The Transfer Function of the nth-order Digital

Butterworth Low Pass Filter

Phuoc Si Nguyen

digital filter) by applying the frequency transformation in the

AbstractThis paper investigates and analyzes in a geometric digital domain [4], [5].
way the bilinear and inverse bilinear z-transformation with pre-
warping frequency method when transforming an analog
Butterworth low pass prototype to a digital Butterworth low
II. POLE LOCATION OF THE ANALOG BUTTERWORTH LOW
pass filter. Two new simple general equations are subsequently
derived for designing the coefficients and polezero transfer PASS PROTOTYPE
function of an nth-order Butterworth digital low pass filter. The An analog Butterworth low pass prototype with nth order is
first equationthe analog Butterworth low pass to digital an all-pole low pass filter with a cut-off frequency normalized
Butterworth low pass Pascal matrix equationis used to
to 1 rad/s, and with a maximally flat in band and stop band
generate filter coefficients; the second equation is used to
determine filter poles and zeros where they are distributed in [6], [7]. The poles can be determined by the following
the z-plane. Both equations are easy to use for hand calculation equation, and are described in Fig. 1:
and programming when designing a stable digital Butterworth sk cos k i sin k e i k
low pass filter. (1)
where : k k k 0,1, 2, ..., 2n 1.
2 2n n
Index TermsButterworth filter, bilinear z-transformation,
inverse bilinear z-transformation, digital filter design. From (1), it is clear that:
- All the poles lie on a unit circle at center (0,0) and are
symmetrical with respect to the real axis (complex conjugate)
I. INTRODUCTION and image axis in the s-domain.
- There are n stable poles that fall in the left half of the s-
The bilinear z-transformation with pre-warping frequency
domain, corresponding to k=0 to k=n1; another n unstable
is the most effective and popular method for designing a
poles are in the right half, when k=n to k=2n1. The line
digital filter. It is described in a mathematical way by
connection between a stable pole at the value kth and an
mapping the poles and zeros of an analog low pass prototype
unstable pole at the value (n+k)th passes through the point
filter from the s-domain into the z-domain [1], [2]. This paper
O(0,0).
focuses on designing the transfer function of the nth-order
- The angle between two consecutive poles is diff = k+1 k
digital Butterworth low pass filter by using bilinear z-
= /n, which means that all the poles are separated equally on
transformation with pre-warping frequency, and inverse
the unit circle.
bilinear z-transformation.
- For any integer value of k, the pole never falls on the image
By applying the bilinear z-transformation with pre-warping
axis and so the angle of the stable poles is in a limitation
frequency, and employing the Pascals triangle, a general
interval of /2 < k < 3/2. If the nth order of the filter is odd,
equation is derivedthe analog Butterworth low pass to
there are two poles lying on the real axis at s=1 at k=(n1)/2,
digital Butterworth low pass Pascal matrix equation. This
and s=1 at k=(3n1)/2.
equation is used to design the coefficient transfer function of
the digital Butterworth low pass filter.
For the inverse bilinear z-transformation with pre-warping
frequency [3], [4] the poles and zeros of the digital
Butterworth low pass filter can be found by a general
equation described as a polezero transfer function.
Further, this paper provides a geometrical way to
determine the poles of the digital Butterworth low pass, and
indicates where they are located in the z-domain, which
allows visualization of the poles locations and the stability of
the desired filter.
Both of the general equations are easy to use for hand
calculation and programming for designing a digital
Butterworth low pass filter. When such a filter has been
designed, it can be used to design another digital filter (such
as a high pass, band pass, band stop, Notch or narrow band Fig. 1. The pole locations of the nth-order analog Butterworth low pass
prototype filter.

This paper is submitted for review on 10 June 2016. This research was of School of Communications and Informatics, Victoria University of
independently undertaken by P. S. Nguyen, who was previously a staff Technology, Melbourne, Australia (Email:
member at the Faculty of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Department nguyensiphuoc@frequencytransform.com).
 The polezero transfer function of the nth-order analog it can be seen that the numerator Nk(s) and denominator Dk(s)
Butterworth low pass prototype stable filter is found as indicate all the stable and unstable poles sk move along the
follows: real axis by a value of c. This means that using bilinear z-
- if n is even number, transformation with pre-warping frequency to transform an
(2) analog Butterworth low pass prototype to a digital low pass
1
H s n/ 2
; simply moves all of the poles on the unit circle from the s-
(s 2
2 s cos k 1) domain into the z-domain by pre-warping parameter c along
k 0
the real axis, as shown in Fig.2.
- if n is odd number,
(3)
1
H s ( n 1)/ 2
.
s 1 ( s 2 2 s cos k 1)
k 0

From (2) and (3), multiplying out all the factorized terms
in the denominator will give the coefficient transfer function
as follows:
1 1 (4)
H s
n
B0 B1 s Bn s n
B
k 0
k sk

where Bk are the real coefficients.

The pole locations and the transfer function of the nth-order
analog low pass prototype filter are examined. The next
section investigates and analyzes a digital Butterworth low
pass filter designed from an analog Butterworth low pass
prototype using bilinear and inverse bilinear a-transformation
with pre-warping frequency.
Fig. 2. Moving an analog Butterworth low pass prototype filter from the s-
domain into the z-domain by pre-warping parameter c.
III. DIGITAL BUTTERWORTH LOW PASS FILTER
The pole zk of the digital Butterworth low pass filter can be
Bilinear z-transformation with pre-warping frequency is found by dividing Nk(s) by Dk(s) at a value of k. The pole zk
used to transform an analog low pass prototype filter with a can be a real or a complex number and can be described as
coefficient transfer function H(s) into a coefficient transfer belowin coordinator form in (8) and in polar form in (9):
function H(z) of a digital low pass filter at a cut-off frequency cos c sin k sin c
zk i
fc with a sampling frequency fs, by replacing s with a function 1 cos k sin c 1 cos k sin c (8)
of z as follows:
z 1 1 cos k sin c
sc . (5) z k tan 1 sin k tan c . (9)
z 1 1 cos k sin c
where c is a pre-warping parameter that can be calculated For stability reasons, the magnitude of zk must be less than
from fc and fs as follows: 1 or equal to 1, corresponding to k=0 to n1. The angle k of
f the analog Butterworth low pass prototype filter is between
c cot c ; c 2 c .
2 fs /2 and 3/2 and the value of cos(k) is less than zero, and so
the magnitude of zk is less than 1.
From (5), an inverse bilinear z-transformation with pre-
Equations (8) and (9) highlight several features of zk:
warping is found, and is used to find the pole locations of the
- The order of the digital low pass filter is the same as that of
nth-order digital Butterworth low pass filter in the next
the analog low pass prototype filter, for k=0 to 2n1; the
section: stable poles and unstable poles of the nth-order digital
cs Butterworth low pass filter are located in the z-domain as
z . (6)
cs shown in Fig. 3.
- Corresponding to k=0 to n1, there are n stable poles, which
are inside the unit circle, and another n unstable poles that are
A. Pole locations of the nth-order digital Butterworth low
outside the unit circle when k=n to 2n1.
pass filter
- The real and imaginary parts of zk are satisfied by the circle
The poles zk of a digital Butterworth low pass filter can be equation as follows:
found by substituting (1) into (6):
2
1
N s c e i k Re zk Im( zk tan c
2 2
.
cos c
zk k .
Dk s c e i k (7)
- This means that the poles are distributed on a circle with
As discussed in Section II, the poles of the analog radius R = |tan(c)| with center D (1/cos(c),0). D is on the real
Butterworth low pass prototype filter are symmetrical on both axis and is always outside the unit circle. This circle, and the
axes. From this feature, a stable pole sk e i (left half of the k unit circle at center O(0,0) in the z-domain, are orthogonal at
points A(cos(c), sin(c)) and B(cos(c), sin(c)):
unit circle) at a value of k from k=0 to n1 is able to find an
unstable pole sk e i (right half of the unit circle). From (7),
k
 DA AO DO 1
2 2 2

. g
2 2 2 n
1
DB BO DO
c cos
2
sin 2 k
2

k 0
k

- If n is an odd number:
1
g n 1
1

c 1 c cos k
2
sin 2 k
2

k 0

The analog Butterworth low pass prototype filter is known
as an all-pole filter as described in (3) and (4). The polezero
transfer function of the digital Butterworth low pass filter as
described in (10) has a term (z+1)n, which arises from the term
(z+1) in the denominator of (5). The (z+1)n terms are known
as the zeros of the digital Butterworth low pass filter, and they
are located at z=1 in the z-domain.

C. The coefficient transfer function of a digital

Fig. 3. Pole locations of the nth-order digital Butterworth low pass filter. Butterworth low pass filter.
The coefficients transfer function of the nth-order digital
- At a value of k, the pole never lies on the unit circle. The Butterworth low pass filter can be described as:
angle k = tan1(sin(k)tan(c)) of the stable pole lies in the n

interval c < k < c. If the nth order is an odd number, there a z k

k
a0 a1 z 1 an z n
H z k 0

n
b0 b1 z 1 bn z n
are two real poles on the real axis: z= (stable pole) and z=1/ b z k
k

(unstable pole), k 0

c 1 where ak and bk are the real coefficients.

where .
c 1 One way to find the coefficients ak and bk of transfer
- The poles are symmetrical with the real axis (complex function H(z) is multiply out all the factorized terms in the
conjugate pairs). denominator in (10), which is complicated due to the higher
- The original coordinates (0,0) of the unit circle, a stable pole nth order of the low pass filter.
at the value kth and an unstable pole at the value (2n1k)th lie This section will introduce a simpler way of finding the
on a straight line with the angle of k to the real axis. The coefficients using bilinear z-transformation with pre-warping
product of the amplitude values of the stable and unstable frequency.
poles is equal to 1: Substituting (5) into (4), the coefficients ak and bk can be
calculated as follows:
z k z2n1k 1.
-The line connection between a stable pole at the kth and an
n
n!
ak g k g k ! n k !
. (11)
unstable pole at (n+k)th passes through at point F(cos(c),0).
The feature poles of the nth-order digital Butterworth low bk g
k c
B T P
pass filter are analyzed. In conclusion, when using bilinear z- [Bk] is a matrix of size (1;n+1) and it contains the
transformation with pre-warping frequency to transform an coefficients in the denominator of the coefficient transfer
analog Butterworth low pass prototype filter to a digital function of an analog low pass prototype filter, which is
Butterworth low pass filter, the stable and unstable poles in described in (4).
the s-domain map respectively to the inside and outside the [Tc] is a square diagonal matrix of size (n+1;n+1):
unit circle in the z-domain. The poles of the digital 1 0 0 0 0
0 c 0 0 0
Butterworth low pass filter in the z-domain are on the circle
Tc 0 0 c2 0 0.
with radius tan(c) at center (1/cos(c), 0). The real axis in the
0 0 0 0
s-domain maps to the real axis in the z-domain and the image 0 0 0 0 n
c
axis in the s-domain maps onto the unit circle in the z-domain. One of the useful applications of the Pascals triangle is to
find the coefficients of the binomial expression, which are
B. The polezero transfer function of a digital used to find the square (n+1;n+1) matrix [P] as shown below:
Butterworth low pass filter - The first row of [P] contains the positive coefficients of the
Pascals triangle:
The polezero transfer function of the nth-order digital
n!
Butterworth low pass filter can be found by substituting (5) P 1; k 1 .
k ! n k !
into (2) and (3) as follows:
( z 1)n ( z 1)n - All of the elements in the first column P(k+1;1) are equal to 1.
H ( z ) ge n1 g n if n is even
z zk
1 - Another element in the matrix [P] can be calculated from its

2

z 2cos k zk z zk
2

k 0
2
(10) left, diagonal and above element:
k 0

H ( z ) go n(1z 1) ( z 1)n
n
g P P P P .
k 1 ; k 1 k 1 1; k 1 k 1 ; k k 1 1; k
n1
if n is odd

th th th th

z zk

2
z z 2 2cos k zk z zk
2

k 0
k 0 Equation (11) is used to generate the coefficients of the nth-
where g is a system gain. order digital Butterworth low pass filter; it is called the
- If n is an even number: analog Butterworth low pass to digital Butterworth low pass
Pascal matrix equation.



n n!
ak g k g k ! n k !
(14)
D. Special case when fc is one-quarter of fs

This section will analyze the effect of the cut-off frequency bk g Bk P
fc on the pole locations of the digital Butterworth low pass
filter. The coordinator form of zk in (8) shows that depending
on angle c, the poles may be located on the right or left side IV. DESIGN OF A DIGITAL BUTTERWORTH LOW PASS FILTER
of the unit circle in the z-domain.
As discussed in Section III, three parameters are needed to
f cos c 0 design a transfer function for a digital Butterworth low pass
0 fc s 0 c right hand side
4 2 sin 0 filter: the cut-off frequency fc, the sampling frequency fs, and
c
the nth-order of the filter. There are two kinds of transfer
cos c 0
fs f function: the polezero transfer function is used to determine
fc s c left hand side .
sin c 0
4 2 2 stability of the filter, and the coefficient transfer function is
In this case the cut-off frequency fc the nth-order digital used to derive the finite difference equation for the realization
Butterworth low pass filter is equal to one-quarter of the structure of the designed filter (e.g. direct form IIR digital
sampling frequency fs: filter structure). A block diagram such as that in Fig. 5

outlines the algorithm for design of an nth-order digital
Butterworth low pass filter from an analog Butterworth low
c cot 1
4
f pass prototype filter.
fc s c R tan c .
4 2
1
F ,0 F ,0
cos
c
The poles zk in (7) are described as follows:

z k i cot k . (12)
2

Fig. 5. The algorithm for designing an nth-order digital Butterworth low

pass filter from an analog Butterworth low pass prototype filter.

By way of example, the finite difference equation of a 3rd-

order digital Butterworth low pass filter with a cut-off
frequency fc=100 Hz and a sampling frequency fs=1000 Hz is
now derived. Take the transfer function H(s) of the 3rd-order
analog Butterworth low pass prototype filter as follows:
1
H s
s 3 2s 2 2s 1
From n=3, fc = 400 Hz, and fs=1000 Hz, we can find c, c and
k as follows:
fc 400
c 2 2 0.8 c cot c 0.3249
fs 1000 2
Fig. 4. The polezero locations of the nth-order Butterworth digital low
k 0 2 ; k k
pass filter with cut-off frequency fc equals one-quarter the sampling 2 6 3
frequency fs. 2 4
0 ; 1 ; 2
3 3
Equation (12) shows that all of the poles of the digital R tan c 0.7265
Butterworth are on the imaging axis and are symmetrical to
1
D ,0 D -1.2361,0
cos
the real axis. When n is an odd number, there is one pole .
located at the original coordinates (0,0) as shown in Fig.4. c
The polezero and coefficient transfer functions in (10) and At point A(0.8090,0.5878),
(11) can be rewritten as follows. 2 2 2
DA AO DO R 2 12 (1.2361) 2 OAD .
- The polezero transfer function: 2
z 1 At point B(0.8090,0.5878),
n
1
n n
if n is even

2 2 2
1 1
DB BO DO R2 12 (1.2361) 2 OBD .
2n sin 2 k 2 2 k
2 2

z cot 2
2
2 k 0
H z k 0
(13) Apply (9) and (10) to find the system gain g and poles zk:
z 1
n
1
if n is odd 1
n1 1 n 1
1 g 0.5276
2 k 2 k
n 1
n 2 2 2 1
2 sin 2 z z cot 2
c 1 c cos k
2
sin k
2 2
k 0 k 0
k 0
- The coefficient transfer function:
z0 0.73872.58 ; z1 0.50953.1416 ; z0 0.7387 2.58 .
|zk|<1 => all poles inside the unit circle in the z-domain
(stable), as shown in Fig. 6.

Fig. 6. The pole locations of the 3rd-order digital Butterworth low pass
filter.
Determine [Bk], [P] and [T], from H(s) => [Bk] = [1 2 2 1]:
1 0 0 0 1 3 3 1
0 ; P 1 1 1 1
T 00 0.3249
0
0
0.1056 0 1 1 1 1
0 0 0 0.0343 1 3 3 1 who would like to share his ideas on how to apply Pascals
Applying (11), we find the coefficients ak and bk:
ak 0.5276 1 3 3 1
b g B T P 1 1.7600 1.1829 0.2781
k k
The coefficient transfer function H(z) of the 3rd-order digital
Butterworth low pass filter is:
0.5276 1.5829z 1 1.5829z 2 0.5276z 3
H z
1 1.7600z 1 1.1829z 2 + 0.2781z 3
The amplitude frequency response of the 3rd-order digital
Butterworth low pass filter is described in Fig.7.
Fig. 7. The amplitude frequency response of the 3rd-order digital
Butterworth low pass filter with fc=400Hz and fs=1KHz.
The infinite difference equation is:
y( n) 0.5726 x( n) 1.5829 x( n 1) 1.5829 x( n 2) 0.5276 x( n 3)
1.76 y( n 1) 1.1829 y( n 2) 0.2781 y( n 3)
In Fig.6, there are three zeros located at z= 1. The three
stable poles are located inside, on the left side of the unit
circle and in another circle with radius R=0.7265 at the center
D(1.2361,0). Both circles are orthogonal at A and B. Fig.7
describes the amplitude frequency response of the 3rd-order
digital low pass filter with cut-off frequency fc=400Hz at
sampling frequency fs=1KHz, which satisfies |H(fc) | =
20log10(1/sqrt(2)) = 3dB .
V. CONCLUSION
This paper has discussed the transfer functions of the nth-
order digital Butterworth low pass filter, which are derived
using bilinear and inverse bilinear z-transformation when
transforming an analog low pass prototype into a digital low
pass filter. The polezero transfer function is used to
determine where the poles are distributed in the z-domain and
it also indicates the degree of stability of the filter. The
coefficient transfer function is used to generate the
coefficients of the filter and is described by a general
equation, called the analog Butterworth low pass to digital
Butterworth low pass Pascal matrix equation. Both the pole
zero and coefficient transfer functions are easy to use in hand
calculations and can be implemented by programing using
Matlab, C, C++, or assembly program languages for digital
signal processors. With the involvement of the Pascals
triangle, matrices [P] and [T] are easy to find. Given an order
n of the low pass filter, if the pre-warping parameter c is
changed, only matrix [T] is changed, which indicates that the
analog low pass to digital low pass Pascal matrix equation
might be used to design a tunable digital low pass filter.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This paper describes independent research by the author,
triangle in filter design to others with the same interests. He
would greatly appreciate all feedback from readers to
improve this research!
REFERENCES
N. S. Phuoc, Bilinear z-transformation using Pascals triangle,
[1]
International Journal of Scientific and Engineering Research, vol. 4,
pp. 19741978, 2013.
[2] S. Chivapreecha, Bilinear sz frequency transformation using matrix
Pascal operation, IEEE Communications and Information
Technology, vol. 1, pp. 764767, 2005.
[3] C. Emmanuel, B. Ifeacor, and W. Jervis, Digital Signal Processing,
Addison-Wesley, Workingham, England, 1993, ch. 7, pp. 392394.
[4] N. S. Phuoc, Frequency transformation in digital domain, presented
at the International Journal of Signal Processing System, Taiwan,
August 2324, 2015.
[5] N. S. Phuoc, Frequency transformation with Pascal matrix equation,
presented at the 18th International Conference on Communications and
Information Technology, Dubai, January 2829, 2016.
[6] C. Subhadeep, K. J. Krishana, and P. Abhiup, Design of IIR digital
high pass Butterworth using analog to digital mapping technique,
International Journal of Computer Applications, vol. 52, no. 7, pp.06-
10, August 2012.
[7] B. A. Shenoi, Introduction to Digital Signal Processing and Filter
Design, John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, New Jersey, USA, 2005, ch. 4,
pp. 212218.
Phuoc Si Nguyen earned a bachelor degree in
mathematics and physics from the University of Can
Tho, Vietnam, and experienced teaching
mathematics and physics to high school students in
his hometown . A few years later, he earned a
bachelor degree in electrical and electronic
engineering from Victoria University of Technology
in Melbourne, Australia. Because of his outstanding
achievements, he joined a research group studying
high efficiency power amplifiers for mobile communications systems, and
was also a lab
Authors assistant and tutor in the Department of Communication and
formal
Informatics,
photoVictoria University of Technology.
His interests are in the field of mathematics and signal processing
techniques. Currently, while tutoring in mathematics for high school
students, he enjoys doing independent research on how Pascal 's triangle
can be applied in the design of digital filters. This idea shows much promise
in applications in which he is absorbed, and hopes to share with those with
the same interests.