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Sensitivity of 0.1; ωo of Tow-Thomas LPF

Short answer

A sensitivity of 0.1 means a 1% increase in x causes only a 0.1% increase in y, indicating insensitivity suitable for wide-tolerance components. For the Tow-Thomas ωo, sensitivities are -1/2 for R1, R4, C1, C2 and 0 for R2, R3, and inverter resistors.

What information do you get when the sensitivity of y with respect to x is 0.1? Perform sensitivity analysis for center frequency ωo of Tow Thomas low pass filter with respect to all the resistors and capacitors present in the circuit.

Meaning of Sxy=0.1S^y_x = 0.1

Δyy≈0.1Δxx\frac{\Delta y}{y} \approx 0.1\frac{\Delta x}{x}

A 1% increase in xx causes only about a 0.1% increase in yy. yy is insensitive to xx, so a cheap, wide-tolerance component can be used for xx. This is a desirable property.

Sensitivity of ωo\omega_o of the Tow-Thomas low-pass filter

Tow-Thomas low-pass biquad: OA1 is a lossy integrator (R2∥C1R_2 \parallel C_1 in feedback, inputs VinV_{in} through R3R_3 and V3V_3 through R1R_1), OA2 is an integrator (R4R_4, C2C_2), and OA3 is a unity-gain inverter (V3=−V2V_3 = -V_2) built with two equal resistors rr (the gain stays −1-1 when both change together).

        +------R2------+
        +------||------+
        |      C1      |        +--||--+
Vin-R3--+--|-\         |        |  C2  |
        |  |  >--------+--R4----+-|-\  |
        |  +|/  V1     (OA1)    | |  >-+-- V2 (LP)
        | GND                GND+|/    |
        |                     (OA2)    |
        +--R1-- V3 --[inverter -1]-----+
                         (OA3)

Node equations (ideal op-amps):

V1(1R2+sC1)=−VinR3−V3R1V2=−V1sR4C2,V3=−V2\begin{aligned} V_1\left(\frac{1}{R_2} + sC_1\right) &= -\frac{V_{in}}{R_3} - \frac{V_3}{R_1} \\ V_2 &= -\frac{V_1}{sR_4C_2}, \qquad V_3 = -V_2 \end{aligned}

Solving:

T(s)=V2Vin=1R3R4C1C2s2+sR2C1+1R1R4C1C2T(s) = \frac{V_2}{V_{in}} = \frac{\dfrac{1}{R_3R_4C_1C_2}}{s^2 + \dfrac{s}{R_2C_1} + \dfrac{1}{R_1R_4C_1C_2}}

So

ωo=1R1R4C1C2=R1−1/2R4−1/2C1−1/2C2−1/2,Q=ωoR2C1=R2C1R1R4C2\omega_o = \frac{1}{\sqrt{R_1R_4C_1C_2}} = R_1^{-1/2}R_4^{-1/2}C_1^{-1/2}C_2^{-1/2}, \qquad Q = \omega_o R_2C_1 = R_2\sqrt{\frac{C_1}{R_1R_4C_2}}

Sensitivity of ωo\omega_o: ωo=R1−1/2R4−1/2C1−1/2C2−1/2\omega_o = R_1^{-1/2}R_4^{-1/2}C_1^{-1/2}C_2^{-1/2}, so using Sxxn=nS^{x^n}_x = n:

SR1ωo=SR4ωo=SC1ωo=SC2ωo=−12,SR2ωo=SR3ωo=Srωo=0S^{\omega_o}_{R_1} = S^{\omega_o}_{R_4} = S^{\omega_o}_{C_1} = S^{\omega_o}_{C_2} = -\frac12, \qquad S^{\omega_o}_{R_2} = S^{\omega_o}_{R_3} = S^{\omega_o}_{r} = 0

Example of one step: SR1ωo=R1ωo∂ωo∂R1=R1ωo(−12ωoR1)=−12S^{\omega_o}_{R_1} = \dfrac{R_1}{\omega_o}\dfrac{\partial\omega_o}{\partial R_1} = \dfrac{R_1}{\omega_o}\left(-\dfrac{1}{2}\dfrac{\omega_o}{R_1}\right) = -\dfrac12.

Check: sum over resistors =−1= -1, sum over capacitors =−1= -1, as expected for a frequency.

ElementSωoS^{\omega_o}
R1R_1, R4R_4, C1C_1, C2C_2−1/2 each
R2R_2, R3R_3, rr0

✓ Answer checked by Claude Sonnet 5.5

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