Since being introduced at APEC in 2005 the PMBus™ power management protocol has been widely adopted and is the accepted standard for digital power management. With the introduction of security features in PMBus 1.5 and the Secure VR Application Profile, use of PMBus is expected to grow broadly across the market. However, 17 years after it’s introduction, common problem and misconceptions about what PMBus is and isn’t abound. This professional development seminar is intended to build attendee’s basic understand of the PMBus 2-wire serial protocol. How it is similar to, and different from I2C and SMBus and provide them with useful guides and functions to build systems leveraging the capabilities of PMBus.
The first half of the seminar reviews the basics of the 2-wire SMBus including the electrical interface and how bits, bytes, and complete messages are transferred from one device to another. Comparing and Contrasting with I2C, and how to use an I2C controller peripheral to build PMBus transactions. PMBus specific features such as CONTROL, ALERT# and the ALERT RESPONSE ADDRESS (ARA) are also reviewed. Next a summary the organization of the PMBus command language and numerical formats, setting and adjusting the output voltage, fault management, and status reporting.
The second half of the seminar takes a deeper look at how PMBus features can be used in different stages of the Power Supply and Product Life-Cycle. From shortening the product development cycle by eliminating schematic dependencies through in-circuit programming, improving product verification, qualification and reliability testing through in-circuit test, margin and warnings, to in-field diagnostics and update capabilities.
