Automatic conducted-EMI microcontroller model building

Abstract

This paper proposes an automatic algorithm for block-box electromagnetic interference (EMI) modeling of microcontroller (μC). Due to intellectual property considerations, IC design companies seldom expose internal architecture details of their μC products to EMI modelers. Since the internal module behaviors are unknown, it makes EMI modeling very difficult. This method is based on the measurement of a pre-prepared testing board(s) to build a conducted EMI (cEMI) μC model. The concept is based on block-box impulse response (BBIR) function calculation. BBIR is based on solely measurement basis and treat the target as a block-box. Through block-box type deductions and measurements, BBIR model can be built. After the model is built, the cEMI behavior of a new testing board (or module) with the same μC are estimated. A case study is given for the proposed method. In this case study, the cEMI model is firstly built and, then, followed by a real measurement of the cEMI behaviors of the new testing board. The proposed model is verified by the comparison of the estimated data and the physical measurements. From the experiment results, it shows that the proposed power model does in good accordance with the cEMI behavior of the target μC both in time-domain and frequency-domain.