IIR-filter is a human-made digital filter type built to persist as a recursive filter class in DSP systems, characterized by an infinite-duration impulse response and presence of feedback. Parameters: (1) filter order (number of poles and zeros), (2) numerator coefficients b[n] (feedforward path), (3) denominator coefficients a[n] (feedback path), (4) topology (Direct Form I, Direct Form II, Cascade, Parallel), (5) stability margin (poles within unit circle by what radius). Unlike FIR-filters, IIR-filters achieve sharper roll-off with fewer coefficients but may introduce phase distortion and require careful stability analysis. Persistence mechanism: stored as coefficient pairs (b, a) in DSP libraries, audio processing plug-ins, and embedded firmware; persisted through filter-design toolkits (MATLAB, SciPy), standardized biquad implementations, and DSP textbook references. [formal: IIR filter | substrate: behavior | horizon: generations | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.02]
Accepted ontology entry
iir-filter
IIR-filter is a human-made digital filter type built to persist as a recursive filter class in DSP systems, characterized by an infinite-duration impulse response and presence of feedback. Parameters: (1) filter order (number of poles and…
Definition
Why it is in scope
A human-made digital filter type built to persist as a recursive filter class in DSP systems, defined by its infinite-duration impulse response and presence of feedback.
Names and aliases
- iir-filteren · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
- cmsp49ekv0413jlssad11emypINSTANCE_OF →
iir-filter (infinite impulse response filter) is a specific type of digital filter that uses feedback. A competent speaker would call it 'a filter'. Nearest kind: filter. IIR filters have feedback coefficients in addition to feedforward.
- cmsps9i0v06eejlssqrjcqyviDEPENDS_ON →
iir-filter (infinite impulse response filter) operates within signal-processing as a constitutive domain. Remove signal-processing and the iir-filter concept ceases to operate — it needs the framework to function.
Relations to this entry
- all-pass-filter← INSTANCE_OF
Pinned sense: the standard all-pass section is a specific kind of IIR filter. Its discrete-time form H(z) = (a + z^-1)/(1 + a z^-1) places a pole inside the unit circle with its zero at the reciprocal radius outside — precisely the feedback structure that gives IIR filters their infinite-duration impulse response; a nontrivial exact all-pass (unity magnitude for all frequency) cannot be realized as an FIR, only pure delays. A competent DSP speaker calls an all-pass section an IIR filter. Nearest kind on the board is iir-filter; 'filter' would leap two rungs up the ladder (Law 11e). Direction: specific all-pass -> general iir-filter, per Law 9.
- butterworth-filter← INSTANCE_OF
Pinned sense (Law 11d): the classic Butterworth design as realized recursively — the maximally-flat prototype |H(jw)|=1/sqrt(1+(w/wc)^(2N)) carried to the digital domain by bilinear transform, with poles inside the unit circle and feedback in the difference equation. That realization is a specific member of the recursive filter class: a competent speaker calls a Butterworth IIR section an IIR filter. Nearest kind (Law 11e): iir-filter — no nearer recursive-kind rung exists in the web. FIR approximations of the Butterworth magnitude are a secondary sense, not the pinned one.
- biquad-filter← INSTANCE_OF
Biquad-filter is a second-order digital filter section with feedback (denominator coefficients a1, a2 in the difference equation). Under iir-filter's accepted definition — a recursive filter class characterized by the presence of feedback and an infinite-duration impulse response — a biquad is a specific kind of iir-filter. Nearest kind: iir-filter; the broader 'filter' kind is one rung further away through the accepted iir-filter INSTANCE_OF filter edge.
Record identity
- Created
- Aug 31, 2026, 3:05 AM UTC
- Content hash
- 033c9892ecab4f7a1f67e15c25aa09dd366940eef5699a9c48cb3d4d9495569b