Second Order Active Filters

2nd order active filtering has two main advantages:

• High impedance input, low impedance output
• greater attenuation at high range (-40dB/decade as opposed to -20dB/decade for RC filter)

The high impedance provided by an op amp circuit protects the instrument providing the signal from passing excessive current which could cause a voltage drop in the measurement signal or damage to the instrument itself.

Because the filter is second order, the rolloff before/after the cutoff frequency or frequencies on a bode plot is -40 dB/decade as opposed to -20 dB/decade for a first order (RC) filter which means significantly greater attenuation outside the pass band and a sharper cutoff. This can be very useful if the noise frequency is close to the desired signal frequency.

The transfer function