IEEE PEDS 2011, Singapore, 5 - 8 December 2011

Correlation-based System Identification

of Digitally Controlled SMPS
Jun-Yan Liu \ Chun-Hung Yang2, Chien-Hung Tsae
Department of Electrical Engineering / Advanced Optoelectronic Technology Center (AOTC)
/ Green Energy Electronics Research Center (GREERC)
National Cheng-Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan, R.O.C.
Tel: +886-6-275-7575 ext. 62355 Fax: +886-6-234-5482
E_maiI1,2: {n26984999, n2894138}@mai1.ncku.edu.tw E-maiI3: chtsai@ee.ncku.edu.tw
Switched-mode Power Supply (SMPS) Patl. I: Opeilioop
Abstract- This paper presents a design procedure using the .�':.'!� .�:"�!!!��l!.'!..".:.�a:.�,,-_.
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correlation-based identification to determine the compensation ViII ..L VOlli

coefficients. A method for verifying the compensation
coefficients is also proposed. That solved the open-loop
T
frequency response of digitally controlled switched-mode power
supply is difficult to accurately measure and provided a method
to test the function of digital compensators. Experimental results
show that the open-loop and closed-loop frequency responses
obtained using the correlation-based identification method are r-------
close to the measured frequency responses. I
I
Keywords- digital control, switched-mode power supply I
I
(SMPS), compensation, correlation-based identification,
� ____________________ J
frequency response.
Digital COlltroller wilh Simple Idelltification Module

Fig. l. Digitally controlled Switched-mode Power Supply (SMPS) with

1. INTRODUCTION correlation-based identification module.

Digitally controlled switched-mode power supply (SMPS)
have emerged in recent years due to attractive features they
offer and potential advantages over analog realizations. A
digitally controlled SMPS is shown in Fig. I. The analog-to­
digital converter (ADC) acquires the analog output voltage
Vout(t) and calculates the error signal e[n], which is the
difference between Vout[n] and Vrerln]. The digital
compensator is a digital filter that calculates the duty
command d[n] from e[n]. The duty signal proportional to d[n]
is generated with the digital pulse-width modulator (DPWM).
It is important to ensure the correctness of the digital
compensator in the digital controller for SMPS. The incorrect
compensation coefficients can negatively affect downstream
devices and systems. To determine the compensation
coefficients, a state-space averaged model [I] is typically
used to find the control-to-output frequency response to
obtain poles, zeros, and the phase margin at the desired
crossover frequency. However, parameters of components
and impacts of PCB, wire, de-coupling capacitors are difficult
to accurately measure. Even if all parameters can be
measured, a complicated model is difficult to analyze. The
open-loop frequency response can be measured using
instruments [2]. However, instruments are expensive and
designer must know instruments operation.
The time-domain and frequency-domain information can
be found using system identification [3]. Identification
methods can be divided into parametric and non-parametric
types. Parametric system identification methods obtain the
characteristics of the system model. Non-parametric system
identification methods analyze the input test signal and output
disturbance signal to directly obtain the impulse response or
frequency response.
Non-parametric include frequency response [3-5], Fourier
and spectral analysis [3] can be used to obtain the system
frequency response; Transient response [4] and correlation
analysis methods [6-9] can be used to obtain the system
impulse response. Correlation analysis has a short detection
time, simple operation, and good signal-to-noise ratio [6], and
can be integrated with a digital controller. This paper presents
a design and verification procedure for determining the
compensation coefficients using correlation identification.
The rest of this paper is organized as follows. Section 11
reviews correlation-based identification theory and shows the
design and verification flow of a digital compensator. Section
III introduces the configuration of measurement.
Experimental results are shown in Section IV. The
conclusions are given in Section V.
11. CORRELATION-BASED IDENTIFICATION
A. Review ofCorrelation Analysis Method
Assume that a switching power converter is operating in
the steady state. For small-signal analysis, the small-signal
model of the switching power converter is equivalent to a
linear time-invariant discrete-time system. The sampled
output voltage y[n] can be expressed as:
00

system transfer function or state-space matrix to describe the y[n] = L h[k]u[n - k] + v[n] (I)
k=-oo

978-1-4577-0001-9/11/$26.00 ©2011 IEEE 1149

where h[k] is the discrete-time impulse response of the
system under test; u[n] is the input test signal; and v[n] are
the disturbances. ,.
From the definite of cross-correlation, the cross-correlation
of the input test signal and output voltage is given by: ,.
00

Ruy [ n] = L: h[ k]RuzJ n - k] + Ruv [n] (2)

k=- oo
where Ruy is the cross-correlation of the input test signal and ''''

output voltage and Ruu is the auto-correlation of the input test 100

i'" �
signal. Assume that u[n] and v[n] are uncorrelated, and that -
? .......
i
•

u[n] is white noise with its autocorrelation an ideal delta 50

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. -
, /
·100
function. The cross-correlation of the input test signal and
____ 0 __ ___ 0 _ 0 _ _ o •• _ . __

,"
output voltage equals the discrete-time impulse response of ,��--����
, ������,.7
, --�--��,�
�--��
�l'(!(II-e11t)' (1 It)
the system under test. The open-loop frequency response of Fig. 2. Digital controller with correlation-based identification module.
the switching power converter can then be derived by
applying the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) to Ruy[n]:
DFT )
Ruy [n] = h[n] H(jm) (3)
The above result requires the signal generator to generate a
white noise. Tn the implementation, an approximate white
noise signal is easily generated with pseudorandom binary
sequence (PRBS) perturbations by a shift register and
feedback taps.
.,.
B. Design Procedure ofDigital Compensator
Tn practice, the correlation-based identification method can
be used to directly obtain the open-loop frequency response
of the SMPS. The open-loop measurement path of the block
; . ......
diagram is shown in Fig. 2 (Path 1). The correlation-based . ,. �. ";ypinl �C1mp('nsalion b:llildwidih nll�c! (fJlO -/.tJO) _..
,,' ,,' ..'
identification module includes a shift register that generates
the PRBS test signal u[n] to disturb duty command d[n], Fig. 3. Digital compensator's quantization effect

causing it to increase or decrease randomly, and a data
collection unit that stores u[n] and y[n] data into memory.
The system open-loop frequency response can be obtained
using (2) and (3).
The overall design and operating procedures are as follows:
1) Set default compensation coefficients.
frequency response. Therefore, the method can be used to
verifY digital compensator coefficients. Moreover, it can also
be used to determine the word length of coefficients in order
to avoid quantization effects (i.e. finite word length), Fig. 3.
TIT. COMPARISON OF FREQUENCY RESPONSE

2) Enable identification module.

A. Open-loop Transfor Function
3) Calculate and update new compensation coefficients. The state-space averaged model of a digitally controlled
From the identified open-loop frequency response, the
SMPS was given in [1] as control-to-output transfer function
details of the loop can be measured without instruments. That
Gvd(z). To consider the ADC and DPWM effects [10], the
helps us to design the compensation coefficients quickly and
open loop transfer function can be expressed as:
accurately.
Gopenloop(z) = GdpwnJz), Gvd(z), Gadc(z) (4)
C. VerifY a Design ofDigital Compensator
where Gdpwm(z) is the transfer function of the DPWM that
Correlation-based identification can also be used to
includes the gain and the delay time between the compensator
measure the frequency response of the digital compensator.
and DPWM; Gadc (z) is the transfer function of the ADC that
As an example, Fig. 1 shows a block diagram of the
includes the gain and the conversion time. The open-loop
measurement of the frequency response of the digital
frequency response can be plotted using MATLAB.
compensator (Path 2). During the identification mode, the
However, the characteristics of all the parameters of the
system is held in steady-state operation, which means that the
circuit under test cannot be exactly obtained. Device
error signal, e[n], and the duty control signal, d[n], are
parameters should be measured using an impedance analyzer
constant. The PRBS test signal u[n] is added to e[n] and the
as possible.
output data is collected from d[n]. The digital compensator
frequency response can be obtained using (2) and (3). The B. Measurement ofR-L-C Filter
identified frequency response is compared with the predicted The comer frequency fo can be measured using an R-L-C
curve in Fig. 2. The result closely matches the predicted filter for comparison with the open-loop frequency response.

1150
 Blick Converter with Disconnected Power MOSFET Switched-III ode Power Supply (SMPS)
Vout ViII Vout

�� �
V,-.--.rv;LV-V-'--�V'v"""-+---"""--+ --L
Duty

F
RL
AC T
=

Fig_ 4_ Conceptual diagram of the measurement of R-L-C filter.

For example, a buck converter with disconnected power Digital COli/roller without Compel/sator
MOSFETs is shown in Fig. 4. The transfer function of the R­ Fig. 5. Conceptual diagram of the measurement of R-L-C filter.

L-C filter can be expressed as: Frequency Response

GIH"-C (s) = Gvd,huck (s) / Vg (5) 4 0 r----------

--,- ----,-
--,- --,---,
--- ,--,------
-,-, ----
-,--- ----,-
-,--- .-,---,-
-- -,--,-----,-
,- ----,-
--- ---,-
--- ---,-
---, ,--,-,-----,-
--,-- ----,.-
-- ----,

where Gvd.buck(S) is the continuous-time control-to-output i· 1

transfer function of buck converter and Vg is the input voltage
of the buck converter.
The measurement results include all components without
the power MOSFET effect. The measurement can be used to
observe the difference between the comer frequency of the
buck converter and the R-L-C filter. Assuming that Ron
(tum-on resistance of the power MOSFET) is sufficiently
small, the locations of the two comer frequencies will be very i<
...
close. -; ·100
:!
"'"
"-
C. Measurement ofOpen-loop Frequency Response -200 -------�.-------.--

The open-loop path has a digital input and output, but the ...
3� '-::_-'--'-'-'-.o...J.....
.i. ... U-'-'Iu..�
_-'--'-'--'--' ' -'--'--'-'...w.'_'_'__;
.. :_".,,--'---'--'
instrument has analog input and output. An open-loop O O
•

Frequency (Hz)
measurement method for digitally controlled SMPS that Fig. 6. Comparison of frequency responses.
avoids interference from additional ADC and digital-to­
analog converter (DAC) characteristics was proposed in [2, TABLE II
10]. COMPARISON OF FREQUENCY RESPONSES
The similar measurement environment configuration is Gail/ f90 fc PM f180 GM
Method
shown in Fig. 5. A shift-right register is used to remove the (dB) (kHz) (kHz) (def-f) (kHz) (dB)
gain error of the ADC and the DPWM. A DC signal controls Prediction 9.96 10.56 21.79 3.8 23.75 -1.83
the duty command d[n] to be within an acceptable value.
R-L-C Filter -- 11.23 -- -- -- --
During the measurement procedure, it is important that the
Network
duty command not be saturated by DC+AC. The amplitude of Analyzer
10.31 9.99 20.80 9.3 26.47 -4.71
the AC signal should be properly chosen. Correlation
10.70 10.81 22.10 8.1 27.84 -4.74
Identification
TV. EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICATION

The configuration of a digitally controlled buck converter

A. VerifY the Identified Frequency Response
for verification is given in Table 1. The power MOSFET is
The verification result is shown in Fig. 6. Frequency
Vishay Si4724. The digital controller was implemented using
responses were obtained using open-loop transfer function
an Altera DE2 Cyclone-ll FPGA, which includes an encoder,
prediction (dotted line), R-L-C filter measurement, network
a digital compensator, an 8-bit digital pulse-width modular, a
analyzer open-loop measurement (solid line), and identified
12-bit PRBS generator, and an interface for data collection.
open-loop measurement (dots) under a given set of operating
The output voltage is sampled by an 8-bit ADC (Analog
conditions. The comparison table is listed in Table IT. The
Devices AD7822).
correlation-based identification accuracy is close to one tenth
of the switching frequency, which is sufficient as a basis for
TABLE I determining the compensation coefficients.
CONFIGURATION OF THE BUCK CONVERTER
Specifications of Digitally Controlled Buck Converter B. Closed-loop Frequency Response
v.(T1 3. 3 L (flH) 1O Ron (mQ) 25 The closed-loop frequency response of digitally controlled
v,,(V! 1.2 TL (mQ) 10O ADC(bits) 8 buck converter can be measured likely analog controlled buck
/s(kHz) 390 C (flF) 22 DPWM(bits) 8 converter using a network analyzer. The correlation-based
Load(Q) 2 rc(mQ) 16 PRBS (bits) 12 identification method can also be used to measure the c1osed­
loop frequency response. Fig. 7 compares the closed-loop

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frequency response of the digitally controlled buck converter
obtained from a calculation that combined the identified
open-loop frequency response and identified frequency
response of the digital compensator (dots), and the network
analyzer measurement (solid line) under a given set of
conditions. The crossover frequency and phase margin results
are shown in Table TIT. The experimental environment of
digitally controlled buck converter is shown in Fig. 8 and
load transient response is shown in Fig.9.
Close-loop Frequency Response

Fig. 8. The photograph of experimental environment for digitally controlled

buck converter. The digital controller was implemented using an Altera DE2
Cyclone-II FPGA. The PCB includes Si4724 and AD7822.

OUlpUI Vo'wyc OU'IJU' Vultngc

so",v

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...j.. I. 1.·I.! i i .. . . . t. ... ;. . ;. . !..J i i ! ! f

6(J lilA
600"'.....
·50 ···· ····..·
i
i . · · . .. . . .1 .. . . . . . . ....... ·
T
· ... ,. ··

·.!t;,11,,-. -;.. ,J
· · ·
:irOOmA

(a) Light load to heavy load. (b) Heavy load to light load.
·150
Fig. 9. Load transient response.

10' 10' 10'

(Hz)
Fig. 7. Comparison of c1osed·loop frequency responses.
TABLE III
COMPARISON OF CLOSED·LOOP FREQUENCY RESPONSES
Method
Correlation-based Identification
Network Analyzer
Prediction
V.
A design procedure that uses correlation-based
identification to determine the compensation coefficients was
proposed. Several methods for obtaining frequency response
were used to verify the correlation-based identification results.
The identification method can also be used to verify the
frequency response of the digital compensator. Correlation­
based identification gives detailed information about the
open-loop frequency response and the compensation
frequency response of a digitally controlled buck converter.
That solved a problem is the open-loop frequency response of
digitally controlled SMPS difficult to accurately measure and
provided another method to test the function of digital
compensators.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was supported by the National Science Council
(Taiwan) under grant NSC IOO-2220-E-006-003. The authors
would like to thank College of Electrical Engineering and
Computer Science, Green Power Electronics Project, NCKU.
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