Simultaneous switching noise and safety critical airborne hardware

Complex electrical circuits for safety critical airborne hardware are subjected to a number of verification and validation techniques to assure the correctness of the design. These techniques can range from formal methods to failure tree analysis. Simultaneous Switching Noise (SSN) occurs when multiple circuit outputs change simultaneously. SSN can cause the circuit to operate incorrectly under rare but predictable conditions. This research examines the effect of simultaneous switching noise on a commercially available FPGA. Both resistive and capacitive loads are characterized for the LVTTL signaling standard. The conditions necessary to induce SSN errors are analyzed and error conditions are identified.