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J
Karunya University
Please tell me, Why the cutoff frequency is taken for 3dB and not other values like
1 or 2 db?
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Electrical Engineering
Feb 7, 2012
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Hussein ALameri
University of Baghdad
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http://www.researchgate.net/post/Please_tell_me_Why_the_cutoff_frequency_is_taken_for_3dB_and_not_other_values_like_1_or_2_db[13/04/2015 17:13:06]
Please tell me, Why the cutoff frequency is taken for 3dB and not other values like 1 or 2 db?
A. W. Krieger
University of Alberta
3db is the power level, its the frequency at which the power is at 3db
below the maximum value and 3db means in normal unit its half the
http://www.researchgate.net/post/Please_tell_me_Why_the_cutoff_frequency_is_taken_for_3dB_and_not_other_values_like_1_or_2_db[13/04/2015 17:13:06]
Please tell me, Why the cutoff frequency is taken for 3dB and not other values like 1 or 2 db?
Feb 7, 2012
Brian Conley
So half the power would be half of the squared voltage or the voltage
divided by the square root of 2 (1/sqrt(2)) or 0.707.
Feb 9, 2012
Suresh Susurla
Feb 9, 2012
-3dB means that only half of the signal's power is attenuated by the filter.
http://www.researchgate.net/post/Please_tell_me_Why_the_cutoff_frequency_is_taken_for_3dB_and_not_other_values_like_1_or_2_db[13/04/2015 17:13:06]
Please tell me, Why the cutoff frequency is taken for 3dB and not other values like 1 or 2 db?
Brian Conley
Mar 9, 2012
Stephen Hall
University of Liverpool
This seems a very inefficient way of finding out very basic knowledge.
Shailesh Kumar
Arivu Che
http://www.researchgate.net/post/Please_tell_me_Why_the_cutoff_frequency_is_taken_for_3dB_and_not_other_values_like_1_or_2_db[13/04/2015 17:13:06]
Please tell me, Why the cutoff frequency is taken for 3dB and not other values like 1 or 2 db?
Stiefvater Consultants
Apr 2, 2012
Jagadish Kadadevarmath
Apr 3, 2012
Kurt Lathrop
It's not really arbitrary. It's because decibels are logarithmic, and the log
(base 10) of 3 is about 50% power. So the 3 decibel cutoff is where
power drops off by a half.
Apr 6, 2012
Kala Batti
3 dB implies 1/2 the power and since the power is proportional to the
square of voltage, the voltage will be 0,707 of the pass band voltage.
Apr 7, 2012
A. W. Krieger
University of Alberta
http://www.researchgate.net/post/Please_tell_me_Why_the_cutoff_frequency_is_taken_for_3dB_and_not_other_values_like_1_or_2_db[13/04/2015 17:13:06]
Please tell me, Why the cutoff frequency is taken for 3dB and not other values like 1 or 2 db?
Stephen Hall
University of Liverpool
Arivu Che
Please tell me, Why the cutoff frequency is taken for 3dB and not other values like 1 or 2 db?
gain=20 log(V0/Vin)
vo/vin=0.707
Hussein ALameri
University of Baghdad
Daoud Berkani
Aug 9, 2012
Peeyush Garg
Manipal University
Dear,
In case of low pass filter, design using an Op-Amp and RC circuit and
relation b/w gain(Vo/Vin) and input signal frequency (f) is like that:
Please tell me, Why the cutoff frequency is taken for 3dB and not other values like 1 or 2 db?
Thats why we can easily say that when difference b/w the 20log |V0/Vin|
and 20log(Af) is -3, the frequency is known as cut off frequency, that can
be easily varied using R and C (Resistance and capacitance ). In another
word, to find out cut off frequency you can directly use 3db gain point at
frequency response.
I think it help you to understand the -3 dB point. And Why the cutoff
frequency is taken for 3dB and not other values like 1 or 2 db.
Nov 6, 2012
Peeyush Garg
Manipal University
Well, one more interested thing about it when you linearised the
frequency response, then you can see that the extreme point for line is
also find at - 3 db, that is clear in attached file. After linearization the plot
become piece wise linear. Please see in attached file that is frequency
response of low pass filter.
Nov 6, 2012
Jose-Ignacio Izpura
Please tell me, Why the cutoff frequency is taken for 3dB and not other values like 1 or 2 db?
you might want to know a more Physical reason for your question. If this
is the case, think about a simple capacitor (a Resistance-Capacitance
parallel circuit, capacitors without a shunting resistance R do not exist at
temperatures over T=0 K) and put some electrical energy on it, thus a
voltage V at time t=0. If you measure the time evolution of this voltage
you will find that it decays exponentially with time. This means that the
voltage reduction at each instant of time is proportional to the voltage
existing at such instant. To say it bluntly: the voltage V has a lifetime that
is the time constant Tau=RC (in seconds) of this parallel circuit whose
stored energy is defined by its voltage.
The inverse of this lifetime gives an angular frequency (in rad/s) that is
w=1/(RC), which in turn defines a frequency fc=w/(2Pi). The meaning of
this fc is that the synthesis of a sinusoidal voltage of this frequency in the
capacitor requires the same amplitude A of current through C (thus in
quadrature with the synthesized voltage) than the amplitude of current
through R (thus in-phase with the synthesized voltage). This means that
the aforesaid synthesis of sinusoidal voltage in this Two-Terminal Device
(2TD) takes an amount of reactive power linked with C that is equal to the
active power linked with R.
Therefore, the total power entering the above 2TD (no matter if it is a
capacitor or a resistor, both share the same R-C circuit) is 50% reactive
power responsible for Fluctuation of energy in the 2TD and 50% active
power responsible for Dissipation (actually Conversion into heat in this
example) in the 2TD. Scientists speaking about electrical noise should
handle in this way the Fluctuation-Dissipation Theorem derived from
Callen & Welton pioneering work (1951).. Anyway, this gives you the
physical reason why you observe 50% power at fc if you measure voltage
on the C of the low-pass, first order R-C filter or if you measure voltage
on the R of the high-pass, first order R-C filter both driven by an input
voltage generator Vg.
To say it bluntly: when you are measuring any of the above two filters
driven by the input generator Vg, you actually are measuring the voltage
http://www.researchgate.net/post/Please_tell_me_Why_the_cutoff_frequency_is_taken_for_3dB_and_not_other_values_like_1_or_2_db[13/04/2015 17:13:06]
Please tell me, Why the cutoff frequency is taken for 3dB and not other values like 1 or 2 db?
Neuralynx
Please see Hussein ALameri's answer. While all these posts are good
and interesting, I think your question was more basic. Its simply the 1/2
power bandwidth.
Mr. Hussein ALameri and Arivu Che has put the things more simply and
in an abstract way... As an example, suppose we are hearing a sound (a
musical show), the changes in the sound can be detected by our ear
when its loudness has reduced by .707 times the peak value... that is
when it is below .707 the peak value, its difference is felt more and is
more obvious.
http://www.researchgate.net/post/Please_tell_me_Why_the_cutoff_frequency_is_taken_for_3dB_and_not_other_values_like_1_or_2_db[13/04/2015 17:13:06]
Please tell me, Why the cutoff frequency is taken for 3dB and not other values like 1 or 2 db?
T.J. Moir
Daoud Berkani
Too many time is spent for this simple question. Very interesting has
been given. I suggest to to close our discussion.
Devkinandan Chaurasiya
human ear can not distinguish maximum and 3dB frequency level. 3 dB is
maximum permitted level.
another reason :
ResearchGate
http://www.researchgate.net/post/Please_tell_me_Why_the_cutoff_frequency_is_taken_for_3dB_and_not_other_values_like_1_or_2_db[13/04/2015 17:13:06]
Please tell me, Why the cutoff frequency is taken for 3dB and not other values like 1 or 2 db?
As you may know, P=V^2/R or I^2R (where P stands for power, V for
voltage, I for current and R for resistance)
Hence, when the value for the voltage (or current) reaches 0,707Vmax
(0,707Imax), the power will be 0,5Pmax [since sqrt(0,5)^2 = 0,5].
The points where a filter attenuates the power of a signal to the half of its
maximum are considered the frequency limits. Any signal with a
frequency smaller than the lower limit and bigger than the upper limit will
be attenuated, at least, by 2.
And since those frequency limits are taken as the borders for the
bandwidth of a filter, the cutoff frequencies result to be those where the
power is 3dB lower than on the maximum. (Remember that P(dB) = 10
log(P))
And why 0,5? Well I think that 0,5Pmax is a reasonable cutoff value, isn't
it? ;)
Feb 8, 2013
Feb 9, 2013
Colin McAndrew
I often find there is a simpler way to think about it. The input impedance
of a parallel RC circuit is (w=omega, the angular frequency)
http://www.researchgate.net/post/Please_tell_me_Why_the_cutoff_frequency_is_taken_for_3dB_and_not_other_values_like_1_or_2_db[13/04/2015 17:13:06]
Please tell me, Why the cutoff frequency is taken for 3dB and not other values like 1 or 2 db?
Z=R/(1+j*w*R*C)
and it is true, as Moir notes, that the cutoff frequency fc is where the two
asymptotes |R| (w->0) and |1/(j*w*C)| (1->inf) meet on a Bode plot.
However, also at that point the real and imaginary parts of the
denominator are equal. The magnitude of the denominator is then sqrt(2)
of its value at low frequency, so it is clear where that factor comes from
(or the factor 2 when squared for power).
The advantage of thinking about it this way is that you can determine fc
from low frequency simulation and do not have to have any a priori
knowledge of fc to know what range of frequencies to simulate over to
properly bracket it. If you run a small-signal ac simulation with voltage
stimulus V=1+j*0 at a frequency f=1, so w=2*Pi, then the real part of the
current I is 1/R and the imaginary part is 2*Pi*C, then
fc=Re(I)/Im(I).
You cannot easily measure at this low frequency, and if there is any
nonlinearity then a 1V signal will introduce distortion, but in a simulator an
ac analysis is done on the circuit linearized at its dc operating point and
you can easily simulate at any frequency, so it works like a charm.
Hochschule Bremen
Thus, the 3dB limit is not a "natural" threshold - it just makes sense for
many applications.
http://www.researchgate.net/post/Please_tell_me_Why_the_cutoff_frequency_is_taken_for_3dB_and_not_other_values_like_1_or_2_db[13/04/2015 17:13:06]
Please tell me, Why the cutoff frequency is taken for 3dB and not other values like 1 or 2 db?
The 3dB point corresponds to half Power Point ie. Half the Power
Supplied which is the Maximum Power that can be supplied to the Load
according to Maximum Power Transfer Theorem.
Dr.P.S.
Abdelhalim Zekry
COMMENT!
From my point of view the voting system is not a sufficient measure for
answers evaluation. Some better answers collected less votes!
Mar 6, 2013
Hochschule Bremen
Mar 6, 2013
Abdelhalim Zekry
Mar 6, 2013
http://www.researchgate.net/post/Please_tell_me_Why_the_cutoff_frequency_is_taken_for_3dB_and_not_other_values_like_1_or_2_db[13/04/2015 17:13:06]
Please tell me, Why the cutoff frequency is taken for 3dB and not other values like 1 or 2 db?
Thank you Prof. Lutz for providing info on the relevance of 3 dB cutoff
points regarding some other filters like Chebishev, Butterworth Filters etc.
Dr.P.S.
Mar 7, 2013
Hitesh Shukla
Else what so ever other members say is correct. and dont forget it is for
power in a signal with respect to a known power.
Karunya University
Thank you.. very kind of you for the answer.. i didnt turn up to research
gate so long.. Sorry for replying late sir.
http://www.researchgate.net/post/Please_tell_me_Why_the_cutoff_frequency_is_taken_for_3dB_and_not_other_values_like_1_or_2_db[13/04/2015 17:13:06]
Please tell me, Why the cutoff frequency is taken for 3dB and not other values like 1 or 2 db?
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http://www.researchgate.net/post/Please_tell_me_Why_the_cutoff_frequency_is_taken_for_3dB_and_not_other_values_like_1_or_2_db[13/04/2015 17:13:06]