Everything You Need to Know About Filters

Ensure Your Frequency-Based Product Performs at Its Highest Potential

Filters – electronic components that block unwanted frequencies – are becoming more and more important in the electronics world – and our everyday lives.

Take your home, for example. From your Wi-Fi-connected thermostat to your family’s multiple smartphones, televisions and Bluetooth devices, the frequency spectrum is more packed with signals than ever. Now, consider the number of products using the frequency spectrum in your neighborhood or your town. It’s astounding to think about how crowded this highway has become in our tech-driven world.

It becomes clear that if a product is going to successfully transmit a strong, effective signal with minimal interference, an additional electronic component is required for filtering out unwanted frequencies.

Get to Know Filters, a Solution that Positions You for Frequency Success

Adding a filter to your circuit board will eliminate the great majority of frequencies that could negatively affect your product, ensuring a powerful, uninterrupted, strong signal. Filters “filter out” undesirable bandwidths, so that your frequency has a clear channel by which to perform its functions, whether you are receiving information from a GPS satellite or sending a command from one home device to another.

Depending on your specific requirements, three types of filters are available to help your application perform well on a crowded frequency spectrum. The following filters are the best options available to engineers in today’s marketplace, particularly when working with an exceptional manufacturer:

• Monolithic crystal filters (MCFs)
• Surface acoustic wave filters (SAW filters)
• Dielectric ceramic filters (DCFs)

MCFs (quartz crystal filters) and SAW filters are excellent choices if your product demands an extremely narrow bandwidth. These filters allow your product’s signal to perform well without interferences on the frequency spectrum. DCFs are more effective at eliminating upper and lower frequencies. Additionally, DCFs are necessary for one of our world’s most significant frequency-based applications: Wi-Fi.

DCF Filters: Your Choice for Effective Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E Signals

Many applications today require a frequency solution to connect and receive information from the Internet or to connect Wi-Fi-enabled devices to each other. However, since so many frequencies are traveling along our frequency spectrum, it is essential that your application can leap onto a broad, clean, available frequency bandwidth while eliminating any noise and traffic.

After all, our Internet of Things (IoT) devices are meant to bring convenience and connectivity to our personal and business lives, and their presence is only growing. The data on the prevalence of WiFi-enabled devices from IoT Analytics is stunning. Their May 2023 update calculates that there are 16.7 billion active Internet of Things devices across the globe.

Fortunately, today’s devices have the opportunity to experience Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E, which allow your application to expand to a larger bandwidth for more capacity, speed and minimal frequency interference. To ensure your product can take advantage of these bandwidths, it is important to have the right filter to block out any frequencies that prevent the application from its best performance.

An ingenious solution, DCF filters do the heavy lifting to eliminate unnecessary frequencies. For more information on DCF filters and Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E, this white paper provides an in-depth look at how one frequency solutions manufacturer strengthens Internet connectivity with its signature electronic components.

How to Acquire Filters for Applications that Require Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E Connectivity

As you prepare your Wi-Fi-enabled application, it is crucial to select a filter from a high-quality filter manufacturer, whether you need a SAW filter, crystal filter or DCF.

• Consider ordering products from a manufacturer that provides frequency solutions alongside filter products. Manufacturers with robust product lines know the frequency world because they create high-performing frequency solutions as well as the components to eliminate them when needed.
• Work with a manufacturer that has already met the design community’s demands as the Internet has evolved. Look for a manufacturer that has been in the frequency business for multiple decades. It is likely that they’ve been providing frequency solutions for many iterations of Internet-based technologies and more.
• It is also essential to have support available to you as you design your latest application. When you select the right manufacturer, you will discover that troubleshooting assistance and key resources are a part of the package. A superior manufacturer will want to see your product through and celebrate your achievements, not simply provide the materials and leave the rest to you.

Learn more about the filters that are best for Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E, so you can ensure your next frequency-based application has the right design, and you find success in a crowded field.