Managing Loss and Discontinuities

The practice of Signal Integrity increasingly focuses on managing loss and discontinuities.  Each system struggles with one or the other, making it imperative to determine which issue is dominant and respond appropriately.  If your interconnect is long, you’ll likely grapple with loss.  If it is short and/or modular, minimizing discontinuities becomes imperative.  While “long and short” are simplifications that track with “loss and discontinuities” respectively, the challenge of managing their impact on signal integrity requires a deeper look. The interplay between loss and discontinuities is interesting, and often non-intuitive....