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1 - Top 5 Engineering Essentials Vol. II
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EngineeringEssentials
POWER
SOLAR
SAM DAVIS | CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
samdavis2@earthlink.net
WARMS TO DISTRIBUTED PV SYSTEMS
The dominating realm of U.S. electric utilities as the source of power generation is slowly ebbing away to individually owned, widely distributed photovoltaic power systems, forcing utilities to rethink their modes of operation.
esidential photovoltaic (PV) power systems convert sunlight into electricity for use in the home. The residence remains connected to the electric utility at all times. Therefore, if power demand exceeds what the PV system can produce, its simply drawn from the utility. Increased use of these PV systems, distributed throughout the utilitys operating area, will ultimately affect the utility. Though they lighten the utilitys load, distributed installations must be monitored to ensure that they dont degrade utility power quality (see SEGIS Pushes Photovoltaics Into The Grid, p. 58). During a utility outage, an advanced PV system with a backup battery can provide the required power (Fig. 1). The PV array supplies dc to trickle charge the backup battery as well as drive the dc-ac inverter that supplies ac for the residence. During the night and at times when theres insufficient sunlight, the home relies on the utilitys power. PV systems without a backup battery remain powerless during a utility outage. A battery-backup system can keep critical-load circuits in the house operating during a utility outage. When an outage occurs, the PV system disconnects from the utility and uses the battery and inverter to power the homes critical loads.
engineeringessentials
Critical loads Criticalload subpanel PV array Main service panel
MPPT control Battery controller
DC-AC inverter
Electric utility
Battery
1. The PV array supplies dc (via an MPPT circuit) to the inverter and trickle-charges the backup battery. When the power generated by the arrays exceeds that required by the critical loads, the inverter supplies ac power to the utility grid. If a utility outage occurs, the backup battery powers the inverter to maintain the local ac output for the system. Deep-cycle lead-acid batteries are best for PV systems because they may be repeatedly discharged by as much as 80% of their capacity.
The inverter ties the generated ac into the utility grid for typical grid-tied residential applications (Fig. 3). Residences and businesses with a grid-tied electrical system are usually permitted to sell their energy to the utility grid through a policy known as net metering, whereby the entity that owns the PV power source receives compensation from the utility for its net outflow of power. In the U.S., grid-interactive power systems Typical SySTem componenTS are covered by specific provisions in the National Electric To explain the complexity of distributed PV-inverter sys- Code, which also mandates certain requirements for gridtems, its best to start with the components. First, the PV interactive inverters. array employs multiple cells that produce dc power when Inverters take the dc power from the PV modules (typically subjected to solar radiation (Fig. 2). Today, these photovolta- 250 to 600 V dc) and invert it to ac so it can be fed into the grid. ics include monocrystalline silicon, polycrystalline silicon, The inverter must also synchronize its frequency with that of amorphous silicon, cadmium telluride, and copper indium the grid (e.g., 60 Hz) using a local oscillator and limit the voltselenide/sulfide. age to no higher than the grid voltage. Because PV arrays require protection from the environSince typical inverters have a fixed unity power factor, their ment, theyre usually laminated behind a glass sheet. PV cells output voltage and current are in phase. In addition, the phase angle is within 1 of the ac power grid. The inverter usually has an 2. Solar-panel arrays can be found mounted on on-board computer that senses the roofs of residences and other structures. the ac grid waveform and outputs a voltage synchronized with the grid. Grid-tie inverters use a number of different technologies, from the newer high-frequency transformers to conventional low-frequency transformers, to convert dc directly to 120 or 240 V ac. Most of these electrical systems feed into the public utility grid, which
These critical-load circuits are wired from a subpanel separate from the rest of the electrical circuits. If the outage occurs during daylight hours, the PV array assists the battery in supplying the house loads. If the outage occurs at night, the battery and inverter supply the load. The amount of time critical loads can operate depends on how much power they consume and the energy stored in the battery system. A typical backup-battery system may provide about 8 kWh with an eight-hour discharge rate. Therefore, it can handle a 1-kW load for eight hours. Average usage for a home, when running lights, TV, and a refrigerator, is 1 kW.
are electrically connected together to form PV modules, or solar panels. Under ideal conditions, all solar cells are equally irradiated and work at the same current. However, some cells may occasionally be partially shaded. These shaded cells limit the current generated from other fully irradiated cells. In extreme cases, current flow may be blocked because the cells are completely obscured. The shaded cells then behave like a load. The current generated from the fully irradiated cells produces overvoltages that can reach a panels breakdown threshold. These hotspots can cause shaded cells to overheat and, in some cases, permanently damage them due to current leakage. Bypass diodes connected in parallel with the string of cells prevent these hotspots. To this end, STMicroelectronics developed the SPV1001, which has the same functionality of a bypass diode, but with improved performance. It features low forward voltage drop and low reverse leakage current. A properly controlled power MOS transistor charges a capacitor during OFF time and drives its gate during ON time with the charge previously stored in the capacitor. Properly set ON and OFF times lower the average voltage drop across the drain and source terminals, reducing power dissipation.
inverTerS
influences environmental stresses, too, and that also must be factored into any reliability analysis. The accurate prediction of solar inverters component stresses and associated wear-out mechanisms wrought by natural cycles requires a complex time-dependent modeling approach. Because temperature cycling contributes to device wear-out, simpler constant hazard rate and mean time before failure (MTBF) calculations just arent accurate enough.
IslandIng
3. A 2.5-kW model inverter, such as this one from PV Powered, is typically mounted near the homes main electrical feed.
requires a transformer for galvanic isolation between the dc and ac circuits. An optimal grid-tie inverter produces a true sine wave with very low harmonic distortion. An inverter with high harmonic distortion could impact the power quality of nearby utility loads. Residential inverters must provide dependable production of PV power, which means minimization of disruptive and costly inverter failures. Historically, though, inverters have been one of the least reliable components in solar-power generation systems because harsh environmental conditions stress electronic equipment. Most components of a solar PV power plant are directly exposed to the outside environment, subjecting them to temperature fluctuations and extremes, humidity, corrosive elements, and dust. The installations geographic location
Normally, grid-tied inverters will shut off if they dont detect the presence of the utility grid. If, however, load circuits in the electrical system happen to resonate at the frequency of the utility grid, the inverter may be fooled into thinking that the grid is still active even after shutdown. This phenomenon is called islanding. Anti-islanding protection is built into inverters designed for grid-tie operation. It will inject small pulses that are slightly out of phase with the ac electrical system to cancel any stray resonances present when the grid shuts down. Since 1999, the U.S. standard for anti-islanding protection has been UL 1741, harmonized with IEEE 1547. Any inverter thats listed to the UL 1741 standard may be connected to a utility grid without the need for additional anti-islanding equipment, anywhere in the U.S. or other countries that accept UL standards. Most inverters cant differentiate between a true utility outage (when an anti-islanding disconnect is required) and a grid disturbance or brownout situation during which the PV system could actually assist in supporting grid stability. Even for those inverters that can differentiate between these two different conditions in most situations, current regulations (IEEE 1547/UL 1741) typically require the inverter to disconnect from the grid. Finally, interactions between inverters from different manufacturers may result in false island detection and increased run-on times that compromise the safety of utility line personnel.
SEGIS PuShES PhotovoltaIcS Into thE GrId

The Solar energy Grid Integration Systems (SEGIS) concept will be key in achieving high penetration of photovoltaic (PV) systems into the utility grid. Advanced integrated inverters/controllers will be the enabling technology to maximize the benets of residential and commercial solar-energy systems, both to the systems owners and to the utility distribution network as a whole. Advanced communication interfaces and control will boost the value of the energy provided by these solar systems. Tey also will increase the reliability of electrical service, both for solar and non-solar customers. Te objective of SEGIS is to develop the technologies to increase PV penetration into the utility grid while maintaining or improving the utility grids power quality and reliability. Highly integrated, innovative, advanced inverters and associated balance-of-system (BOS) elements for residential and commercial solar-energy applications will be the key components developed in the eort. Advanced integrated inverters/controllers may incorporate energy-management functions and/or communicate with standalone energymanagement systems or utility energy portals, such as smart metering systems. Products will be developed for the utility grid of today, which was designed for one-way power ow, and for intermediate grid scenarios. Tey will also be developed for the grid of tomorrow, which will seamlessly accommodate two-way power ows as required by wide-scale deployment of solar and other distributed resources. PV Powered Inc. is leading a team selected to continue development work funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Program (SETP) and administered by Sandia National Laboratories. Focus of the eort is lowering the barriers to adoption of solar energy on the utility grids of North America. Stage 3 represents the nal stage of the competitive portion of the SEGIS program, which is directed toward commercialization of the technologies developed under previous stages.
EnErgy AvAilAblE At vArious light Conditions

Available energy
100% 71% 60% to 80% 20% to 30%
External light conditions

Full-sun panel square to the sun Full-sun panel at 45 angle to the sun light overcast heavy overcast
MaxiMuM Power Point
Most solar grid-interactive inverters include a maximum power-point tracker (MPPT). Its a high-efficiency dc-dc converter that presents an optimal electrical load to a solar panel or array and produces a voltage suitable for the load. As such, an MPPT enables the inverter to extract an optimal amount of power from the solar array by tracking the arrays maximum power point (MPP). PV cells have a single operating point where the cells current and voltage values produce a maximum power output. These values correspond to a particular load resistance. The PV cell has an exponential relationship between current and voltage (Fig. 4). The MPP occurs at the knee of the curve, where the resistance is equal to the negative of the differential resistance (V/I = dV/dI). MPPTs utilize a control circuit or logic to search for this point, allowing the converter to extract the maximum available cell power. Traditional solar inverters perform MPP tracking for an entire array as a whole. In such systems the same current, dictated by the inverter, flows though all panels in the string. However, different panels have different IV curves, i.e. different MPPs (due to manufacturing tolerance, partial shading, etc.). Thus, in this architecture, some panels will perform below their MPP, resulting in the loss of energy.
SMart inverterS
Electric utilities want to monitor and control distributed residential PV generation systems, which would require the distributed PV systems to employ smart inverters. The best
3.5 3.0 Cell current (A) 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.1 0.2 W Current (A) Maximum power point (MPP) VMPP PMPP 1.4 1.2 Cell performance (W) 1.0 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0.5 0.6 0.7
0.3 0.4 Cell voltage (V)
4. A PV cells exponential relationship between current and voltage results in the maximum power point at the knee of the current-versus-voltage curve.
and most likely management scenario for distributed generation is a corresponding distributed hierarchy. Under this hierarchy, the utility would centrally monitor and control smart inverters, either directly or via another system, such as a plant controller. Direct management is likely with individual or master/
slave configurations of commercial and residential inverters. A hierarchy of control is apt to exist with large-scale PV power generation facilities, as well as with a virtual power plant that aggregates multiple sources of distributed generation. Although still evolving, the intelligent or smart inverter could include
some of the essential requirements utilities need for exerting direct control: Automatic discovery with unique identification Power production monitoring Event data logging Time synchronization Remote on/off control Remote software updating Power-quality scheduling and control (including storage) Additional capabilities may be needed for full control over the inverter and its prominent role in monitoring and managing other system components.
Weather Conditions
Forecasting can minimize problems caused by the adverse effects of irradiance transients, which otherwise create a barrier to effective short-term and long-term planning of distributed PV system integration. Rapid changes in cloud cover can produce intense power transients that shorten switch gear life and distort power quality and stability at the host facility and in the utility grid (see the table). The transients also make it difficult to effectively match PV power generation to electrical demand. Integrating weather awareness into the inverter control system is the most promising approach toward reducing the adverse effects of cloud position, movement, and transparency. When coupled with the inverters ability to curtail output power using predefined ramping functions, it reduces duty factors on tap changers and other voltage-regulation equipment. This effect is more recognizable on feeders with higher penetrations of PV power generation. As a future metric, the inverters ability to foresee cloud transients will allow for more seamless integration of energy storage capabilities. These enhancements lay the foundation that enables inverters to produce more stable power and avoid faults that can occur during and after cloud transients.
RefeRences 1. www.pvpowered.com. 2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/solar_ inverter
Louis E. FrEnzEL | CommuniCations EDitoR
lou.frenzel@penton.com
Todays anTennas
Tune InTo The
needs of Modern WIreless devIces
Pressured by significant growth in the smartphone and tablet markets, multiband and multi-radio products and MIMO technologies are pushing antenna design in new directions.
ou cant have a radio without an antenna. These passive mechanical devices are the critical link between any two wireless devices, and the better they are, the better the communications link between them will be. As you probably know, the antenna is the transducer that converts the signals from the transmitter into the electromagnetic radio waves that propagate through the ether to the receiver. Then, the antenna converts those electromagnetic waves back into the electrical signal that carries the transmitted information. A passive metal device would seem like a simple thing to implement. However, antennas are one of the most complex technologies in wireless communications. Many engineers call antenna design black magic and more of an art than a science. In fact, its all of the above. Remember Apples problem with the iPhone 4? Designing the antenna into an external trim piece was clever and space-saving, but it created problems when it was held incorrectly and effectively shunted across the insulating slot in the trim. Calls were dropped, and service was lost. Even the new Verizon version of the iPhone 4 has this affliction. An insulated case solves the problem.
KEY ISSUES
The antenna has become more of a challenge these days because many new wireless devices have put greater demands on it and have made wireless design more complex. Antennas are essentially resonant devices designed for a narrow range of frequencies. Today, they must serve a wider range of frequencies in form factors that present serious physical challenges: Wider frequency ranges: Cell phones must cover the low bands from 698 to 960 MHz as well as the higher bands from 1701 to 2170 MHz. This is hard to do with a single antenna. Impedance matching is a chore over such a wide range, so efficiency usually suffers. Multiple antennas per device: The average smart phone has up to seven radios. Besides the multiband cellular transceivers, smart
The Powerwave Technologies MIMO Active Array Antenna is designed to replace older antennas with no larger housings yet consolidate more radio functions on the tower to save space, reduce power, and improve coverage with 2x2 MIMO in 3G or 4G technologies.
Antenna
RX
Antenna switch
Tuner
TX Power amplier
Reverse
Forward Directional coupler power measurement
1. Automatic antenna tuning with a variable impedance matching network can overcome many of the problems associated with detuning and wide frequency ranges. Feedback from the antenna via directional couplers is used in an algorithm that computes VSWR and then generates signals that vary capacitors in the impedance matching tuner to minimize the VSWR. Workable SolutionS
Baseband processor
Digitally controlled capacitors Analogto-digital converter
VSWR
With the growing market for smart phones, e-books, tablets, and other highvolume wireless devices, more antenna research and design is needed. Fortunately, some unique approaches are underway to address these problems, including two
phones include a Wi-Fi radio, Bluetooth, GPS, and possibly main solutions. FM radio. TV is coming, too. All of these antennas have to First, designers can use multiple antennas for low and high fit inside a clean physical handset or a slim tablet package, bands and/or multiple feeds on single antennas. Antenna manand they cant interfere with one another or be detuned by the ufacturers have learned to take the basic antenna designs like users hand or face. a dipole, monopole, loop, patch, and slot and modify them in New modulation demands more bandwidth: Long-Term clever ways to widen bandwidth, increase gain, and improve Evolution (LTE) and other modern wireless devices have efficiency. all adopted orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing Second, designers can use dynamic antenna tuning. This (OFDM) as the main modulation/access method. This broad- technique is not yet widely used but forthcoming as it overband scheme requires lots of bandwidth from as little as 5 comes many of the multiband and proximity problems assoMHz up to 40 MHz and beyond. The usual tradeoff is less ciated with handsets and other handheld wireless devices. efficiency for greater bandwidth, but is it worth it? Dynamic tuning employs a variable impedance matching sec MIMO on everything: The use of multiple-input multiple- tion that is tuned automatically to ensure a low voltage standoutput (MIMO) is a real breakthrough that is not only boost- ing wave ratio (VSWR) at all times (Fig. 1). ing data rates for a given bandwidth but also is making wireA power monitor circuit using directional couplers to mealess links longer and more reliable despite multipath fading sure forward and reverse power allows the VSWR to be conand other problems. The downside is that it takes multi- tinuously monitored and calculated. An impedance matching ple transceiverseach with its own antenna. Already, 2x2 network with inductors and capacitors is designed to be variMIMO is fairly common and will become more widely used able so it can be adjusted for lowest VSWR. If the frequency in the future, and 4x4 MIMO is beginning to see more usage. of operation changes or some object is brought into close MIMO means more antennas per device, so how do you get proximity to the antenna, the VSWR will change. This change more antennas into a handset or tablet? can be used to vary the values of the capacitors in the matching Lower frequencies present problems: The higher the fre- network to bring the antenna back into tune. quency, the smaller the antenna. CelThis technique is not new, as it has lular frequencies from 800 MHz up to been used for years in military radios 2.3 GHz permit very small antennas. and the RF plasma etchers used in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.4-GHz antennas semiconductor manufacturing. Many are also small. But with the opening of modern amateur radio transceivers the 700-MHz territory and the need to incorporate automatic antenna tuning accommodate FM radio and TV in the to optimize power output and keep lower VHF and UHF bands, antennas VSWR low. need to get much bigger if any kind of Putting such a system in a cell phone efficiency is to be achieved. Whip antenis more of a challenge, but its doable. nas and rabbit ears are out. Power monitors are already part of Adaptive antennas and beamforming: most cell phones to control power outSome new products and systems are 2. Designed for Alcatel-Lucent by its Bell Labs put. Signals that are derived from these beginning to adopt narrowbeam anten- division, the lightRadio Cube contains the circuits can be fed to one of the existing nas that can be steered to improve link complete cellular radio and an active antenna processors, where an algorithm develreliability and reduce interference. These array that can be used to build smaller MIMO oped for the system is executed. The antennas are desirable but complex and basestations. The device measures about 2.5 outputs are used to vary capacitor values in. on each side. take up more space. in the matching network.
provides improved efficiency and gain over other electrically small antennas. The CPL is a composite of two antennas driven separately (Fig. 3). Magnetic One antenna generates the electric dipole loop field and the other the magnetic field, Electric which coalesce near the antenna to form dipole Y the complete radio wave. The antennas must be driven orthogonally and simultaneously to ensure that they do not act independently, but thats addressed by a InnovatIve antenna DesIgns special splitter/combiner that takes care X The industrys literature offers an of the phasing and feed impedances. amazing number of unique designs to The resulting antenna boasts greater solve antenna problems. There are too signal strength than other types of antenmany to list. But some recent antenna 3. DockOns CPL antenna is based on a collocat- nas. Such antennas are smaller than products and solutions show the range of ed magnetic loop dipole and an electric dipole. comparable types and have an efficiency The dipole moments have to be orthogonal to possibilities today. often over 90%. They also have gain and The Bell Labs division of Alcatel- prevent the two elements from radiating as two a wide bandwidth of an octave or more. Lucent recently announced a break- separate antennas. The elements are driven Best of all, the designs are easily implethrough called a wide-band active anten- independently with a special combiner/splitter mented using microstrip technology na array thats part of the companys that is patent-pending. on printed-circuit boards (PCBs) or by lightRadio Cube (Fig. 2). This complete depositing patterns on other substrates. low-power basestation can be used to form small, light picoJust recently, DockOn announced an omnidirectional circells and other configurations to expand the cellular system. cular polarized antenna using the CPL techniques. It has all The cube contains the complete software-defined basestation of these benefits plus the advantage of circular polarization, radio including baseband and the active antenna array based on which often improves reception or transmission when the exact the patch-type antenna. orientation of other antennas in the system isnt known. While few details are known, the antenna appears tunable Antennas work best when both transmitting and receiving and can be adjusted for frequency of operation from 700 MHz antennas use the same polarization, usually either vertical or to 2.6 GHz. The transmit power level is 1 to 5 W. By mount- horizontal. But in many applications such as cell-phone use or ing multiple cubes in arrays of vertical or horizontal columns, RFID tagging, the orientation may be in between or opposite. directional beamforming and MIMO antennas can be created. Circular polarization allows signals of any polarization to be The overall benefits are smaller, lower-cost, energy-efficient received or transmitted with efficiency. It also provides better basestations that can be mounted almost anywhere like on performance in snow and rain and does a better job of penetratthe sides of buildings, lamp posts, and other inconspicuous ing obstructions like walls and trees. places. Such basestations meet the needs of the coming LTE DockOn has some standard products but also licenses its ref4G expansion, which will use a greater number of smaller erence designs to others. Custom designs are possible as well. basestations like femtocells in homes and picocells in a cloud- These antennas are applicable to almost any wireless product like system. With mobile devices closer to the basestation, including ones that use MIMO or require arrays for beam 4G speeds can be more easily achieved. The lightRadio cube forming or steering with greater directionality and gain. is in trials through the third quarter this year with production A great deal of antenna development is focused on celexpected in 2012. Its certainly one to watch. lular basestations. As carriers upgrade their networks to the One of the most innovative new designs for small antennas latest technologies like HSPA+ and LTE, new antennas are a comes from DockOn, whose Compound PxM Loop (CPL) must, mainly because of the MIMO requirement to get higher
The biggest problem is finding suitable electrically variable capacitors. While varactors are available, they mostly use high dc tuning voltages that are difficult to implement in a portable device. Switchable CMOS capacitors are becoming available to make this approach practical. Peregrine Semiconductor has announced some digitally switched CMOS capacitors that are ideal for this application.
data rates and improved link reliabilMost wireless technologies are ity. Powerwave Technologies recently moving to MIMO to boost link introduced an active array antenna data rate and improve reliability for MIMO in basestations (see in a multipath environment. But, the opening figure). it only works if the multiple antenThe design puts the RF nas are isolated from one another section of the radio on the by a sufficient distance. This tower with the antenna eleworks on basestations and ments, including the power other stationary equipamplifiers that feed the antennas ment, but it is tough to directly. Doing so prevents achieve in a handset or the horrific loss of power in 4. The SkyCross T-Series other mobile device. the transmission lines that antennas are designed to SkyCross discovered run up the tower from the support 4G/3G/2G/Wi-Fi/ you can feed or excite a power amps in the base to Bluetooth tablet applications and single antenna structure in different places the antennas. This repre- come in single-band, multiband, and to get the effect of two or more antensents a huge power savings, MIMO iMAT configurations nas. Each feed uses the antenna to proboosting the efficiency of duce a different pattern of radiation with the basestation. good isolation between them. The iMAT The MIMO Active Array Antenna is an integrated design approach provides enough isolation to make with a 3- to 5-dB link budget that will double a basestations the effect of unwanted coupling between antennas negligible. coverage radius compared to non-integrated antennas. The Thus, 2x2 MIMO in a handset is a done deal. The technique antenna is packaged in a single radome that houses all of the can be applied to any cellular wireless technology. subsystems necessary to deploy a complete 3G or 4G basestation RF system on the tower. The tower electronics includes the radio transceiver and the power amplifiers with digital pre-distortion and crest-factor reduction algorithms for improved amplifier efficiency. Also included are the filters and duplexer, the low-noise amplifier (LNA), and the antennas. The antennas themselves are crosspolarized aperture-coupled patches with gain. Each antenna pair forms a 2x2 MIMO system. The whole assembly weighs about 45 lb and only requires dc power and the fiber-optic cable for the common public radio interface (CPRI) data signals. The units are available to operate over the 700-MHz to 2.7-GHz range. A 3G unit can be upgraded to 4G later at minimal cost. The antenna is in carrier trials now but should be available in the third quarter of 2011. SkyCross is another antenna innovator. Its products include meander line antennas (MLAs) and its flagship isolated mode antenna technology (iMAT). The MLAs combine a loop with meander lines for tuning. They have broadband versions with bandwidths covering multiple octaves without tuning. While theyre very small, the MLAs have excellent efficiency. They come close to the Chu-Harrington limit, which is a measure of the bandwidth for a given volume or size of the antenna. A typical multimode MLA can cover the 800- to 2500-MHz range with a 0.4- by 0.25- by 1.25-in. unit. Units are available for most wireless applications. A real significant achievement for SkyCross is its isolated mode antenna technology (iMAT). This breakthrough enables a single antenna structure to act like multiple antennas by using multiple feed points. Each feed point accesses the antenna as if it consisted of multiple antennas, each with high isolation, low correlation, and high efficiency. Such an antenna is a great solution to the incorporation of MIMO into mobile wireless devices.
Now, SkyCross has created a version of this design called the T-Series that is optimized for tablet computers. The T-Series has a form factor created to fit the demands of ultra-thin tablets. These antennas combine the flexibility of connectorized notebook antennas with the sophistication and compact size of smart-phone antennas (Fig. 4). The T-Series antennas can come in single-band or multiband forms from 700 MHz to 2.6 GHz. Standard models are available, but they can be customized to fit any multiprotocol, multiband configuration. The feed is unbalanced 50 with coax. The gain is greater than 0 dBi with a VSWR of less than 2.5 to 1 over the bands of operation. The polarization is linear, and the radiation pattern is omnidirectional. For 4G versions requiring MIMO, the T-Series can be configured with the multi-feedpoint iMAT provisions. SkyCross has been working closely with Verizon Wireless to develop and test the T-Series and iMAT designs. SkyCross demonstrated some of its new designs at the 2011 International CES in Las Vegas this January. The T-Series antennas are incorporated in new tablets from Acer and in Ciscos Cius corporate tablet. An iMAT with MIMO was also presented in a product from Ionics EMS, a company offering a home automation control point that uses the Verizon 4G LTE network to remotely monitor and control home functions. Additionally, SkyCross is working on the TV antenna problem for laptops, tablets, and other mobile devices. At least we wont have to use rabbit ears. Small antennas designed to receive the lower over-the-air VHF channels (2-7) present a unique challenge to antenna makers. With some unique designs and a way to make the antenna tunable, it looks like the problem is getting solved. Finally, Taoglas makes a wide range of antennas for all wireless applications, with new innovations in packaging and mounting. Its FXP.830 flexible antenna is designed for machine-to-machine (M2M) wireless applications in the 2.4/5.8-GHz bands, including Wi-Fi, ZigBee, and other standards (Fig. 5). The antenna comes on a 42- by 7- by 0.1-mm flexible polymer material and has double-sided 3M tape on one side for easy peel and stick mounting. It works in devices where space is at a premium. Applications include telemedicine and telehealth where the device is worn on the body, remote monitoring, mesh sensor networks, security, smart metering, and other M2M projects. The FXP.830 is basically a dipole design with linear polarization. It offers a peak gain of 3 dBi with an average gain of 2 to 3 dBi. The impedance is 50-, and maximum input power is 5 W. The amazing spec is its 70% to 80% efficiency in the 2.4-GHz band and 65% to 80% efficiency in the 5-GHz bands. Feed is by coax cable. .
5. The Taoglas FXP.830 flexible antenna is designed for M2M wireless applications in the 2.4/5.8-GHz bands. With its flexible peel and stick form factor, it can be used in a wide range of unusual wireless equipment packages.
DON TUITE | ANALOG/POWER EDITOR don.tuite@penton.com
Master the
FundaMentals
What can be so hard about forward-biasing a diode? Theres a little more to using LEDs than that.
OF led IlluMInatIOn
magine getting a light bulb as a present. LED replacements for screw-in bulbs are so rare and expensive, I actually did get one last Christmas. Yet were approaching a crossover point where LEDs will become common enough and cheap enough that they will take over a great deal of the burden of lighting the world. Not that we simply will be screwing new bulb-shaped objects with LEDs in them into old fixtures. It is no longer necessary to treat light sources as disposable. Pretty soon, lamps (including the part that lights up) will outlive their owners. Also, since LEDs turn on and off instantly and power-cycling doesnt involve a method that shortens their life, we can turn LED lighting on only when we need it. That could be a potential advantage for astronomers who use optical telescopes and a potential source of huge energy savings for cities and building owners. It even turns out that police and private security operators like nighttime lighting that only turns on in response to motion sensors because it helps tell them where the bad guys are. Still, this technology is truly in its infancy, and it takes some getting used to.
LED PHYSICS
When any diode is in its conduction state, whenever an electron and a hole recombine, some energy is released in the form of photons. The color of the light (the energy of the photon) depends on the energy band gap of the semiconductor material. Aluminum gallium arsenide (InGaAs) and other materials yield red. Indium gallium nitride (InGaN) produces green. Zinc selenide (ZnSe) leads to blue. Its possible to combine red, green, and blue diodes to produce white light. However, the highbrightness (HB) white diodes weve become so familiar with combine a blue InGaN diode with a yellow phosphor, usually cerium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Ce3+:YAG). An interesting and useful thing happens with white LEDs that use phosphors. During a quantum effect called Stokes shift, a photon emitted by the phosphor photon has less energy than the photon it absorbed from the blue LED (Fig. 1). In an HB white LED, a fraction of the blue light is Stokes shifted to a longer wavelength. This is a good thing, as it allows LED manufacturers to use a number of phosphor layers of different colors, broadening the emitted spectrum, which effectively raises the color rendering index (CRI) of the LED.
Intensity
Driving LEDs ought to be simple. Theyre diodes, they have a certain forward voltage drop, and their light output depends on current, for which there is a do-notexceed value for any given diode. That seems like a manageable set of parameters, doesnt it? But then it starts getting complicated. To start with, as with conventional diodes, LED current varies exponentially with the voltage. (Thats the Shockley diode equation, which has a nice explanation at http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shockley_diode_equation#Shockley_ diode_equation.) Suffice it to say that one is not dealing with Ohms law here. phosphor emitting light of a different wavelength. The broader A small change in voltage can CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT spectrum enhances the color rendering index of the HB LED. cause a large change in current. A curious parallel to Moores Thats why, in most cases, LEDs law called Haitzs law, named after Roland Haitz, says com- are driven with constant-current sources. Those cheap pocket mercial LED maximum light output doubles every 36 months flashlights that run on stacks of watch batteries are a notable or so. This has an important implication for product devel- but not appealing exception. Those batteries are expensive, opment. Essentially, whatever light output one can expect and they dont last long. Quality flashlights use conventional from todays most expensive LEDs will be available from batteries and tiny boost-converter drivers. Theyre expensive, mainstream LEDs a year and a half from now. State-of-the- but they can make a conventional AAA alkaline battery last art mechanical designs, then, should scale to fewer and fewer for months. LEDs through future product generations. One of the factors driving Haitzs law relates to the difficulty MULTIPLE LEDs Before one can even consider driver circuits, an early design of getting photons out of the diode semiconductor material, which tend to have high refractive indices. If a photon cant decision involves configurations for interconnecting LEDs in cross the interface between the semiconductor material and arrays. Pocket flashlights aside, few applications use only a the air (or vacuum) surrounding it, its reflected back into the single LED. Whether its for a screen backlighting array or for LEDs in a streetlight or a replacement for an incandescent or material and absorbed. If the semiconductor material were cubic in shape, it would fluorescent lamp, most designs need more than one LED. One of the first decisions a designonly emit light more or less perpendicuer must make is whether to drive the lar to one face or another of the cube. LEDs in series, in parallel, or as a par(Think back to Physics 102 and the part allel array of strings. Generally, it isnt of the chapter on optics that dealt with a good idea to drive a number of single critical angle.) Thus, simply dicing a LEDs in parallel because it can lead wafer of LEDs and treating the chips as to non-uniform current sharing, even if they were just some more semiconwhen the LEDs are all rated for the ductor devices would be unsatisfactory. LED backlight same forward-voltage drop. If one werent dealing with epitaxial array So that leads to driving LEDs in diode materials deposited on a flat subseries, which introduces the question strate, one might think of emulating a Backlighting as adjusted LCD enhanced by electronically to match of what happens when a single LED diamond cutter and faceting the materi- variable backlighting scene being displayed fails-open. This can be solved someal. But its more practical to pot the LED matched to signal luminance what expensively by providing paralin a transparent plastic material with a lel Zener diodes or silicon-controlled refractive index between the indices of 2. Dynamic backlighting adjusts the brightness rectifiers (SCRs) across each LED. the semi material and air while shaping of individual LEDs in the backlight array of a TV the glob of plastic into something more screen to match the luminance values of the image SCRs are more attractive because they dissipate less power if they have to spherical, or hemispherical, that increas- being displayed, increasing the perceived contrast ratio of the display. conduct around the failed LED. es the critical angle at both interfaces.
That is, the light shouldnt merely look white when it comes out of the LED. It should, as far as possible, accurately reflect all the colors of Emission Absorption the objects it shines on. CRI, which is a rather complicated characteristic to measure, is a specification that indicates how closely the colors of an object being illuminated artificially look like those colors when viewed under real sunlight, which is what we earthlings consider the standard for white light. Wavelength A good CRI comes at a price with phosphor-based white LEDs, 1. Stokes shift is a phenomenon common to photoluminescent because the Stokes shift means materials in which the activated material emits photons at a they exhibit a lower efficiency than different wavelength than the photons it absorbed. It is useful in single-color LEDs. But for most high-brightness white LEDs because it allows manufacturers general illumination applications, to use multiple yellow phosphors, all responding to blue or ultraviolet photons from the actual LED diode, with each good CRI trumps efficiency.
Stokes shift
BASIC LED DRIVING
V+
D3
+
VBUCK D9 C10 D8 C9
+
C7 BR1 R2
C12
D4 Q1
Triac dimmer VAC D1
D2
VLED
D10 R5 C5
LM3445 1 ASNS R1 2 FLTR1 BLDR 10
U1 LM3445
VCC 9
C3
3 DIM
GATE 8
4 COFF
ISNS 7 R3
5 FLTR2
GND 6
C4
3. National Semiconductors LM3445 was the first driver for general-illumination LED products that permitted dimming using legacy triac dimmers.
Pulse-width modulation (PWM) can control LED light output. To implement dynamic backlighting, drivers require a high-bandwidth control channel. Lots of innovation arises from the need to make LED replacements for incandescent and fluorescent light sources respond to dimming input from legacy triac and SCR dimmers. This is one of those situations where a legacy becomes a burden to the heirs. The dimming part is easy with a constant-current dc power source. The challenge lies in making the dimming and brightening happen in response to a controller that was never made DYNAMIC BACKLIGHTING for LEDs. Basic dimming, then, is simply a matter of varying Apart from the light output and the spacing of the array and the duty cycle of a pulse-width modulated constant-current even evenness of the lighting effect, there is little difference square wave that is switched quickly enough to avoid the perbetween a general lighting array and a backlighting array. That ception of flicker.
Or, perhaps the optimum strategy is to acknowledge that a single dark LED is every bit as bad as a whole string of dark LEDs and create a robust thermal design that minimizes the chances of a thermal-stress-related failure of any LED during the anticipated product lifetime. If a designer settles on multiple parallel strings, a separate driver for each string will be more expensive than fewer drivers (ideally one) with enough output capacity to drive multiple parallel strings of LEDs. The use of multiple strings tends to even out the currentsharing problem that led to the decision to use strings in the first case, but it is still necessary to use a ballast resistor for each string. Designers can calculate a resistor value, assuming as a target a 10% variation in forward voltage drop across the string and a need to match the currents in each parallel string so theyre within 20%. Assume that, for each string, the sum of the LED forward drops plus the voltage across the ballast resistor should equal 80% of the nominal output voltage of the driver. From that, its possible to calculate the ballast resistance and the current rating of the constant-current driver. An easier alternative is to buy the series/parallel string arrays matched and cross-connected, as in Philips Luxeon Flood products.
changes, however, when dynamically matching the backlight intensity to moving video images. Dynamic backlighting, creating local variations + VLED in backlight intensity that correspond to the lumi nance value of the image on the screen being backlit, is growing in popularity for two reasons. R4 First, it increases the apparent dynamic range (or contrast ratio) of the images being viewed. Second, by throttling back some of the LEDs in the Q3 backlight, it reduces overall energy consumption. The first effect is believed to have a strong effect L2 on customers choosing high-end TV receivers by comparing displays side by side in a store (Fig. 2). The second is more of a way to extend battery life in mobile devices. ICOLL I first saw dynamic backlighting demonstrated at an NXP press briefing, and it took me back to my days in college when I worked during the summer Q2 at a TV station. I knew lots of theory on my first day on the job, but nothing practical. So, they sat me down behind a camera-control unit and showed me the knobs that controlled the absolute black and white levels. A human operator was necessary because the stations format was old movies. That complicated TV camera operation because Hollywood directors like C11 to take advantage of the enormous contrast ratio of film to light scenes artistically, which was far beyond what old RS-170 video could manage. My job that first day was to nullify their artistic efforts. It was a case of dj vu, four decades later, to be in an NXP conference room watching some ICs drive the LED backlighting on a Hitachi HDTV to do something at the display end of the signal chain akin to what I had once done at the camera end, albeit with less insult to the film directors original efforts. One significant consideration associated with dynamic backlighting is granularity. Each backlight LED illuminates a large number of pixels, so the variations in light intensity must be spread gradually over several rows and columns of LEDs. Even so, thats better than anything I ever accomplished with gain and setup controls.
TRIAC DIMMING
The rule of ramp generator and comparator. The 90 V thumb is that ramp comparators output drives a to 150 V 4:1:1 ac anything over common-source N-channel MOS100 Hz (twice the FET through a Schmitt trigger, and European mains the MOSFETs drain 1A VIN DCM frequency) is sufvoltage is proportional a. VIN_SENSE FB ficient. In fact, to the duty cycle of the LT3799 European regulators are triac dimmer. There is starting to be concerned another circuit for setVREF 20-W about the combination of ting PWM off time. A LED GATE CTRL3 power resistor sets the actual such relatively slow rates CTRL2 SENSE and short duty cycles current that drives the CTRL1 INTVCC when power factor corLED current. GND rection (PFC) in the acLinear Technologys FAULT CT COMP+ COMP dc front end of the LED FAULT LT3799 targets similar driver adds harmonics to triac-controlled applithe waveform beinga. applied to the LEDs. cations (Fig. 4a). Its designers put a great Before addressing anything that deal of effort into the power-conVIN subtle, consider the more fundamenversion stages, starting with the ac100 V/div tal problem associated with triac dc stage, which was implemented dimmers, which is the way they conwith a flyback topology in control the brightness of a simple incantrast to Nationals boost-converter descent bulb by interrupting part of approach. Their objective was to VGATE 5 V/div each half-cycle of the ac waveform. keep power factor in the rectifier Thats trivial if the load is the filasection as close to unity as possible 2 ms/div ment of an light bulb, but not simple b. across the dimming range, without at all if the load is a constant-cur- 4. Linear Technologys LT3799 (a), announced in February, passing the offending harmonics rent driver IC (see High-Bright- uses the relationship between the triac voltage (top) and down the conversion chain. ness White LEDs Light The Way To bursts of drive current (bottom) (b) to its advantage. The point of the strong emphasis Greener Illumination at www.elecon PFC was to meet the requiretronicdesign.com). ments of the European IEC61000-3-2 standard, which speciFor example, National Semiconductors LM3445 buck con- fies power factor in terms of harmonics of the line frequency, troller is a triac-friendly dimmable driver. In fact, Nationals rather than as a phase angle between voltage and current on the engineers developed a proprietary constant off-time method power line. The two definitions of power factor are equivalent, to maintain constant current through the string of LEDs for it and both relate to load reactance, but in different ways. (Fig. 3). This is really an instance of pulse-frequency modulaEvery rectifier circuit includes a large output capacitance tion because, with constant off-time, the on-time becomes the that stores and smooths the pulsating dc from the rectifier only variable. Its then easy to control on-time by varying the diodes. As a result of that smoothing, the load draws energy switching frequency. from the line for a portion of each ac-input cycle. For the rest The LM3445 features a Zener bridge at the input. A valley- of each cycle, it draws energy from the capacitor. While the ac fill circuit after the bridge smooths the chopping action and line voltage is sinusoidal, the ac line current is spiky, with a allows the buck regulator that follows to draw power even Fourier series at multiples of the ac line frequency. while the triac is in cutoff. It also provides passive PFC. The IEC61000-3-2 standard specifies permissible maxima External to the IC, the circuit requires a bleeder resistor for each harmonic, up to the 32nd. Linears chip is designed to that emulates the incandescent bulb filament resistance that the meet that requirement, maintaining a minimum power factor of triac would see in a conventional lighting circuit. Bleeder 0.97, using active PFC. usually refers to a resistor across the output capacitor of an ac One of the advantages of approaching PFC Linears way is supply. Here, it dissipates the small current that flows through that it actually simplifies triac-based dimming. The LT3799 the triac in its OFF state. employs an isolated flyback topology, with the transformer At the same node as the bleeder resistor, there is an external secondary output fed back to the primary side for control, as circuit with a 15-V Zener and a pass transistor. The pass tran- in any flyback. Unlike most flyback stages, however, this one sistor stands off most of the rectified line voltage so the volt- uses a third transformer winding, rather than an optocoupler, age on the ICs sensing pin varies with the rectified line voltage for isolation. whenever it drops below the Zeners threshold. In operation, the chip uses the external MOSFETs peak curThe LM3445 delivers a 10% to 100% dimming range, rela- rent information, derived from a sense resistor, to calculate the tive to triac-dimmer firing angles between 45 and 135 of converters output current. (See pages 9 and 10 of the LT3799s the ac line waveform. That part of the circuit is based on a datasheet at http://cds.linear.com/docs/Datasheet/3799f.pdf.)
When the main power is off, the LT3799 can also use the voltage on the third winding to detect and report any open LED string. In normal operation, the third winding not only senses the output voltage, it also supplies power to the IC. To achieve that 0.97 or better power factor, the PFC circuitry operates in critical conduction mode, i.e., just on the edge between continuous and discontinuous conduction mode. After all that complexity in the front end, the actual process of dimming the LED string based on the duration of each half cycle of the applied ac waveform that the triac passes is simple but elegant. According to the datasheet, triac dimmers arent ideal switches when theyre turned off because they allow milliamps of current to flow through them. In fact, thats a signature of triac. Dimmer controllers from other companies provide a resistive load that behaves like the filament of an incandescent light bulb to cause the triac to trigger. In the Linear driver, instead of turning the main power MOSFET off when the triac is off, it is kept on to properly load the triac. When the triac does turns on, the driver detects this and enables the control loop. When the dimmer triac is OFF, leakage current still ows through its internal lter to the LT3799. That current charges up the ICs input capacitor and would cause random switching and LED icker, except the transformer primary winding is used as a bleeder. The MOSFET gate signal goes high so the MOSFET is ON when the triac is off, bleeding off the leakage current. As soon as the triac turns on, the MOSFET seamlessly changes back into a normal power delivery device (Fig. 4b).
HEADACHES AND SEIZURES
tions. According to iWatt, these harmonics can show up as a form of noise on the constant current output line, which is not bad in itself, except that when light output is very dim the harmonics may create a subliminal flicker that could trigger headaches or even seizures in susceptible people. Research is in the early stages now, but it could result in more dash-numbers for the IEC61000 standard.
A final caution about dimming comes from iWatt, a fabless semiconductor company whose dimmers are found in the bases of many LED replacement bulbs. The challenge in that particular niche, which iWatt has mastered, is to enable the driver to identify which particular triac controller, out of hundreds, is being used and to tailor the behavior of the lamp to it. The company additionally says that the people in charge of the European safety standards are taking a closer look at what happens to the harmonics that are suppressed in the ac-dc stage of an LED driver for general lighting applica19 - Top 5 Engineering Essentials Vol. II
Visit http://electronicdesign.com Bill Wong | EmbEddEd/SyStEmS/SoftwarE EdItor

bill.wong@penton.com
A TAle Of
TwO Buses
got off to a rocky start, but USB 1.1 became the dominant interface for keyboards and mice. It delivered 1.5-Mbit/s (low speed) and 12-Mbit/s (full-speed) transfer rates sufficient for many peripherals, including scanners and printers. The USB connection included 5-V power and ground in addition to a bidirectional, twisted-pair differential data cable with 90 15% for a total of four wires. The host controls the half-duplex, self-clocking serial protocol. In full-speed mode, the cable is not terminated. With USB 2.0, the 480-Mbit/s (high speed) mode requires the cable to be terminated. The controllers handle this with active termination. USB 1.1 devices select low-speed or fullspeed mode by selecting the D or D+ line to toggle high. USB 2.0 devices negotiate the high-speed mode during reset negotiation by driving both lines low for 10 to 20 ms.
5-GBiT/s superspeed usB delivers BAndwidTh needed fOr TOdAys hArd And sOlid-sTATe disk drives.
USB is a host managed peripheral bus that uses a pointto-point protocol. A USB host has a root hub controller. Additional hubs are used to expand access to a maximum of 127 devices. Four hub levels are possible in theory, but it is rare to find a system that has more than two.
Power To PeriPherals
A USB device can use up to 500 mA from a hub port. An unpowered hub will distribute its power from its host to its devices, but it is limited to the total power the host provides. A powered hub can provide up to 500 mA per port. Low-power devices like mice require significantly less than 500 mA, while hard drives often require the maximum. Some external hard drives even come with cables that tap a second USB port simply to gain access
to the extra half-amp capabilities of the upstream hub. A USB 3.0 hub must support of current. USB ports both, so the USB 3.0 host must support both as well. are current-limited This allows a hub port to be connected to a USB 3.0 or USB USB USB USB 2 2 3 and can detect shorts, 2.0 device (Fig. 2). A USB 3.0 hub can use both upstream links allowing a bad port when communicating with a USB 3.0 host. This highlights the connection to be pow- duality of the USB 3.0 architecture since the two are essentially ered down. operating independently even though a single cable is used. Shield A host manages The USB device driver at the host is where the two USB the initial power- hierarchies are merged. This makes the USB subsystem appear USB USB USB up sequence. It also as a single entity to applications running on the host. 2 2 3 detects and manages This separation of new and old is different from how hubs Device Device changes that occur handle multiple speeds. USB 2.0 must handle devices operatFour-wire USB 2.0 Nine-wire USB 3.0 while the system is ing at 1.5 Mbits/s, 12 Mbits/s, or 480 Mbits/s. A USB 2.0 hub running. It enumer- needs to switch speeds as different devices are used. 1. USB 2.0 uses four wires: 5 V, ground, and ates each device conA USB 3.0 hub essentially keeps the USB 2.0 traffic on one one differential pair (D+, D). USB 3.0 adds nected to its hub and set of wires and runs full-duplex, high-speed traffic on the two high-speed differential pairs along with a then each level below other set. The big difference is that the USB 3.0 hub can transshielded cable. The high-speed pairs provide until all devices are fer data at super speeds at the same time that USB 2.0 traffic is a full-duplex, bidirectional 4.8-GHz commureached as well. A being transferred. nication link between a host and a device. hub is really a USB The latency of the slower device will limit a USB 2.0 system device. with a mouse and hard drive on the same USB hub. The hard USB 2.0 kicked the top bandwidth up to 480 Mbits/s. It uses drive transfers data at full speed, but it needs to wait until any the same connectors and cables as USB 1.1, with additional mouse data has been transferred. connectors included with the new standard (see USB Connector Gallery, p. 48). The USB standard and connectors are ProTocols and device classes USB 2.0 utilizes a half-duplex, host-based connection. The designed for hot-plug support. An examination of the USB connectors shows that the power and ground connections will be host still controls USB SuperSpeed, but the full-duplex concompleted before the signal connections when inserting a plug. nection enables commands and data to flow in both directions. USB On-The-Go (OTG) came about to address devices such It also allows concurrent transactions to occur. There is now as digital cameras that need to act as a host when connected to distributed end-to-end and link level error detection and recova printer and as a device when connected to a host such as a PC. ery as well. USB OTG 1.3 provided this support at USB 1.x speeds, and it is found on many devices. The OTG device needs to determine 2. USB 3.0 hubs implement two essentially whether it is connected to a host or device and act accordingly. USB 3 host independent hierarchies. USB 2.0 traffic The USB OTG 2.0 spec adds power-saving features and supRoot hub USB USB passes through USB 2.0 hub controllers port for the micro USB connectors. It also allows OTG devices 2 3 while high-speed, full-duplex USB 3.0 to communicate with each other. USB 3.0 (SuperSpeed) is USB 3 cable traffic passes through the latest incarnation. Although USB 3.0 uses a single the newer 4.8-Gbit/s cable, it is actually two buses in one. USB USB USB 3 hub
Hub Hub 2 3
Two PeriPheral Buses in one
Hub device Hub port USB USB 2 3 Hub port USB USB 2 3 Hub port USB USB 2 3
SuperSpeed USB adds two pairs of high-speed difHub port ferential signals and a shielded cable to the mix, upping USB USB 2 3 the four-wire USB standard to nine wires (Fig. 1). The initial four wires include USB 3 cable power, ground, and a pair of USB USB USB 3 hub 2 3 480-Mbit/s differential pairs. The high-speed differential Hub device pairs provide a full-duplex, Hub port Hub port Hub port bidirectional 4.8-Gbit/s comUSB USB USB USB USB USB munication link between a host 2 3 2 3 2 3 and an active device. USB 3 cables A USB 3.0 device essentially USB USB USB USB has an independent USB 2.0 2 3 2 3 controller and a USB 3.0 conDevice Device troller. It will only use one set USB 2 connections not or the other, depending on the used for data transfers
controllers. A USB 3.0 device will utilize only one part depending on the type of hub it is connected to.
USB 2 cable USB 2 hub USB 2 Hub device Hub port USB USB 2 3 USB 2 cables USB 2 Device USB USB 2 3 Device Cannot use USB 3 cable here USB 2 Device USB 2 Device Hub port USB 2 Hub port USB 2 Hub port USB 2 Hub port USB 2
A USB 2.0 device can support up to RAM Timer 32 pipes: 16 in, UART 16 out. Pipes are a RAM SPI logical connection. GPIO USB 3.0 increases the count to 65,533. SATA USB 3.0 USB 2.0 USB AHCI control control USB 2.0 has stream connect and message pipes logic SATA USB 3.0 USB 2.0 PHY PHY PHY that support isochronous, interrupt, bulk, and control 3. The Texas Instruments TUSB9260 transfers. USB 3.0 SuperSpeed USB 3.0 to Serial ATA Bridge is keeps these transfer built around an ARM Cortex-M3 microcontroller modes, although that can boot via an SPI flash drive, in addition the bulk mode is to a SATA controller and full USB 3.0 interface. expanded to support streams. Pipes are connected to endpoints, which can be grouped into function units called interfaces. Endpoint 0 is special and is dedicated to the overall device. It is used to query and control the physical device. This is how a USB device provides vendor information. The logical interfaces can contain any number of endpoints based on the type of interface. Packets are based on 8-bit bytes. They include a packet identifier, a destination, a data payload, and a cyclic redundancy code (CRC). Packets include a destination device and endpoint number. Packets can be designated as IN, OUT, and TOKEN. IN packets request data while OUT packets contain data for the endpoint. USB classes provide a standard definition for interfaces and their higher-level protocols. Standard classes include humaninterface devices (HIDs), such as keyboards and mice, as well as mass storage. The video class handles Web cams. A class can be a device class, interface class, or both. The USB hub class is a device. The communication class, which handles modems and Ethernet adapters, is both. Also, USB classes permit a standard device driver to handle any USB device of the designated class. It allows a single device driver to handle a wide range of products from various vendors such as flash memory drives. A vendor-specific class enables device-specific interfaces, which require a custom device driver.
ROM ARM Cortex-M3
U0: operational U1: link idle, fast exit, phase-locked loop (PLL) remains ON U2: link idle, slow exit, PLL may be OFF U3: suspend USB 2.0 has states U0 and U3 only. U3 requires the least amount of power. The intermediate states trade lower-power operation for a faster startup time. Handshaking between hubs and devices is more effective and progressive for better power savings across the entire system. USB 2.0 devices are still limited to their usual mode of operation, even when plugged into a USB 3.0 hub. Isochronous transfers with USB 3.0 devices can take advantage of these states between service intervals. Another power-related change is the elimination of broadcast mode and polling or rather a change to directed broadcasts. USB 2.0 would poll devices on a regular basis. It would also use a broadcast mode to communicate with a device. A hub would forward a broadcast packet to all devices, requiring them to be active and consuming power. USB 3.0s directed transmission only goes to the desired device, allowing hubs and devices that arent involved in the transaction to remain in their existing, possibly power-down, state. Mixing a USB 2.0 hub below a USB 3.0 hub may result in broadcasts from the USB 2.0 hub. Asynchronous notices have replaced polling. Overall, USB 3.0 should be more responsive and power-efficient in addition to supporting a higher bandwidth.
USB 3.0 HOSTS, HUBS, AND BRIDGES
USB 3.0 CHANGES
USB 3.0 brings a number of improvements, including power management (see USB 3.0The Next-Generation Interconnect, Feb. 11, 2010, p. 67). The hubs can now deliver up to 150 mA to unconfigured or suspended devices versus 100 mA for USB 2.0. Likewise, the upper limit on power per port is 900 mA versus 500 mA. This should make hard drives easier to contend with, eliminating the special cables used to scavenge extra power from another USB port. A Powered-B connector includes two additional wires to supply up to 1000 mA to a device associated with USB devices, such as a wireless USB adapter. USB 3.0 devices also now have four power-down states:
USB 3.0 showed up first in high-performance motherboards like Gigabytes GA-X58A-UD7 ATX motherboard (search Gigabytes Core i7 Motherboard at www.electronicdesign. com). MSIs 890GXM-G65 motherboard supports the latest six-core AMD Phenom II X6 processors in addition to USB 3.0 and SATA III. The motherboards may include the USB 3.0 controllers in the south bridge or one of the multifunction peripheral controllers. Alternatively, a USB 3.0 host controller like the Renesas Electronics PD720200 can be connected to the host via its PCI Express x1 link. The PD720200 has its operational registers mapped to the PCI memory space, giving the device direct, full control over the interface. The chips serial peripheral interface (SPI) is used to access an external SPI flash memory. It runs off 3.3 V and a 24-MHz crystal, and its available in 4. Western Digitals My Book a 10- by 100-mm, 176-pin 3.0 comes with an optional PCI plastic fine-pitch ball-grid Express Gen 2 x1 adapter. array (FBGA) package.
USB CONNECTOR GALL ERY

1. The Micro/Sys i.MX515based SBC1651 is a StackableUSB singleboard computer. It hosts multiple USB devices connected via a Samtec ASP-129637-01 connector. 2. The USB Standard A connector is found on most laptops and motherboards these days. 3. The USB Micro-A connector is used on a host that requires a compact connector. 4. Most printers and scanners have a USB Standard B connection. 5. USB Mini B connectors are likely to find a home on digital cameras. 6. The USB Micro-B connector is small enough to fit on a portable device like a cell phone.
USB has a rogues gallery of connectors and matching cables that has grown from a simple pair of connectors to a plethora of combinations designed to address a range of applications and hardware environments. High-retention USB connectors, which allow the interface to be used in more rugged, embedded environments, are found on boards such as AccesIOs USB-AO 16 series (search USB Modules Target DAQ Apps at www.electronicdesign.com). Also, USB is delivered via 10-pin motherboard headers. Its incorporated into other standard interface connections such as StackableUSB that use a Samtec connector (search Micro/sys Dishes Out Stackable USB For Embedded I/O at www.electronicdesign.com) like that found on the Micro/sys i.MX515-based SBC1651 as well (Fig. 1). The USB A connector is ubiquitous (Fig. 2). It is found on PCs and laptops. Its also used on flash memory drives. It provides a connection to a hub. The USB Micro-A connector is designed for more compact hosts (Fig. 3). The A connectors are found at one end of a USB cable. At the other end will be a B connector. The USB B connector is the largest of the group (Fig. 4). Sockets are normally found on devices like printers and scanners. The USB Mini B (Fig. 5) and USB Micro B (Fig. 6) connectors are used with a variety of compact devices. The USB SuperSpeed connectors look very similar to the standard USB connectors but with a minor addition. This approach adds support for the high-speed differential pairs while allowing connectors and plugs to work in a backward-compatible fashion. The USB SuperSpeed Standard A connector looks like the Standard A connector (Fig. 7). Hidden on the opposite side of the regular connections, though, are the new differential pairs. The socket can accept a Standard B plug. At the other end of a SuperSpeed cable will be a USB SuperSpeed Standard B (Fig. 8) or USB SuperSpeed Micro-B (Fig. 9) connector. The USB SuperSpeed Standard B places the high-speed pairs above while the Micro-B puts them on one side. Other standards support USB connections such as ExpressCard, which is found on laptops, and SFF-SIGs MiniBlade. These standards use specific plugs and sockets, whereas the standard USB plugs are found at either end of a cable. ExpressCard 2.0 specifies support for the latest PCI Express and USB 3.0 standards.
7. The USB SuperSpeed A connector looks a lot like a USB A connector. The socket can accept a regular or SuperSpeed A plug. 8. The USB SuperSpeed B connector builds on the USB B standard. The socket can accept a USB B plug. 9. The SuperSpeed Micro-B is designed for a more compact device.
The Texas Instruments TUSB9260 SuperSpeed USB 3.0 to Serial ATA Bridge is likely to be on the device side since hard-disk drives will initially be the most common USB 3.0 devices (Fig. 3). It offers an ARM Cortex-M3 microcontroller in addition to a SATA controller and a full USB 3.0 interface. Physical layers (PHYs) for all three connections (SATA, USB 2.0, USB 3.0) are on-chip. The SPI can be connected to an external flash device for booting, or firmware information can be delivered via a USB HID interface. The SATA advanced host controller interface (AHCI) host bus adapter can be used after the firmware is running.
PLXs OXU3102 takes a more conventional approach with its USB 3.0 to Dual SATA RAID Controller with Encryption. The system loads its configuration from an SPI flash memory. The RAID controller handles RAID 0, 1 and JBOD configurations. The on-chip cypher engine supports 128- and 256-bit AES encryption. There are 16 GPIO ports as well.
USB 3.0 ACCELERATES STORAGE
Full-duplex operation is just one of the changes with USB 3.0. Another is the addition of a bulk transfer mode and a bulk stream mode specifically designed to improve overall transfer speeds with
devices such as hard drives. USB 2.0s half-duplex operation and block size imposed a significant burden on the system, so hard-drive transfers were never close to the transfer rate of 480 Mbits/s. The bulk transfer mode block size has been increased to 1024 bytes. The bulk stream mode, which is new to USB 3.0, supports multistream transfers. USB 3.0 hard drives are now available. As with most USB 3.0 devices, these hard drives will operate with USB 2.0 hosts and hubs. Of course, the transfer rates will be significantly slower, but the data will be accessible.
Western Digitals My Book 3.0 comes with an optional PCI Express Gen 2 x1 adapt. er and a USB 3.0 Micro-B cable (Fig. 4). The PCI Express adapter is designed for motherboards that lack native USB 3.0 support. Seagates USB 3.0 BlackArmor PS 110 is a 7200-rpm, . 500-Gbyte hard drive (Fig. 5). The drive is only 12.5 mm high. Like the Western Digital drive, Seagate recognizes that upcoming transition period. Seagates drive targets laptops, so it includes an ExpressCard-based USB 3.0 adapter. The USB 3.0 cable can be used alone with the adapter or a PC equipped with a USB 3.0 host controller. The extra USB power-scavenging cable is needed when a USB 2.0 controller and cable is used. The preloaded software from Acronis targets Windows users. It provides automatic data protection with full-system backup. Additionally, it includes a copy of SafetyDrill+ recovery (Bare Metal Restore). USB 3.0 is not without its challengers. SATA drives are one of its primary rivals, and eSATA is gaining traction. There are now eSATA connectors on many motherboards that provide power, which is an issue when using a basic SATA cable. A native SATA connection essentially eliminates the need for the USB controller and its overhead.
T h e eSATA cables are limited to 2 m, while USB is 3 m plus hubs. USB 3.0 also provides flexibility that the point-to-point eSATA connection lacks, so both are likely to coexist. 5. Seagates USB 3.0 In fact, many motherboards are crop- BlackArmor PS 110 ping up with eSATA and USB 3.0 con- 7200-rpm, 500-Gbyte hard drive comes with nectors on the back panel. The USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 stan- an optional ExpressCard dards are likely to coexist for the next USB 3.0 adapter. decade. Devices such as hard drives are likely to migrate quickly, though cost and host availability will initially be a consideration. The SuperSpeed bandwidth remains overkill for low-speed devices. But eventually, the cost considerations will disappear as volumes ramp up and USB 3.0 costs fall.
david maliniak | EDA/TEsT EDITOR
david.maliniak@penton.com
WrIng Performance
HIgH-BandWIdtH
Now that youve spent six figures on one of the latest high-end scopes, heres what you need to know to make it really work for you.
ScoPeS
I
f youre contemplating upgrading to a top-level scope with a bandwidth of 20 GHz or more, chances are you have top-level debug and validation work on your plate. You may be sorting out a gnarly differential signal issue on a high-speed serial bus, looking for sources of noise and jitter that are making your eye diagram look, well, not so open. The latest high-end scopes from the Big ThreeAgilent Technologies, LeCroy Corp., and Tektronixall have the bandwidth and low enough noise floor to do the job. But using these scopes properly is not a given, and mistakes will cost you in either time or accuracy, if not both. The good news is that all three companies have taken measures to build in a lot of smarts that stand ready and waiting to help you capture that elusive glitch. In this article, well look at some best practices for these scopes, centered around the user interface and on maximizing signal-to-noise margins as well as on probing. Well also examine some comparative data to help you decide which scope is best for your needs.
Signal integrity BaSicS
An initial item of concern is maximizing signal integrity. You must first come to an understanding of just how much bandwidth you really need to make your measurement (Table 1). Lets say youre using a 32-GHz scope such as Agilents flagship Infiniium DSA-X 93204A. To achieve the lowest possible jitter in your measurement, you need to have an idea of how much content there is in the signal of interest (SOI). If youre measuring a 20-GHz signal but running the scope at its full 32-GHz bandwidth, you add 12 GHz of noise and jitter to your measurement. In terms of amplitude, the instrument should be adjusted to have the proper bandwidth to accurately recreate signals. The frequency response of the oscilloscope should have smooth rolloff at 3 dB and achieve a 3-dB point that is adequate to represent the signal of interest. Customers have rules of thumb, says Ken Johnson, senior product marketing manager at LeCroy Corp. One is a scope bandwidth with a frequency response thats at least five times the fundamental frequency of my serial data signal. The fundamental frequency for a 5-Gbit serial data signal is 2.5-GHz fundamental frequency, so engineers want at least a 12-GHz scope to measure a 5-Gbit signal. The reality, says Johnson, is that no matter what test vendors say to their market about this topic, customers says they want five times the fundamental and wont take less than four times. One might think that the more bandwidth, the better, but this is not the case.
At bandwidths higher than five times the fundamental, the scope adds thermal noise and you get no benefit in terms of lower jitter measurements. So, it turns out that the rule of thumb regarding five times the fundamental is born of the experience of the collective hive and holds up in practice. High-end scopes from all of the Big Three provide noisereduction control that dials them down to the proper bandwidth for the SOI. Be aware that all scopes default to the highest bandwidth and require a manual adjustment. To determine how much bandwidth is needed, use your scopes fast-Fourier transform (FFT) function to find the point at which the content is down 40 dB or more. Anything below that is buried in scope noise. Yet another best practice in terms of minimizing jitter is to get the proper amount of signal on the scopes screen. Again, for any high-end scope, your best bet is to adjust the vertical axis so the signal waveform is somewhere between 80% and 90% on screen. Beyond that, you run the risk of clipping the signal in the analog-to-digital converter (ADC). When evaluating scopes, pay attention to what the vendor shows you, says Brig Asay, Agilent Technologies product manager and planner for high-performance digital scopes. A vendor may show you one scope at 90% of screen with another at 75%. The latter will have better numbers. Thats an unfair comparison. Everything needs to be the same to be fair.
critical Scope SpecS
Table 1: Recommended oscilloscope bandwidThs FoR TesTing common seRial sTandaRds

Serial standards displayport 1.1 displayport 1.2 hdmi 1.4 mipi d-phY mipi m-phY hs gear 1 mipi m-phY hs gear 2 mipi m-phY hs gear 3 pci express 1.0 pci express 2.0 pci express 3.0 sas 6g saTa iii Usb 2.0 Usb 3.0
Courtesy of Tektronix
Data rate
2.7 Gbits/s 5 Gbits/s 3.4 Gbits/s 1 Gbit/s 1.5 Gbits/s 3 Gbits/s 6 Gbits/s 2.5 Gbits/s 5 Gbits/s 8 Gbits/s 6 Gbits/s 6 Gbits/s 480 Mbits/s 5 Gbits/s
recommended oscilloscope bandwidth

8 GHz 12.5 GHz 8 GHz 3.5 GHz 6 GHz 8 GHz 20 GHz 6 GHz 12.5 GHz 16 GHz 12.5 GHz 12.5 GHz 2.5 GHz 12.5 GHz
When you shop around for an oscilloscope at these rarified levels (or any level, for that matter), what are some of the critical specifications you should examine and ask questions about (Table 2)? One is step response. How faithfully does an instrument reproduce a digital transition? How fast is its rise time? If I input a perfect square step, how close does it look to perfection on the scopes display? Generally, a sampling scope is the only way to achieve perfection in this regard, and it is used as a golden reference. Of course, frequency response is crucial, and all of the test vendors do a fine job of properly representing their products. They also provide the bandwidth that they advertise, with more than acceptable rolloff. And, all use DSP techniques to match channels. Jitter noise floor, which is a measurement of the very best a scope can do, and timebase stability, which represents the scopes stability over a long signal acquisition, will ultimately determine the instruments sensitivity to capturing high-speed glitches. When capturing eye diagrams, this is not quite as critical. Application of the DSP to the measurement filters out the instability. But turning off the DSP can provide insight into what is really happening in an acquisition. Any high-bandwidth digitizing system, such as the ADCs found in scopes, comprises multiple devices with sample rates within the bandwidth measurement range of the instrument. There will always be spurs on acquired signals, and this is measured in the scopes spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR). No one likes to see spurs on waveforms that arent coming from the waveform. But if those spurs are far enough below the fundamental frequency of the waveform, as in
40 dB down or more, you shouldnt be overly concerned.

The Four MeasureMenT Processes
abbreviation
Table 2: Some FigureS oF meriT For Sampled SySTemS

name Description Formula
Engineers navigate four phases or The ratio of the RMS signal to the RMS sum of all Signal-to-noise processes in the course of taking a meaother spectral components, including the harmonSINAD = and distortion SiNad ics except DC; usually expressed in dB; the more Pf(dB) Pnad(dB) surement. The first of these is discovery, ratio positive the value, the better the system which encompasses these signal-integrity SINAD can be expressed directly as ENOB, as they concerns. The idea here is to find that sigare equivalent; ENOB is the number of bits in a nal of interest, make sure its displayed Effective ENOB = quantizer that would produce the exact same eNob number of bits (SINAD1.76)/6.02 properly, and view it on the instrument. SINAD value in a system whose entire source of Engineers using a scope with a bandnoise is quantization itself width of 20 GHz or more are probably The ratio, expressed in dB, of the RMS signal ampliSignal-to-noise more concerned with validation and char- SNr tude to the RMS sum of all other spectral compo- SNR = Pf(dB) Pn(dB) ratio nents excluding the distortion and offset error acterization than with debugging. Debug work for, say, an embedded system of The ratio, expressed in dBc, of the RMS sum of the Total harmonic first five harmonic components to the RMS value THD = Pd(dB) Pf(dB) some sort does not call for a scope with THd distortion of the measured fundamental component that sort of bandwidth. But characterizaCourtesy of LeCroy Corp. tion is a different story. Here, very precise and repeatable measurement results are extremely important. An example of characterization would ADC circuitry in any digital communications system. It is an be preparing a system-on-a-chip (SoC) for production, when IEEE specification, and many designers use it to evaluate their you want to ensure that it delivers the performance that will be ADC designs. When looking at ENOB specifications for various scopes, specified on the datasheet. In measuring digital signals, its essential to understand the remember that no one number represents the scopes capabilirole of sampling rates in the process. The Nyquist theorem ties in this regard. The spec will vary with frequency. Even if tells us that we should sample at 2.5 times the frequency of the a scope vendor specifies ENOB at a given frequency, youll still want to see a plot of ENOB versus frequency to get a true incoming signal. Thats a good starting point but the higher the sampling picture of performance. Translated for the instrument market, engineers can evalurate, the better, says Chris Loberg, senior technical marketing ate their scopes ability to accurately represent the real digital manager at Tektronix. Using a higher sampling rate than 2.5 times the input fre- performance of an electrical signal using the algorithm proquency provides more sampling points on the signal of inter- vided by the IEEE. (You can find that algorithm in a Tektronix est. This is particularly important in a later stage of the mea- application note online at www2.tek.com/cmswpt/tidetails.lotr surement process, namely analysis of extremely high-speed ?ct=TI&cs=Technical+Brief&ci=17752&lc=EN.) The higher signals. Oversampling of input signals has become a critical the ENOB result, the better the instrument can accurately repelement of the downstream signal analysis that all high-end resent the digital performance of the electrical pattern/clock being measured. scopes perform. In addition to frequency response and adequate oversamThe second phase of the measurement process is capturing pling, a third issue that impacts signal discovery is noise. the signal of interest. This is where triggering systems come In any scope, some amount of noise comes along with the into play. When buying a scope, you must ensure that its trigacquisition system and the clock. Noise impacts measure- gering system is fast enough to keep up with the signals you ments both by having a damping effect on amplitude and by intend to measure. Often, engineers are overly concerned with changing the nature of the timing of signals being measured. scope bandwidth as they contemplate a purchase. Its worthHigh-end scopes all offer extremely stable timebases for while to consider the trigger bandwidth as well. tracking incoming samples. The circuitry used to support the high-speed acquisition sysThe scope vendors also specify rise-time performance for tem of todays performance oscilloscopes can also be deployed their products, a measure of how accurately an instrument to speed up the triggering performance of an oscilloscope. can reproduce the rise time of a digital signal. This is a very With fast circuitry, trigger systems can process more quickly important scope specification, as designers must know whether through bit patterns to determine proper trigger points based on their scope is up to the task of measuring the rise time of their complicated trigger setups. signal. For third-generation PCI Express, rise times are in the Once a signal has been captured, the next phase of the proarea of 30 ps. cess is search. Somewhere in that waveform is the glitch(es) A final element of scope performance that impacts sig- you need to find. Todays scopes can store hundreds of millions nal discovery is effective number of bits (ENOB). A scopes of sample points, which is more than enough to capture at least ENOB spec is a great way to determine the effectiveness of the 10 ps of timing on a very fast signal. To properly evaluate a
signal, you must capture enough clock cycles (or unit intervals) to ascertain that the signal is stable over time. Effective searching through a signal record requires the instrument to have utilities tied to the triggering system. Scrolling through a multi-million-point acquisition with the scopes horizontal scroll knob to find a glitch is rather inefficient, let alone boring. A better way is to use the scopes search utilities to apply trigger events to the search. Most, if not all, modern scopes allow you to search for a particular pattern or error associated with the signal. The final stage in the measurement process is analysis, a stage that is critical for users of high-performance scopes. The eye diagram is a fundamental tool for analysis. It basically overlays all of the rising and falling signal instances. The reoccurrence of all these signal instances creates the eye diagram. Engineers are looking for a wide-open eye shape. All communications protocols specify attributes of the eye to pass certification standards. The scope vendors build software into their instruments that automates many measurements such as eye diagrams. We grabbed developers from protocol teams to do protocols on the scopes, says Agilents Brig Asay. In all these packages, depending on the protocol, we have all the tests automated. You can pick a jitter test for a given standard and the application already has that measurement done. The measurement is scripted. These very powerful tools couldnt be easier to use. You already have your signal coming into the scope. A single button-push performs quick protocol analyses and tells you exactly where errors are occurring so you can zoom in on them and debug. You can inform the software that youre measuring, say, a PCI Express signal. The software automatically sets up the scope to take the measurement, saving users from the drudgery and the potential for errors in doing the setup manually.
Get to the Bottom of Jitter
launched PrecisionProbe software (see Software Helps Compensate For Probes, Cables by Brig Asay of Agilent Technologies at www.electronicdesign.com). The PrecisionProbe software will AC-calibrate your probe to the exact requirements of the measurement you need to take. As a result, it eliminates all probe-to-probe variation by calibrating the cable and probe down to the tip. The AC calibration will take care of pitch adjustment. A neat capability of the PrecisionProbe software is that it precludes the need to haul out a time-domain reflectometer to derive S-parameter values for simple cables. The software turns the scope itself into a time-domain reflectometer (TDR) and comes up with an S-parameter model for use in de-embedding the cable from measurement results. But keep in mind that the results you achieve in de-embedding are only as good as your S-parameter file, and not all software that purports to extract S parameters is necessarily equal. Tools such as Teks SLDA also analyze signal equalization techniques. As signal speeds top 5 Gbits/s while still traversing printed-circuit board (PCB) traces suited for much slower signals, the signals take a beating. It becomes nearly impossible to get a proper eye diagram at the receiver. Tools such as SDLA create filters that enable the evaluation of different equalization schemes.
BreakinG it Down
Similarly, the scopes provide jitter measurement tools to help users get a better handle on one of the most critical timing measurements and potential sources of error in their systems. Designers must determine whether their circuits pass the jitter specs required of them. Its important for scopes, then, to incorporate a jitter tool that not only captures and displays those specs, but also looks for why failures occur. The tools should break down random and deterministic jitter, as well as go further by sorting through the components of deterministic jitter to help determine how to control or eliminate sources of jitter. Scopes also provide tools for serial-link data analysis, using if-then analysis to help designers understand the performance of their transmitter, receiver, and link as a system. These tools will automatically de-embed the effects of the measurement, saving them the trouble of trying to figure out the effects of probes and/ or fixtures on the circuit and how they might be affecting the measurement itself. Tektronixs SDLA tool uses S parameters to de-embed (or embed) such effects. Another example is Agilents recently
Decomposition of jitter with serial-link analysis tools is very accurate if the tools have knowledge of the data pattern. This is especially true with data-dependent jitter. But with tools such as LeCroys SDAII serial data analysis software, its a one-pushbutton operation to measure total, random, and deterministic jitter. Deterministic jitter can be broken down further in the LeCroy scheme with the companys software, which uses not a spectral breakdown of jitter but rather a method based on an NQ-Scale algorithm. According to LeCroys Ken Johnson, a spectral breakdown runs the risk of misinterpreting what is actually random jitter as deterministic jitter. This can occur, for instance, in a multilane system with crosstalk between the lanes. That crosstalk can result in datadependent jitter that leaks into adjacent lanes. Such jitter is only pseudorandom because the data changes, so it appears as random jitter. In LeCroys view, the NQ-scale algorithm is a better way to separate that cross-talked, data-dependent component out and consider it as a deterministic jitter and not as random jitter. It will return a different result from the spectral method used by other vendors. If crosstalk is not a factor, the two methods wont return a very different result. But as signal speeds and densities rise, the increased radiated energy in smaller systems has tended to make crosstalk a more pervasive problem. According to Martin Miller, LeCroys chief scientist, the spectral method makes a very simple assumption: everything in the spectrum that is a peak is associated with deterministic jitter. It also assumes, says Miller, that the rest of the jitter, or what some mathematicians would call the background, is
random in nature. The problem with that assumption is that in many scenarios, the background is not a Gaussian process but is in fact a bounded process. It is random, so its confused with something assumed to be random when in fact its not. An NQ-Scale algorithm is better for crosstalk because it looks at the problem statistically, not spectrally. Crosstalk-related, data-dependent jitter is random in nature but what it does is in fact purely bounded, says Miller. But because its random, it cannot be predicted and manifests itself in the spectrum as purely random with no periodicity. The spectral method mistakenly assumes that to be Gaussian and inflates the random-jitter component of the deterministic jitter total. Using the NQ-Scale algorithm is not without its tradeoffs, however. It requires lots of statistics, which means lots of measurements. Consequently, it takes longer than the spectral approach. The spectral method has the advantage of being convergent very quickly, albeit sometimes on the wrong number, says Miller.
Probing Matters
The interface between scope and signal is the probe, and with extremely high-bandwidth signals, its not too hard to create problems in the form of ground loops, poor connections, and other issues. Even when probing is done properly, probes inherently vary from one to another. As a result, its imperative for probes to be carefully matched and correction to be done properly. Solder-in browser tips must be carefully soldered without cold solder joints. When probing for the purposes of signal discovery, its important to consider the probe and cabling as part of the overall scope system. To that end, make sure that the probe bandwidth matches the frequency response of the scope. The path that signal travels from board or chip to scope could be as little as 4 to 5 inches or as long as 7 to 8 inches. Any signal conditioning that occurs along that path has to be considered. Most browsers offer adjustable pitches, which is a useful feature that lends flexibility to the probe. But every time you adjust the pitch on the tip, the tips impedance characteristics change. Bigger adjustments mean more change, so it behooves users to be mindful of this when probing. As more scope users gravitate toward software like Agilents PrecisionProbe, this will become less of an issue. If you can avoid using a probe at all, of course, your measurements will be better for it. Generally speaking, probes are used during debugging work, while cable interfaces are used during validation to obtain a cleaner eye diagram. As a rule of thumb, cables deliver about a 3-dB noise advantage over probes. Thus, a higher-bandwidth probe is nice to have but not necessarily a huge advantage depending on what youre using your scope for at a given time. Tektronix offers a 20-GHz probe with tri-mode capability. The probes solder-in or browser tip has a positive and a negative contact as well as two grounds, enabling it to be used as a differential probe or as two single-ended probes. LeCroys claim to fame in the probe department is its resistor-equipped tips, which it says yields better signal fidelity, bringing what
Engineering Essentials
you see on the screen with the probe closer to what youd see if you were using cables. Agilents offerings include amplifier bandwidths up to 30 GHz with 28-GHz tips.
The hows And whys of dsP
All of the high-end scopes on the market use DSP, but some manufacturers use it in different ways than others. In the past, DSP was used to boost bandwidth in many instruments, but it has fallen out of use for such purposes. These days, DSP is used more often to ensure that channels are aligned in terms of rolloff. DSP enables the matching of frequency response between channels to compensate for hardware variations. Once you have matched the channels in terms of frequency response, then you can match them from the point of view of volts/division. In its instruments, LeCroy takes DSP in a slightly different direction, providing a couple of different ways to adjust characteristics in what it terms optimization mode. According to Ken Johnson of LeCroy, two things affect step-response shape: the raw magnitude response, or the rolloff, and the group delay, or phase response. Think of phase response as something from the golden age of analog, says Johnson. Its the separation between high and low frequencies, the propagation delay. There was a natural amount of group delay in any old analog scope. That caused a step response with no preshoot and only overshoot. This is because of the group delay. Its natural and it was just how things were. Its what people think of as normal. A clever technique that LeCroy employs is to measure the group delay in its scopes and apply DSP to flatten out this response. The result is equalized preshoot and overshoot, which is good for eye diagrams and serial data evaluation. If instead youre looking for the fastest possible rise time, rolloff is an undesirable characteristic. If, for example, youre down 3 dB at 16 GHz, you will lose high-frequency bandwidth. To address this scenario, LeCroy offers a flatness mode, which provides the fastest possible rise time but will offer more preshoot and overshoot.

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1 - Top 5 Engineering Essentials Vol. II

SAM DAVIS | CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

WARMS TO DISTRIBUTED PV SYSTEMS

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3 - Top 5 Engineering Essentials Vol. II

Critical loads Criticalload subpanel PV array Main service panel

MPPT control Battery controller

SEGIS PuShES PhotovoltaIcS Into thE GrId

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EnErgy AvAilAblE At vArious light Conditions

External light conditions

MaxiMuM Power Point

0.3 0.4 Cell voltage (V)

6 - Top 5 Engineering Essentials Vol. II

RefeRences 1. www.pvpowered.com. 2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/solar_ inverter

7 - Top 5 Engineering Essentials Vol. II

Tune InTo The

needs of Modern WIreless devIces

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Forward Directional coupler power measurement

Digitally controlled capacitors Analogto-digital converter

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BASIC LED DRIVING

Triac dimmer VAC D1

LM3445 1 ASNS R1 2 FLTR1 BLDR 10

Visit http://electronicdesign.com Bill Wong | EmbEddEd/SyStEmS/SoftwarE EdItor

Two PeriPheral Buses in one

USB 3.0 CHANGES

USB CONNECTOR GALL ERY

24 - Top 5 Engineering Essentials Vol. II

Signal integrity BaSicS

Table 1: Recommended oscilloscope bandwidThs FoR TesTing common seRial sTandaRds

recommended oscilloscope bandwidth

26 - Top 5 Engineering Essentials Vol. II

40 dB down or more, you shouldnt be overly concerned.

Table 2: Some FigureS oF meriT For Sampled SySTemS

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