
9-2 
In contrast to filter design by  image-parameter meth- 
ods, the design of  filters by the use 
of 
modern network 
theory is a domain for specialists with digital computers 
because of the complex calculations required. There are 
sufficient advantages of  filter circuits computed by  this 
method, however, to warrant making some application 
of  them easy and straightforward. This chapter focuses 
on a very limited subset of the limitless possibilities for 
low-pass networks  and  simple transform  methods  to 
allow calculation of high-pass, bandpass, and band-stop 
circuits. 
The design information is drawn from experience in 
the application of  modern network theory to the design 
of  electric wave  filters. 
As 
stated above, only limited 
design results are supplied, and a concentrated study of 
the  cited  references 
is 
essential  to  gain  a  working 
knowledge of the synthesis process through which these 
results were computed. References 
1, 
4, 
and 
6 
provide 
details  of  the  design  theory.  Reference 
5 
provides a 
concise summary of  the theory with graphs and tables 
to enable an engineer to compute filter circuits with the 
help of  a computer program. 
Reference 
2 
provides  a  much  larger  tabulation  of 
Cauer-parameter and  Chebyshev filter networks up to 
degree 
9, 
and Saal has also produced another volume 
that extends to degree 
15. 
Reference 3 presents many 
practical ideas (drawn from a 25-year career in Europe 
and the 
USA) 
on designing, testing, and manufacturing 
filters and mentions two of  the computer programs that 
are available. Many  books and articles written on this 
subject since the work of  Cauer and Darlington in the 
late  1930s  are  more  than  worthy  of  mention  here. 
However,  the  scope  of  this  chapter  and  the  space 
available  do  not  necessitate  nor  permit  a  detailed 
discussion. Reference 
7 
is  an example of  some of  the 
work  done  toward  practical  implementation of  these 
filter networks with  standard-value capacitors. 
No 
attempt has been made to present details of the 
theory and formulation involved, of  the approximation 
of  transfer polynomials to performance requirements, 
or the  very  useful but  less frequently required topics 
such as zero and infinite terminations, phase and delay 
performance, and the effects of  and compensation for 
the losses in real coils and capacitors. 
INTRODUCTION 
Filter networks continue to be of  great importance in 
the design of  electrical equipment,  especially in  com- 
munication  engineering.  Unlike  previous  methodolo- 
gies  to  design  spectrum-shaping  networks,  modern 
network  theory  enables  the  engineer 
to 
design  filter 
networks that are based on the actual requirements for 
signal transmission. While  image-parameter design 
is 
rather simplistic, only a very  limited approximation of 
the  specific  requirements  can  be  achieved.  Today’s 
methods  are  not 
so 
straightforward and  are generally 
considered beyond the scope of nonspecialists, since the 
mathematical design process does not directly parallel 
physical conceptions and the calculations are complex 
and  extensive. The  development of  digital computers 
has led to the capture of  much of  the knowledge of  the 
specialist and the complex calculation algorithms into 
programs that allow many engineers to design some of 
their  own  networks.  Still,  the  sophisticated require- 
ments necessitate the special expert. 
Many  of  the  less  complex  requirements  can  be 
satisfied  by  designs  that  can  be  done  with  the 
procedures  described  here  and  without  access to  the 
computer programs.  To  accomplish this  task,  the  re- 
quirements  for  all  the  filter  types  considered  here 
(low-pass,  high-pass,  bandpass  and  band-stop)  are 
transformed to a set of reference low-pass requirements. 
From the reference low-pass requirements, the network 
complexity is  determined,  and a normalized reference 
low-pass 
is 
selected. Then the suitable transformation 
is 
applied  to this  low-pass to  arrive  at  the  network  to 
satisfy the initial requirements. 
Fig. 
1 
shows a “reasonably typical” requirement for 
a filter network. To  satisfy this  requirement with  the 
minimum  network,  it  is  necessary to use  one 
of 
the 
available computer programs. However, it is possible to 
satisfy the modified requirements, as shown in Fig. 
2, 
by  the  simple computations  of  this  chapter.  The  re- 
quirements depicted by  the tolerance plot of  Fig. 
2 
can 
be transformed to the basic reference low-pass tolerance 
plot shown by  Fig. 
3 
with 
A, 
= 
AI 
and 
A, 
= 
A,. 
The 
algorithm for this  transform is  covered  in  the section 
headed “The Reference Low-Pass.” 
NORMALIZATION 
To  simplify the calculations, frequencies are normal- 
ized with respect to some reference frequency,fref, and 
the impedances are normalized with respect to a refer- 
FREQUENCY 
Fig. 
1. 
Requirement for 
a 
filter network. 
Fig. 
2. 
Modified requirements for filter network