Agilent Technologies Inc. announced an automated compliance test package for PCI Express(PCIe) 3.0 physical-layer transmitter compliance testing that includes measurement support for the new PCIe 8-GT/s interface.
According to a release, devices operating at 8 GT/s present new measurement challenges that require new tools and procedures for proper validation and jitter margin analysis. Having advance access to measurements enables engineers developing solutions to address potential issues early in the design cycle and get their products to market faster. The PCIe specification defines a high-speed serial bus used primarily for data communication between a computer’s main CPU and high-speed peripheral components such as graphics, networking and storage adapters. It is capable of operating at data rates from 2.5 GT/s to 8 GT/s.
“We are pleased with Agilent’s continued backing for the broad adoption of the PCI Express architecture,” said Al Yanes, PCI-SIG president and chairman. “The PCI-SIG and its members benefit from test and measurement equipment vendors’ support for our compliance workshops, such as that from Agilent, where products from a variety of our members are tested for electrical and protocol interoperability, among other tests. In the near future, the PCI-SIG plans to roll out its PCIe 3.0 testing procedures and related tools as high-volume products implementing this technology become available.” The N5393C PCIe compliance test software for Infiniium 90000 Series oscilloscopes provides design and validation engineers with a way to verify physical layer transmitter compliance for PCIe 2.5-GT/s, 5-GT/s end point, root complex systems and devices and for 8.0-GT/s chipsets, the Company said. The software: -provides automated compliance test support for the BASE and CEM measurement points supporting PCIe 1.x and 2.x standards, as well as BASE specification support for the PCIe 3.0 standard; -supports de-embedding of test fixtures and cables to help improve voltage and jitter margin measurements when used with the optional Agilent N5465A InfiniiSim waveform transformation toolset; -displays the results in a report format; and -provides a margin analysis that shows how closely a device passes or fails each test.
Agilent Technologies Inc. is a measurement company and a technology provider in chemical analysis, life sciences, electronics and communications.
