# thiran

Generate fractional delay filter based on Thiran approximation

## Syntax

``sys = thiran(tau,Ts)``

## Description

example

````sys = thiran(tau,Ts)` discretizes the continuous-time delay `tau` using a Thiran filter to approximate the fractional part of the delay. `Ts` specifies the sample time of the filter, which is returned as a discrete-time transfer function model. The Thiran fractional-delay filter has the following form:$H\left(z\right)=\frac{{a}_{N}{z}^{N}+{a}_{N-1}{z}^{N-1}+\cdots +{a}_{0}}{{a}_{0}{z}^{N}+{a}_{1}{z}^{N-1}+\cdots +{a}_{N}}.$The coefficients a0, ..., aN are given by:$\begin{array}{l}{a}_{k}={\left(-1\right)}^{k}\left(\begin{array}{c}N\\ k\end{array}\right)\prod _{i=0}^{N}\frac{D-N+i}{D-N+k+i},\text{ }\forall k:1,2,\dots ,N\\ {a}_{0}=1\end{array}$where D = τ/Ts and N = ceil(D) is the filter order. See [1].```

## Examples

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Approximate and discretize a time delay of 2.4 s with a sample time of 1 s.

`sys = thiran(2.4,1)`
```sys = 0.004159 z^3 - 0.04813 z^2 + 0.5294 z + 1 ----------------------------------------- z^3 + 0.5294 z^2 - 0.04813 z + 0.004159 Sample time: 1 seconds Discrete-time transfer function. ```

The time delay is not an integer multiple of the sample time. Therefore, the approximation `sys` is a discrete-time transfer function of order 3.

Discretize a time delay of 2.5 s with a sample time of 0.5 s.

`sys = thiran(2.5,0.5)`
```sys = 1 --- z^5 Sample time: 0.5 seconds Discrete-time transfer function. ```

Here, the time delay is an exactly five times the target sample time. Therefore, `sys` is a pure discrete delay of order 5.

## Input Arguments

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Time delay to discretize, specified as a positive scalar value. `thiran` assumes that `tau` is in seconds.

Sample time of discretized approximation of time delay, specified as a positive scalar value. `thiran` assumes that `Ts` is in seconds.

## Output Arguments

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Discretized approximation of time delay, returned as a discrete-time transfer function (`tf`) model with sample time `Ts`.

• If `tau` is an integer multiple of `Ts`, then `sys` represents the pure discrete delay zN, with N = `tau/Ts`.

• Otherwise, `sys` is a discrete-time, all-pass, infinite impulse response (IIR) filter of order `ceil(tau/Ts)`.

The filter is a discrete-time, all-pass, infinite impulse response (IIR) filter of order `ceil(tau/Ts)`. The unit `sys.TimeUnit` is `'seconds'`.

## Tips

• `thiran` approximates and discretizes a pure time delay. To approximate a pure continuous-time time delay without discretizing, use `pade`. To discretize continuous-time models having time delays, use `c2d`.

## References

[1] T. Laakso, V. Valimaki, “Splitting the Unit Delay”, IEEE Signal Processing Magazine, Vol. 13, No. 1, p.30-60, 1996.

## Version History

Introduced in R2010a