Backplane
Simulation, Part I
Simulation is increasingly becoming a critical factor in high-performance
backplane design. New fabric backplanes are being used at speeds
of up to 3.125 Gbps per port or higher, for a fabric channel bandwidth
of 10 Gbps. Backplane designers will increasingly use simulation
as part of their design for both standard products and custom
designs.
The three
main drivers for advanced simulation are:
1. Semiconductor
advances will not let us rest. Many experts now believe that
single path copper interconnect speeds on backplanes will explode
from 3.0 Gbps today to more than 10 Gbps within the next two
years. New tools will be required to guide these designs and
help make crucial decisions regarding materials, connectors
and trace layout.
2. Customers
who are designing these high performance systems understand
the critical role that the backplane occupies in their systems.
As a backplane vendor we must be able to provide information
that will demonstrate our expertise. The customer must view
Bustronic as a technical partner capable of resolving any potential
signal integrity challenges.
3. In a
system consisting of a backplane and multiple plug-in boards,
it is often difficult to identify the source of a problem. "Is
it the backplane, the power supply, one of the cards or some
other incompatibility?" These questions have always been
a challenge to resolve and always take critical internal engineering
resources even when the backplane is ultimately found not to
be the problem. Accurate interconnect models of the backplane
under examination allow the engineers to quickly demonstrate
that the interconnect path is not the cause of the problem.
Bustronic
is dedicated to providing our customers with the highest quality
and performance backplanes available. Therefore, we have developed
our Signal Integrity Initiative (SII) to continuously enhance
our backplane measurement and characterization program. We've
long simulated our products with SPICE models. Today, we are
moving step-by-step to advanced simulation and characterization
models that can more accurately represent the exact behavior
of the interconnect path. These models are increasingly being
requested by SI engineers responsible for leading edge system
design. In the coming months, Bustronic will make provide new
simulation data on AdvancedTCA backplanes. To see some of our
previous preliminary findings, visit http://www.nextgenbackplanes.com/ATCAarticle1.htm#ATCA_articles
As part
of our SII program, Bustronic has hired Mahamud (Misty) Khandokar
as a Signal Integrity Engineer. Her duties include spearheading
the continuous advancement of our SI Lab.
For more
information on simulation, contact our Technical Product Specialist,
Michael Munroe at 804-751-0254 or mmunroe@bustronic.com.
Michael
Munroe
Technical Product Specialist
Bustronic
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