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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
Diagnosing design faults in a mixed-signals circuit is no
trivial task, due to the inherent uncertainties associated
with analog signals, not mentioning the interaction
between the analog part and the digital part. Using debug
and test tools is one way to deal with the problem,
especially during the prototyping phase, however if a
physical access is required then the same restrictions that
led to other solutions, based on electronic access, apply.
This is particularly the case that led to the emergence and
wide acceptance of the IEEE1149 family of test
infrastructures, which relies on an electronic test access
port. While the IEEE1149.4 test infrastructure enables the
structural and parametric test of mixed-signal boards, its
use is still far from reaching a wide acceptance, namely
due to the lack of alternative applications, such as
debugging, as seen in the 1149.1 domain of purely digital
circuits. Building upon the rationale that enabled
transferring the structural test of board interconnections
between analog pins, from the analog domain to the
digital domain, using the mechanisms present in an
Analog Boundary Module, as defined in the IEEE1149.4
Std., we propose a new way to support debug operations
in 1149.4 mixed-signals circuits. In particular, we
describe a built-in mechanism able to detect both internal
and pin-level mixed-signal conditions, and hence able to
support watchpoint/breakpoint operations at the IC level.
Description
Keywords
Mixed-signals circuits Silicon diagnosis IEEE1149.4