Detection of Electromagnetic Interference in Microcontrollers Using the Instability of an Embedded Phase-Lock Loop

• Published in: IEEE transactions on electromagnetic compatibility Vol. 55; no. 2; pp. 299 - 306
• Main Authors: Shih-Yi Yuan, Yu-Lun Wu, Perdriau, R., Shry-Sann Liao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01.04.2013; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Circuit properties; Circuits of signal characteristics conditioning (including delay circuits); Clocks; Electric, optical and optoelectronic circuits; Electrical engineering. Electrical power engineering; Electrical machines; Electromagnetic compatibility; Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC); Electromagnetic interference; electromagnetic radiation; Electromagnetism; Electronic circuits; Electronics; Engineering Sciences; Exact sciences and technology; Frequency measurement; Hardware; Information, signal and communications theory; Integrated circuits; Integrated circuits by function (including memories and processors); near fields; Phase locked loops; Registers; Regulation and control; Semiconductor electronics. Microelectronics. Optoelectronics. Solid state devices; Software; Telecommunications and information theory; Near field; GHz range; Polling; Microcontroller; Electromagnetic compatibility; Electromagnetic wave; Implementation; near fields; Phase locked loop; Electromagnetic disturbance; Sensitivity; Computer hardware; Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC); electromagnetic radiation; Electromagnetic interference; Testing equipment; Software; Electromagnetic testing; phase-locked loops
• ISSN: 0018-9375; 1558-187X
• DOI: 10.1109/TEMC.2012.2218285

This paper presents a combined hardware-software mechanism for the detection of electromagnetic interference of a microcontroller (μC) in daily usage. This detection mechanism is based on the instability of phase-lock loop embedded in the target μC. It can detect the presence of EMI with higher sensitivity than polling the hardware status of the μC internal registers and thus provides a better detection margin within the 10 kHz to 1 GHz EMI frequency range. Despite its relative slowness and its resource consumption, it is very robust, can be implemented in virtually any application software, and does not require any electromagnetic compatibility test equipment.