Proc.
29th International Conference on Systems, Signals and Image Processing “IWSSIP 2022”, June 01 - 03, 2022, Sofia, Bulgaria
Active Learning Used for Teaching the Topic
“Design of Finite Impulse Response Filters in
MATLAB” in the Course “Digital Signal
2022 29th International Conference on Systems, Signals and Image Processing (IWSSIP) | 978-1-6654-9578-3/22/$31.00 ©2022 IEEE | DOI: 10.1109/IWSSIP55020.2022.9854458
Processing”
Adriana Borodzhieva
Department of Telecommunications
University of Ruse “Angel Kanchev”
Ruse, Bulgaria
aborodzhieva@uni-ruse.bg
Abstract—The paper presents the application of active
learning used for teaching the topic “Design of Finite Impulse
Response Filters in MATLAB” in the course “Digital Signal
Processing” for bachelor students of the specialties “Internet
and Mobile Communication” (3rd semester) and “Information
and Communication Technologies” (2nd semester) at the
University of Ruse during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Some
issues about students’ feedback are given in the paper.
Keywords—active learning, finite impulse response filters,
digital signal processing, MATLAB, Signal Processing Toolbox.
I. INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, increasing the motivation and inspiration of
students is a great challenge for all university professors.
This requires teachers to look for and start applying
innovative ideas such as creative teaching, working on
projects individually or in teams, using audio and video
tools, etc. The main goal of the teachers is to be able to
engage the students, who are increasingly distracted from the
screens of their mobile phones, with the taught material,
motivating them to study and work individually and/or in a
team and to increase their enthusiasm to learn and work.
The aim of the course “Digital Signal Processing”,
mandatory in the curriculum of the specialties “Information
and Communication Technologies” (2nd semester) and
“Internet and Mobile Communications” (3rd semester) at the
University of Ruse, is to introduce the bachelor students with
the main issues of theory, practice and applications of digital
signal processing. One of the basic topics in the course is
“Design of Finite Impulse Response (FIR) Filters in
MATLAB” where students learn how to apply MATLAB
and its extension Signal Processing Toolbox for designing
FIR filters of low-pass (LP), high-pass (HP), band-pass (BP),
and band-stop (BS) configurations.
The paper presents the main steps of the flipped
classroom (FC) and project-based learning (PBL) approaches
as forms of active learning used during the workshops when
teaching the topic “Design of Finite Impulse Response (FIR)
Filters in MATLAB” with the problems solved by students.
The flipped classroom, a type of blended learning, is a
learning strategy that aims to increase students' engagement
and learning by getting students to finish reading the material
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at home and work on solving problems live in class. Using
this pedagogical approach [1], students watch online video
lectures, collaborate with each other in online discussions, or
conduct research at home, while activities, including those
that can traditionally be considered homework, are moved
into the classroom, with the guidance of a teacher (mentor).
Project-based learning retains students in learning, using
activities such as “reading, writing, discussion, problem-
solving, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of class content”
[2, 3]. These two approaches (FC and PBL) were really very
important during the last three academic years in the
COVID-19 pandemic when distance learning was used [4].
II. FINITE IMPULSE RESPONSE (FIR) FILTERS AND
DESIGN OF FIR FILTERS IN MATLAB
Finite Impulse Response (FIR) filters are a basic class of
digital filters in which the value of the output response at a
certain point in the discrete time depends on the values of the
input signal at the current and previous time points, but does
not depend on the values of the output signal at previous time
points. These filters, also called non-recursive, are a special
case of Infinite Impulse Response (IIR) filters and have the
following advantages [5, 6, 7]:
• easily implemented programmatically, for example
using the functions provided by Signal Processing Toolbox
(SPT), a specialized extension of MATLAB [8];
• they are always physically feasible because the
condition for physical feasibility is the impulse response of
the filter to have zero values for the negative discrete time,
i.e. h ( n ) = 0 for n < 0 ;
• their stability is guaranteed, as the condition
∞
 h (n) < ∞ is always fulfilled due to the finite length of
n =−∞
their impulse response;
• they can be implemented in such a way that they
have a linear phase-frequency response, where the group
time delay is constant. Therefore, the useful signal entering
the pass-band of the filter will pass through it without
distortion. The condition for linearity of the phase response
1
is the symmetry (even symmetry) or the anti-symmetry (odd
symmetry) of the impulse response [5, 6, 7].
A disadvantage of FIR filters is that with the same input
data they are obtained from a higher order compared to IIR
filters, which leads to inefficient use of RAM and to a delay
in the calculation of the output response [5, 6, 7].
The difference equation and the transfer function
describing a FIR filter in discrete time have the forms [5, 6]:
N Y (z) N
y ( n ) =  bi x ( n − i ) , H ( z ) = =  bi z
i =0 X ( z) i =0
where y ( n ) is the output signal and x ( n ) is the input signal
of the filter.
In formulas (1), bi are the coefficients of the filter
(bi = const ) and N is the order of the filter [5, 6, 7].
Table I presents the different methods for designing FIR
filters, the description of these methods, and a list of
available functions in SPT for their implementation [8].
A. Design of linear-phase FIR filters
All functions in SPT for designing FIR filters, with the
exception of cremez, implement only linear-phase filters. The
coefficients bi of such filters satisfy dependences with even
or odd symmetry. Depending on the type of this symmetry,
as well as whether the filter order is even or odd, the linear-
phase filter (stored in a vector b with a length of n + 1 ) has
certain limitations in its frequency response (Table II). The
fir1, fir2, firls, remez, fircls, fircls1 and firrcos functions
design linear-phase FIR filters of type I and type II (by
default). The firls and remez functions design linear-phase
FIR filters of type III and type IV by setting the ‘hilbert’ or
‘differentiator’ flag. The cremez function can design linear-
phase filters of any type as well as nonlinear-phase filters.
Because the frequency response of a filter of type II has a
value “0” for the Nyquist frequency, fir1 does not design
high-pass and band-stop filters of type II. In these cases, for
odd values of the filter order n , fir1 increments n by one
and returns a filter of type I [8].
TABLE I. METHODS AND FUNCTIONS FOR DESIGNING FIR FILTERS
TABLE II. LIMITATIONS IN FREQUENCY RESPONSES OF FIR FILTERS
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B. Design of FIR filters with standard/single-band response
The fir1 function implements the classic method for
designing linear-phase FIR digital filters using the “window”
method. It resembles the functions for designing IIR filters,
which use the design of filters with a standard configuration:
low-pass, high-pass, band-pass, and band-stop (notch). Its
syntax has the following general form [8]:
b = fir1 (n, Wn, 'ftype', window).
By default, the function designs a low-pass filter, which
is represented by its n + 1 coefficients in the numerator of its
−i
(1)
transfer function, which are stored in a row-vector b . The
following notations are used:
• n – filter order, as n must be an even number for
high-pass and band-stop filters;
• Wn – desired cut-off frequency (specified as
normalized frequency); for low-pass and high-pass filters Wn
is a one-element vector defining the cut-off frequency at a
decrease of 3 dB, and for band-pass and band-stop filters – a
two-element vector containing the cut-off frequencies of the
pass-band;
• ‘ftype’ – filter type (string); 'high' is written for
high-pass filters, and 'stop' – for band-stop filters;
• window – column-vector with a length of n + 1,
defining the window function with which the restriction of
the length of the impulse response is performed (Table III);
Hamming window is used by default. The analytical
expressions used to define window functions can be found in
the references [8].
To calculate the length of a Kaiser window, the kaiserord
function is used, which “returns” the filter order, the cut-off
frequency, and the parameter β of a Kaiser window needed
to satisfy a set of requirements. By specifying the vector of
the cut-off frequencies of the filter bands and the vector of
their corresponding amplitudes, as well as the maximum
allowable ripples (nonuniformity), kaiserord “returns” the
appropriate input parameters for the fir1 function. It should
be noted that the Kaiser window achieves the best ratio
between the width of the transition band and the minimum
attenuation in the stop-band (above 80 dB) [8].
C. Design of FIR filters with arbitrary/multi-band response
The fir2 function also designs FIR digital filters using the
“window” method, but with an arbitrary shape, most often
multi-band, amplitude-frequency response, described point
by point (element by element). The analogue of this function
in IIR filters is yulewalk, which also designs filters with
arbitrary frequency response, specified point by point [8]. Its
syntax has the following form: b = fir2 (n, f, m, window). The
function “returns” a row-vector b containing n + 1
coefficients in the numerator of the transfer function of a FIR
filter of order n whose frequency response corresponds to
that specified by the row-vectors f and m .
TABLE III. WINDOW FUNCTIONS
 f is a row-vector of the normalized frequencies in the
range from 0 to 1 (corresponding to the Nyquist frequency);
the values in the vector f should be listed in ascending
order, but there may be repeating elements corresponding to
a jump in the frequency response. m is a row-vector
Task 1. Write a MATLAB program to design a low-pass FIR filter with
a cut-off frequency of 1 kHz at a sampling frequency of 8 kHz, for the following
four cases: a) filter order n = 36 , with a Hamming window; b) filter order n = 50 ,
with a Hamming window; c) filter order n = 50 , with a rectangular window;
d) filter order n = 50 , with a Kaiser window with a parameter β = 8 .

containing the desired amplitudes for the frequencies Let the program draw the frequency responses (magnitude and phase) of
specified in the vector f . Here, window is also a column- the designed filter, and for the filter from sub-task b) draw the impulse response

vector with a length of n + 1, defining the window function and pole-zero diagram.

with which the restriction of the length of the impulse a)

response is performed (Table III). By default, it works with a
Hamming window [8].
III. ACTIVE LEARNING IN THE TOPIC “DESIGN OF FINITE
IMPULSE RESPONSE (FIR) FILTERS IN MATLAB”
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the need for
distance learning during the last three academic years, the
teachers in the course “Digital Signal Processing”, studied by
students in the specialties “Internet and Mobile
Communications” and “Information and Communication
Technologies” (respectively 3rd and 2nd semester) at the
University of Ruse decided to introduce active learning with b)
two of its possible forms: flipped classroom (FC) [1] and
Fig. 1. Task 1, solved by students: a) conditions; b) solution – code in
project-based learning (PBL) [2, 3, 4]. MATLAB (with comments)
PBL combined with FC gives students chances for
learning by researching and working on projects [2, 3, 4]
while developing their 21st-century skills such as creativity,
problem-solving, communication and collaboration skills,
logical, analytical and critical thinking, project management,
in-depth understanding, etc.
First, at home, students must watch some videos and/or
PowerPoint presentations, where the material (theory,
practice, and applications, as well as functions in Signal
Processing Toolbox and its features, presented in Section II
of the paper) is explained to students. The material presented
in Section II is important for an in-depth understanding of
the problems (Fig. 1…Fig. 9) presented for demonstration of
MATLAB and Signal Processing Toolbox for designing FIR
filters. It helps students to prepare themselves at home and to
start with exercises in class (FC and PBL) [1, 2, 3, 4].
During the workshops (online or face-to-face), students
solve different individual tasks similar to those presented in
the demonstration phase. It is recommended to provide
written instructions for students in the laboratory at a visible
Fig. 2. Frequency responses (magnitude and phase) of finite impulse
location. In Task 1, students have to design and investigate
response (FIR) filters with: a) filter order n = 36, Hamming window;
low-pass FIR filters of different orders using different
b) filter order n = 50, Hamming window; c) filter order n = 50,
window functions (Hamming, rectangular, Kaiser, etc.) and
compare the results. This task allows students to experiment rectangular window; d) filter order n = 50, Kaiser window with a
with the fir1 function. The conditions of Task 1 and its parameter β = 8
solution in the form of MATLAB code are given in Fig. 1.
The design results are given in Fig. 2, Fig. 3, and Fig. 4. In
Task 2, students have to design and investigate low-pass FIR
filters of different orders using different window functions
(Hamming, rectangular, Kaiser, etc.), when the magnitude
response is given “point-by-point” and compare the results
while experimenting with the fir2 function. The conditions of
Task 2 and its solution in the form of MATLAB code are
given in Fig. 5. The design results are given in Fig. 6. Similar
results are presented in Fig. 7, but when using other window Fig. 3. Impulse response of FIR Fig. 4. Pole-zero diagram of FIR
functions (rectangular and Kaiser windows, with a parameter filter of n = 50 order filter of n = 50 order
β = 8 ).

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 Task 2: Design low-pass filters of 30th and 45th order, using the fir2 function.
Draw their magnitude responses, such as the desired frequency response of the
filter, specified by the frequency vector f = [0 0.6 0.6 1] and the amplitude vector
m = [1 1 0 0] and the actual frequency response are superimposed on each
other: a) using a Hamming window (by default); b) using a rectangular window
and a Kaiser window with a parameter β = 8 for a low-pass filter of 30th order.
a)
b)
Fig. 5. Task 2, solved by students: a) conditions; b) code in MATLAB
Fig. 6. Normalized frequency Fig. 7. Normalized frequency
responses of FIR filters of 30th order responses of FIR filters of 30th
and 45th order, with a Hamming order, with a Kaiser ( β = 8 ) and
window, superimposed on the ideal
one
a rectangular window, super-
imposed on the ideal one
After solving these problems, students must draw some
conclusions (Fig. 8) about the studied responses (magnitude
and phase responses, impulse response, and pole-zero plot)
of FIR filters. Formulating conclusions based on graphical
dependencies improves scientific literacy, one of the most
important 21st-century skills for future engineers.
The graphical dependencies obtained from the filter design allow the
following conclusions to be drawn:
1. Due to the limitation of the length of the impulse response, carried out
in this case using the “window” method, ripples (pulsations) in the frequency
response, known as the Gibbs effect, occur. When the filter order increases, the
amplitude of these ripples does not decrease, but they are concentrated in a
narrower area around the cut-off frequency.
2. The amplitude of the ripples in the pass-band, as well as the width of
the transition band, depend on the window function – when using a Kaiser
window, a minimum attenuation over 80 dB (when β = 8 ) in the stop-band is
achieved, when using a Hamming window – about 50 dB, while using a
rectangular window – only 20 dB.
3. FIR filters have a linear phase response in the pass-band, which is their
biggest advantage because there are no distortions in the transmission of pulses.
The linearity of the phase response is due to the symmetrical impulse response.
4. The FIR filter is unconditionally stable because its pole-zero diagram
contains only zeros (represented by “o”) and does not contain poles (represented
by “x”). Its zeros are real or complex-conjugate (in pairs) and can lie anywhere
in the complex z-plane (inside the unit circle, on it and outside it).
5. The design of FIR filters with arbitrary frequency response is
performed extremely quickly and easily using the software available in SPT.
Window functions must be carefully selected depending on the specific
application of the filter.
Fig. 8. Conclusions drawn by students after solving all the tasks
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Task 3: Write a MATLAB program that synthesizes a band-stop FIR filter of
34th order with a stop-band from 1 kHz to 2 kHz, at a sampling frequency of
8 kHz, using a Chebyshev window with ripples (non-uniformity) 35 dB. Let the
program draw the frequency responses (magnitude and phase) of the filter, as
well as its impulse response and pole-zero diagram. What is characteristic for
the frequency responses (magnitude and phase), impulse response and pole-zero
diagram of the designed filter? What is the default window for fir1?
Task 4: Write a MATLAB program that synthesizes a filter of 24th order with
a normalized frequency response given in the figure below
([0 0.1 0.15 0.25 0.3 0.55 0.6 0.7 0.75 1.0]). Let the program draw in one
coordinate system the desired and actual frequency responses of the filter using
the functions fir2, remez and firls. What is characteristic for the frequency
response of each of the designed filters in terms of matching the desired and
actual responses in the pass-band, stop-band and the transition band and in
terms of ripples (pulsations) in the pass-band and in the stop-band? What filters
are designed with these functions?
Note: The syntax of the remez and firls
functions is the same as that of the fir2
function. Try to write the MATLAB
programs for Task 3 and Task 4 by yourself.
Answer the questions to both tasks and
Figure. Desired frequency response of apply the code and graphical dependencies
the filter to the tasks.
Fig. 9. Tasks 3 and 4, solved by students: conditions, notes and quesions
In the last two more complicated tasks, students design a
band-stop filter and a multi-band filter with a normalized
frequency response (Fig. 9). Some students had difficulties
when solving these problems but most of them thought that
this was not so difficult when reading the theory carefully.
IV. CONCLUSION
This paper presents project-based learning when students
investigate the topic “Design of FIR Filters in MATLAB”
and the tasks solved by students based on the principles of
the flipped classroom and project-based learning. A survey
with 33 students studying the course “Digital Signal
Processing” was conducted at the end of the semester of the
last academic year. This survey assesses the students’
opinions about using the approaches FC and PBL, and their
satisfaction. Students definitely prefer FC and PBL and are
more likely to use them in the future. The results show that
the topic is hard for students, but with suitable methods, they
can be satisfied with their results, learn more, and with
interest. Students with learning difficulties could be helped to
learn the material on time before the corresponding exam
using peer-to-peer learning and “think-pair-share” methods.
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