A Method for Designing Low-Pass FIR Digital Filters

A class of finite-impulse-response (FIR) digital filters has been developed to perform certain frequency-limiting, decimation, and differentiation (with respect to time) functions on a time series of data samples. The method is implemented by use of design equations that contain parameters that can be adjusted to obtain the desired functionality while limiting such undesired effects as aliasing and gain ripple. The original application is processing of a time series of raw range data from the proposed Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), in which microwave phase tracking between two small spacecraft orbiting the Earth would yield the time-tagged raw range data, which would be processed to extract information on the structure of the gravitational field of the Earth. The method is general enough to be applicable in other situations that involve similar signal-processing requirements.