论文标题
以时钟为中心的串行链接，用于分布式读数系统的同步
Clock-centric Serial Links for the Synchronization of Distributed Readout Systems
论文作者
论文摘要
用于大规模物理实验的检测器读数系统以及其他一些领域的仪器通常由分布在某个区域上的多个前端数字板组成。通常，此硬件必须与最小偏斜和低抖动的通用参考时钟同步。当今的主流解决方案以精确的时钟分布和确定性的延迟消息传递取决于现代现场可编程门阵列（FPGAS）中嵌入的高速串行收发器（又称Serdes）的功能。替代选项使用不同的时钟和数据链接。在巨大的硬件费用下，这可能会达到更高的同步精度。这项工作报告了一些第一个步骤，以探索第三个方案，用于时钟和同步消息分布。与标准方法一样，同一媒体也用于传达时钟和数据，但本文定义并调查了“以时钟为中心的”链接，而不是使用当今的“以数据为中心”的链接，而恢复的时钟仅是SERDES的副产品，而相反的时钟则由链接携带，并且同步数据由调节技术嵌入。在定义了以数据为中心的链接的概念和原理后，介绍了实验研究。最后，讨论了拟议方法的优点和局限性。
Detector readout systems for medium to large scale physics experiments, and instruments in some other fields as well, are generally composed of multiple front-end digitizer boards distributed over a certain area. Often, this hardware has to be synchronized to a common reference clock with minimal skew and low jitter. Today's mainstream solutions to precise clock distribution and deterministic latency messaging rely on the capabilities of high speed serial transceivers (a.k.a. SerDes) embedded in modern Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). An alternative option uses distinct clock and data links. This can potentially reach higher synchronization accuracy, at significant hardware expenses. This work reports some first steps to explore a third scheme for clock and synchronous message distribution. Like the standard approach, the same media is used to convey clock and data, but instead of using today's "data-centric" links where the recovered clock is only a by-product of a SerDes, this paper defines and investigates "clock-centric" links where, at the opposite, a clock is carried by the link, and synchronous data are embedded into it by a modulation technique. After defining the concepts and principles of data-centric links, experimental studies are presented. Finally, the merits and limitations of the proposed approach are discussed.
