HSIO presents signal-integrity challenges

High speed I/O (HSIO) is presenting significant measurement challenges as fourth generation standards emerge. Vendors are offering instruments including oscilloscopes, bit-error-ratio testers (BERTs), and protocol analyzers as well as hardware and software options for solving the problem. Textronix has provided an update to its Serial Data Link Analysis software (SDLA-64 bit) that enables modeling of EQ parameters to be added to the signaling as well as embedding and de-embedding of links/connectors/cables, which can detract from the true performance of the transmitter. Agilent Technologies offers several products for serial bus test, including the N4960A17/32-Gb/s BERT, the N4962A 12.5-Gb/s BERT the N4980A multi-instrument BERT. The N5990A Test Automation Platform gets continuous product extensions and updates to help customers with challenging receiver test applications like PCI Express and MIPI.