A radio frequency filter includes a substrate, first and second dielectric layers formed on first and second portions of the substrate, a ground plane formed on a third portion of said substrate, a carbon nanotube array, and first and second electrodes. The tubing may feature a formable outer section, and the expansion of the tubing may be achieved using a compliant rotary expander. Forward error correction comprising Turbo coding and puncturing achieves a smooth functional relationship between any measure of performance and the effective coding rate resulting from combining the lower rate code generated by the Turbo encoder with puncturing of the parity bits.