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In this age of ubiquitous sensing and data sharing, small size and higher functionality are often at odds leading to uncertainty and risk in product performance. As product designers levy increasingly demanding requirements, such as higher data rates and greater communication range, device footprint shrinks. Risk from interference of co-located digital and radio frequency (RF) systems are at the forefront of product development schedule and cost assessment. While simulation is prevalent in electronics design from chips and packaging to PCBs and antennas, the complexity of models can be enormous. Furthermore, the expectations of obtaining a useful “digital twin” are often lofty and impractical. Still, when simulation is applied properly it delivers enormous insight, exposing risk and pointing the way to mitigation.
By applying the appropriate mix of physics-based and behavioral techniques, tractable and useful simulations can guide responsible design. Through the combination of state-of-the-art field solver techniques and system level behavior models a workflow is demonstrated to achieve efficient characterization of complex electronic systems with a variety of mixed signal sources.
This talk first provides an overview of the finite element method (FEM) used to obtain the transfer function of all signal sources through complex paths including traces, connector pins, vias, etc. to the antenna. This accounts for all unwanted radiating and conducting interference sources. Next, spectral characteristics of the transient signals are defined in one of two ways: either through analytical estimates of spectral profile or through a Fourier transform of time-domain voltage signals. Once all spectra are obtained, along with the scattering matrix from FEM solution, a complete model of the performance can be made from an interference perspective. Examples of mitigation through isolation and spectral management are discussed.
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