The Effect of Spread Spectrum Modulation for a Buck Converter Coupled with a Single Wired Communication Link

This paper explores the effect of using a Spread Spectrum modulation technique with a Buck Converter on a communication cable coupled at the input voltage. The EMI created by the switching of the power converter generates damped oscillations on the data cable that can have great impact on the quality of the communication channel. Frequency domain analysis shows lower EMI levels in the power cable when compared to the standard deterministic modulation. However, there is no real improvement to the actual communications as there in an increase in the measured Bit Error Rate when evaluated experimentally.