Date: 14/12/2010

Automated test software for PCI Express 3.0 transmitter compliance

Agilent Technologies has 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.

"We are pleased with Agilent's continued backing for the broad adoption of the PCI Express architecture," said Al Yanes, PCI-SIG(r) 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 enables verification of 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 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 flexible report format; and provides a margin analysis that shows how closely a device passes or fails each test.

Engineers designing and developing PCIe 3.0 devices also can use the Agilent J-BERT N4903B high-performance serial BERT for physical-layer receiver compliance testing and characterization. They can use the Agilent DCA-J 86100C TDR system for characterizing PCIe 3.0 channels.

U.S. Pricing and Availability: The Agilent N5393C PCI Express compliance test application is available now with prices starting at $9,000