# Removing unwanted peaks from signal

I have a signal which looks something like:

The 12 main round peaks is what I'd like to keep. However, the peak detection algorithm I apply is picking up the in-between noisy peaks. Any strategies I could use to get rid of this noise?

I tried smoothing the signal, but the noisy peaks are still there.

Thanks

• can you put your data up ? – Spacey Jun 18 '13 at 15:58
• that's a signal or the spectrum of the signal? – endolith Jun 18 '13 at 18:46
• Firstly find the source of noise e.g. bad pcb design, power supply, emi, thermal, low quality components, etc. – user20122 Mar 19 '16 at 23:22

Maybe you could tell us more about the peak picking algorithm you are using!

Some ideas:

• Use median filtering to remove noise (rather than a linear filter).
• If you have prior knowledge of the shape of the peaks you want to detect, use a correlator (matched filter) for this shape.
• Discriminate peaks according their amplitude.
• Thank you! I ended up using a window of size n, generating a sin distribution of values and sliding those values across my signal, correlating them against my signal at each window. Works like a charm! – by0 Jun 18 '13 at 17:46