a resistor in series. When a circuit consists of only a
charged capacitor and a resistor, the capacitor will discharge its stored energy through the
resistor. The voltage across the capacitor, which is time dependent, can be found by using
Kirchhoff's current law, where the current through the capacitor must equal the current
through the resistor. This results in the linear differential equation
Series circuit
Series RC circuit
By viewing the circuit as a voltage divider, the voltage across the capacitor is:
and the voltage across the resistor is:
Transfer functions
The transfer function for the capacitor is
Similarly, the transfer function for the resistor is
Poles and zeros
Both transfer functions have a single pole located at
In addition, the transfer function for the resistor has a zero located at the origin.
Gain and phase angle
The magnitude of the gains across the two components are:
and
and the phase angles are:
and
These expressions together may be substituted into the usual expression for the phasor
representing the output:
Current
The current in the circuit is the same everywhere since the circuit is in series:
Impulse response
The impulse response for each voltage is the inverse Laplace transform of the corresponding
transfer function. It represents the response of the circuit to an input voltage consisting of an
impulse or Dirac delta function.
The impulse response for the capacitor voltage is
where u(t) is the Heaviside step function and
is the time constant.
Similarly, the impulse response for the resistor voltage is
where δ(t) is the Dirac delta function
Frequency-domain considerations
These are frequency domain expressions. Analysis of them will show which frequencies the
circuits (or filters) pass and reject. This analysis rests on a consideration of what happens to
these gains as the frequency becomes very large and very small.
This shows that, if the output is taken across the capacitor, high frequencies are attenuated
(rejected) and low frequencies are passed. Thus, the circuit behaves as a low-pass filter. If,
though, the output is taken across the resistor, high frequencies are passed and low
frequencies are rejected. In this configuration, the circuit behaves as a high-pass filter.
The range of frequencies that the filter passes is called its bandwidth. The point at which the
filter attenuates the signal to half its unfiltered power is termed its cutoff frequency. This
requires that the gain of the circuit be reduced to
Solving the above equation yields
or
which is the frequency that the filter will attenuate to half its original power.
Clearly, the phases also depend on frequency, although this effect is less interesting generally
than the gain variations.
So at DC (0 Hz), the capacitor voltage is in phase with the signal voltage while the resistor
voltage leads it by 90°. As frequency increases, the capacitor voltage comes to have a 90° lag
relative to the signal and the resistor voltage comes to be in-phase with the signal.
Time-domain considerations
This section relies on knowledge of e, the natural logarithmic constant.
The most straightforward way to derive the time domain behaviour is to use the Laplace
transforms of the expressions for VC and VR given above. This effectively transforms
. Assuming a step input (i.e. Vin = 0 before t = 0 and then Vin = V afterwards):
and
.
Partial fractions expansions and the inverse Laplace transform yield:
.
These equations are for calculating the voltage across the capacitor and resistor respectively
while the capacitor is charging; for discharging, the equations are vice-versa. These equations
can be rewritten in terms of charge and current using the relationships C=Q/V and V=IR (see
Ohm's law).
Thus, the voltage across the capacitor tends towards V as time passes, while the voltage across
the resistor tends towards 0, as shown in the figures. This is in keeping with the intuitive point
that the capacitor will be charging from the supply voltage as time passes, and will eventually
be fully charged and form an open circuit.
These equations show that a series RC circuit has a time constant, usually denoted τ = RC
being the time it takes the voltage across the component to either rise (across C) or fall (across
R) to within 1 / e of its final value. That is, τ is the time it takes VC to reach V(1 − 1 / e) and VR
to reach V(1 / e).
and
.
The first equation is solved by using an integrating factor and the second follows easily; the
solutions are exactly the same as those obtained via Laplace transforms.
Integrator
Consider the output across the capacitor at high frequency i.e.
.
This means that the capacitor has insufficient time to charge up and so its voltage is very
small. Thus the input voltage approximately equals the voltage across the resistor. To see this,
consider the expression for I given above:
so
,
which is an integrator across the capacitor.
Differentiator
Consider the output across the resistor at low frequency i.e.,
.
This means that the capacitor has time to charge up until its voltage is almost equal to the
source's voltage. Considering the expression for I again, when
,
so
Now,
and
.
This shows that the capacitor current is 90° out of phase with the resistor (and source) current.
Alternatively, the governing differential equations may be used:
and
Low-pass filter
A low-pass filter is a filter that passes low-frequency signals but attenuates (reduces
the amplitude of) signals with frequencies higher than the cutoff frequency. The actual
amount of attenuation for each frequency varies from filter to filter. It is sometimes called a
high-cut filter, or treble cut filter when used in audio applications. A low-pass filter is the
opposite of a high-pass filter, and a band-pass filter is a combination of a low-pass and
a high-pass.
Low-pass filters exist in many different forms, including electronic circuits (such as a hiss
filter used in audio), digital filters for smoothing sets of data, acoustic barriers, blurring of
images, and so on. The moving average operation used in fields such as finance is a
particular kind of low-pass filter, and can be analyzed with the same signal processing
techniques as are used for other low-pass filters. Low-pass filters provide a smoother form of
a signal, removing the short-term fluctuations, and leaving the longer-term trend.
Examples of low-pass filters
Acoustic
A stiff physical barrier tends to reflect higher sound frequencies, and so acts as a low-pass
filter for transmitting sound. When music is playing in another room, the low notes are easily
heard, while the high notes are attenuated.
Electronic
In an electronic low-pass RC filter for voltage signals, high frequencies contained in the
input signal are attenuated but the filter has little attenuation below its cutoff frequency
which is determined by its RC time constant.
For current signals, a similar circuit using a resistor and capacitor in parallel works in a
similar manner. See current divider discussed in more detail below.
Electronic low-pass filters are used to drive subwoofers and other types of
loudspeakers, to block high pitches that they can't efficiently broadcast.
Radio transmitters use low-pass filters to block harmonic emissions which might cause
interference with other communications.
The tone knob found on many electric guitars is a low-pass filter used to reduce the
amount of treble in the sound.
An integrator is another example of a single time constant low-pass filter.[1]
Telephone lines fitted with DSL splitters use low-pass and high-pass filters to separate
DSL and POTS signals sharing the same pair of wires.
Low-pass filters also play a significant role in the sculpting of sound for electronic music
as created by analogue synthesisers. See subtractive synthesis.
Ideal and real filters
The sinc function, the impulse response of an ideal low-pass filter.
An ideal low-pass filter completely eliminates all frequencies above the cutoff
frequency while passing those below unchanged: its frequency response is a
rectangular function, and is a brick-wall filter. The transition region present in
practical filters does not exist in an ideal filter. An ideal low-pass filter can be realized
mathematically (theoretically) by multiplying a signal by the rectangular function in the
frequency domain or, equivalently, convolution with its impulse response, a sinc
function, in the time domain.
However, the ideal filter is impossible to realize without also having signals of infinite extent
in time, and so generally needs to be approximated for real ongoing signals, because the sinc
function's support region extends to all past and future times. The filter would therefore need
to have infinite delay, or knowledge of the infinite future and past, in order to perform the
convolution. It is effectively realizable for pre-recorded digital signals by assuming
extensions of zero into the past and future, or more typically by making the signal repetitive
and using Fourier analysis.
Real filters for real-time applications approximate the ideal filter by truncating and
windowing the infinite impulse response to make a finite impulse response; applying
that filter requires delaying the signal for a moderate period of time, allowing the computation
to "see" a little bit into the future. This delay is manifested as phase shift. Greater accuracy
in approximation requires a longer delay.
An ideal low-pass filter results in ringing artifacts via the Gibbs phenomenon. These
can be reduced or worsened by choice of windowing function, and the design and choice
of real filters involves understanding and minimizing these artifacts. For example, "simple
truncation [of sinc] causes severe ringing artifacts," in signal reconstruction, and to reduce
these artifacts one uses window functions "which drop off more smoothly at the edges."[2]
The Whittaker–Shannon interpolation formula describes how to use a perfect low-
pass filter to reconstruct a continuous signal from a sampled digital signal. Real
digital-to-analog converters use real filter approximations.
High-pass filter
A high-pass filter, or HPF, is an LTI filter that passes high frequencies well but attenuates
(i.e., reduces the amplitude of) frequencies lower than the filter's cutoff frequency. The actual
amount of attenuation for each frequency is a design parameter of the filter. It is sometimes
called a low-cut filter or bass-cut filter.[1]
First-order continuous-time implementation
The simple first-order electronic high-pass filter shown in Figure 1 is implemented by placing
an input voltage across the series combination of a capacitor and a resistor and using the
voltage across the resistor as an output. The product of the resistance and capacitance (R×C)
is the time constant (τ); it is inversely proportional to the cutoff frequency fc, at which the
output power is half the input power. That is,
here fc is in hertz, τ is in seconds, R is in ohms, and C is in farads.
Because this filter is active, it may have non-unity passband gain. That is, high-frequency
signals are inverted and amplified by R2/R1.
[edit] Discrete-time realization
For another method of conversion from continuous- to discrete-time, see Bilinear transform.
Discrete-time high-pass filters can also be designed. Discrete-time filter design is beyond the
scope of this article; however, a simple example comes from the conversion of the
continuous-time high-pass filter above to a discrete-time realization. That is, the continuous-
time behavior can be discretized.
From the circuit in Figure 1 above, according to Kirchoff's Laws and the definition of
capacitance:
where Qc(t) is the charge stored in the capacitor at time t. Substituting Equation (Q) into
Equation (I) and then Equation (I) into Equation (V) gives:
This equation can be discretized. For simplicity, assume that samples of the input and output
are taken at evenly-spaced points in time separated by ΔT time. Let the samples of Vin be
represented by the sequence , and let Vout be represented by the sequence which
By definition, . The expression for parameter α yields the equivalent time constant RC in
If α = 0.5, then the RC time constant equal to the sampling period. If , then RC is
Low-pass filter
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
A low-pass filter is a filter that passes low-frequency signals but attenuates (reduces the
amplitude of) signals with frequencies higher than the cutoff frequency. The actual amount of
attenuation for each frequency varies from filter to filter. It is sometimes called a high-cut
filter, or treble cut filter when used in audio applications. A low-pass filter is the opposite of
a high-pass filter, and a band-pass filter is a combination of a low-pass and a high-pass.
Low-pass filters exist in many different forms, including electronic circuits (such as a hiss
filter used in audio), digital filters for smoothing sets of data, acoustic barriers, blurring of
images, and so on. The moving average operation used in fields such as finance is a particular
kind of low-pass filter, and can be analyzed with the same signal processing techniques as are
used for other low-pass filters. Low-pass filters provide a smoother form of a signal,
removing the short-term fluctuations, and leaving the longer-term trend.
Contents
[hide]
• 1 Examples of low-pass filters
○ 1.1 Acoustic
○ 1.2 Electronic
• 2 Ideal and real filters
• 3 Continuous-time low-pass filters
○ 3.1 Laplace notation
• 4 Electronic low-pass filters
○ 4.1 Passive electronic realization
○ 4.2 Active electronic realization
• 5 Discrete-time realization
○ 5.1 Algorithmic implementation
• 6 See also
• 7 References
• 8 External links
One way to understand this circuit is to focus on the time the capacitor takes to charge. It
takes time to charge or discharge the capacitor through that resistor:
• At low frequencies, there is plenty of time for the capacitor to charge up to practically
the same voltage as the input voltage.
• At high frequencies, the capacitor only has time to charge up a small amount before
the input switches direction. The output goes up and down only a small fraction of the
amount the input goes up and down. At double the frequency, there's only time for it
to charge up half the amount.
Another way to understand this circuit is with the idea of reactance at a particular frequency:
• Since DC cannot flow through the capacitor, DC input must "flow out" the path
marked Vout (analogous to removing the capacitor).
• Since AC flows very well through the capacitor — almost as well as it flows through
solid wire — AC input "flows out" through the capacitor, effectively short circuiting
to ground (analogous to replacing the capacitor with just a wire).
The capacitor is not an "on/off" object (like the block or pass fluidic explanation above). The
capacitor will variably act between these two extremes. It is the Bode plot and frequency
response that show this variability.
[edit] Active electronic realization
The gain in the passband is −R2/R1, and the stopband drops off at −6 dB per octave as it is a
first-order filter.
Sometimes, a simple gain amplifier (as opposed to the very-high-gain operational amplifier) is
turned into a low-pass filter by simply adding a feedback capacitor C. This feedback
decreases the frequency response at high frequencies via the Miller effect, and helps to avoid
oscillation in the amplifier. For example, an audio amplifier can be made into a low-pass filter
with cutoff frequency 100 kHz to reduce gain at frequencies which would otherwise oscillate.
Since the audio band (what we can hear) only goes up to 20 kHz or so, the frequencies of
interest fall entirely in the passband, and the amplifier behaves the same way as far as audio is
concerned.
[edit] Discrete-time realization
For another method of conversion from continuous- to discrete-time, see Bilinear transform.
The effect of a low-pass filter can be simulated on a computer by analyzing its behavior in the
time domain, and then discretizing the model.
(Q)
(I)
where Qc(t) is the charge stored in the capacitor at time t. Substituting equation Q into
equation I gives , which can be substituted into equation V so that:
This equation can be discretized. For simplicity, assume that samples of the input and output
are taken at evenly-spaced points in time separated by ΔT time. Let the samples of vin be
represented by the sequence , and let vout be represented by the sequence which
That is, this discrete-time implementation of a simple RC low-pass filter is the exponentially-
weighted moving average
By definition, the smoothing factor . The expression for α yields the equivalent time
If α = 0.5, then the RC time constant is equal to the sampling period. If , then RC is
respond more slowly to a change in the input samples – the system will have more
inertia.
[edit] See also
A Class D amplifier with an integral low pass filter, intended for powering subwoofers
Electronics portal
• Baseband
• Digital filter: Another realization of a low-pass filter
• High-pass filter
• Band-stop filter
[edit] References
1. ^ Sedra, Adel (1991). Microelectronic Circuits, 3 ed.. Saunders College Publishing.
p. 60. ISBN 0-03-051648-X.
2. ^ Mastering Windows: Improving Reconstruction
Magnitude transfer function of a bandpass filter with lower 3dB cutoff frequency f1 and upper
3dB cutoff frequency f2
A bode plot of the Butterworth filter's frequency response, with corner frequency labeled.
(The slope −20 dB per decade also equals −6 dB per octave.)
In physics and electrical engineering, a cutoff frequency, corner frequency, or break
frequency is a boundary in a system's frequency response at which energy flowing through
the system begins to be reduced (attenuated or reflected) rather than passing through.
Typically in electronic systems such as filters and communication channels, cutoff frequency
applies to an edge in a lowpass, highpass, bandpass, or band-stop characteristic – a frequency
characterizing a boundary between a passband and a stopband. It is sometimes taken to be the
point in the filter response where a transition band and passband meet, for example as defined
by a 3 dB corner, a frequency for which the output of the circuit is -3 dB of the nominal
passband value. Alternatively, a stopband corner frequency may be specified as a point where
a transition band and a stopband meet: a frequency for which the attenuation is larger than the
required stopband attenuation, which for example may be 30 dB or 100 dB.
In the case of a waveguide or an antenna, the cutoff frequencies correspond to the lower and
upper cutoff wavelengths.
Cutoff frequency can also refer to the plasma frequency.
Contents
[hide]
• 1 Electronics
• 2 Communications
• 3 Waveguides
○ 3.1 Mathematical analysis
• 4 See also
• 5 References
• 6 External links
[edit] Electronics
In electronics, cutoff frequency or corner frequency is the frequency either above or below
which the power output of a circuit, such as a line, amplifier, or electronic filter has fallen to a
given proportion of the power in the passband. Most frequently this proportion is one half the
passband power, also referred to as the 3dB point since a fall of 3dB corresponds
approximately to half power. As a voltage ratio this is a fall to of the passband voltage.[1]
However, other ratios are sometimes more convenient. For instance, in the case of the
Chebyshev filter it is usual to define the cutoff frequency as the point after the last peak in the
frequency response at which the level has fallen to the design value of the passband ripple.
The amount of ripple in this class of filter can be set by the designer to any desired value,
hence the ratio used could be any value.[2]
[edit] Communications
In communications, the term cutoff frequency can mean the frequency below which a radio
wave fails to penetrate a layer of the ionosphere at the incidence angle required for
transmission between two specified points by reflection from the layer.
[edit] Waveguides
The cutoff frequency of an electromagnetic waveguide is the lowest frequency for which a
mode will propagate in it. In fiber optics, it is more common to consider the cutoff
wavelength, the maximum wavelength that will propagate in an optical fiber or waveguide.
The cutoff frequency is found with the characteristic equation of the Helmholtz equation for
electromagnetic waves, which is derived from the electromagnetic wave equation by setting
the longitudinal wave number equal to zero and solving for the frequency. Thus, any exciting
frequency lower than the cutoff frequency will attenuate, rather than propagate. The following
derivation assumes lossless walls. The value of c, the speed of light, should be taken to be the
group velocity of light in whatever material fills the waveguide.
For a rectangular waveguide, the cutoff frequency is
where are the mode numbers and a and b the lengths of the sides of the rectangle.
The cutoff frequency of the TM01 mode in a waveguide of circular cross-section (the
transverse-magnetic mode with no angular dependence and lowest radial dependence) is given
by
where r is the radius of the waveguide, and χ01 is the first root of J0(r), the bessel function of
the first kind of order 1.
For a single-mode optical fiber, the cutoff wavelength is the wavelength at which the
normalized frequency is approximately equal to 2.405.
[edit] Mathematical analysis
The starting point is the wave equation (which is derived from the Maxwell equations),
The function ψ here refers to whichever field (the electric field or the magnetic field) has no
vector component in the longitudinal direction - the "transverse" field. It is a property of all
the eigenmodes of the electromagnetic waveguide that at least one of the two fields is
transverse. The z axis is defined to be along the axis of the waveguide.
The "longitudinal" derivative in the Laplacian can further be reduced by considering only
functions of the form
where subscript T indicates a 2-dimensional transverse Laplacian. The final step depends on
the geometry of the waveguide. The easiest geometry to solve is the rectangular waveguide.
In that case the remainder of the Laplacian can be evaluated to its characteristic equation by
considering solutions of the form
Thus for the rectangular guide the Laplacian is evaluated, and we arrive at
The transverse wavenumbers can be specified from the standing wave boundary conditions
for a rectangular geometry crossection with dimensions a and b:
where n and m are the two integers representing a specific eigenmode. Performing the final
substitution, we obtain
which is the dispersion relation in the rectangular waveguide. The cutoff frequency ωc is the
critical frequency between propagation and attenuation, which corresponds to the frequency at
which the longitudinal wavenumber kz is zero. It is given by
The wave equations are also valid below the cutoff frequency, where the longitudinal wave
number is imaginary. In this case, the field decays exponentially along the waveguide axis.
[edit] See also
• Angular frequency
• Full width at half maximum
• High-pass filter
• Low-pass filter
• Time constant
• Miller effect
[edit] References
1. ^ Van Valkenburg, M. E.. Network Analysis (3rd edition ed.). pp. 383–384. ISBN 0-
13-611095-9. http://www.amazon.com/Network-Analysis-Mac-Van-
Valkenburg/dp/0136110959. Retrieved 2008-06-22.
2. ^ Mathaei, Young, Jones Microwave Filters, Impedance-Matching Networks, and
Coupling Structures, pp.85-86, McGraw-Hill 1964.
• This article incorporates public domain material from the General Services
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The control voltage (Vx), in conjunction with Rf and C, determine the breakpoint frequency,
ω. Rf and C are used to center the frequency range, and Vx varies the frequency within this
range. Both Rf and Rg set the gain, so there’s plenty of flexibility in the component selection.
The component values shown yield a frequency range from 1.7 MHz when Vx = 0.1 V to 80
kHz when Vx = 1.25 V. The control input is similar to an op-amp input, thus it needn’t be
driven by a low-impedance source. This input may be driven from a DAC to obtain digital
control of the breakpoint, but the DAC output voltage must be level-shifted to 0 to 1.5 V.
Reset
We also know that the capacitive reactance of a capacitor in an AC circuit is given as:
Opposition to current flow in an AC circuit is called impedance, symbol Z and for a series
circuit consisting of a single resistor in series with a single capacitor, the circuit impedance is
calculated as:
Then by substituting our equation for impedance above into the resistive potential divider
equation gives us:
So, by using the potential divider equation of two resistors in series and substituting for
impedance we can calculate the output voltage of an RC Filter for any given frequency.
Example No1
A Low Pass Filter circuit consisting of a Resistor of 4k7Ω in series with a Capacitor of C =
47nF is connected across a 10v DC supply. Calculate the output voltage (Vout) at a frequency
of 100Hz and again at frequency of 10,000Hz or 10kHz.
At a frequency of 100Hz.
At a frequency of 10kHz.
Frequency Response
We can see above, that as the frequency increases from 100Hz to 10kHz, the output voltage
(Vout) decreases from 9.9v to 0.718v. By plotting the output voltage against the input
frequency, the Frequency Response Curve or Bode Plot function of the low pass filter can
be found, as shown below.
Frequency Response of a 1st Order Low Pass Filter.
The Bode Plot shows the Frequency Response of the filter to be nearly flat for low
frequencies and all of the input signal is passed directly to the output, resulting in a gain of
nearly 1, unity until it reaches the Cut-off Frequency point ( ƒc ). This is because the
reactance of the capacitor is high at low frequencies and blocks any current flow through the
capacitor. After this point the response of the circuit decreases giving a slope of -20dB/
Decade or (-6dB/Octave) "roll-off" as signals above this frequency become greatly attenuated,
until at very high frequencies the reactance of the capacitor becomes so low that it gives the
effect of a short circuit condition on the output terminals resulting in zero output.
For this type of Low Pass Filter circuit, all the frequencies below this cut-off, ƒc point that
are unaltered with little or no attenuation and are said to be in the filters Passband zone. This
passband zone also represents the Bandwidth of the filter. Any signal frequencies above this
point cut-off point are generally said to be in the filters Stopband zone and they will be
greatly attenuated.
This "Cut-off", "Corner" or "Breakpoint" frequency is defined as being the frequency point
where the capacitive reactance and resistance are equal, R = Xc = 4k7Ω. When this occurs the
output signal is attenuated to 70.7% of the input signal value or -3dB (20 log (Vout/Vin)) of
the input. Although R = Xc, the output is not half of the input signal. This is because it is
equal to the vector sum of the two and is therefore 0.707 of the input. As the filter contains a
capacitor, the Phase Angle ( Φ ) of the output signal LAGS behind that of the input and at the
-3dB cut-off frequency ( ƒc ) and is -45o out of phase. This is due to the time taken to charge
the plates of the capacitor as the input voltage changes, resulting in the output voltage (the
voltage across the capacitor) "lagging" behind that of the input signal. The higher the input
frequency applied to the filter the more the capacitor lags and the circuit becomes more and
more "out of phase".
The cut-off frequency point and phase shift angle can be found by using the following
equation:
Cut-off Frequency and Phase Shift
Then for our simple example of a "Low Pass Filter" circuit above, the cut-off frequency (ƒc)
is given as 720Hz with an output voltage of 70.7% of the input voltage value and a phase shift
angle of -45o.
Low Pass Filter Summary
So to summarize, the Low Pass Filter has a constant output voltage from D.C. (0Hz), up to a
specified Cut-off frequency, ( ƒc ) point. This cut-off frequency point is 0.707 or -3dB (dB =
-20log Vout/Vin) of the voltage gain allowed to pass. The frequency range "below" this cut-
off point ƒc is generally known as the Pass Band as the input signal is allowed to pass
through the filter. The frequency range "above" this cut-off point is generally known as the
Stop Band as the input signal is blocked or stopped from passing through. A simple 1st order
low pass filter can be made using a single resistor in series with a single non-polarized
capacitor (or any single reactive component) across an input signal Vin, whilst the output
signal Vout is taken from across the capacitor. The cut-off frequency or -3dB point, can be
found using the formula, ƒc = 1/(2πRC). The phase angle of the output signal at ƒc and is -45o
for a Low Pass Filter.
The gain of the filter or any filter for that matter, is generally expressed in Decibels and is a
function of the output value divided by its corresponding input value and is given as:
Applications of passive Low Pass Filters are in audio amplifiers and speaker systems to direct
the lower frequency bass signals to the larger bass speakers or to reduce any high frequency
noise or "hiss" type distortion. When used like this in audio applications the low pass filter is
sometimes called a "high-cut", or "treble cut" filter.
If we were to reverse the positions of the resistor and capacitor in the circuit so that the output
voltage is now taken from across the resistor, we would have a circuit that produces an output
frequency response curve similar to that of a High Pass Filter, and this is discussed in the
next tutorial.
Time Constant
We know from above, that the filters cut-off frequency (ƒc) is the product of the resistance
(R) and the capacitance (C) in the circuit with respect to some specified frequency point and
that by altering any one of the two components alters this cut-off frequency point by either
increasing it or decreasing it. We also know that the phase shift of the circuit lags behind that
of the input signal due to the time required to charge and then discharge the capacitor as the
sine wave changes. This combination of R and C produces a charging and discharging effect
on the capacitor known as its Time Constant (τ) of the circuit as seen in the RC Circuit
tutorials.
This time constant, tau (τ), is related to the cut-off frequency ƒc as.
The output voltage, Vout depends upon the time constant and the frequency of the input
signal. With an AC sinusoidal signal the circuit behaves as a simple 1st order low pass filter.
But what if we where to change the input signal to that of a "square wave" shaped signal that
has an almost vertical step input, the response of the circuit changes dramatically and
produces a circuit known commonly as an Integrator.
The RC Integrator
The Integrator is basically a low pass filter circuit that converts a square wave step response
input signal into a triangular shaped waveform output as the capacitor charges and discharges.
A Triangular waveform consists of alternate but equal positive and negative ramps. As seen
below, if the RC time constant is long compared to the time period of the input waveform the
resultant output waveform will be triangular in shape and the higher the input frequency the
lower will be the output amplitude compared to that of the input.
The RC Integrator Circuit
This then makes this type of circuit ideal for converting one type of electronic signal to
another for use in wave-generating or wave-shaping circuits.