Methods and apparatus for analyzing transmission lines with decoupling of connectors and other circuit elements

Abstract

Methods and apparatus are provided for analyzing transmission lines with decoupling of connectors and other circuit elements. According to one aspect of the invention, circuits with one or more parasitic elements are analyzed by partitioning at least one of the parasitic elements in a transverse manner; identifying a plurality of subcircuits each comprised of partitioned circuit elements from the plurality of transmission lines and one or more parasitic elements in a given path; wherein each of the subcircuits is associated with a path in the circuit; performing a waveform relaxation analysis between each of the subcircuits; and repeating the step of performing the waveform relaxation analysis using waveforms determined in a previous iteration until convergence to a resultant waveform has occurred. The circuit can optionally further comprise one or more transmission lines which would also be partitioned in a transverse manner.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0001] The present invention relates to the analysis of electrical circuits, and more particularly, to the analysis of transmission line circuits using Transversal Waveform Relaxation techniques. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] Electrical circuits with transmission lines are typically analyzed to ensure proper functioning of the circuits. The coupling between multiple lines and the resultant coupled signals are an important aspect of these transmission line circuits. Power distribution systems, for example, often must be analyzed for stability and other properties. Similarly, in instrumentation circuits and computer circuitry in racks or cabinets the noise coupled between transmission lines needs to be understood and minimized. [0003] A number of techniques have been proposed or suggested for analyzing multiple wire transmission lines. Such techniques are described, for example, in Clayton Paul, Analysis of Multiconductor Transmission Lines, Ch. 5 (Wiley, 1...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent describes a method and apparatus for analyzing transmission lines with decoupling of connectors and other circuit elements. The invention involves partitioning circuits with parasitic elements, identifying subcircuits associated with each path, performing waveform relaxation analysis between the subcircuits, and repeating the analysis until a resultant waveform has occurred. The circuit elements are represented using a circuit macromodel that separates each path that enters and exits a given element. The invention also includes embodying electrical couplings between paths using current controlled sources, and updating the states of the sources at each step of the analysis. Overall, the invention provides a more accurate understanding of the performance of transmission lines and their components.

Problems solved by technology

While these techniques are suitable for the analysis of models with a few lines, the complexity increases rapidly as the number of lines increases.

Existing techniques for analyzing multiple wire transmission lines are limited in the number of coupled lines or wires that can be analyzed simultaneously.

The complexity of the coupling calculation increases rapidly as the number of lines increases, and the accuracy of the results decreases with the increasing number of lines.

Hence, the existing techniques are unable to handle a large number of lines due to excessive computation time and the results become questionable.

Other techniques are based on having only linear circuits to speed up the calculation process and are therefore unsuitable for handling even typical transmission line circuits, which include surrounding nonlinear drivers and receivers.

While such Transversal Waveform Relaxation techniques have greatly improved the analysis of multiple wire transmission lines and provide an efficient approach for transverse decoupling of transmission lines, they suffer from a number of limitations, which if overcome, could provide further improvements.

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