NDLI: On Channel Modeling for Impulse-Based Communications over a Microprocessor's Power Distribution Network

Content Provider	IEEE Xplore Digital Library
Author	Thirugnanam, R. Dong Sam Ha Mak, T.M.
Copyright Year	2007
Description	Author affiliation: Virginia Tech, Blacksburg (Thirugnanam, R.; Dong Sam Ha)
Abstract	As the complexity of a modern microprocessor increases rapidly, the methods of testing/debug take up increasing silicon area and create a cumbersome routing problem. The core power distribution network (PDN) of a microprocessor supplies power to a majority of underlying circuits. In this paper, we propose to explore use of the PDN in a microprocessor as a communication channel for test/debug purposes. Although, there are some common characteristics with power line communications (PLC) over power grid in a residential network, PLC over a PDN is very different in channel characteristics, tolerance to voltage fluctuations and noise characteristics. Further, decoupling capacitors attached to the package and the PDN of a microprocessor makes the PDN a bulky low pass filter. However, it is well known that the parasitic inductance of a decoupling capacitor is more significant beyond the self resonant frequency, and our measurements on an Intel microprocessor indicates that the low pass filter becomes leaky at higher frequencies beyond 1 GHz. In this work, measurements are used to model the PDN of a microprocessor as a communication channel and estimate the path loss characteristics as well as the channel impulse response. Link budget is calculated for the proposed communication system and receiver design considerations are derived. Measurement results and power supply noise analysis indicate that the use of jitter-robust pulse shapes, spread-spectrum techniques and strong coding would be required to communicate reliably over the PDN of a microprocessor.
Starting Page	355
Ending Page	359
File Size	148217
Page Count	5
File Format	PDF
ISBN	1424410894
DOI	10.1109/ISPLC.2007.371150
Language	English
Publisher	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
Publisher Date	2007-03-26
Publisher Place	Italy
Access Restriction	Subscribed
Rights Holder	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
Subject Keyword	Power systems Microprocessors Circuit testing Communication channels Programmable control Capacitors Low pass filters Pulse measurements Shape measurement Pulsed power supplies Power distribution network Microprocessor Power line communication DFT
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article

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