A Distributed Synchronized Clocking Method

This paper will present a novel method to generate and distribute a synchronous clock to multiple nodes in a distributed system. Total system synchronization is established by adjusting the internal delays of each node so that the delay between all adjacent pairs of nodes becomes identical. The system is based on the principles of phase-locked and delay-locked loops but does not discuss the methods and details of phase acquisition, jitter or lock-in time. The system is composed of a master node used to generate clock pulses and multiple slave nodes used to align the pulses. A Matlab Monte Carlo simulation of the linear behavior of the system is presented which not only validates the theoretical description, but also can be used as a good tool to gauge the performance of any particular system scenario. Selected HSpice simulations are then presented which show the operating characteristics of certain scenarios involving differing interconnect lengths between nodes that correspond to specific Matlab simulations.