FIR Filters for Technologists, Scientists, and Other Non-PhDs

The digital filter used most often in digital signal processing (DSP) is the Finite Impulse Response (FIR) filter because it is the easiest to design and it is always stable. An interesting demonstration of the design and implementation of a FIR filter can be shown using MATLAB. The Remez function in MATLAB can be used to generate the filter coefficients for the lowpass, highpass, bandpass, or bandstop filter. MATLAB can be used to generate a set of sinusoidal signals that can be observed in the time domain and frequency domain. The appropriate filter can be applied to pass or block one or all the signals. In addition, MATLAB provides a graphic user interface tool, the Filter Design and Analysis Tool (fdatool), that can be used to generate the filter coefficients. Regardless of the method, the design and implementation of a FIR filter is shown to be straightforward