Programmable Decimation Filtering for Multi-Bandwidth Channels
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing decimation filters have limited configuration, making them ineffective in filtering multiple channels with different signal bandwidths, leading to incomplete noise removal and increased complexity and cost in anti-aliasing filters.
Innovation Solution
A programmable bandwidth filter system that includes a switch, modulator, variable bandwidth filter, and control interface to adjust clock values and filter coefficients for each channel, allowing for customized filtering of multiple channels without increasing the complexity of anti-aliasing filters.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If existing decimation filters are used with fixed configuration, then device complexity is reduced, but the filter cannot effectively handle multiple channels with different bandwidths, leading to incomplete noise removal
Solution Approach 1:
The decimation filter is transformed from a fixed configuration to a dynamic, reconfigurable system. The filter coefficients and bandwidth are programmatically adjusted based on the specific channel being processed, allowing the same filter hardware to adapt to different bandwidth requirements of multiple channels without requiring separate fixed filters for each channel.
Solution Approach 2:
The filter's key parameters (bandwidth and coefficients) are made variable rather than fixed. By changing these parameters programmatically depending on which channel is currently being processed, the filter can optimally remove noise from each channel while using the same physical filter component, thereby reducing overall device complexity.
2Reliability
If multiple fixed decimation filters are used for different channels, then each channel can be filtered effectively, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
A single decimation filter is designed to perform multiple functions by serving different channels with different bandwidth requirements. The filter is made universal through reconfigurability, allowing it to replace multiple dedicated fixed filters, thereby reducing the total number of components while maintaining effective noise filtering for each channel.
Solution Approach 2:
The filter dynamically switches between different configuration states corresponding to different channels. This dynamic reconfiguration allows one filter component to replace what would traditionally require multiple static filter components, reducing device complexity while preserving filtering effectiveness.
3Reliability
If anti-aliasing filters are made more complex to handle multiple channels, then filtering performance improves, but cost and device complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces complex hardware-based anti-aliasing filter designs with a programmable digital filtering approach. Instead of using multiple complex analog anti-aliasing filters, a single reconfigurable decimation filter performs the anti-aliasing function through software-controlled parameter adjustment, reducing hardware complexity and cost.
Solution Approach 2:
The anti-aliasing filter's characteristics are controlled through programmable parameter changes rather than fixed hardware design. This allows the same physical filter to provide different anti-aliasing characteristics for different channels, eliminating the need for multiple complex analog filters and reducing overall system complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
Certain embodiments herein describe filtering signals or channels using a programmable bandwidth filter. Each channel may be filtered according to a different bandwidth such that noise may be removed from each channel without the need to increase the complexity of an anti-aliasing filter, for example. In one embodiment, the programmable filter may be a decimation filter that may be coupled to a delta sigma modulator, which may sample an analog channel according to a programmable sampling rate to generate a digital representation of the analog channel. In one embodiment, multiple analog channels may be multiplexed and subsequently sampled and filtered by the delta sigma modulator and decimation filter, respectively. According to various embodiments, the above processing may be performed by an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a microcontroller, or a computing device including one or more software programs and/or modules.