Proceedings ofISCIT2005

Efficient Technique for Improving the Frequency

Response of CIC Decimation Filter
Gordana Jovanovic-Dolecek
Department for Electronics
Institute INAOE, E. Erro 1, 72840 Tonantzintla, Puebla, Mexico
Tel: +52-222-2470517, Fax: +52-222-2470517
E-mail: gordanaWinaoep.mx
Abstract- CIC (cascaded-integrator-comb) filter is widely
used as the decimation filter in debido
oversampled sigma-delta
its simplicity which
analog-to-digital converter (ADC) due to de
almacenamiento
requires no multiplication or coefficient storage.
However,
the frequency response of the CIC filter has a high passband
droop and low stopband attenuation. In this paper we present
two-stage structure
based on CIC and cosine filters which is
ademas
multiplier-free. Besides the proposed filter does not have any
filtering at the high input rate and exhibits the high
attenuation at the frequency point of interest.
Keywords- Decimation filter, CIC filter, Sharpening,
cosine prefilters.

while the non-recursive form is given as

H(z)=[-

Inp

I.

uT

H(ejo-')

0-7803-9538-7/05/$20.002005 IEEE

I
LM

sin(coM / 2
sin(m / 2)

-K

(3)
_,

en multiplos enteros

[12], [15].

In this paper we propose a two-stage structure in which

the first stage is implemented non-recursively while the
second one is implemented recursively. Consequently
there is no filtering at the high input rate. The magnitude
response of the structure is improved by using a cosine
prefilters and sharpening technique.
The paper is organized as follows. In Section 2 we
define two- staged cascaded CIC-cosine filter and the
corresponding efficient structure. Section 3 describes the
proposed filter based on the filter introduced in Section 2,
and the sharpening technique. The efficient structure of the
proposed filter is also given.

outpu

Fig. 1. CIC filter.

1. (2)

The magnitude response has nulls at integer multiples of

(1/M) Fs, where F5 is the high-rate sampling frequency.
These nulls provide natural alias-rejections introduced by
the down-sampling operation of the decimator.
However the magnitude response has a high passband
droop and low stopband attenuation. Several techniques
exist for compensating for the droop in the passband and
for an increase of the stopband attenuation [2], [6-10],

The transfer function of the CIC filter (recursive form),

also known as a comb filter, is given by
H(z)

+...+z

The differentiator section operates at the lower data rate,

whiledeese
themodo
integrator section works at the higher input data
rate thereby resulting in higher chip area and higher power
dissipation for this section. In order to resolve this problem
the non-recursive structures have been proposed [1], [4].
Using the polyphase decomposition of (2) the filtering at
the high input rate can be moved to the lower rate [1].
The magnitude response of the CIC filter can be
expressed as

INTRODUCTION
Advanced developments in Analogue to Digital (AlD)
and Digital to Analogue (D/A) conversion techniques,
based
on delta sigma
modulation are best example of the
tendencia de diseo
dezplazamiento mas y mas procesamiento de seal
design trend of shifting more and more signal processing
tasks from the analog to the digital domain [3]. In this type
of converter the analog signal is sampled at a rate much
higher
than the Nyquist rate, which permits to use fast
baja resolucion convertidores
low-resolution A/D converter. Finally, the digital output of
the
converter is decimated to the Nyquist rate [14]. In that
requisitos de manera fuerte
way es
strong
requirements for the analog anti-aliasing filter
evitar
are avoided, resulting in a simpler analog filter design
while requiring fast more complex digital
structure. CIC
extensamente
(cascaded-integrator-comb) filter [5] is widely
used as the
decimation filter in oversampled analog-to-digital
converter (ADC) due to its simplicity which requires no
multiplication or coefficient storage. This filter consists of
two main sections, cascaded integrators and differentiators,
separated by a down-sampler, as shown in Fig.l.
avanzados desarrollo

1+z +z

(1)

291

II. CASCADED CIC AND COSINE FILTERS

Considering the case when the down-sampling factor
can be expressed as
M = M1M2,
(4)
we can rewrite Equation (1) as
H(z) = [H1(Z)H2 (ZMl ) r
where

I1

M(z)

H2 jz

-M

n kl 2 n klcl

2 k=1

nO

(7)

nn

0.

(17)

Denoting
n-I

~3 Znk (18)

Lk = M/2 k ;k = nk + 2nk ;A = 1/2 k=l

from Equation (17) we arrive at
n
_L I

(8)
Hm(Z) = Hf (z) * Hf 2 (zM1)
Using the noble identities [10] the subfilter (7) can be
moved to lower rate and becomes lower order CIC filter
(the length is M2) as shown in Fig.2.

Hccos(Z)=A1I+Z

k=1
From Equation (19) we have

(19)

n,
_L I
k ) k ,Lk <M1, (20)
H(1+Z
HCCOSO(Z)z=

K2Z
put(
t

/2

3 Znlk k=1

(6)

In order to obtain more flexibility in the design we

of the cascaded subfilters (6) and
permit that the number
de ese modo
(7) can be different, thereby resulting in a modified CIC
filter

hIn

(16)

Considering M=2' we have in general case

nIl

-1

M2

(5)

Z-Ml

rHCZOS(z i )
HcCos(Z) i=1

k=1
and

Fig. 2. Two-stage structure.

As a consequence we can increase K1 and K2 in order to

the magnitude characteristic. Additionally in
improve evitar
order to avoid the filtering at the high rate the comb filter
can be implemented non- recursively.
at thepara
firstmejorar
stage
aun
To improve further the magnitude characteristic of the
filter (8) we use the cascaded cosine prefilter [9]
introduced in [13],
K

HcCos(Z)=
where

Hcos (Z N)

ni

(Hcos(z

i=l

HcCos1 (Z M)

-Lk )k

(21)

According to Equations (13-15) and (20)-(21) for

M1=M2=4 we have

)2n3 (1+ z-2 )2n2 +n3

HcCosI (z4)= (1+ z-4) 2nl +2 (+ z-8)
Hc cosO (z)

(9)

(+ z-

(22)

(23)

Using (1 9)-(21) we rewrite (9) as

M

Hc cos (Z)

(24)

cos

Hmccos (Z)

=0. 125(1+ z-8 )(1+ z-4 )2.

(13)
)
Hcos(Z )0.125(l+zA)(+z-2)2. (14)

Hcos(Z ) = 0.125(l + z-2)(I + z)2

Therefore from (9) and (13)-(15) it follows.

A, Hc coso (z) Hc Cos, (z Ml)

The transfer ftmction of the cascaded modified comb and

cosine prefilters is
(25)
Hmc cos (z) = Hm (z)Hc (z)
From Equations (8) and (24)-(25) we arrive at

(I 1)

(12)
NK=J.
and ni is the number of cascaded cosine prefilters.
For example for M=1 6, we have N1=4, N2=2, N3=1.

Hcos (Z

k=n1 +1

Lk >M1.

0.125(1 + z-2N)(l + z-N)2 (10)

N.

n(l

= A

* HK1
1

(z) H22 (z
2

(26)

(z)

(27)

Hc cosO (z) Hc COS1 (ZM1 ).

We denote

(15)

G(z)

por lo tanto

292

Hf (z)Hecoso

III. SHARPENED CASCADED CIC AND COSINE FILTERS

We apply the sharpening technique [11] to improve the
magnitude characteristic of the proposed filter (28).
In order that we can apply the polyphase decomposition
of the filter G(z) the simplest sharpening given by

From Equations (26)-(27) it follows

HmcCos(z) = G(z)HI 2 (zM1 )Hccos1 (zMl ) .(28)

According to noble identities [11] we have the efficient

structure of Equation (28), shown in Fig.3.

Sh{X} 3X2 - 2X3,

>E

Inpu"

I
t

is applied only to the comb filter in the second stage.

Consequently we have

Fig.3. Efficient structure (28).

(29)

Sh{Hmc cos (z)}

Note that by the polyphase decomposition of the filter

G(z) the filtering at the first stage is moved to lower rate.
In next Section we improve the magnitude characteristic
of the filter (28) by applying the sharpening technique.

(30)

G(z)Sh{H2 2 (zMl )}Hccos1 (zMl )

Using the noble identities [10] we have the efficient

structure of Equation (30) shown in Fig.4.

InputOF

4put
Fig. 4. Efficient structure (31).

Figure 5 a compares the overall magnitude responses of

the proposed sharpened filter and the corresponding
sharpened CIC filter for M1=M2=4, K=2, K1=4, K2=2 and
n1=n2=n3=l. Figure 5 b presents the stopband attenuation
near the first null.

Propose

-20

Sharpened comb-

-40

0
Ln
O
U)

Example 1:
We consider M=32 and M1=4 and M2=8. Figure 6a
compares the magnitude responses of the proposed filter
with K1=4, K2=2, nl=n2=2 and n3=n4=l with the sharpened
comb with K=2.
We consider the stopband attenuation at the frequency at
which the worst-case aliasing occurs will be at the
normalized frequency [12]
2
1 _ 15_
=-~=0. 1 1 72.
fA -M --~~
(31)
8M 8M
Figure 6 b illustrates the attenuations at the frequency

----------------m

-60
-80

)-,

oS~~~~~~~~~~~S

u~~~~~~~~~~~~I

.-

-110

.---

SII

20

-10

-140

-160
-180
,inn

01

0.2

0.4

0.3

0.

0.7

0.6

0.9

0.8

a. Overall magnitude responses.

-I"

(31).

-20

The attenuation atfA of the proposed, and the sharpened

comb filters are -221.8 dB and -85 dB, respectively

IV. CONCLUSIONS
This paper presents a new two-stage decimation filter
where the decimation factor M can be expressed as

c-

o
cn

Prmposed

Sharpened comb

---

-40
-80

U)

-a

-1Qo0

M=M1M2.
The first section is the cascade of K1, MI-length comb

-'--

-7----

--- --

Fig. 5. Po s

-1-

-r----

ads r n

so~~~~b
.zoom.
0.1180.12
0122Stp_n
---0--124 -0128

-140~~~~~~~~~~--

filters and the corresponding cosine filters. As a result of

the polyphase decomposition of the filters in the first stage
there is no filtering in the high input rate.
The filters of the second section are the cascade of K2,
M2-length comb filters and the corresponding cosine filters.

--

0.2

-1 0._. D-,- 0-2

0-2 0-2 -0 -r--.128\~~~~

b.

Fig Prpoe

293

Stpbn
an

......

comb.-fil .----

0.13--0-e .132

----} ........ftt
013 0.1

zoom.

shree

com

filers

.rI,*w-sa|f5_

improved magnitude characteristic than in the opposite

case. Therefore the choice of M1 and M2 is based on tradeoff between the power consumption and the desired
stopband attenuation.

-20 -!---A----- --Proposed: Kl=4,1k2=2,nl=n2=2,n3=n4=1

--.
_____ ~j~__Sharpened comb:K=2
------j
_____
-40
in

a;

(10) .
C,L

L-

.1

--------

-50--

70

"} St~

14

-120

ji',

l; !j

t-

,F1.

-O___*;_

1840

200

'

S j
''

4'

---I
I,

I4

0.1

[1] H. Aboushady, Y. Dumonteix, M. M. Loerat, and H. Mehrezz,

"Efficient polyphase decomposition of comb decimation filters in ZA analog-to-digital converters," IEEE Transactions on Circuits &
Systems - II: Analog and Digital Signal Processing, vol. 48, pp.
898-903, 2001.
[2] F. Daneshgaran and M. Laddomada, "A novel class of decimation
filters for EA A/D converters," Wireless Communications and
Mobile Computing, vol. 2, No. 8, pp. 867- 882, 2002.
[3] G. Fischer, "A/D Conversion," Chapter V in Jovanovic-Dolecek, G.
(editor). Multirate Systems: Design and Applications, Idea 0.
Publishing, Hershey, PA, and in the United Kingdom by Idea G.
Publishing, London, UK, 2002.
[4] Y. Gao, L. Jia, J. Isoaho and H. Tenhunen, "A comparison design of
comb decimators for sigma-delta analog-to-digital converters,"
Analog Integrated Circuits and Signal Processing, vol. 22, pp. 5160, 1999.
[5] E. B. Hogenauer, "An economical class of digital filters for
decimation and interpolation," IEEE Transactions on Acoustics,
Speech, and Signal Processing, vol. ASSP-29, No.2, pp. 155-162,

---'---[~ 4~ \L F

: r., *
i ;

REFERENCES

02

0.3

04

05

07

06

j'

08

{ [

J13 I

09

a. Overall magnitude responses.

- Proposed: K1=4,j Q-2,n1 =n2=2 ,n3=n4=1

.--- - - Sharpened comb:IK-2

-50

Cc
(D

-100

,,;;-- -----

T1 ----s--

+S

,/

1981.

[6] G.Jovanovic Dolecek and S.K. Mitra, "Sharpened comb

decimator with improved magnitude response class of digital filters
for decimation and interpolation," 2004 International Conference on

.S

,,,.ne

--

in

2 -150

*----r - - - -r---- - - --T -- - - - - --n- --

0D

in

& -200
Co

Ko

n _

Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing, Montreal, Canada, May

2004, vol. 2, pp. 393-396, 2004.
[7] G. Jovanovic Dolecek and S. K. Mitra, " Efficient multistage combmodified rotated sinc (RS) decimator," EUSPCO-2004, Vienna,
Austria, pp. 1425-1427, 2004.
[8] G. Jovanovic Dolecek and S. K. Mitra, " Efficient Comb Rotated
Sinc (RS) Decimator with Sharpened Magnitude response," IEEE
International Midwest Symp. On Circuits and Systems, Hiroshima,
Japan, 2004, vol. II, pp.1 17-119, 2004.
[9] G. Jovanovic Dolecek, J,Diaz-Carmona B. "A new cascaded
modified decimation filter", International IEEE Conference ISCAS
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[10] G. Jovanovic Dolecek (editor) Multirate systems: Design and
Apications, Idea 0. Publishing, Hershey, PA, and in the United
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symmetric nonrecursive filter," IEEE Transactions on Acoustics,
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and Digital Signal Processing, vol. 47, pp. 1204-1213, 2000.

-: --------- 1

I_ _ _ J _ _ _ _ _ L _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ s _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ J _ _ _

I
*

-250

I_

Jr

---!

-r------.. T---n---

/1

0.11B

0.12

0.122

0124

0.126

/
0.128

0.13

0.132

b. Stopband zoom.
Fig. 6. Example 1.

The simple sharpening polynomial is applied to the

comb section at the second stage in order to improve the
magnitude response of the proposed filter. As a result the
high attenuation at the frequency point of interest is
achieved.
Because the comb and cosine filters only employ unity
coefficients and the integer values of the sharpening
polynomial can be realized as shift and add operations, the
proposed filter is essentially multiplier free.
The parameter of design are the decimation factors M1
and M2 and the number of cascaded filters, Ki, and nk, i=l,
2 and k1,. ., n-l.
Choosing M1>M2 will result in less power consumption
than in case where M1<McM because the filtering of the
first stage is moved to the rate which is M1 times less than
the high input rate.
As a consequence that the sharpening is applied only at
the second stage, choosing M1<M2 will result in an
.

294