Two-Rate Based Low-Complexity Variable Fractional-Delay FIR Filter Structures

This paper considers two-rate based structures for variable fractional-delay (VFD) finite-length impulse response (FIR) filters. They are single-rate structures but derived through a two-rate approach. The basic structure considered hitherto utilizes a regular half-band (HB) linear-phase filter and the Farrow structure with linear-phase subfilters. Especially for wide-band specifications, this structure is computationally efficient because most of the overall arithmetic complexity is due to the HB filter which is common to all Farrow-structure subfilters. This paper extends and generalizes existing results. Firstly, frequency-response masking (FRM) HB filters are utilized which offer further complexity reductions. Secondly, both linear-phase and low-delay subfilters are treated and combined which offers trade-offs between the complexity, delay, and magnitude response overshoot which is typical for low-delay filters. Thirdly, the HB filter is replaced by a general filter which enables additional frequency-response constraints in the upper frequency band which normally is treated as a don´t-care band. Wide-band design examples (90, 95, and 98% of the Nyquist band) reveal arithmetic complexity savings between some 20 and 85% compared with other structures, including infinite-length impulse response structures. Hence, the VFD filter structures proposed in this paper exhibit the lowest arithmetic complexity among all hitherto published VFD filter structures.