MRI: Acquisition of Bit Error Rate Tester (BERT) to Facilitate Rapid Deployment of High Speed FPGAs

本提案的目标是加强宾夕法尼亚州立大学哈里斯堡分校（PSH）信号完整性中心的研究计划，并将其推进到一个新的水平。信号完整性被定义为分析电子互连（如USB和高清多媒体接口（HDMI））的工程领域，其目标是改进计算机系统的设计、可靠性和性能。宾夕法尼亚州中部的哈里斯堡被称为世界连接器之都，那里有超过25家电子连接器公司，从事高传输速率互连的设计和生产。其中包括一些世界上最大的玩家。信号完整性中心专注于研究和开发新的信号完整性应用，目标是帮助本地连接器行业保持全球竞争力。请注意，电气连接器行业对宾夕法尼亚州中部经济的影响价值超过80亿美元。在中心内，本科生和硕士生有机会参与研究和培训，因此有更好的机会在处理信号完整性应用的地方（和国家）公司获得实习和就业。提议者的目标是获得一个先进的误码率测试仪（BERT）及其所需的配件，将用于支持当地工业的研究和培训。BERT系统用于验证和表征高速串行数据传输电路、接口（如USB和hdmi）和系统。本提案中要求的专业BERT测试设备有几个需求。首先，在每秒10千兆比特（Gb/s）以上的情况下，测量挑战是严格的。例如，在如此高的速度下，比特脉冲的持续时间变得更短，实际上低于皮秒的范围；因此，测量抖动变得极其困难。此外，在这个亚皮秒范围内，需要考虑仪器的固有抖动；因此，测量设备的抖动必须明显小于被测量的抖动。这台设备将补充信号完整性中心拥有的测试能力。这笔资金将把该中心的能力提升到一个新的水平，因为它在信号完整性社区中越来越出名，这反过来有助于吸引优秀的硕士生和来自其他大学和行业的合作兴趣。此外，该提案将为本科生和研究生提供更多的研究机会，并开发课程，培训当地劳动力使用设备。该中心还将与南卡罗来纳大学合作，为其研究生信号完整性项目提供测量通道。此外，所要求的设备将由PSH的无线电频率（RF）无线组使用。哈里斯堡地区社区学院和伊丽莎白镇学院的学生将通过高端BERT学习新的测量技能。该项目将加强与当地连接器公司的合作关系，为其研发团队测试现场可编程门阵列（fpga）解决方案。倡议者也在整合本科教育的研究。例如，S. Agili博士和A. Morales博士在PSH成立了信号完整性中心，涉及本科生，如FPGA快速原型设计，高级抖动分析，去嵌入技术和s参数测量随机误差的蒙特卡罗模拟。提案人也是NSF STEM提案（奖励# DUE-1154516）的PI和共同PI，旨在增加合格STEM学生的数量，旨在吸引和留住代表性不足群体的学术才华和经济困难学生。

The goal of this proposal is to enhance the research initiatives at the Center for Signal Integrity, Penn State University, Harrisburg (PSH) and advance them to the next level. Signal integrity is defined as the engineering field that analyzes electrical interconnects, such as USB and High-Definition Multimedia Interfaces (HDMI), with the goal of improving the design, reliability and performance of computer systems. Harrisburg, Central Pennsylvania, is known as the Connector Capital of the World,where there are more than twenty-five electrical connector companies that deal with designing and producing interconnects for very high transmission rates. Among them are some of the world's biggest players. The Center for Signal Integrity is focused on the research and development of new signal integrity applications with the goal of helping this local connector industry to remain globally competitive. Note that the impact of the electrical connector industry in Central Pennsylvania's economy is valued over 8 billion dollars. Within the Center, undergraduate and master students have the opportunity to get involved in research and training, and hence have better chances to access internships and employment in local (and national) companies dealing with signal integrity applications. The proposers are targeting to acquire an advanced Bit Error Rate Tester (BERT) and its required accessories that will be used for research and training in support of the local industry.A BERT system is used to verify and characterize high-speed serial data transmission circuits, interfaces (such as USB and HDMIs) and systems. There are several needs for the specialized BERT test equipment requested in this proposal. First, at 10 Gigabits per second (Gb/s), and above, the measurement challenges are stringent. For instance, at that high speed the duration of the bit pulses becomes shorter, indeed below the picosecond range; hence, it becomes extremely difficult to measure jitter. In addition, the instrument intrinsic jitter, at this sub-picosecond range, needs to be taken into account; as a consequence, the measuring equipment's jitter must be significantly less than the jitter to be measured. This piece of equipment will complement the testing capacity that the Center for Signal Integrity possesses. This funding will elevate the Center capabilities to the next level, since it is becoming well-known in the signal integrity community which in turn helps to attract good master students and collaboration interests from other universities and industry. In addition, this proposal will open more opportunities for undergraduate and graduate research and develop courses to train the local workforce in the usage of the equipment. The Center will be also collaborating with the University of South Carolina to provide measuring access to their graduate Signal Integrity program. Furthermore, the requested equipment will be used by the Radio Frequency (RF) Wireless group at PSH. Students at Harrisburg Area Community College and Elizabethtown College will be provided access to learn new measuring skills with a high-end BERT. This project will enhance the partnership with local connector companies to test Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) solutions to their research and development teams. The proposers are also integrating research in undergraduate education. For example, Dr. S. Agili and Dr. A. Morales founded the Center for Signal Integrity at PSH, involving undergraduate students, such as rapid prototyping in FPGA, advanced jitter analysis, de-embedding techniques and Monte Carlo simulation for random errors in S-parameters measurements. The proposers are also the PI and Co-PI for an NSF STEM proposal (Award # DUE-1154516) aimed to increase the pool of qualified STEM students, targeted to attract and retain academically-talented and financially needy students of under-represented groups.