Propagating analog signals through a fully digital network on an electronic system prototyping platform

The concept of sending and receiving analog signals through a digital interconnection network is presented in this paper. The proposed “analog bus” addresses limitations of a novel rapid prototyping platform called the WaferBoard™ that was initially designed to support prototyping of all digital circuits with its embedded fully digital interconnection network. This paper explores the simplest and least area consuming means of propagating analog signals through a digital interconnection network. A prototype integrated circuit based on the proposed concept was designed using the TSMC 0.18μm technology. The presented prototype is capable of sending an analog signal in the range of 0.6 V to 1.6 V with a maximum frequency of 200 kHz while consuming 68×53.4 μm² of chip area and 19.9 mW of power.