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3. checkthecorrectwiringofthesyncsignalcircuits
fromtheconnectortoeachcomponentwherethis
syncsignalisused;
4. check the circuits from the final contact of the
connector to the corresponding contacts of the
panelforinstallingthemicrocircuit.
3.3 RuleIII:checkthe
basicparametersofthesystem.
After fulfilling the first two commandments, you
shouldcontrolallthemainparametersofthesystem
level:
1. check theamplitude andnoiselevel of the power
supply, set the voltage rating according to the
circuit requirements. If the noise (ripple) of the
supplyvoltageis
large,youshouldtrytoreduceit
by switching on decoupling and smoothing filter
capacitorsorbyothermeans;
2. configurethecurrentlimitercircuit‐powersupply
protection to make it work at a certain level of
currentconsumption(thankstothis,onecanhope
that the components will not
burn out in case of
unexpectedproblems);
3. check the frequency and duty cycle of the system
clockifitisgeneratedoutsidetheboard.
3.4 RuleIV:checktheproblemnodeforcompliancewith
thecircuitdiagram.
To fulfill this commandment, you should undertake
thefollowingsteps:
1. supply power
to the board. Monitor the current
consumed.Turnoffthepowerandcheckthefirst
threecommandmentsincaseitistoohuge;
2. run the board tests. These tests or verification
procedures allow you to determine quickly
whethertheboardmatchesitselectricalcircuit(i.e.,
whether all components are
functioning,whether
alltracesandthrough‐holesfordouble‐sidedand
multilayer boards are intact, and whether all
signals from the connector pins are correctly
applied);
3. ifthetestfails,thentheproblemmustbecarefully
documented.Recordthenumberofthetestfailed
andallthesignsofsuch
failure.Firstofall,make
sure you are supplying the correct input signals.
Eliminate your own operator errors. Then check
forcorrectinstallation.
Let’s suppose, for example, that a test should
verifythefunctioningoffourdiscreteinstruments.It
providesforthesupplyofsettingsignals to discrete
devices No.
1, No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 and reading
results01,02,03and04ontheindicator.Yourunthe
testandsendsignalstothefirstinstrument.Yousee
02 instead of 01 on the display. Record your results
andcontinue.Whenyouapplythereferencesignalto
the second discrete device, you notice that 01 is
indicatedonthedisplay.Recordtheresultsagainand
continue. By giving signals to the third and fourth
device,youseethecorrectdisplayreadings‐03and
04,respectively.Thequestionarises:ʺForwhatreason
doesthefirstdiscretedevicelook
likethesecond,and
viceversa?ʺ
First of all, make sure that you are making the
correct input signals. Operator errors should be
eliminatedassoonaspossible.Thencheckforcorrect
installation. The circuit from the controlled discrete
devicetotheindicatormayberoutedincorrectly(for
example, two signals
are mixed up). Maybe discrete
device number 2 is associated with the least
significantbitoftheindicator,orviceversa?Ifweare
talkingaboutawiredbreadboard,thentheerrorcan
beeliminatedimmediately.Ifyouareworkingwitha
printed circuit board, you can either clear the
error
first, or skip the entire test to check the rest of the
board.However,youmustclearlyfixeachproblemso
that you know exactly under what circumstances it
occurredandwhataretheevidences.
Letʹs give one more example of the scheme
implementation.Youhavejustreceiveda
volumetric
wiringboardforsetup. After visuallyinspectingthe
board, checking the integrity of the connections and
settingthebasic systemparameters, youturnonthe
power‐and suddenly you smell smoke. What is
burning?Moreimportantly,whatisthereason?Turn
off the power, repeat the first commandment and
visually check the board. If you can not notice
anything,trytocheckseveralcircuits.Thiswillallow
you to understand which conductor or element has
burned out.The fulfilledcheckingmay indicatethat
thelinefromtheconnectorpowerpinstotheboardis
broken. If so, you should check
whether too small
conductorsize was mistakenlychosenforthe power
wiring.
3.5 RuleV:“separateandpowerer!”
Debuggingcomplexsystemsusuallyrequiretosolve
complex problems, but many of them are easily
solved by breaking them down into several simple
ones,i.e.usuallytheyusethemethodwiththe
name
“divideandrule”.
Tofulfillthiscommandment,followthenextsteps
1. identifytheproblemcorrectly;
2. isolatethesuspiciouspartofthemicrocircuitfrom
therestoftheparts.
Isolationmakesitpossibletoobserveandcontrol
the input reference signals and check the output
signals. This approach allows
you to resolve such
problems as conflicts (race) on the common bus,
problemswiththeloadofIn/Outcircuits,andothers.
Example1.Conflictsituationonthebus[3].
Itoccurswhenseveraluserssimultaneouslytryto
seize the right to control the bus. To solve this
problem,
youshould:
Disconnectalldevicesfromthesystembus,except
for those suspected of creating conflict situation, in
thissituationsuchdevicesastransceiversandbuffers
shall be removed from the board. You should not
expect that isolation will be ensured by using IC
selection circuits (at the CS input) or
at the output
enablinginputfortri‐steadystatelogic.These control
circuits can lead to malfunction and allow access to
thesystembuswhennotprovided.Aftersecuringthe
isolation,checkthereadingandwritingoperationsfor
the devices suspected, with a time‐lapse analysis of
thesignalsdriving
theseoperations.
Example 2. Problems of loading input/output (I/O)
circuits.Theyarisewhenaparticularoutputcircuitis