Highlights | Schedule | Exhibitor List

This panel will explore the art and science of where to draw the line on critical system design parameters such as attenuation, crosstalk, power distribution noise, and jitter. Since all these parameters are interlocked, the panelists will discuss the role of statistics as a powerful tool for removing unnecessary conservatism from our designs. Also, discussion will offer a survey of different approaches for validating design rules and post-route analysis by pushing systems to failure during guard band testing. The successful SI engineer strikes a balance between quantitative information derived by rigorous analysis and qualitative information arrived at by personal experience and the experience of respected colleagues.

Chairperson

Greg Edlund, Senior Engineer, Signal Integrity Engineering and Technology Services, IBM, presented his first DesignCon paper in 1996. His responsibilities at IBM include noise analysis, electromagnetic modeling, and model-to-hardware correlation. Mr. Edlund has been privileged to work with many talented engineers at IBM, DEC, Cray Research, and Supercomputer Systems. Among his long-term career interests are noise failure criteria and model accuracy.

Panelists

Dale Becker, Senior Technical Staff Member, IBM Systems Group, IBM, leads the package design team that integrates and implements the multiprocessor design for IBM's large server platforms. Dr. Becker's current interests focus on the robust electrical design methodologies for a high-frequency CMOS processor system. He specializes in the application of electromagnetic numerical methods to the issues of signal integrity and simultaneous switching noise in electronic packaging, the measurement of these phenomenon, and the verification of the models.

Robert Haller, Principal Consulting Engineer, Signal Integrity Software, is engaged in analyzing, debugging and verifying his customer's designs for signal integrity and timing in both simulation and the lab. Mr. Haller has more than 20 years experience designing and modeling modules, backplanes, packages, integrated circuits and performing signal integrity analysis. He previously spent 19 years at Digital Equipment Corporation where he was a senior member of technical staff.

Dr. Howard Johnson, Founder, Signal Consulting, has over 20 years of experience in the field of digital design and is an experienced system developer. He has served as a key technological contributor for many communications, networking, and multimedia companies. Prior to founding Signal Consulting, Dr. Johnson was manager of technology and advanced development at ROLM Corp., director of engineering at U.S. TeleCenters, and manager of technology and advanced development at Ultra Network Technologies.

Dr. Edward Sayre, President and Chief Executive Officer, North East Systems Associates, is the founder and chairperson of the IBIS users group, which focuses on usability issues of the behavioral simulator. Prior to forming NESA, Dr. Sayre designed microwave antennas and electromagnetic systems for AVCO Systems Division. During his time at AVCO, he was an inventor of the space shuttle microwave landing antennas, as well as numerous conformal microwave stripline antenna structures.