====================================================================== IBIS INTERCONNECT MODELING AD HOC TASK GROUP MEETING MINUTES AND AGENDA http://www.eda.org/ibis/adhoc/interconnect/ Mailing list: ibis-interconn@freelists.org ====================================================================== Next Meeting Wednesday, March 10, 2010 9 AM US Pacific Time Telephone Bridge Passcode 916-356-2663 5 761-0474 (for international and alternate US numbers, contact Michael Mirmak) Live Meeting: http://tinyurl.com/yzo768q or: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/sisoft/join?id=M462B6&role=attend&pw=P9%3D8%3BP%277b Agenda: - Attendence - Call for patents - Opens - Model Connection Protocol (tentative) - Binary syntax proposal (tentative) ====================================================================== Minutes from March 3, 2010: Attendees: ---------- (* denotes present) Agilent - Radek Biernacki*, John Moore, Ken Wong Ansoft - Denis Soldo Cadence Design Systems - Terry Jernberg, Brad Griffin Green Streak Programs - Lynne Green Hewlett-Packard - Rob Elliott IBM - Greg Edlund Intel - Michael Mirmak Mentor Graphics Corp. - John Angulo*, Vladimir Dmitriev-Zdorov Micron Technology - Randy Wolff Sigrity - Sam Chitwood, Brad Brim* SiSoft - Walter Katz* Teraspeed Consulting Group - Bob Ross* ======================================================================== No patents were announced. Opens - None SPARSE MATRIX MAPPING TSIRD Bob Ross reported that the document we agreed at the last meeting has been submitted for IBIS Open Forum processing. The document nomenclature "tsird1.0.pdf was chosen to match the TSIRD1 designation. If we have a TSIRD1.1, then the corresponding document would be tsird1.1.pdf. Brad Brim asked about the process. Bob reported that for the Touchstone 2.1 release, we are putting up some independent sections for technical review ahead of time so that concerns can be identified and resolved beforehand. Because at least one other proposal will be under development, we do not know exactly where or how the new material will be placed. However, when prepared, the final document will then be brought up for review with all of the technical concerns mostly addressed. This is similar to how the BIRD process operates. MODEL CONNECTION PROTOCOL Brad mentioned that a small team is still reviewing the draft to be introduced. It is expected to be about ten pages and follow a similar section format as Touchstone Version 2.0. If it is ready Brad will send Bob a copy for pre-view before the meeting. BINARY ENCODING Bob announced that Greg Edlund plans to author the first draft starting with the IBM format that he has presented. The e-mail that Walter Katz had sent our earlier was discussed. The text sumarized the IBM format and proposed a 'Q' Quad extension in case it is needed for possible 128 bit operating system applications. Walter's proposal shows how the precision choices (Float, Double, Quad) would be compatible with the IBM proposal with only Float and Double. Various aspects of precision were discussed. Radek asked why "M" meaning Double Frequency, float data was needed. Brad thought that the extra frequency resolution might be needed for resonance determination only without doubling the size of the file. Bob asked if a binary file created on a 128 bit machine could be processed on a lower resolution machine (e.g., 32 bit) with a compatible reader. We thought that could be done. There might be a loss of some information. The big-endian or litte-endian code would indicate what part of the binary coded number to truncate. Walter stated that he will work with Greg to prepare a first draft. NEXT MEETING Model Connection Protocol introduction is the primary topic for introduction a the next meeting. The binary encoding draft syntax might also be discussed.