IBIS Macromodel Task Group

Meeting date: 19 March 2024

Members (asterisk for those attending):
Achronix Semiconductor:       Hansel Dsilva
Amazon:                       John Yan
ANSYS:                      * Curtis Clark
                            * Wei-hsing Huang
Aurora System:                Dian Yang
                              Raj Raghuram
Cadence Design Systems:       Ambrish Varma
                            * Jared James
Dassault Systemes:            Longfei Bai                             
Google:                       Hanfeng Wang
                              GaWon Kim
Intel:                      * Michael Mirmak
                              Kinger Cai
                              Chi-te Chen
                              Liwei Zhao
                              Alaeddin Aydiner
Keysight Technologies:        Fangyi Rao
                              Majid Ahadi Dolatsara
                              Stephen Slater
                              Ming Yan
                              Rui Yang
Marvell:                      Steve Parker
Mathworks (SiSoft):           Walter Katz
                              Graham Kus
Micron Technology:            Justin Butterfield
Missouri S&T:                 Chulsoon Hwang
                              Yifan Ding
                              Zhiping Yang
Rivos:                        Yansheng Wang
SAE ITC:                      Michael McNair
Siemens EDA (Mentor):       * Arpad Muranyi
                            * Randy Wolff
Teraspeed Labs:               Bob Ross
Zuken USA:                    Lance Wang

The meeting was led by Arpad Muranyi.  Curtis Clark took the minutes.

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Opens:

- None.
  
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Review of ARs:

Michael: Send out draft2 of the "Definitions Section" BIRD proposal.
         - Done.  Michael had sent draft2 shortly after the previous meeting.

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Call for patent disclosure:

- None.

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Review of Meeting Minutes:

Arpad asked for any comments or corrections to the minutes of the March 12th
meeting.  Michael moved to approve the minutes.  Randy seconded the motion.
There were no objections.

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New Discussion:

Adding a Definitions Section to IBIS:
Michael reviewed his draft2.  He said that it contained all of the changes
discussed at the previous meeting.  He noted that the first letters of all the
defined terms had been capitalized, as suggested by Ambrish, and that segment
and time segment were defined separately, as suggested by Arpad at the previous
meeting.  Michael said that all of the definitions apply to Section 10,
Algorithmic Modeling, which will become section 11 if this proposal is adopted
and inserts the new Definitions section.

In the definition of PAM, Arpad said that "an non-zero integer" should be "a
non-zero integer".  In the example accompanying the definition of Block, Curtis
suggested that "would transmit 16 symbols" be replaced with "would represent 16
symbols".  Michael agreed with  both changes.

Arpad moved that Michael submit the proposal, with today's changes, to the Open
Forum as an official BIRD.  Curtis seconded.  There were no objections.

Block Clarification proposal:
Michael reviewed draft3 of the proposal, which he had sent to the ATM list
shortly after the previous meeting.  He said that the language in the draft had
been simplified considerably because it assumed that the new Definitions section
was available to define various terms.

Arpad noted that this BIRD depends upon the approval of the Definitions BIRD,
and he asked whether we would run into any problems if the Definitions BIRD was
rejected.  He said he thought about the same question as he worked on his TSIRDs
for port mapping and pole-residue format.  Michael replied that this particular
case was easier to address because there are no technical dependencies between
these BIRDs.  In the unlikely event that the Definitions BIRD is rejected, this
BIRD could be rewritten to provide the definitions itself.

Michael reviewed the streamlined changes in the new draft.  Arpad asked why
"NRZ channel" had been changed to "NRZ system" in the example provided with the
definition of Type UI (changes for page 238).  He said he thought of a system as
something such as an entire mother board, but an NRZ channel is only a small
part of that, and in AMI simulations we typically don't simulate entire systems.
Michael countered that he thought of "channel" as just the physical channel, and
he suggested "NRZ link" instead.  He said link was an industry recognized term
and would be a subset of an entire system but more than just the physical
channel itself.  Arpad agreed with the change.

Michael again noted that blocks of text and changes on pages 219, 295 and 299
are identical.  He called out the addition in each location of the
parenthetical expression:
  (note that the size of a block is not limited to the number of samples
   needed to define an integer number of complete symbols)
These statements are consistent with  the final sentence of the paragraph
changed on page 216, which makes the same statement about "segments".

In the changes for page 303, In the Usage Rules for BCI_Message_Interval_UI,
Michael noted the one addition that might be considered a technical change.
He had added a new restriction, which applies when BCI_Message_Interval_UI
is used:
   Note that a block is assumed to contain waveform samples for at least one
   complete UI.

Arpad asked whether the proposal needed any cleanup to make it easier to read.
Michael shut off markup, and the remaining changes were more readable.  Arpad
said there was no need for additional cleanup.  Arpad suggested that we keep
this proposal in ATM for one more week for another round of review.  Michael
said he would send draft4 to the ATM list.

- Michael: Motion to adjourn.
- Curtis: Second.
- Arpad: Thank you all for joining.

New ARs:
         
Michael: Submit the "Definitions Section" proposal to the Open Forum as an
         official BIRD.
         
Michael: Send draft4 of the Block Clarification proposal to the ATM list.

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Next meeting: 26 March 2024 12:00pm PT
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IBIS Interconnect SPICE Wish List:

1) Simulator directives
