[SI-LIST] Touchstone Version 2.0 Proposal for S12/S21 Ordering

Patrick and All:

A proposal is presented to address the problems described by one
of Patrick Zabinski's paragraphs:

  "Although we can generally adapt to the 2-port matrices having their
   own unique element ordering, it has historically caused many
   issues for several of us.  Several analysis and measurement tools
   do not follow this ordering, and many engineers are unaware of
   the uncommon ordering."

COMMENTS:

Patrick just articulated how the simple ordering issue impacts
the industrial community.

This ordering issue is not fully resolvable by one selection.

One selection is clearly favored for the future.

PROPOSAL:

Provide two new keywords (or equivalent syntax) for Touchstone
Version 2.0 files:

[X12], [X21]

AND Rules including

1. (exclusive OR)  REQUIRE only ONE of the choices.

2. (AND) The [FORMAT} keyword elsewhere supports ONLY [X12]

3. (AND)  New features in Touchstone Verison 2.0 and beyond
    will be developed supporting ONLY the [X12] selection.

------

QUESTIONS AND RATIONALE:

Why "X"?  The issue also applies to Y- and Z-parameters.

Why [Format]?  This feature is also impacted.

Why Required?  Now users everywhere explicitly know how
the data is formatted.

Why Required?  Anyone who uses [X12]/[X21] information
can rely on it existing for the long-term future.
For example, a simple, automatic utility for converting
from either format to a single, user/tool format can be
developed based on the [X12] and [X21] keywords.

Why the Intent:  Anyone who wants to support new features
(for example, port-specific reference resistances)
knows that it is supported by only the [X12] convention.
No one needs to consider the [X21] impact on new features.

-----

This proposal responds to Patrick's issue (1) by making
everyone aware of it, (2) by providing a solution that maximally
supports resolving the problem, and (3) by adopting a favored
[X12] convention for future features (such as mixed-mode).

EXTRACTION TOOL DEVELOPER EXAMPLE:

Agilent VNA uses the S21/S12 convention like [X21].

Agilent can start supporting Version 2.0 with a simple
option by adding only [X21] along with three other
required keywords.

Beyond those minimal changes, Agilent can decide on what
other features to support for Touchstone 2.0 and beyond. per
company priorities.

------

Comments on the proposal?

Bob
-- 
Bob Ross
Teraspeed Consulting Group LLC     Teraspeed Labs
121 North River Drive              13610 SW Harness Lane
Narragansett, RI 02882             Beaverton, OR 97008
401-284-1827                       503-430-1065
http://www.teraspeed.com           503-246-8048 Direct
bob@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Teraspeed is a registered service mark of Teraspeed Consulting Group LLC

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