Methods for clock signal characterization using FPGA resources

Abstract

Reliable measurement of clock signal parameters is an important tool for calibration and validation of circuits used in precise-timing applications. Such parameters include frequency, phase, duty cycle and channel-to-channel skew. Especially in applications in which testing time for multiple channels is a significant factor, efficient parallelization of measurements is crucial, often coming with significant extra cost. We present a technique for characterization of clock signal parameters using off-the-shelf (FPGA) evaluation hardware. Two methods for both static measurements (steady-state behaviour) as well as dynamic measurements are presented. For the two measurement methods proposed, case studies are presented and their performance discussed.