Agilent Technologies N4906B Serial BERT Manuel utilisateur

Agilent N4906B Serial BERT

User’s Guide

Micro Precision Calibration, Inc.

22835 Industrial Place

Grass Valley, CA 95949

Tel: (530) 268-1860

Fax: (530) 268-1203

www.microprecision.com

2Agilent N4906B Serial BERT, User’s Guide, October 2005

Important Notice

Revision

Revision 1.1, October 2005

Manual Part Number

N4906-91020

Printed in Germany

Agilent Technologies

Herrenberger Straße 130

D-71034 Böblingen

Germany

Authors: t3 medien GmbH

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Contents

Agilent N4906B Serial BERT, User’s Guide, October 2005 3

Contents

Planning the Test 5

Introduction to the Serial BERT 6

Which Test is Appropriate? 9

Connecting the DUT 13

Setting up Patterns 19

User Patterns 24

Software-Generated PRBS 46

Hardware-Generated PRBS 49

Setting up the Pattern Generator 51

Input and Output Ports 52

Bit Rate 64

Trigger Output 69

Error Addition/Insertion 72

Pattern Alternation 76

Setting up the Error Detector 83

Inputs and Outputs 85

Clock Setup 91

Sampling Point Setup 98

Trigger and Aux Output 109

Pattern Synchronization 111

Error Accumulation 124

BER Location 127

Audio Signals 129

Advanced Analysis 131

Fast Eye Mask 138

Contents

4Agilent N4906B Serial BERT, User’s Guide, October 2005

Evaluating Results 147

Instantaneous Measurements 148

Accumulated Measurements 153

Eye Measurements 162

Solving Problems 165

Setup Problems 165

Measurement Problems 169

Other Messages 174

Customizing the Instrument 177

Restoring the System 177

Configuring the Instrument 179

Configuring the Touchscreen 183

Printing 187

File Management 190

Preset Instrument State 194

Self Test 195

Agilent N4906B Serial BERT, User’s Guide, October 2005 5

Planning the Test

The following topics provide some information that can help you in

planning tests with the Serial BERT:

• Introduction to the Serial BERT explains the basics of bit error

rates (BER) and BER testing with the Serial BERT.

• Which Test is Appropriate? provides you with some basic

information about the types of testing you can do with the

Serial BERT.

• Connecting the DUT tells you how you should connect your DUT to

the Serial BERT.

Planning the Test Introduction to the Serial BERT

6Agilent N4906B Serial BERT, User’s Guide, October 2005

Introduction to the Serial BERT

These topics explain some of the basics of BER, Serial BERT, and BER

testing with the Serial BERT.

Important Information about the Pattern Generator

Outputs

The pattern generator output ports must be terminated with 50 Ωif

they are not connected:

• Data Out

•ClockOut

Termination of output ports improves the test performance.

Important Information Regarding Security

The Serial BERT is a PC-based instrument with a standard Windows

operating system. As such, it is subject to the same security protection

measures as any other PC.

See the Microsoft web site for more information regarding data

security:

http://www.microsoft.com/security/default.mspx

Every user must have administrator privileges to run the Serial BERT

firmware. Otherwise the firmware does not have access to the

instrument’s hardware.

It ist recommended that you create a recovery disk for the instrument.

See “How to Restore the Operating System” on page 178.

Note also that there is a recovery image on the hard disk. See the

Windows Help for instructions on restoring a recovery image.

Understanding BER

Bit error ratio (BER) is the most fundamental measure of system

performance. It is the ratio of the number of errored bits to the total

number of bits received.

Introduction to the Serial BERT Planning the Test

Agilent N4906B Serial BERT, User’s Guide, October 2005 7

For example, 1 error in 1000 bits corresponds to a BER of 1/1000 or

1x10

–3. This would be displayed on the instrument as 1E-3. Refer to

the following table to familiarize yourself with how BERs are

displayed. Notice that smaller exponents correspond to higher BERs,

and larger exponents correspond to lower BERs.

Understanding the Serial BERT

The Agilent N4906B Serial BERT, also referred to as a Bit Error Ratio

Tester (BERT), is a powerful instrument that enables you to analyze

systems and components in the telecommunication and enterprise

communication industries. It is an essential tool for designing and

troubleshooting communications systems, high-speed integrated

circuits (ICs), and photonic components. Its intuitive operation and

leading edge performance will help you quickly verify error

performance.

The Agilent N4906B Serial BERT has the necessary capabilities to fully

characterize your digital device. The instrument provides:

•Excellentwaveformperformance

• Outstanding rise times

• A choice of logic family interfaces

• Easy object-oriented programming with the IVI-COM interface

• Remote commands similar to HP/Agilent 71603B

• A variety of ways in which to accumulate and view test results

• A collection of example patterns

• Convenient online documentation

• Automatic setup of optimum sampling point

Fraction Exponent Instrument Display

1/1 1 x 1001E+0

1/10 1 x 10–11E–1

1/100 1 x 10–21E–2

1/1000 1 x 10–31E–3

1/10,000 1 x 10–41E–4

1/100,000 1 x 10–51E–5

1/1,000,000 1 x 10–61E–6

1/10,000,000 1 x 10–71E–7

Planning the Test Introduction to the Serial BERT

8Agilent N4906B Serial BERT, User’s Guide, October 2005

Which Features are Available?

The Serial BERT is available in different options. They differ in the

range of provided bit rates and in the available features.

The N4906B Serial BERT has the following options for defining the bit

range:

• Option 003

Bit rate range: 150 Mbit/s to 3.6 Gbit/s

• Option 012

Bit rate range: 9.5 Gbit/s to 12.5 Gbit/s

Additional options define which features are available:

• Option 101

True differential input

Fast Eye Mask measurement

• Option 102

Clock Data Recovery (CDR)

Extended frequency range 150 Mbit/s to12.5 Gbit/s

• Option 301

True differential input

Please note that the options may be combined.

NOTE Not all functions of the N490x series are available on the N4906B

Serial BERT. In particular, the following functions are not available:

• Advanced measurements (with the exception of the Fast Eye Mask)

•DelayControlInput

Subsequently upgrading your Serial BERT with additional options is

not possible.

To check the options of your Serial BERT, press About in the Help

menu. The About dialog shows the installed option numbers.

Which Test is Appropriate? Planning the Test

Agilent N4906B Serial BERT, User’s Guide, October 2005 9

Which Test is Appropriate?

These topics help you to decide on the appropriate test setup for your

device.

Determining How to Test Your Device

The Agilent N4906B Serial BERT can help you test the performance of

components and systems for high-speed digital transmission

equipment.

An important parameter of a digital system is the rate at which errors

occur in the system. The analyzer will compare the bits sent to your

device with the bits received from your device. It will record the

number of bit errors and display results such as the bit error ratio

(BER). In addition, accumulated results can be analyzed to help you

determine what caused the bit errors.

The analyzer can be set up to work with your device in many different

ways. To determine the best measurement setup, you must first decide

how you want to test your device. Before actually setting up and

making measurements, you may want to consider the following

questions:

• What is the purpose of your test?

• What are the testing requirements of your device?

What is the Purpose of Your Test?

Does the purpose of your test fall under one of the following

categories?

• To monitor instantaneous BER during measurement setup,

experiments, and adjustments. See “Instantaneous Measurements”

on page 148.

• To measure and log error performance over time. See “Accumulated

Measurements” on page 153.

• To measure the eye height and width of the incoming data signal at

specific alignment BER thresholds. See “Eye Measurements” on

page 162.

Planning the Test Which Test is Appropriate?

10 Agilent N4906B Serial BERT, User’s Guide, October 2005

The following references may also be helpful in determining how to

test your device.

• For a list of recommended patterns for your device and application,

see “When to Use Which Pattern?” on page 22.

• For a list of recommended connection diagrams for your device and

application, see “Connecting the DUT” on page 13.

What are the Testing Requirements of Your Device?

Considering the requirements of your device will help you choose

which instrument functions to use during the test setup and when

making measurements.

• Do you need to use a custom test pattern?

If you have a long series of 1's or 0's in your custom pattern, be sure

to avoid false sync. See “What is False Synchronization?” on

page 114

• Do you want to use alternating patterns?

Then you must first import or create a custom pattern that contains

an A half (pattern A) and B half (pattern B). See “Pattern

Alternation” on page 76.

• Are you aware of how custom pattern size can affect the pattern

output?

See “Why the Serial BERT Repeats Memory-Based Patterns” on

page 28.

• Does your device change the input pattern it receives?

If your device inverts logic, then select Data Inverted in the

Sampling Point Setup window. If your device changes patterns in

other ways, then you must know the expected output pattern and

select it as the error detector reference pattern.

• What logic family is your device compatible with?

The pattern generator has preset voltage levels to work with ECL,

SCFL, LVPECL, LVDS, and CML. Be sure to select the correct logic

family. See “Understanding how the Serial BERT Uses Logic

Families and Terminations” on page 56.

• What is the input termination voltage of your device?

Make sure it is the same voltage as displayed in the pattern

generator termination list.

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