This full-text paper was peer-reviewed and accepted to be presented at the IEEE ICCSP 2015 conference

Study of multirate systems and filter banks

using GNU Radio
Lekshmi Kiran.S, Parvathy.G.Mol, Hisham.P.M, Gandhiraj.R and Soman.K.P
Abstract- Multirate digital signal processing finds application

in various fields like speech processing, image processing and

compression. A proper study of this subject is fundamental to
incorporating an efficient design of these systems.

A good

theoretical explanation in this area is readily available at large

numbers. But it is quite unfortunate that the present education
system

does

not

emphasize

proper

visualization

of

the

theoretical concepts. The significance of GNU Radio, which

provides various signal processing blocks, is worth noticing since

it can be used by a learner to design a flow graph and analyze its

response.

In

this

paper,

we

have

implemented

the

perfect

reconstruction filter using the concept of Quadrature mirror

filter (QMF) bank in GNU Radio. Some basic concepts like
aliasing and filter design have also been analyzed using GNU

Radio. We appreciate the role played by GNU Radio since it is an

easy-to-use software and also provides an excellant platform in

analyzing a system.

into how the tool can be used for designing polyphase

structures [2]. Here, we have made use of GNU Radio
Companion (GRC) to study some basic concepts of multirate
signal processing and filter banks. Design of perfect
reconstruction filters were analyzed using the tooL Further
basic concepts like upsampling, downsampling, aliaSing and
filter design were also studied using GNU Radio.
The only challenge that we had to deal with, during our
experimentation, is related to the initial installation stage of
GNU Radio where we had to spent some time to tackle the
errors. P roper gUide for its installation and usage is available
online [I] and can be utilized.
Section II describes Quadrature mirror filter (QMF) and the
implementation of a simple alias free QMF using GNU Radio.
The elimination of distortions (amplitude and phase) are also
discussed. Sections III and IV discusses filter design and
downsampling using GNU Radio.

Index Term GNU Radio, Quadrature mirror filter,

II. QUADRATURE MIRROR FILTER BANK

Multirate signal Processing

1. INTRODUCTION

NU Radio is a free software which can be used to

a real time system in an easy-to-use
environment [I]. The role of GNU Radio in education is vast
and should be properly utilized. A beginner in Signal
processing should be encouraged to utilize such tools so that
he/she can obtain a good idea of the subject and at the same
time, enjoy a thrilling experience while learning it. P revious
works related to GNU Radio are highly motivational and
provide a good sense of the range of applications possible in it.
P olyphase implementation of filter banks using GNU Radio
Companion(GRC) is one such work which provides an insight

G implement

Lekshmi Kiran S. Parvathy C.Mol. Hisham P.M and Soman.K.P are with
Center of excellence in Computational Engineering and Networking.Amrita
VishwaVidyapeetham.

Amritanagar.P.O.

Eltimadai.

Coimbatore-641112.

Tamilnadu,lndia
(email: {lekshmikiran57.paIvathy.g.mol.hishamthangalpms}@gmail.com.kp_

Multirate systems find large number of applications like

subband coding of speech and image signals, transmultipliers,
digital audio systems,etc. [3]. Subband coding is used if a
signal is not bandlimited and the lower energy frequency
region cannot be discarded as such which may result in loss of
information. In such cases, the signal can be divided into, say,
two separate frequency bands by making use of an analysis
bank.The resulting signals are called subband signals where
one has lower energy compared to the other and can thus be
encoded using smaller number of bits. Quadrature mirror filter
(QMF) bank is an analysis-synthesis system where the analysis
bank splits a signal into subband signals [4]. In a two channel
QMF, the analysis bank consists of a low pass and a high pass
filter. The two channel QMF system is shown in Fig. 1.
The reconstructed Signal may differ from the original due to
aliasing, distortions (amplitude or phase) and coding or
quantization . AliaSing effects and amplitude/phase distortions
can be avoided by proper design of filter which is further
discussed in detail in this paper. Detailed explanation can be
found in [3].

soman@amrita.edu).
Candhiraj.R, is

with

Department

of Electronics

and

Communication

Engineering, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritanagar.P.O, Ettimadai,

Coimbatore-641112.Tamiinadu,India (email: gsr.gandhiraj@gmail.com}

978-1-4799-8081-9/15/$31. 00 2015 IEEE

1727

This full-text paper was peer-reviewed and accepted to be presented at the IEEE ICCSP 2015 conference
The Signal is reconstructed perfectly since the condition for
perfect reconstruction is that the output Signal may be a scaled
and delayed version of the input as given by :
/\

X{z) = CZ-no X{z)

/\

x{n) = cx{n- flo)

c:;t:
)

A"J.3lp;i

Deimato[)

(4)

Expanders

Fig. 1. Quadrature Mirror Filter

A. Simple alias-free QMF system using GNU Radio

It has been proved theoritically that aliasing can be avoided

using the condition :
Fa (z) =HI (-z)
(1)
F;{z) =-Ho{-z)

A simple alias free system is based on this idea and has been
extended. to design the filter based on li (alone. as shown:
HI (z) =Ho (-z)
Fa (z) =Ho (z)
F;{z) =-HI (z)

(2)
1i.:lIIn':U
.. '
ra;: :

I"

LetH:=I+Sz-1+9i-2+6z-3. { =1+9z-1and E;{=S+6z-1

such that :
(3)
The block diagram and Gnu Radio implementation of the
polyphase structure for a simple alias-free QMF system are
shown in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 respectively. In Gnu Radio. the
input is given using a Signal source. Real time Signals like
speech signals can also be given using a file source where the
path of the file can be specified. ( and F;{ are
implemented using the Decimating FIR Filter block where the
designed tap values for the filter can be given. Upsampling and
downsampling operations are done making use of the Rational
Resampler block and setting the necessary values for
interpolation and decimation. For example. upsampling by a
factor of two is obtained by setting interpolation as two in the
block used.

Fig. 3. Simple alias-free QMF using GNU Radio

,""
,

... "

,,,

lui'

.--:

Fig. 4. Simple alias-free QMF using GNU Radio : Input signal

. ... . .

' . . -;- -

. . . . ..
.
.: .. . ";.'1'"
,

,
.,

'

' .

Fig. 5. Simple alias-free QMF using GNU Radio : Output signal

B. ElimjnaUng Amplitude DistorUon

Fig. 2. Simple alias-free QMF : block diagram

The above system suffers from amplitude distortion. The

distortion function can be written as :
T{z) =2Z-1{})E;{})

1728

(5)

This full-text paper was peer-reviewed and accepted to be presented at the IEEE ICCSP 2015 conference
Thus. if 1{ is all pass. then the system is free from amplitude
distortion. .q;( and If( can be thus been taken as all pass
filters by modelling them as a delay in GNU Radio. The output
indicates that amplitude distortion has been eliminated.

[I

blocks. the input and output are specified using pad source and
pad sink. The phase difference measurement was implemented
in this manner as a hier block so that it can be called whenever
necessary. The phase difference measurement implementation
using GNU Radio is also included herewith. P hase difference
measurement implementation shown here has been adopted
from previous successful works related to it [5].

'D

1::ln
J.L

I r:_r

''lbI_f{:U IIIIt:ll
ilnk.lI
l,; i".
-(.z:l!

...

__

Poj,!",1
'"lI!.:

W: ..

+:!l -'"
n.

.... "I\',
- .. bc

,,

,
rllil
"
IW.

.-:

1iI:;1jI!ti,*
itl . iI
'!.-.:.I,IIL:

-----
,in l _ ! >:
1I\1IIili:PI

Fig. 6. Eliminating Amplitude Distortion : GNU Radio

l*iIo

IT]

bol.;"';:':':
.LlIJ.I:Ir::."1
"IbIdI:""'1l

'1:[lI:'lC:fI
D>l!<::
lII[tlirMt.:

'
'f-

"l",.p""u:
'rJA.b\...

" t. .

Fig. 8

Eliminating Phase Distortion

: r. w.1
Il:rL"'"

_.:j/i<""I/Y",

Fig. 7. Eliminating Amplitude Distortion : input and output signals

t. f.w.. ,

''''itt.

C. ElimjnaUng Phase DjstorUon

1<mn,l"!I1l. '1
10:\00 ,iIr,,Ja,,,..

..

SItetd
\ "" ""'::.W.

ioW\..llft.l

Linear phase FIR QMF banks with perfect reconstruction

can be constructed if two conditions are eliminated :
1. P ower complementary property
2. (z) I-fo (- z)
=

Fig. 9

An example of such a system has been implemented using

Gnu Radio {shown in Fig. 8} . Ho (z) and (z) are chosen such
that flo {n} is symmetric whereas {n} is anti-symmetric. The
system was implemented in GNU Radio as shown but the
phase difference was observed to vary with the value of k and
obtained a least value of phase difference as nearly 0. 1.
A good feature of GNU Radio is that a large system can
be sub-divided into smaller ones and each one can be called
into the main windowjust like calling a function onto the main
program. This is done by defining the smaller ones in separate
windows as hier blocks and defining a name for each. In hier

Measuring phase difference between two signals using GNU Radio

III. FILTER DESIGN

As an example . a filter was designed in Filter Design and
Analysis {FDA} toolbox of Matlab. The filter coefficients
obtained here were given as filter tap values in GNU Radio
and its response was observed. It involved a low pass filter
design. The GNU Radio implementation shows that it is
simple and easy to analyze ensuring that GNU Radio is a user
friendly tool.

1729

This full-text paper was peer-reviewed and accepted to be presented at the IEEE ICCSP 2015 conference
[6]

51anil rat

1811,1Il Alit: &;

DldllGtinu FIR niter

'il1Jtln:l
7it.Pf:::it,u lh, illl I.all

ll(G1 lIT 5.nk.

'T'lf
';1",,"' Rltt)?li
iailbai Frti! 0

...... Iu,,,: c... ..,

r ... ",.t" I

[8]

'fp!r;' !.:.

1I1IbIft: :
OIT"U,

Tlrcttl
'il"..'Rrts: Hi
1j .IlI. ",_,.lolIY

Fig, 10

[7]

ur.

II...

'11ltI1:ll

Applications, 1999. ISSPA '99. Proceedings of the Fifth International

tI1'LfYl1IdJ):0
M!c-r.lplp):)
'fHuc:.l':1't
ldIih f<lfl: l!:
rr<q.!..I' II'''"" 'b.

Symposium on,

GNU Radio block diagram to observe filter response

IV, DOWNSAMPLING
Let us consider a basic example. If we have a signal whose
maximum frequency component is 15Hz. According to
Nyquist criterion, the minimum sampling rate should be thus
30Hz. Say if we use a sampling rate of 40Hz, the signal can be
obtained without loss. But say, if we downsample it by 4,the
condition is not satisfied and the complete bandwidth of the
signal is not recoverable. The low frequency component will
not be retained if this happens. To preserve this, the choice is
to use a low pass filter before downsampling. This experiment
was studied and verified using GNU Radio.
V. CONCLUSION
As discussed, different blocks in GNU Radio Companion
(GRC) can be utilized to create flow graphs which can be
utilized for various applications [6] [7]. Being free software, it
can be readily utilized for study purposes. GRC has been an
area of active research in recent times and can be used with or
without hardware. Software defined radios have been
developed using this platform. In this way, it finds large
number of applications commercially and also for educational
purposes or research. The work done here can be extended to
study the vast area of multirate Signal processing [8]. For
example, QMF bank implemented here can be compared with
other filter banks, say Laplacian pyramid and their
performance can be analyzed.
REFERENCES
[I]
[2]

Gandhiraj, R., and K. P. Soman. "Modern analog and digital

communication systems development using GNU Radio with
USRP." Telecommunication Systems 56, no. 3 (2014): 367-381.
Sruthi, M. B., R. Gandhiraj, and K. P. Soman, "Realization of wireless
communication system in SDR using GNU radio." Int. J. Adv. Res.
Comput. Sci. Softw. Eng 3, no, 6 (2013).
Mertins, Alfred, and Mohamed Deriche. "Multirate systems: an
introduction, operation and applications," In Signal Processing and Its

GNU Radio. Available : http://gnuradio.org/redmine/

Jijeesh, K. R., V. Anupama, Chakravarthula Raghavachari, and R.

Gandhiraj. "Study of polyphase structure made easy using GNU Radio."

In Green Computing Communication and Electrical Engineering
(ICGCCEE), 2014 International Conference on, pp. 1-6. IEEE, 2014.
[3] Vaidyanathan, Parishwad P, Multirate systems and filter banks :
Pearson Education India, 1993.
[4] Johnston, James D, "A filter family designed for use in quadrature
mirror filter banks." In Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing, IEEE
International Conference on ICASSP '80, , vol. 5, pp. 291-294. IEEE,
1980.
[5] Using GNU Radio for Signal Phase Measurements, Available :
http://www.egLmsu,edu/classes/ece480/capstone/springI4/group02/doc
s/Application%20Note%20-%20Phase%20George%20Godby%20Team%
202.pdf

1730

vol. I, pp. 4-vol. IEEE, 1999,