2,193 research outputs found
Ring oscillator clocks and margins
How much margin do we have to add to the delay lines of a bundled-data circuit? This paper is an attempt to give a methodical answer to this question, taking into account all sources of variability and the existing EDA machinery for timing analysis and sign-off. The paper is based on the study of the margins of a ring oscillator that substitutes a PLL as clock generator. A timing model is proposed that shows that a 12% margin for delay lines can be sufficient to cover variability in a 65nm technology. In a typical scenario, performance and energy improvements between 15% and 35% can be obtained by using a ring oscillator instead of a PLL. The paper concludes that a synchronous circuit with a ring oscillator clock shows similar benefits in performance and energy as those of bundled-data asynchronous circuits.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft
An absolute calibration system for millimeter-accuracy APOLLO measurements
Lunar laser ranging provides a number of leading experimental tests of
gravitation -- important in our quest to unify General Relativity and the
Standard Model of physics. The Apache Point Observatory Lunar Laser-ranging
Operation (APOLLO) has for years achieved median range precision at the ~2 mm
level. Yet residuals in model-measurement comparisons are an order-of-magnitude
larger, raising the question of whether the ranging data are not nearly as
accurate as they are precise, or if the models are incomplete or
ill-conditioned. This paper describes a new absolute calibration system (ACS)
intended both as a tool for exposing and eliminating sources of systematic
error, and also as a means to directly calibrate ranging data in-situ. The
system consists of a high-repetition-rate (80 MHz) laser emitting short (< 10
ps) pulses that are locked to a cesium clock. In essence, the ACS delivers
photons to the APOLLO detector at exquisitely well-defined time intervals as a
"truth" input against which APOLLO's timing performance may be judged and
corrected. Preliminary analysis indicates no inaccuracies in APOLLO data beyond
the ~3 mm level, suggesting that historical APOLLO data are of high quality and
motivating continued work on model capabilities. The ACS provides the means to
deliver APOLLO data both accurate and precise below the 2 mm level.Comment: 21 pages, 10 figures, submitted to Classical and Quantum Gravit
Full phase stabilization of a Yb:fiber femtosecond frequency comb via high-bandwidth transducers
We present full phase stabilization of an amplified Yb:fiber femtosecond
frequency comb using an intra-cavity electro-optic modulator and an
acousto-optic modulator. These transducers provide high servo bandwidths of 580
kHz and 250 kHz for frep and fceo, producing a robust and low phase noise fiber
frequency comb. The comb was self-referenced with an f - 2f interferometer and
phase locked to an ultra-stable optical reference used for the JILA Sr optical
clock at 698 nm, exhibiting 0.21 rad and 0.47 rad of integrated phase errors
(over 1 mHz - 1 MHz) respectively. Alternatively, the comb was locked to two
optical references at 698 nm and 1064 nm, obtaining 0.43 rad and 0.14 rad of
integrated phase errors respectively
Increasing the robustness of digital circuits with ring oscillator clocks
Technology scaling enables lower supply voltages, but also increases power density of integrated circuits. In this context, power integrity becomes a major concern in the implementation of highperformance designs. This paper analyzes the influence of Ring Oscillator Clocks (ROCs) on mitigating the impacts of voltage noise. A design with an ROC as the clock source is able to work correctly even in the presence of severe and unpredictable voltage emergencies, without degrading the average performance and power metrics of the circuit. ROCs offer an instantaneous and continuous adaptation to the environment conditions, thus reducing the margins used to prevent timing failures. ROCs provide robustness independently of the power delivery network, thus relaxing
the constraints required for the design of the PCB and package. As a by-product, the inherent jitter generated by ROCs produces a spreadspectrum effect that reduces electromagnetic emissions.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version
A Software-based Low-Jitter Servo Clock for Inexpensive Phasor Measurement Units
This paper presents the design and the implementation of a servo-clock (SC)
for low-cost Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs). The SC relies on a classic
Proportional Integral (PI) controller, which has been properly tuned to
minimize the synchronization error due to the local oscillator triggering the
on-board timer. The SC has been implemented into a PMU prototype developed
within the OpenPMU project using a BeagleBone Black (BBB) board. The
distinctive feature of the proposed solution is its ability to track an input
Pulse-Per-Second (PPS) reference with good long-term stability and with no need
for specific on-board synchronization circuitry. Indeed, the SC implementation
relies only on one co-processor for real-time application and requires just an
input PPS signal that could be distributed from a single substation clock
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