Signal Integrity
Signal integrity is the discipline of ensuring that electrical signals propagate through transmission systems with sufficient quality to be correctly interpreted by receiving circuits. As digital systems operate at increasingly higher frequencies and faster edge rates, maintaining signal integrity becomes more challenging and critical to system functionality. What were once simple wires become complex transmission lines with impedance characteristics, reflections, losses, and electromagnetic coupling effects that can corrupt data and cause system failures.
Modern signal integrity engineering encompasses a broad range of phenomena including transmission line theory, impedance matching, reflections, crosstalk, electromagnetic interference, power distribution, and high-speed circuit design. Understanding these effects and applying appropriate analysis and mitigation techniques is essential for anyone designing or troubleshooting contemporary electronic systems operating at speeds from hundreds of megahertz to tens of gigahertz and beyond.