Tektronix boosts DSA8300 Digital Sampling Oscilloscope

Tektronix, Inc. (www.tek.com) enhances its DSA8300 Digital Sampling Oscilloscope with the OM4000 Series Optical Modulation Analyzer, which enables the device to perform analysis on PM-QPSK, QAM as well as other complex-modulation signals, with higher vertical resolution of 16 bits.

As a result of this enhancement, the oscilloscope will cater flexibility to optical networking manufacturers and designers in selecting between real-time and equivalent-time acquisition systems that will address their measurement needs.

Tektronix prides as the first optical modulation systems to offer a single modulation analyzer capable of working with both equivalent-time and real-time oscilloscopes.

The DSA8300 oscilloscope, enhanced by the OM4000 analyzer, is designed for network equipment manufacturers and designers who are in need of lower costs and higher vertical resolution.

Aside from 16-bit vertical resolution and 450uV RMS noise floor at 60 GHz, the DSA8300 oscilloscope, in this application, also features extra dynamic range and accuracy and up to 60 GHz bandwidth on four channels. Timing jitter is cut to as low as 450fs RMS, allowing visibility into real signal performance.

“As the worldwide demand for bandwidth continues to grow at a rapid pace, our customers are being asked to find ways to increase the efficiency, data rates and reliability of optical network equipment while at the same time reducing cost,” said Brian Reich, General Manager, Performance Oscilloscopes at Tektronix.

He added that along with the new enhancement, the OM4000 Series will be able to meet the needs for “cost-saving flexibility, higher vertical resolution and future-proof levels of measurement bandwidth.”

Meanwhile, the Tektronix OM4000 Series Optical Modulation Analyzer Solutions is capable of accurate characterization of serial communications in fiber starting from 100 Gb/s and beyond.

Tektronix DPO/DSA/MSO70000 Series Oscilloscope used to test new MHL Specification

Tektronix, Inc. (www.tek.com) has used a DPO/DSA/MSO70000 Series Oscilloscope to test the latest Mobile High-Definition Link (MHL) Compliance Test Specification (CTS) 1.2.

Developed by the MHL Consortium, the new MHL Specification covers receiver, transmitter and dongle testing for both protocol and physical (PHY) layers, delivering faster and easier debug and analysis and compliance testing to anyone wanting to develop MHL compliant solution or any MHL Authorized Test Centers (ATC).

It defines a high-definition (HD) digital audio and video interface for connecting portable devices and mobile phones to HDTVs including other home entertainment products. After announcing an MHL CTS 1.1-based test solution last year, Tektronix has offered testing support for the newest MHL CTS 1.2 specification update released in March 2012.

To deliver a complete MHL protocol as well as PHY test solution, Tektronix integrated the MHL protocol software into the same DPO/DSA/MSO70000 Series Oscilloscope utilized for traditional physical layer testing. This allows the designers of MHL technology to achieve a seamless correlation between link and physical layers, reducing equipment cost while speeding up test time.

“The MHL specification continues to evolve, making time-to-market for new products supporting the standard of utmost importance to our customers in the MHL design community,” commented Mike Rizzo, Manager of Oscilloscope Solutions at Tektronix.

“Not only are we closely mirroring the enhancements made to the MHL test specification, but we are delivering a solution that offers a simpler set-up, integrated PHY/Protocol support, and vastly less expensive than competitive test offerings.”

Tektronix enhances Automated Debug & Compliance Solution for DPO/DSA/MSO70000D Series

Oscilloscope manufacturer Tektronix (www.tek.com) has unveiled a series of extensions and enhancements to its SFF 8431 SFP+ debug and compliance offering, including the latest support for the Transmitter Waveform Distortion Penalty for Copper (TWDPc) measurement that can only be performed on fast sampling rates oscilloscope, such as the Tektronix DPO/DSA/MSO70000D Series.

The enhancements offer the most complete debug and automation solution for Ethernet-based SFF-8431 SFP+ PHY layer testing. The solution also includes a SFP-WDP option that allows automated execution and setup of significant TWDPc measurements, together with a new Module Compliance (MCB) and Host Compliance Boards (HCB), which speed test setup of connector designs utilized in high speed Ethernet as well as Fiber Channel-based systems.

“Our emphasis for SFF 8431 SFP+ testing has been to build upon a comprehensive test solution for Ethernet designers that save them time while providing the deep, accurate insight needed for validation and debug requirements,” remarked Roy Siegel, General Manager, Oscilloscopes, Tektronix.

“For example, we enhance WDP test support by automating the complex compliance test sequence to improve test time and provide extremely reliable results with the 100 GS/second DPO70000 Oscilloscope.”

The new SFP-TX comes with an integrated de-embedding feature. As SFP+ technology increases data rates, the eye closes and several components such as SMA cables have to de-embedded for optimized test results. Using .FLT files, designers can easily de-embed signals.

Tektronix “2-box” solution revealed

Tektronix (www.tek.com) has unveiled industry’s only-customer proven and most cost-effective solution for the MIPI Alliance M-PHY testing anchored on the new M-PHY v1.0 specification.

Unlike competitive offerings for M-PHY test that demands a vast array of instruments to cover the entire range of M-PHY test mandates, the Tektronix “2-box” solution requires only an AWG7000 Series arbitrary waveform generator and a DPO/DSA/MSO70000 series oscilloscope.

With just a single set-up for both the lower-speed D-PHY and M-PHY, the solution offers a scope-integrated error detection for receiver reusability and tolerance testing.

“We worked closely with Tektronix to test our high-quality DesignWare MIPI M-PHY solution, giving designers further confidence that the IP is robust and fully compliant to the latest M-PHY v 1.0 specification,” explained Navraj Nandra, Senior Director of Marketing for Mixed-Signal and Analog IP at Synopsys.

“Synopsys used the Tektronix DPO70804 and DSA8200 oscilloscopes to help ensure that the silicon-proven DesignWare MIPI M-PHY met the necessary electrical characteristics and performance requirements.”

A high-speed serial interface to the UniPro, DigRF v4, CSI-3, LLI and MIPI Alliance’s DSI-2 interconnect standards, the M-PHY will be utilized in the development of mobile devices that provide effective power management schemes, increased performance, low RF emission and robustness against RF interferences.

The “2-box” solution covers both Receiver and Transmitter tests, including Error-Detection, comprehensive high-speed tests, Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) signaling, DigRF verification and PSD (Power Spectral Density) measurements.

Types of sampling methods

Sampling refers to the process of converting a part of an input signal into various discrete electrical values for purposes of storage, processing and/or display. The extent of every sampled point is similar to the input signal’s amplitude at the exact time the signal is sampled.

Sampling is just like taking snapshots. A single snapshot represents a particular point in time on the waveform. To reconstruct the input signal, the snapshots can be organized in their respective order in time.

There are several sampling methods, namely, real-time sampling and equivalent-time sampling.

Suitable for signals with frequency range less than half the maximum sample rate of the oscilloscope, real-time sampling allows the oscilloscope to capture more than enough points in a single “sweep” of the waveform to form an accurate picture. It is the only way a digital oscilloscope can capture quick, single-shot, transient signals.

This sampling method provides the greatest challenge for digital oscilloscopes due to the sample rate required to accurately digitize high-frequency transient events. Occurring only once, these transient events must be sampled in similar time frame that they occur, with high-frequency components “folding-down” into lower frequency if the sample rate is not fast enough. Real-time sampling is also complicated by the high-speed memory needed to store the digitized waveform.

Real-time sampling with interpolation occurs when discrete samples of the signal are taken by the digital oscilloscope. Users will find it hard to visualize the signal, which is represented by dots, since there are only a few dots representing the signal’s high-frequency portions. To help users visualize the signals, digital oscilloscopes normally feature interpolation display modes. This mode connects the dots to provide an accurate display of the signal sampled for a few times.

In real-time sampling with interpolation, the oscilloscope gathers a few sample points of the signal in one pass in real-time and utilizes interpolation to fill in the gaps. A kind of process technique, interpolation is utilized to estimate the appearance of the waveform based on a few points.

Connecting sample points with straight lines, linear interpolation is restricted to reconstructing straight-edged signals. The more flexible sin x/x interpolation connects curves with sample points. A mathematical process used to calculate the points to fill in the period among the real samples, sin x/x interpolation lends itself to irregular and curved signal shapes that are more common than pulses and square waves. Thus, sin x/x is the preferred method for applications with sample rate three to five times the system bandwidth.

Meanwhile, equivalent-time sampling is used when measuring high-frequency signals that cannot be collected by the oscilloscope in a single sweep. It is also utilized to accurately acquire signals whose frequency is more than half of the oscilloscope’s sample rate.

Taking advantage of the fact that most man-made and naturally occurring events are repetitive, equivalent-time digitizers (samplers) forms a picture of repetitive signal by acquiring a bit of information from every repetition. The waveform gradually builds up like a series of lights, illuminating one-by-one. This enables the oscilloscope to capture signals with frequency components higher than the sample rate of the oscilloscope.

Tektronix unveils MHL Compliance Test Solution for DPODSAMSO70000 Series Oscilloscopes

Tektronix, Inc. (www.tek.com), the leading manufacturer of oscilloscopes in the world, has announced its full support for a Mobile High-Definition Link (MHL) compliance test solution that allows seamless analysis and testing from the MHL PHY layer to the link layer and back.

Ideal for the company’s DPO/DSA/MSO70000 Series Oscilloscopes, this innovative one-box solution is anchored on the MHL Compliance Test Specification (CTS) 1.1 launched in June 2011. Developed by the MHL Consortium, the test solution’s specification is a digital audio and HD video interface for connecting portable devices and mobile phones to HDTVs as well as on other home entertainment products.

“We are starting to see growing interest in MHL technology around the world,” said Roy Siegel, General Manager of Oscilloscopes at Tektronix.

“As a Contributor to the MHL standard we are staying connected to MHL founding members and customers developing early MHL-based devices, which has enabled us to move quickly to provide a complete MHL test solution for transmitter, receiver/adapter, cable and MHL protocols.”

The MHL Protocol Analyzer software leverages similar Tektronix real-time scope utilized for physical layer testing to deliver a unique MHL protocol solution that allows seamless transition between the physical layer and the link layer.

Judy Chen, Director of Marketing and Business Development for the MHL Consortium, commented, “With high-definition video and audio content being increasingly used in mobile devices, the MHL interface offers a simple and compelling way for consumers to experience their mobile devices.”

“By providing fully automated testing support for MHL technology, Tektronix is improving the design validation process and the overall time-to-market for MHL-enabled products.”

EXFO unveils fastest optical sampling oscilloscopes

EXFO Electro-Optical Engineering Inc. (www.exfo.com) has released the fastest optical sampling oscilloscopes in the industry for current and future 40G and 100G optical networks.

Offered in the market under the EXPO banner, these state-of-the-art test solutions can characterize optical networks with maximum transmission rates of 640 Gbit/s. These optical sampling oscilloscopes are compatible with the company’s growing 40G product providing customers an extensive, multilayer test solution for their next-generation networks.

A single-channel oscilloscope, the PSO-101 enables pattern visualization and eye-diagram analysis within current high-speed optical networks. The design’s quality has been acknowledged by R&D Magazine, since it was chosen as one of the top 100 R&D products for 2008.

Meanwhile, the PSO-102 is a quad- or dual-channel variant of the previous model, and is specifically designed for next-generation networks that feature advanced modulation schemes, allowing network equipment manufacturers (NEMs) to achieve ultra-high network speeds like 40G and 100G utilizing current dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM) channel spacing, and keeping resilience to polarization and chromatic dispersion phenomena.

The PSO-100 oscilloscopes also offer new software options and features for compliance testing of optical transceivers, such as data filtering and mask hit analysis. It is also the only bit rate-independent test solution available in the market that can measure amplitude- and phase-modulated signals with 500 GHz bandwidth, and achieve a sub-picosecond temporal resolution.

“High-speed, next-generation networks involve higher transmission rates, advanced modulation schemes and multiple tests that pose serious quality-of-service issues for customers,” said Etienne Gagnon, Vice-President of Product Development and Marketing at EXFO.

“EXFO now provides the only solution on the market that can handle all of these challenges with a single, dedicated test instrument.”

Tektronix introduces DSA8300 Digital Serial Analyzer Sampling Oscilloscope

Tektronix (www.tek.com) has unveiled the DSA8300 Digital Serial Analyzer which offers the most comprehensive modular architecture, exceptional bandwidth, signal fidelity and the highest-performance TDR and interconnects analysis.

A versatile tool for testing and developing communications, consumer electronics and computers employing multi-gigabit data transmission, the DSA8300 is utilized in compliance verification for modules, devices and systems used as well as in electrical and optical transmitter characterization.

The DSA8300’s exceptional resolution and signal fidelity makes it the gold standard for optical and electrical applications demanding ultra-high bandwidths, low jitter, very fine vertical resolution, and/or exceptional time interval accuracy.

Its multiprocessor architecture, which features dedicated per-slot digital signal processors (DSPs), delivers fast waveform acquisition rates that effectively reduces the test times needed for compliance verification and reliable characterization.

Supporting a large and increasing number of plug-ins, the DSA8300’s versatile modular architecture allows users to configure measurement systems with a vast variety of optical, electrical and accessory modules suited for current and future applications. Its six module slots enable the DSA8300 to simultaneously accommodate a precision Phase Reference module, a Clock Recovery module as well as multiple acquisition modules.

The DSA8300 also features electrical modules with bandwidths ranging between 20 GHz and over 70 GHz. Meanwhile, its optical modules can also support optical testing ranging from 125 Mb/s to 100 Gb/s.

The DSA8300 also offers specialized modules that support features such as electrostatic protection for electrical samplers, single-ended and differential electrical clock recovery, as well as connectivity to TekConnect probing system.

Tektronix introduces DPO7000C and MSO/DPO/DSA70000C Series of Oscilloscopes

Tektronix (www.tek.com) has unveiled the two latest series of its performance oscilloscope families that range between 500 MHz and eight GHz, the DPO7000C Series and the MSO/DPO/DSA70000C Series. These new series of oscilloscopes have been specifically designed to offer embedded system design engineers faster troubleshooting of designs.

“The new series of oscilloscopes we’re announcing today provide industry leading tools to speed debug efforts of serial buses found in many embedded system designs,” said Roy Siegel, Oscilloscopes General Manager at Tektronix.

“We continue to provide industry-best solutions — such as MIPI serial analysis — to meet the latest challenges. And, we continue to drive innovation on our most popular scopes to support the latest architectures and deliver the comprehensive tools our customers need.”

The new DPO7000C Series provide engineers with an efficient device that harmoniously combines analysis functionality with numerous applications in one package. Using robust tools at every stage of debug, it provides time-saving serial analysis solutions that help designers focus on solving problems with their design. Featuring tools such as One Touch Jitter Wizard, the scope automates and simplifies even the most difficult testing tasks.

Meanwhile, the MSO/DPO/DSA70000C Series offers a deeper level of analysis on the most complex challenges in high-performance design and verification for serial data, RF/microwave and semiconductor characterization. The scope’s high-performance platform supports decode, trigger and search capability for famous embedded system buses and compliance packages for standards including USB 3.0, DDR3, PCIe 3.0 and others.

Engineers that need performance beyond the 3.5 GHz offered by the DPO7000C, the new four-, six-, and eight-GHz models of the MSO/DPO/DSA70000C Series provide the ideal fit. These latest models of Tektronix oscilloscopes deliver LXI Class C compliance, incorporate faster compute platform and use the Windows 7 operating system.

Agilent’s DSO5054A 5000 Series Oscilloscope

Agilent (www.agilent.com) has provided the benefits of proprietary MegaZoom III technology in a compact benchtop package — DSO5054A series oscilloscope blends impressive update rates and deep memory with remarkably fast sample rates conveniently avoiding trade-offs commonly associated with bench oscilloscopes.

This four-channel 500 MHz scope provides outstanding performance with its deep eight Mpts acquisition memory and real-time sampling rate of up to 100,000 waveforms per second.

The scope, which is part of Agilent’s InfiniiVision 5000 series, offers similar third-generation MegaZoom III technology blocks featured in higher performance lab and bench oscilloscope. This enables DSO5054A to deliver fast update rates, responsive deep memory, integrated serial analysis, and analog-like display systems at a price similar to scopes with older technology blocks.

Dead time between acquisitions will never be a problem with the scope’s I²C/SPI serial trigger and decode which provide the fastest update and throughput rate and ensures that users will never miss an anomaly or a trigger event.

Aside from providing an easy and fast way of testing signals to specified standards, the scope’s mask test option also uncovers unsuspecting signal anomalies and delivers fast valid pass/fail statistics with its real-time waveform pass/fail tests of up to 100,000 per second.

Decode and trigger on serially transmitted data based on LIN and CAN protocols provides hardware-accelerated decode capabilities, as well as triggering on complex serial signal.

The scope offers complete connectivity with its two USB host ports and one device port, GPIB – 100 MBit LAN, LAN, full remote control including web browser and XGA display.

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