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IBIS INTERCONNECT MODELING AD HOC TASK GROUP MEETING MINUTES AND AGENDA

http://www.eda.org/ibis/adhoc/interconnect/

Mailing list: ibis-interconn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

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Next Meeting
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
8 AM US Pacific Time

               Telephone     Bridge   Passcode
              916-356-2663     3      996-5149

Launch the Office Live Meeting client and join the meeting with the following 
information:
        Meeting ID:     509539afbf48416097e404ffcc6a6539
        Entry Code:     2v0jG3maZ6
        Location:       
meet:sip:michael.mirmak@xxxxxxxxx;gruu;opaque=app:conf:focus:id:509539afbf48416097e404ffcc6a6539%3Fconf-key=2v0jG3maZ6

        http://tinyurl.com/53ewjg

Agenda:
- Call for patents
- Opens
- Review of latest version of the document
- Discussion on Interconnect Port Groups

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Minutes from September 24:

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
Intel                      - Michael Mirmak*
Mentor Graphics Corp.      - John Angulo*, Vladimir Dmitriev-Zdorov
Micron Technology          - Randy Wolff
Sigrity                    - Sam Chitwood, Raymond Y. Chen, Tao Su, Brad Brim
SiSoft                     - Walter Katz*
Teraspeed Consulting Group - Bob Ross

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No patents were announced.

Michael reviewed draft 10 of the Touchstone 2.0 document.  Several changes
were suggested by the team:

- p. 13: missing "1-p" characters
- p. 18: "Fundamentals" instead of "Concepts" was suggested by Radek
- p. 21: format of Mixed-Mode Network Parameter Data title incorrect
- p. 29: Touchstone capitalization and font incorrect

Radek suggested also that "Condition 1" and "Condition 2" may be used in place
of Ro vs. ro in Appendix A.

These changes will be held until additional revisions are noted and collected
for [Interconnect Port ...] keywords.

The team discussed interconnect port groups and related concepts.  Walter
noted that he supports the format of the current draft's keywords.  Should
this be removed form the draft by this group due to perceived resistance,
he will move to have it added during consideration by the IBIS Open Forum.
Walter added that having port names and pin numbers is highly desirable, but
that this may be proposed for a future release.  He will provide a proposal
directly to the reflector.

Radek commented that "resistance" may not exist to the inclusion of port
mapping in the draft, but that the specification must address issues
arising from user connections that conflict with the mapping, T-configurations
or other unanticipated topologies, etc.  The mapping are valuable pieces
of information, but "clear concepts" of usage must be defined.

Walter responded that currently no solution exists for exchanging port
to node mapping information outside of free-form comments, and that these
cannot be automatically read by EDA tools.  StatEye is one leading application
for S-parameters where reading and automated connection of Touchstone ports
has been requested.  Radek agreed that the user must be freed from issues
related to port mapping.

Separately, Walter raised the issue of sparse network parameter data.  In a 
future
release, defining only non-zero network transfer functions or characteristics
(the team debated nomenclature) would be a useful analogue to RLGC matrices,
reducing Touchstone file sizes over the NxN format for N port data used today.

The discussion will continue during the next meeting, where attendance
is likely to be greater.

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Team Objectives:
1) complete ICM-IBIS linking BIRD and any associated changes to the
   ICM specification
2) update the ICM specification, if needed, to clarify the mapping of
   ICM nodes to S-parameter ports
3) complete a specification for "Touchstone Plus" or similar
   industry-standard definition for Touchstone-like files, to include
   complex impedance references, removal of limits on the maximum number
   of ports and per-port impedance references

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