Polymorphic FIR Filters with Backup Mode Enabling Power Savings

A polymorphic FIR filter is proposed which can operate in two modes. The first mode is considered as a standard mode in which the filter performs a normal operation. In the second mode, the filter operates with reduced power supply voltage (Vdd), some filter coefficients are reconfigured (as response to the change of the polymorphic gates function which is controlled by Vdd) and some parts of the filter are disconnected. Experimental results indicate that while power consumption can significantly be reduced when half of the taps is suspended the filter is still able to achieve a reasonable quality of filtering.