FreeCalypso > hg > freecalypso-schem2
diff venus/doc/Star-points-in-core @ 35:971c05950675
starpoints in core: commit to using pcb-rnd intnoconn
author | Mychaela Falconia <falcon@freecalypso.org> |
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date | Mon, 22 Nov 2021 09:54:48 +0000 |
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--- /dev/null Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000 +++ b/venus/doc/Star-points-in-core Mon Nov 22 09:54:48 2021 +0000 @@ -0,0 +1,66 @@ +iWOW's TR-800 module, whose reverse-engineered PCB layout will serve as a +reference for the Calypso core of FC Venus, is nothing but a mass-produced +version of TI's Leonardo reference design. We don't have any original PCB +layout files for Leonardo, but we do have schematics, in 3 different versions: + +ftp://ftp.freecalypso.org/pub/GSM/Calypso/Leonardo_plus_RD122.pdf +ftp://ftp.freecalypso.org/pub/GSM/Calypso/Leonardo_plus_quadband_schem.pdf +ftp://ftp.freecalypso.org/pub/GSM/Calypso/Leonardo_rev05.pdf + +TR-800 is based on quadband Leonardo+ (that's what makes it interesting), but +the hobbled 2-band version of Leonardo is the only one for which we have TI's +original DSN (OrCAD) schematic file, in addition to the corresponding PDF: + +ftp://ftp.freecalypso.org/pub/GSM/Calypso/Leonardo_rev05.dsn + +TI's group in Aalborg (Denmark) that designed and built their development boards +used OrCAD for schematics and PADS for PCB layout. We have their PADS PCB +design file for a different board from about the same time frame (E-Sample), +but not for any Leonardo variant. + +If you look at the baseband page of Leonardo schematics (this part is the same +in all 3 versions), you will see 3 symbols denoting star routing: HST201 and +HST202 (labeled "STAR_CONFIG") split V-DBB net into VDD-PLL and VDD-CORE +branches, and HST203 (labeled "GND_POINT") creates a special ground for the +32.768 kHz oscillator circuit, connected to the rest of board ground at just +one point. + +This star routing in TI's reference version of Calypso/Leonardo core exists not +only in TI's schematics, but also in the physical PCB layout which we have +recovered from TR-800 by reverse engineering. If you look at the Gerber files +which we received from the PCB RE company (published on our FTP site in 2021), +specifically the OKPCBM~1.G1 gerber file corresponding to the inner layer just +below the surface (L2 or L5 depending on which way you count), you can see the +physical features that were once produced, presumably in PADS, to effect the +star routing depicted in the schematics. + +The physical PCB star routing feature corresponding to HST201 & HST202 resides +just underneath C214 footprint. There is a microvia (blind via going only one +layer in) inside C214 pad 1 (the left pad in the Gerber view), and on the inner +layer where this microvia goes, one can clearly see the feature that splits the +V-DBB net coming from C214.1 into VDD-PLL and VDD-CORE branches. The lower (in +the Gerber view) branch that goes to two microvias back to the surface is +VDD-PLL, whereas the other branch that goes to an inner buried via (spanning L2 +through L5) is VDD-CORE. + +The other star routing feature in the TR-800 PCB corresponding to TI's HST203 +can be seen in the far lower right corner of the same OKPCBM~1.G1 gerber file: +look for an L shape that connects a short thin trace (going to a microvia to the +surface) to the surrounding GND copper pour. The short thin trace connected to +the GND copper pour by the L shape is what we named GND_32khz in +src/core/dbb_block.v, and the L shape on the inner layer is what eventually +became of HST203. + +The present ueda netlist source code for FC Venus is written with the +expectation that the same pseudo-component EDA trick for star routing will be +used on our board, using intnoconn feature of pcb-rnd: + +http://repo.hu/cgi-bin/pool.cgi?project=pcb-rnd&cmd=show&node=intnoconn + +There is one difference in this regard between TI's original version and ours. +In TI's original version all 3 pseudo-component objects HST201, HST202 and +HST203 were 2-way stars, with HST201 and HST202 being somehow combined in PADS +layout to form the desired 3-way star. In our version 3-way star HST200 +explicitly replaces TI's HST201+HST202 pair. The actual pcb-rnd subcircuits +for the 3-way star HST200 and the 2-way star HST203 will need to be created by +the PCB layout engineer.