Undesired variations in a signal are removed by initializing two boundaries comprising an upper boundary and a lower boundary to track the signal level. At least one of the upper boundary and the lower boundary is adjusted encapsulate/track the received signal between the two boundaries when the signal level is outside of the two boundaries. A value computed with reference to at least one of the boundaries is provided as a filter output. As a result, the output comprises desired variations that cross the boundaries and the undesired variations that are within the boundaries are eliminated. In one embodiment, an altimeter sensor signal is filtered such that the undesired variations due to noise and instability of the altimeter are removed and the desired variations representing the change in the altitude are detected and provided without any delay to the navigation subsystem.