Timing Jitter Tutorial & Measurement
By James Wilson, Silicon Labs
Introduction
The demand for near instant data access is increasing exponentially. High data rate applications like video, in conjunction with growing numbers of devices connected to each other, the Cloud and the Internet, are driving usage ever higher. Likewise, users expect to upload and download high-density data in real-time, abandoning web sites almost immediately if the speed is slow.
These trends are increasing the need for higher speed, higher bandwidth networks with higher data rates, and faster data interfaces. As speeds increase, the clocks and timing components that support them must provide better timing sources.
Jitter is the measure of timing performance. High jitter means poor timing performance in most cases.
This primer provides an overview of jitter and offers practical assistance in taking jitter measurements.>
Fig.1 - Types of Jitter
