Effect of Timing Jitter on Distributed Computer Control System Performance

Abstract Feedback control loops implemented via a distributed computer control system are susceptible to timingjitter during both sampling and signal reconstruction. The effect of jitter can be quantified in the frequency domain as a filter which shapes the loop response. A control loop is examined under both read-in and read-out jitter for two types of jitter distribution. Simulation results confirm the effect of jitter as predicted by the jitter filter. For the control loop discussed, both read-in and read-out jitter degrade performance (phase margin is reduced), while read-out jitter improves the controller stability (gain margin is increased).