Efficient receiver characterization achieved with PAM-4 coding and built-in error counter

Keysight Technologies Korea announced the expansion of its PAM-4 measurement solutions with support for the PAM-4 data format and built-in error counters in the M8000 Series BER Test Solution. The PAM-4 capability and built-in error counters enable R&D and test engineers to easily test and characterize high-speed digital receivers used in data center networking, storage, and computing industries.

R&D and verification engineers characterizing next-generation digital designs face the following challenges: As data rates continue to increase, data center standards such as OIF CEI and IEEE802.3 Ethernet are moving to PAM-4 multilevel signaling formats, and many ASIC designs are also using built-in self-test (BIST) features such as built-in error counters. Accordingly, engineers can access error count information only through vendor-specific interfaces and remote commands.






“The M8000 Series is a high-performance, integrated BER test solution for digital receiver characterization and certification test,” said Juergen Beck, Vice President and General Manager of the Digital and Photonic Test Division. “By supporting PAM-4 and built-in error counters in a common user interface, it will enable engineers to overcome the challenges they face in next-generation, high-speed digital designs.”

The M8000 Series BER test solution enables fast and accurate receiver characterization for single- and multi-lane devices, providing faster insight into digital designs. This solution consists of an AXIe-based high-performance BERT and an arbitrary waveform generator controlled by common user interface software.

Using the M8070A system software of the M8000 series, up to four channels of PAM-4 patterns at symbol rates of up to 32 Gbaud (corresponding to a 64 Gbit/s bit rate) can be generated with the M8195A arbitrary waveform generator, and NRZ patterns can be generated using the J-BERT M8020A high-performance BERT from a common user interface. Additionally, test efficiency can be accelerated by integrating access to device status registers and built-in error counters from the M8000 user interface via IronPython scripts.