First Fully Integrated PCI Express 3.0 Receiver Test Software

30 August 2012 – Agilent Technologies announced the industry’s first fully integrated PCI Express (PCIe) 3.0 receiver test calibration and transmitter test software. The software provides an integrated environment for calibrating the stressed voltage and stressed receiver eye using an Agilent J-BERT bit error-ratio tester, an Agilent 90000A-, Q- or X-Series oscilloscope, an Agilent pulse function generator and Agilent PCI Express 3.0 calibration test channels.

Agilent N5393C Option 004 PCI Express 3.0 receiver test calibration software provides a receiver signal calibration test suite that allows engineers to set up a J-BERT N4903B bit error-ratio tester for performing PCI Express 3.0 jitter tolerance testing under the PCIe 3.0 Base specification. By automating the calibration of the bit error-ratio test signal, engineers save valuable test time and are able to achieve a consistent and reliable stressed eye signal, ensuring their PCIe 3.0 devices meet the requirements of the specification for jitter and voltage stress levels.

PCI Express technology is commonly used in high-performance server, workstation and graphics-intensive desktop applications. The PCIe 3.0 standard, for operation at 8 gigabits per second, requires that PCIe 3.0-compliant devices support a robust receiver equalizer capable of opening what would otherwise be deemed a closed-eye signal. To validate that a receiver’s equalizer meets the minimum performance called out in the PCIe 3.0 specification, engineers must be able to emulate a worst-case PCI Express 3.0 signal that contains the maximum allowable jitter and noise while delivering only a minimal amount of peak-to-peak voltage to the receiver.

Without the software, the procedure for calibrating the output of a bit error-ratio tester to meet the PCIe 3.0 testing requirements is tedious and complicated, as random jitter, sinusoidal jitter, and common-mode and differential-mode noise must all be applied simultaneously.

The Agilent N5393C Option 004 PCI Express 3.0 receiver test calibration software is available now.