Chebyshev filters are
analog
Analog or analogue may refer to:
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* Analog signal, in which information is encoded in a continuous variable
** Analog device, an apparatus that operates on analog signals
*** Analog electronics, circuits which use analo ...
or
digital
Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits.
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*Digital electronics, electronic circuits which operate using digital signals
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filters that have a steeper
roll-off than
Butterworth filter
The Butterworth filter is a type of signal processing filter designed to have a frequency response that is as flat as possible in the passband. It is also referred to as a maximally flat magnitude filter. It was first described in 1930 by the Br ...
s, and have either
passband ripple (type I) or
stopband
A stopband is a band of frequencies, between specified limits, through which a circuit, such as a filter or telephone circuit, does not allow signals to pass, or the attenuation is above the required stopband attenuation level. Depending on applic ...
ripple (type II). Chebyshev filters have the property that they minimize the error between the idealized and the actual filter characteristic over the range of the filter (See references eg.
aniels utovac, but with ripples in the passband. This type of filter is named after
Pafnuty Chebyshev because its mathematical characteristics are derived from
Chebyshev polynomials
The Chebyshev polynomials are two sequences of polynomials related to the cosine and sine functions, notated as T_n(x) and U_n(x). They can be defined in several equivalent ways, one of which starts with trigonometric functions:
The Chebyshe ...
. Type I Chebyshev filters are usually referred to as "Chebyshev filters", while type II filters are usually called "inverse Chebyshev filters".
Because of the passband ripple inherent in Chebyshev filters, filters with a smoother response in the passband but a more irregular response in the stopband are preferred for certain applications.
Type I Chebyshev filters (Chebyshev filters)

Type I Chebyshev filters are the most common types of Chebyshev filters. The gain (or
amplitude) response,
, as a function of angular frequency
of the ''n''th-order low-pass filter is equal to the absolute value of the
transfer function evaluated at
:
:
where
is the ripple factor,
is the
cutoff frequency and
is a
Chebyshev polynomial of the
th order.
The passband exhibits equiripple behavior, with the ripple determined by the ripple factor
. In the passband, the Chebyshev polynomial alternates between -1 and 1 so the filter gain alternate between maxima at ''G'' = 1 and minima at
.
The ripple factor ε is thus related to the passband ripple δ in
decibel
The decibel (symbol: dB) is a relative unit of measurement equal to one tenth of a bel (B). It expresses the ratio of two values of a power or root-power quantity on a logarithmic scale. Two signals whose levels differ by one decibel have a po ...
s by:
:
At the cutoff frequency
the gain again has the value
but continues to drop into the
stopband
A stopband is a band of frequencies, between specified limits, through which a circuit, such as a filter or telephone circuit, does not allow signals to pass, or the attenuation is above the required stopband attenuation level. Depending on applic ...
as the frequency increases. This behavior is shown in the diagram on the right. The common practice of defining the cutoff frequency at −3
dB is usually not applied to Chebyshev filters; instead the cutoff is taken as the point at which the gain falls to the value of the ripple for the final time.
The 3 dB frequency ''ω''
H is related to ''ω''
0 by:
:
The order of a Chebyshev filter is equal to the number of
reactive components (for example,
inductors) needed to realize the filter using
analog electronics.
An even steeper
roll-off can be obtained if ripple is allowed in the stopband, by allowing zeros on the
-axis in the complex plane. While this produces near-infinite suppression at and near these zeros (limited by the quality factor of the components, parasitics, and related factors), overall suppression in the stopband is reduced. The result is called an
elliptic filter, also known as a Cauer filter.
Poles and zeroes

For simplicity, it is assumed that the cutoff frequency is equal to unity. The poles
of the gain function of the Chebyshev filter are the zeroes of the denominator of the gain function. Using the complex frequency ''s'', these occur when:
:
Defining
and using the trigonometric definition of the Chebyshev polynomials yields:
:
Solving for
:
where the multiple values of the arc cosine function are made explicit using the integer index ''m''. The poles of the Chebyshev gain function are then:
:
::::
Using the properties of the trigonometric and hyperbolic functions, this may be written in explicitly complex form:
:
::::
where ''m'' = 1, 2,..., ''n'' and
:
This may be viewed as an equation parametric in
and it demonstrates that the poles lie on an ellipse in
''s''-space centered at ''s'' = 0 with a real semi-axis of length
and an imaginary semi-axis of length of
The transfer function
The above expression yields the poles of the gain ''G''. For each complex pole, there is another which is the complex conjugate, and for each conjugate pair there are two more that are the negatives of the pair. The
transfer function must be stable, so that its poles are those of the gain that have negative real parts and therefore lie in the left half plane of complex frequency space. The transfer function is then given by
:
where
are only those poles of the gain with a negative sign in front of the real term, obtained from the above equation.
The group delay
The
group delay is defined as the derivative of the phase with respect to angular frequency and is a measure of the distortion in the signal introduced by phase differences for different frequencies.
:
The gain and the group delay for a fifth-order type I Chebyshev filter with ε=0.5 are plotted in the graph on the left. It can be seen that there are ripples in the gain and the group delay in the passband but not in the stopband.
Type II Chebyshev filters (inverse Chebyshev filters)
Also known as inverse Chebyshev filters, the Type II Chebyshev filter type is less common because it does not roll off as fast as Type I, and requires more components. It has no ripple in the passband, but does have equiripple in the stopband. The gain is:
:
In the stopband, the Chebyshev polynomial oscillates between -1 and 1 so that the gain will oscillate between zero and
:
and the smallest frequency at which this maximum is attained is the cutoff frequency
. The parameter ε is thus related to the
stopband
A stopband is a band of frequencies, between specified limits, through which a circuit, such as a filter or telephone circuit, does not allow signals to pass, or the attenuation is above the required stopband attenuation level. Depending on applic ...
attenuation γ in
decibel
The decibel (symbol: dB) is a relative unit of measurement equal to one tenth of a bel (B). It expresses the ratio of two values of a power or root-power quantity on a logarithmic scale. Two signals whose levels differ by one decibel have a po ...
s by:
:
For a stopband attenuation of 5 dB, ε = 0.6801; for an attenuation of 10 dB, ε = 0.3333. The frequency ''f''
0 = ''ω''
0/2''π'' is the cutoff frequency. The 3 dB frequency ''f''
H is related to ''f''
0 by:
:
Poles and zeroes

Assuming that the cutoff frequency is equal to unity, the poles
of the gain of the Chebyshev filter are the zeroes of the denominator of the gain:
:
The poles of gain of the type II Chebyshev filter are the inverse of the poles of the type I filter:
:
:
where ''m'' = 1, 2, ..., ''n'' . The zeroes
of the type II Chebyshev filter are the zeroes of the numerator of the gain:
:
The zeroes of the type II Chebyshev filter are therefore the inverse of the zeroes of the Chebyshev polynomial.
:
for ''m'' = 1, 2, ..., ''n''.
The transfer function
The transfer function is given by the poles in the left half plane of the gain function, and has the same zeroes but these zeroes are single rather than double zeroes.
The group delay
The gain and the group delay for a fifth-order type II Chebyshev filter with ε=0.1 are plotted in the graph on the left. It can be seen that there are ripples in the gain in the stopband but not in the pass band.
Implementation
Cauer topology
A passive LC Chebyshev
low-pass filter may be realized using a
Cauer topology
Electronic filter topology defines electronic filter circuits without taking note of the values of the components used but only the manner in which those components are connected.
Filter design characterises filter circuits primarily by their ...
. The inductor or capacitor values of a nth-order Chebyshev
prototype filter may be calculated from the following equations:
[Matthaei et al. (1980), p.99]
:
:
:
:
G
1, G
k are the capacitor or inductor element values.
f
H, the 3 dB frequency is calculated with:
The coefficients ''A'', ''γ'', ''β'', ''A''
''k'', and ''B''
''k'' may be calculated from the following equations:
:
: