Report on the
Workshop on Signal Propagation
on Interconnects, SPI 2001
In mid May of every year, the Workshop on Signal Propagation on Interconnects (SPI) has now established itself as a traditional gathering for experts in the field of signal integrity, interconnect modeling, simulation, testing and measurement on chips, boards, and packages.
The SPI Workshop was initiated in Germany by Professor Joachim
Mucha of Hannover University in 1997. The first two editions were
held in Travemunde (on the Baltic Sea), then the Workshop moved
to Titisee (in the Black Forest), and to Magdeburg. All the past
editions were scientifically inspired by Professor Mucha, and
excellently organized by Professor Hartmut Grabinski and Dr. Petra
Nordholtz.
For its fifth anniversary, it was decided to move SPI outside
Germany, and Italy was chosen. SPI 2001 was held in Union Lido
Resort of Cavallino, in the Venice Lagoon.
During the years, this Workshop has gained the recognition of
IEEE: the 2001 edition was sponsored by the TTTC Committee of
the Computer Society and in cooperation with the Electrical Design,
Modeling and Simulation Technical Committee (TC-12) of the Components,
Packaging and Manufacturing Technology Society.
The aim of this Workshop is to be a forum of exchange on the latest
research results in the field of interconnect modeling, simulation
and measurement on chips, boards, and packages. The event is also
meant to bring together developers and researchers from industry
and academia in order to encourage cooperation. A distinctive
organization element of this Workshop is its residential nature,
in order to maximize the interactions among the attendees.
SPI 2001 gathered around 70 participants from 10 nations of three
continents (very significant was the US delegation). The participants
had the opportunity to attend 10 sessions, where 34 oral presentations
were delivered. They had also the possibility to meet the authors
of seven posters that stayed displayed for the entire duration
of the Workshop. The serene atmosphere of the residential hotel
and an enjoyable boat tour
of the Venice lagoon have favored many fruitful discussions and
exchanges.
The Workshop Proceedings volume, containing a two-page summary
of all presentations was distributed to the participants and is
available for sale at the address below. The presentation slides
of many contributions are available on the Workshop web site.
A mini-special issue of IEEE Transactions on Advanced Packaging,
based on the presentations held during SPI 2001 is also planned.
The workshop technical program was complemented by two very interesting
tutorial courses: the first one, titled "Interactive Tutorial
on High-Speed Interconnects" was taught by Andreas Cangellaris,
Umberto Ravaioli, and José Schutt-Ainé; the second
one, titled "Recent Progress in Modelling and Simulation
of High-Speed VLSI Interconnects" was taught by Michel Nakhla
and Ramachandra Achar. The two tutorials were very well attended, although they were
held on Sunday May 13, one day before the sessions started.
The Workshop Standing Committee intends to continue this traditional
event, and has decided the 6th edition of SPI Workshop will be
held in May 2002 in Central Italy, in the vicinity of Florence.
Information of the past SPI Workshops, and details of the venue
and program of the next edition are available on the workshop
web site http://gauss.tet.uni-hannover.de/SPI/
Flavio Canavero, Chair of SPI 2001 and 2002.
Dipartimento di Elettronica
Politecnico di Torino
Corso Duca degli Abruzzi, 24
10129 Torino, Italy
E-mail: canavero@polito.itPicture 3: Good Banquet food
Picture 4: Social hour networking