Reconfigurable controllers for synchronization via wagging
James Sebastian Guido, Alex Yakovlev · 2011
Synchronization via wagging is a method by which a high bandwidth data signal can be partitioned into several lower bandwidth data signals in order to increase the synchronization time of a master-slave latch configuration, and by consequence the mean time between failure for each of the latches in the lower bandwidth array of devices. Furthermore, reconfigurable controller hardware grants the circuit designer direct control over the synchronization time of the array of master-slave latches via the use of one-hot control codes.This work assesses the benefits of unified reconfigurable controller designs over brute force methods when accounting for effects such as process variations. The reconfiguration protocol is discussed, and three separate controller implementations for a wagging synchronizer are compared in a UMC 90 nm technology with operational frequencies of 37 GHz, 19 GHz, and 12 GHz and average power consumption between 1.3 ¼W and 7.5 ¼W per cell in the typical case. Furthermore, the area cost of a unified reconfigurable control device is shown to have a linear growth in complexity as compared the exponential growth present when utilizing selective hardware replication of configurable modes. Conclusions are then drawn outlining future directions for research.