TechView: The Industry -- More On Automated Measurement System For Compliance Testing

Compliance and analysis software, Tektronix oscilloscopes, and leading probes, combine to expedite critical compliance and validation testing of leading serial buses.

"The new RT-Eye package and the P7350SMA probe will save precious time for designers proof-testing their serial products for compliance. We anticipate that at least half of our TDS6000 and TDS/CSA7000 series users will want these new tools, while the new TMS817 support package will enable PCI Express developers to more quickly solve problems at the logical level" says Colin Shepard, Tektronix's vice president, for oscilloscope products.

Beyond known standards, waveform masks, measurement limits, and reporting functions can be customized by the user, enabling companies and industry groups working on proprietary and emerging standards to develop their own internal and external compliance programs and reports. Once a standard matures to the point where the industry group has decided their compliance tests, a standard specific Compliance Module (which uses the RT-Eye software as its measurement engine) will be made available.

RTE boasts a total jitter bit-error rate (BER) of 10^-12. The P7350SMA differential probe has a 5-GHz bandwidth and true differential connectivity via SMA connectors, to accurately capture 2.5-Gbit/s signals. It supplements the existing P7350 probe, which is equipped with conventional movable contacts. Both probes, because they consume only one oscilloscope input for each two-sided differential signal, enable multi-channel measurements at the oscilloscope's maximum sample rate.

The TMS817 PCI Express support package consists of a hardware unit with detachable probe cables, and software tools for real-time display and analysis of the signals. The TMS817 simplifies debug and validation work with its ability to deskew, decode, and descramble serial data, recover embedded clocks, and trigger on specific packet attributes. Both "mid-bus" and interposer probes are available, providing reliable contact to the device under test via "lands" on the device or edge connectors. The TMS817 acquires signals at data rates up to 2.5 Gbits/s, consistent with PCI Express requirements.