April 28, 2008 — Quickfilter Technologies, Inc. has released version 2.20 of its QuickfilterPro software. The software, a companion product to the company’s QF1D512 simple and versatile finite impulse response engine (SavFIRe) programmable digital filter microchip, is designed to help MEMS/microsystems designers quickly and easily add precision filtering to their applications; you can see product and application demos on the company’s website. The chip can be inserted between an existing analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and the host controller (microcontroller, microprocessor, digital signal processor, or field programmable gate array) — or it can be connected as a co-processor device for controllers with embedded ADCs.
Quickfilter Technologies says that its products enable you to create and begin operating a custom four-channel analog front end, digital converter and multi-stage digital filter in less than five minutes. The company’s patent-pending techniques help engineers design custom circuits for signal processing without the cost and complexity of programming a DSP. Quickfilter’s products are targeted for sensors in industrial monitoring and control, medical equipment, homeland security, and engine control applications.
QuickfilterPro 2.20 boasts an enhanced user interface, several new filter types including a dual-filter crossover and single-filter dual-source equalizer, a free-form filter drawing tool, and the ability to create inverse transfer functions with one button click. The updated software promises significant value, especially in the area of filter design for audio applications, e.g., MEMS microphones. It includes enhanced capability to quickly build equalization filters using speaker frequency response data imported from test equipment. It also includes the ability to build two-way audio crossovers in less than a minute.
“Version 2.20 of the QuickfilterPro software continues the company’s trend toward providing system designers with a tool that allows them to quickly and easily design complex filters, thereby improving designer productivity and reducing time-to-market. The combination of the industry-leading QF1D512 SavFIRe device with the Version 2.20 software now provides the designer with a cost-effective and time-sensitive solution to complex filtering problems,” said Tony Valentino, Quickfilter Technologies’ chief operating officer.
Originally announced in September 2006, the QF1D512 SavFIRe programmable digital filter and QuickfilterPro Software was designed to allow systems designers to quickly and easily add precision digital filtering to an application. You can download QuickfilterPro 2.20 from the Quickfilter Technologies website.
The Quickfilter solution comprises more than a dozen individual component functions, both analog and digital, into a single integrated circuit (IC) that is programmable using Quickfilter software. This enables customers to rapidly complete a design at significantly lower cost and higher performance. In addition, the IC can be reprogrammed in circuit during design, at the time of shipment or in the field.