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A Jitter Education: An Introduction to Timing Jitter for the Freshman Abstract

This is the second in a planned series of papers addressing jitter analysis education in the Electrical Engineering Technology (EET) curriculum. The first paper, “A Jitter Education: Finding a Place for Jitter Analysis in the EET Curriculum,” described the basic types of jitter and the underlying causes, jitter measurements and displays (two related but distinctly different topics), and proposed how to incorporate jitter analysis into a four-year EET curriculum. The focus of this installment is how to introduce the subject of timing jitter to a first-year EET student.

The basics of jitter are reviewed briefly: types of jitter, its measurement, how the measurements can be displayed, and the measurement tools. Then, topics are proposed for teaching a first-year student. These topics include • the difference between jitter and wander, • the difference between random and deterministic jitter, • types of deterministic jitter, • types of jitter measurements, and • what a digital storage oscilloscope (DSO) is and why it is required for jitter analysis (instead of an older analog oscilloscope). The amount of material presented is fairly small, intended for insertion into an existing lesson plan (e.g., a few PowerPoint slides). The public web site URL is included, so that the interested reader can download a sample lesson outline and associated PowerPoint slides.

Introduction

For the purpose of this paper, timing jitter is defined as “the phenomenon seen when a digital waveform’s transition appears before or after the expected time.”1 When jitter displaces the signal’s transition so much that it happens in an adjacent clock cycle, the result is a data error on the bus. Because of the high speeds and compact designs of today’s systems, jitter that used to be negligible is now very significant, and can prevent a system from working correctly.1 Today’s designers need the ability to analyze jitter, trace its root cause(s), and mitigate or eliminate the cause(s).

In order to effectively analyze jitter, one must understand its nature, the various measurements, how those measurements can be displayed, and the tools used to do the measurement and display. The first section provides a brief review of these jitter topics. For a more detailed discussion, see the first paper in this series and its source references.1

The premise of this series of papers is that it is preferable to teach jitter analysis a little at a time, in several courses, as students progress through their undergraduate curriculum. Given that approach, several topics are appropriate to work into one or more first-year courses, in order to lay a foundation for a more in-depth treatment in later years. The basis for this discussion will

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Harding, G. (2006, June), A Jitter Education: An Introduction To Jitter For The Freshman Paper presented at 2006 Annual Conference & Exposition, Chicago, Illinois. 10.18260/1-2--320