Scope App Advances Validation/Conformance Testing

Arming the TDS/CSA8000 series sampling oscilloscopes, the 80SJNB software comes up to bat as the market's first application for advanced jitter, noise, and BER eye-model analysis; major components in both validation and conformance testing. The BER eye tool shows BER limitations due not only to jitter, but also those due to noise. It provides jitter and noise separation, resulting in an accurate estimate of eye closure and predicted BER to 10-24. The software relies on a comprehensive and mathematical approach to measuring all data impairments, rendering analyses from which it builds a probability waveform. Allegedly, this contrasts existing approaches that simplify the eye and BER picture with only the horizontal analysis or working from incomplete analyses of the data. The 80SJNB jitter, noise, and BER analysis software is currently available for purchase and will work on any TDS8000, TDS8000B, TDS8200, CSA8000, CSA8000B, or CSA8200 oscilloscope running Windows 2000. TEKTRONIX INC., Beaverton, OR. (800) 426-2200.