Agilent Technologies J-BERT N4903 User manual

Agilent J-BERT N4903

High-Performance Serial

BERT

User Guide

sAgilent Technologies

No part of this manual may be reproduced in

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into a foreign language) without prior

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Technologies, Inc. as governed by United

States and international copyright laws.

Manual Part Number

N4903-91020

Edition

Release edition, December 2014

Printed in Germany

Agilent Technologies, Deutschland GmbH

Herrenberger Str. 130

71034 Böblingen, Germany

Warranty

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document is provided "as is," and is

subject to being changed, without

notice, in future editions. Further, to the

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shall not be liable for errors or for

incidental or consequential damages

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Technology Licenses

The hardware and/or software described in

this document are furnished under a license

and may be used or copied only in

accordance with the terms of such license.

Restricted Rights Legend

If software is for use in the performance of a

U.S. Government prime contract or

subcontract, Software is delivered and

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software" as defined in DFAR 252.227-7014

(June 1995), or as a "commercial item" as

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Government will receive no greater than

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(November 1995), as applicable in any

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Safety Notices

CAUTION

A CAUTION notice denotes a hazard. It

calls attention to an operating

procedure, practice, or the like that, if not

correctly performed or adhered to, could

result in damage to the product or loss

of important data. Do not proceed

beyond a CAUTION notice until the

indicated conditions are fully

understood and met.

WARNING

A WARNING notice denotes a hazard.

It calls attention to an operating

procedure, practice, or the like that, if

not correctly performed or adhered to,

could result in personal injury or death.

Do not proceed beyond a WARNING

notice until the indicated conditions

are fully understood and met.

Notices

Contents

1 Planning the Test

Planning the Test - Concepts 9

Introduction to the Serial BERT 9

Introduction to the Serial BERT - Concepts 9

Which Test is Appropriate? 13

Which Test is Appropriate? - Concepts 13

Connecting the DUT 17

Connecting the DUT - Concepts 17

2 Setting up Patterns

Setting up Patterns - Concepts 23

User Patterns 27

User Patterns - Concepts 27

User Patterns - Procedures 38

User Patterns - Reference 43

Software-Generated PRBS 51

Software-Generated PRBS - Concepts 51

Software-Generated PRBS - Procedures 53

Software-Generated PRBS - Reference 53

Hardware-Generated PRBS 54

Hardware-Generated PRBS - Concepts 54

Hardware-Generated PRBS - Procedures 56

Hardware-Generated PRBS - Reference 56

User-Defined Sequences 56

User-Defined Sequences - Concepts 56

User-Defined Sequences - Procedures 59

User-Defined Sequences - Reference 61

3 Setting up the Pattern Generator

Setting up the Pattern Generator - Concepts 69

Agilent J-BERT N4903 High-Performance Serial BERT 3

Input and Output Ports 70

Input and Output Ports - Concepts 70

Input and Output Ports - Procedures 79

Input and Output Ports - Reference 82

Bit Rate 87

Bit Rate - Concepts 87

Bit Rate - Procedures 90

Bit Rate - Reference 91

Trigger Output 93

Trigger Output - Concepts 93

Trigger Output - Procedures 94

Trigger Output - Reference 94

Delay Control Input 97

Delay Control Input - Concepts 97

Delay Control Input - Procedures 98

Delay Control Input - Reference 99

Error Addition/Insertion 99

Error Addition/Insertion - Concepts 99

Error Addition/Insertion - Procedures 99

Error Addition/Insertion - Reference 101

Pattern Alternation 102

Pattern Alternation - Concepts 102

Pattern Alternation - Procedures 104

Pattern Alternation - Reference 106

4 Setting up the Error Detector

Setting up the Error Detector - Concepts 109

Inputs and Outputs 110

Inputs and Outputs - Concepts 110

Inputs and Outputs - Procedures 114

Data Input Setup - Reference 114

Clock Setup 116

Clock Setup - Concepts 116

Clock Setup - Procedures 121

Clock Setup - Reference 122

Sampling Point Setup 126

Sampling Point Setup - Concepts 126

Sampling Point Setup - Procedures 129

Sampling Point Setup - Reference 131

4 Agilent J-BERT N4903 High-Performance Serial BERT

Trigger and Aux Output 136

Trigger and Aux Output - Concepts 136

Trigger and Aux Output - Procedures 137

Trigger and Aux Output - Reference 137

Pattern Synchronization 138

Pattern Synchronization - Concepts 138

Pattern Synchronization - Procedures 150

Pattern Synchronization - Reference 151

Error Accumulation 151

Error Accumulation - Concepts 151

Error Accumulation - Procedures 152

Error Accumulation - Reference 152

BER Location 154

BER Location - Concepts 154

BER Location - Procedures 155

BER Location - Reference 155

Audio Signals 156

Audio Signals - Concepts 156

Audio Signals - Procedures 156

Audio Signals - Reference 157

5 Advanced Analysis

Advanced Analysis - Concepts 159

Advanced Analysis - Procedures 161

Advanced Analysis - Reference 166

DUT Output Timing/Jitter 173

DUT Output Timing/Jitter - Concepts 173

DUT Output Timing/Jitter - Procedures 182

DUT Output Timing/Jitter - Reference 184

Output Levels 195

Output Levels - Concepts 195

Output Levels - Procedures 198

Output Levels - Reference 203

Eye Opening 220

Eye Opening - Concepts 220

Eye Opening - Procedures 223

Eye Opening - Reference 229

Agilent J-BERT N4903 High-Performance Serial BERT 5

Error Location Capture 236

Error Location Capture - Concepts 236

Error Location Capture - Procedures 238

Error Location Capture - Reference 239

Fast Eye Mask 241

Fast Eye Mask - Concepts 241

Fast Eye Mask - Procedures 244

Fast Eye Mask - Reference 246

Eye Diagram 249

Eye Diagram - Concepts 249

Eye Diagram - Procedures 254

Eye Diagram - Reference 267

Spectral Jitter 278

Spectral Jitter - Concepts 278

Spectral Jitter - Procedures 286

Spectral Jitter - Reference 289

6 Evaluating Results

Evaluating Results - Concepts 297

Instantaneous Measurements 297

Instantaneous Measurements - Concepts 297

Instantaneous Measurements - Procedures 298

Instantaneous Measurements - Reference 300

Accumulated Measurements 302

Accumulated Measurements - Concepts 302

Accumulated Measurements - Procedures 303

Accumulated Measurements - Reference 304

Eye Measurements 310

Eye Measurements - Concepts 310

Eye Measurements - Procedures 311

Eye Measurements - Reference 311

7 Jitter Tolerance Tests

Jitter Tolerance Tests - Concepts 315

Jitter Setup 325

Jitter Setup - Concepts 325

Jitter Setup - Procedures 326

Jitter Setup - Reference 328

6 Agilent J-BERT N4903 High-Performance Serial BERT

Interference Channel Setup 336

Interference Channel Setup - Concepts 336

Interference Channel Setup - Procedures 336

Interference Channel Setup - Reference 337

Jitter Tolerance Characterization 338

Jitter Tolerance Characterization - Concepts 338

Jitter Tolerance Characterization - Procedures 343

Jitter Tolerance Characterization - Reference 348

Jitter Tolerance Compliance 352

Jitter Tolerance Compliance - Concepts 352

Jitter Tolerance Compliance - Procedures 359

Jitter Tolerance Compliance - Reference 368

8 Solving Problems

Solving Problems - Concepts 375

Setup Problems 375

Setup Problems - Concepts 375

Measurement Problems 378

Measurement Problems - Concepts 378

Other Messages 384

Other Messages - Concepts 384

Problems with the N4916A 386

Problems with the N4916A - Concepts 386

9 Customizing the Instrument

Customizing the Instrument - Concepts 395

Restoring the System 395

Restoring the System - Procedures 395

Configuring the Instrument 397

Configuring the Instrument - Concepts 397

Configuring the Instrument - Procedures 398

Configuring the Instrument - Reference 400

Configuring the Touchscreen 400

Configuring the Touchscreen - Procedures 400

Configuring the Touchscreen - Reference 403

Installing Software Licenses 404

Installing Software Licenses - Procedures 404

Installing Software Licenses - Reference 405

Agilent J-BERT N4903 High-Performance Serial BERT 7

Installing Hardware Options 406

Installing Hardware Options - Procedures 406

Installing the N4916A 407

Installing the N4916A - Procedure 407

Installing Webserver 414

Customizing the Web Server- Concept 414

Printing 418

Printing - Procedures 418

File Management 421

File Management - Procedures 421

Preset Instrument State 425

Preset Instrument State - Procedures 425

Self Test 426

Self Test - Concepts 426

Self Test - Procedures 426

Self Test - Reference 427

Index 429

8 Agilent J-BERT N4903 High-Performance Serial BERT

Planning the Test

Planning the Test - Concepts

The following topics provide some information that can help you in

planning tests with the Serial BERT:

•“Introduction to the Serial BERT - Concepts ” on page 9 explains

the basics of bit error rates (BER) and BER testing with the Serial

BERT.

•“Which Test is Appropriate? - Concepts ” on page 13 provides you

with some basic information about the types of testing you can do

with the Serial BERT.

•“Connecting the DUT - Concepts ” on page 17 tells you how you

should connect your DUT to the Serial BERT.

Introduction to the Serial BERT

Introduction to the Serial BERT - Concepts

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

Agilent J-BERT N4903 High-Performance Serial BERT

User Guide

sAgilent Technologies 9

•Clock Out

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 396.

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.

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.

Table 1

Fraction Exponent Instrument Display

1/1 1 x 1001E+0

1/10 1 x 10-1 1E-1

1/100 1 x 10-2 1E-2

1/1000 1 x 10-3 1E-3

1Planning the Test

10 Agilent J-BERT N4903 High-Performance Serial BERT

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