Receiver test software

Tektronix has available SerialXpress, a software package that performs direct synthesis of waveforms for high-speed serial data receiver testing. It is suitable for testing SATA, SAS, PCI-Express, HDMI and DisplayPort serial data standards, as well as any other serial bus technology operating at speeds up to 6 Gbps.

The software manages the creation of these waveforms for high-speed transmission on the AWG7000 arbitrary waveform generator series. An interface makes the creation and management of high-speed serial waveforms far more intuitive.

The AWG7000 with SerialXpress software is claimed to be the world’s only one-box high-speed serial data signal generator for receiver stress and BER testing, eliminating the need for multiple instruments and complicated test configurations.

Next-generation high-speed serial standards ranging from 3 to 6 Gbps have diminishing timing margins that require receiver characterisation to complement conventional transmitter testing. Increases in transmission speeds and trace length of transmission lines heighten the potential for errors in the signal path (channel). Engineers need to simulate these effects during the design phase to test the tolerance of their receiver designs.

The software is suitable for design and test engineers who need to perform validation and characterisation of high-speed serial data receivers and effectively make obsolete alternative methods using logic sources.

Instead of needing to create mathematical formulas, the software improves productivity through predefined, fill-in-the-blank templates for each of the major high-speed serial standards, for simple receiver testing.

Engineers can recall a set-up file that encapsulates all the relevant standard mandated tests and signal impairments, without the need for any additional external components of mixing required, reducing complexity and cost.