A simple fixed-lag algorithm for tracking frequency rate-of-change

A family of simple fixed-lag frequency smoothing algorithms which provide good estimates of both frequency and frequency rate-of-change is reported. The smoothers were developed from a fixed-gain αβ tracker by replacing the recursive derivative estimator with a finite-impulse-response (FIR) differentiator. Simulation results are presented which show that the smoothing algorithms provide frequency estimates with a similar variance to those produced by the αβ filter but with greatly improved frequency-rate estimates. The smoothing algorithms and the αβ filter are also compared on the basis of the bias and delay introduced in the frequency-rate estimates. Although the results presented are for frequency estimation, the smoothing algorithms can be used in any single-input tracking application where some lag in the estimates is allowable