Keysight Korea (CEO and President: Deok-Kwon Yoon) has introduced an adjustable, embedded Intersymbol Interference (ISI) feature for the high-performance J-BERT M8020A BERT. Engineers need to emulate specific channel loss when testing and characterizing high-speed digital receivers for certification. The new adjustable and programmable ISI feature provides the ability to emulate channel loss. In particular, since this feature is integrated into each pattern generator channel of the J-BERT M8020A, it eliminates the need for separate cabling and switching to externally mounted ISI traces, making test setup simpler.

Photo: Keysight J-BERT M8020A

Research and development and verification teams encounter various challenges while analyzing the characteristics of next-generation digital designs. As data transmission speeds continuously increase, channel loss between transmitters and receivers has become increasingly critical. Channel loss occurs in the printed circuit board traces, connectors, and cables that constitute the signal path. This channel loss causes ISI and depends on the channel material, dimensions, data transmission rate, and bit pattern. All high-speed digital receivers are manufactured to withstand a certain amount of total jitter, which generally includes some ISI caused by channel loss. Therefore, engineers must emulate these losses during receiver characteristic analysis and certification testing. Until now, engineers have used external trace boards requiring separate cables and switching to emulate channel loss. The existing setup required significant time and made testing more complex.

“With the M8020A high-performance BERT, which features the highest level of integration today, receiver characterization and certification testing can be performed quickly and accurately,” said Juergen Beck, Vice President and General Manager of Keysight Technologies’ Digital Photonics Test Division. “With the M8020A’s new integrated adjustable ISI capabilities, engineers can easily solve various challenging problems in next-generation high-speed digital design testing and set new standards.”

The high-performance J-BERT M8020A BERT can accelerate insights into digital designs. The new product provides fast and accurate receiver characteristic analysis for single-lane and multi-lane devices with data transfer rates of up to 16-Gb/s and 32-Gb/s. The built-in ISI function can be programmed for each pattern generation channel. Receiver test automation can be simplified as there is no need to switch to external traces or perform separate cabling work at transfer rates up to 16-Gb/s. The advantages of the new adjustable ISI option are as follows.

• Simplify receiver test setup with best-in-class feature integration

• Supports linear loss curves and fine-step resolution up to 16 GHz, as well as a wide loss range of up to 25 dB, providing accurate and repeatable results for receiver characteristic analysis and certification testing.

• Scalable by providing upgrade options, and suitable for upgradeable receiver test solutions.

Keysight provides related products and software solutions for more accurate receiver characteristic testing. Solutions include the N5990A test automation software, the M8061A 32-Gb/s 2:1 multiplexer with de-emphasis function, the N4877A 32-Gb/s clock data recovery solution with demultiplexer, the Infinium 90000 X-Series oscilloscope, and the 86100D Infinium DCA-X high-bandwidth oscilloscope.

Meanwhile, Keysight showcased high-speed digital test solutions, including the J-BERT M8020A, at the DesignCon 2015 exhibition held at the Santa Clara Convention Center on January 28-29.