Analog Filters
Joshua Miguel DC. Omugtong Zihandres C. Sursigis II
Electrical and Electronics Institute Electrical and Electronics Institute
University of the Philippines - Diliman University of the Philippines - Diliman University of the Philippines - Diliman
Quezon City, Philippines Quezon City, Philippines
joshua.miguel.omugtong@eee.upd.edu.ph zihandres.ii.sursigis@eee.upd.edu.ph
Abstract—This exercise emphasizes the modelling of analog
filters using passive components such as inductor/s, resistor/s,
and capacitor/s. Analog filters alter the frequency components of
a signal using the characteristics of its amplitude and phase.
During the activities, the researchers concluded that an RC
circuit outputs a high-pass filter while an RL circuit outputs a
low-pass filter. For the last activity, the RLC circuits resulted in
either a bandpass or bandstop filter. Overall, the exercise results
seem to match with the intended theoretical results.
I. I NTRODUCTION
Analog filters are electronic circuits that modifies the
frequency components depending on the intended output of
the designer. It has four main types namely the low-pass
filter, high-pass filter, bandpass filter, and bandstop filter [1].
An analog filter can be designed using components composed
of purely passive components such as resistors, capacitors,
and inductors.
From previous courses [4], it is known that a capacitor
blocks DC current and passes AC current. This means that
low frequency currents that are close to DC will not pass
through while high frequency currents will pass through the
component. This immediately tells us that a series capacitor
will probably result into a filter which passes high frequencies
and blocks low frequencies. This filter is called a highpass
filter. This behavior is when the component is alone, and
might change if there are other components introduced.
As for the other component that we will use, an inductor
blocks AC current while letting DC current to pass through
[4]. This means that a series inductor will most likely result
to a lowpass filter or, in other words, a filter that lets low
frequencies to pass but blocks high frequencies. This behavior,
like on the capacitor, is when the component is alone, and
might change if there are other components introduced.
II. M ETHODOLOGY
In this section the researchers provide the details of the
procedure for this laboratory activity. This section will focus
on explaining the physical procedures and numerical calcula-
tions for the specifics that are needed to answer the required
discussions.
The needed materials and equipment for this laboratory
activity are as follows: oscilloscope with two probes, signal
Daniel R. Vicho
Electrical and Electronics Institute
Quezon City, Philippines
daniel.vicho@eee.upd.edu.ph
generator, breadboard, digital multimeter, LC meter, discrete
capacitor(s), inductor(s), 120Ω resistor(s), jumper wires and
connectors, and a computer running LTSpice.
A. Activity 1
For the first part, the researchers constructed an RC filter
circuit with model of a practical signal generator shown in
Fig. 1 using a 120Ω resistor and 100nF capacitor.
Fig. 1. RC Filter Circuit with a model of a practical signal generator
After construction of the circuit in LTSpice, we set the
frequency of the signal generator with the range of 100Hz
to 10KHz with 15 frequency points, simultaneously measured
the magnitude of Vi and Vo and the phase delay between
them, and the power using the formula below against each
frequency
Vo
20log10 (1)
Vi
After recording the measurements and tabulating it, we
recreated the circuit in LTSpice and verify the values mea-
sured. Inside the LTSpice, we varied the values of R and
observed the effects on the filter characteristic most especially
on the -3dB point and gain.
B. Activity 2
For activity 2, we constructed the modeled circuit shown in
Fig. 2 which is similar to the Fig. 1 but instead of a capacitor
in the load, it was replaced with an inductor with a 1mH
inductance, making an RL filter circuit.
Afterwhich, we repeated the same procedure done in Ac-
tivity 1.
C. Activity 3
For Activity 3, we were asked to design a bandpass or
bandstop filter with an input and output impedance of 50 and
 RC Filter Circuit
Frequency(kHz) Vi (mV ) Vo (mV ) Phase delay(µs) Gain(dB)
0.1 707 700 0 -0.0864
0.15 730 722 0 -0.0957
0.2 731 723 0 -0.0956
0.3 712 706 0 -0.0735
0.5 722 714 0 -0.09678
0.8 718 709 0 -0.10956
1 720 709 0 -0.1337
1.5 712 699 0 -0.1601
Fig. 2. RL Filter Circuit with a model of a practical signal generator 2 704 687 16 -0.212
3 654 634 16 -0.2698
4 583 551 17 -0.52
1000 Ohms, respectively using an LC Filter Design Tool which 5 561 515 13 -0.743
can be found at https://rf-tools.com/lc-filter/. 6 586 525 10 -0.955
We, then, chose our own order which is 3rd order with a 8 546 455 11 -1.584
10 508 402 11 -2.033
Butterworth filter with a 1MHz-2MHz cut-off frequencies and 15 444 289 8.8 -3.73
recreated the circuit in LTSpice which is shown in Fig. 3. 20 411 227 8.8 -5.156
30 392 158 6.2 -7.893

Note that for this activity, we used a parallel connection

Fig. 3. 3rd Order Butterworth Filter in LTSpice
Lastly, we varied the value of the load resistance Rl and
observed the changes.
All plots and results will be analysed and discussed in the
next section.
of two 120Ω resistors, thus producing a single 60Ω resistor
instead of a 50Ω resistor for Rs . We can observe in the table
that as the frequency increases, the input voltage Vi is in a
downward trend. The same is true with Vo . The phase delay
is negligible at first, then ti starts increasing as the frequency
increases. For the gain, we can see that it is decreasing
as the frequency increases. At very high frequencies, the
gain of the filter is low, suggesting that the filter is a Low
Pass Filter(LPF). Now, shown below is the tabulated values
measured for Activity 2:

RL Filter Circuit
Frequency(kHz) Vi (mV ) Vo (V ) Phase delay(s) Gain(dB)
1 377 43.4m -60u -18.777
2 375 51m -52u -17.329
5 383 89.5m -26u -12.628
8 303 98.9m -18u -9.725
10 290 111m -16u -8.342
15 311 157m -8u -5.937
20 322 200m -5.6u -4.137
30 380 284m -3.8u -2.53
40 410 343m -2.1u -1.55
50 464 403m -1.4u -1.246
60 509 456m -1u -0.955
70 554 509m -800n -0.736
80 573 535m -520n -0.596
90 567 538m -400n -0.456
100 593 566m -480n -0.405
III. R ESULTS AND D ISCUSSION
This section presents all the required results, tables, graphs,
along with the answers to the required discussion.
The circuit used here is an RL Filter Circuit. We can observe
in the table that as we traverse to high frequencies, the value
A. Present and discuss the simulation and experimental results measured for Vi increases gradually. The same is true for
you obtained in Activity 1 and 2 (in terms of magnitude and the value of Vo . The phase delay becomes negligible as the
phase delay). frequency increases. Lastly, the gain of the filter circuit is
For the results of Activity 1, shown below is the tabulated increasing with the frequency. at very high frequencies, we
measured values for Vi , Vo , the gain in dB, and their respective can see high gains, meaning the RL filter circuit acts as a
phase delays in 18 different frequency points: High Pass Filter (HPF).
B. In Activity 1, what happens as the value of R varies? What
happens to the circuit response as you interchange the place of
R and C. Describe the type of circuit and its potential actual
applications.
Varying the R parameter of an RC circuit shows certain
effects on its filter characteristics. To better visualize what
happens in the circuit as R is varied, the researchers used a
simulation tool called LTSpice. Shown in the figure below is
the simulation as we sweep the values of R.
Fig. 4. Varying the value for R in an RC Filter Circuit
Note that the green plot represents the lowest value for R,
while the red-violet plot represents the highest R-value. We
can observe that as the value for R increases, the frequency at
which the gain of the RC Filter declines, decreases. The RC
Filter decreases its gain at lower frequencies as R is increased.
This also means that the -3dB point frequency of the RC Filter
decreases. Now the researchers interchanged the positions for
R and C in the filter circuit, and then observes what happens
to the overall characteristics of the filter. In the figure below,
the R and C is interchanged, and then r is varied to observe
the changes.
Fig. 5. The filter response when R and C is interchanged
It can be observed that when the R and C is interchanged,
the resulting plots are just the mirror of the plots when R and
C are in their original places. Since this is just the mirror
of the original, we can conclude that this filter is now a
HPF. We can also analyze the plots by observing that at
low frequencies we have low gains, and high gains at high
frequencies. The use for HPF are very broad since it allows
high-frequency components to pass through, then attenuates
thos low-frequency components. Potential application will be
Audio systems. HPF are used in audio systems to remove
low-frequency noise or rumbles. With the use of this filter,
background noise can also be removed. We can only use HPF
in image processing. HPF can enhance images by enhancing
the high-frequency components of the image, thus making the
image appear sharper.
C. In Activity 2, what happens as the value of R varies? What
happens to the circuit response as you interchange the place
of the R and L. Describe the type of circuit and its potential
applications.
Shown below is the plot simulation when the value of R is
varied in an RL Filter Circuit.
Fig. 6. Varying the value for R in an RL Filter circuit
The same set-up for this filter circuit, the green plot is the
lower R-value, then sweeps up to higher R-values. At low
frequencies, we can see that the gains are low as well, then
it increases. As we increase the value for R, the steepness
of the slope of the plot decreases, meaning that at high R-
values, higher frequencies are required to reach higher gains
compared to RL Filters with lower R-values. In simple terms,
as we increase the value of R, the -3dB point of the filter
response increases, or gets further away. As with the previous
item, the researchers are to interchange the positions of R
and L components of the RL filter circuit, then observe what
happens to the response of the circuit. The visualization of
this process is shown below:
Fig. 7. The filter response when R and L is interchanged
Again, we can see that the responses are just mirrors of
each other when interchanged. Meaning we have an LPF this
time. We can identify the filter type by analysis, high gains are
present at low frequencies, and there are notable attenuation at
high frequencies, thus we have an LPF. Potential application
of this type of filters are as follows: We can use this in audio
systems as well, by reducing unwanted high-frequency noise
such as hiss or sibilance, Power supply filtering by filtering out
high-frequency noise or ripple present in the power supplies,
in instrumentation, by filtering out high-frequency interference
that often affects the accuracy of the measurement of these
instruments, Bass management in Audio systems, LPFs can
only allow low frequency sounds into the speaker systems.
D. Discuss your results and analysis in Activity 3
The circuit topology and values used are shown in Figure 3
of the Methodology section. The order chosen was 3rd order
with a bandpass Butterworth filter with a 1MHz-2MHz cut-
off frequencies. The circuit is then recreated in LTspice and
shown below is the frequency response of the butterworth filter
designed.
IV. C ONCLUSION
Filter modelling is one, if not, the most important skill
that an electronics and communications engineer should
learn. Filters have vast amounts of applications especially in
communications. This exercise helped us in understanding
how passive components become a component used in analog
filters. It also explained the behavior of the said components
on varying frequencies and the difference between filter
circuit topologies.
We got to do both simulation and prototyping of the filter
circuits which helped greatly in appreciating how filters work.
Overall, the exercise is a good activity to help us realize the
intricacies of analog filters.
R EFERENCES
[1] C. Bowick, ”Filter Design” in RF Circuit Design, Indianapolis, IN, USA:
Howard W. Sams & Co., 1982, ch. 3, pp. 44-65.
[2] C. Bowick, ”Filter Design” in RF Circuit Design, Indianapolis, IN, USA:
Howard W. Sams & Co., 1982, ch. 2, pp. 31-43.
[3] Robert Keim “Capacitors and Capacitance vs. Inductors and Induc-
tance” All About CIRCUITS https://www.allaboutcircuits .com/video-
tutorials/inductance -and-capacitance/
[4] ”Capacitor and Inductor” Unacademy https://unacademy.com/content/
jee/difference- between/capacitor-and-inductor/

Fig. 8. Frequency response of the designed filter

By observation, we can see that a certain range of frequen-

cies are getting passed through, thus the filter is a bandpass
filter. Now the researchers are to vary the value of the load
resistance RL and then observe tha changes to the filter
response. Shown below are the plots as we sweep the RL
values.

Fig. 9. Varying the RL value of the designed filter

We can observe in the plots that the type of filter changes

as the value for R varies. At a certain point we can see that it
stops a certain range of frequencies, thus making it a bandstop
filter. Then we increase the R-value, along its increase is the
gradual transformation of the filter circuit. We can observe
now that it allows a certain range of frequency to pass through,
thus making it a bandpass filter. Then we increase the R-value
again, the filter type goes back to being a bandstop filter.