Digital filter synthesis based on minimal signed digit representation

As the complexity of digital filters is dominated by the number of multiplications, many works have focused on minimizing the complexity of multiplier blocks that compute the constant coefficient multiplications required in filters. The complexity of multiplier blocks can be significantly reduced by using an efficient number system. Although the canonical signed digit representation is commonly used as it guarantees the minimal number of additions for a constant multiplication, we propose in this paper a digital filter synthesis algorithm that is based on the minimal signed digit (MSD) representation. The MSD representation is attractive because it provides a number of forms that have the minimal number of non-zero digits for a constant. This redundancy can lead to efficient filters if a proper MSD representation is selected for each constant. In experimental results, the proposed algorithm resulted in superior filters to those generated from the CSD representation.