Agilent Technologies J-BERT N4903 User manual

S
Agilent J-BERT N4903
High-Performance Serial
BERT
User Guide
sAgilent Technologies

© Agilent Technologies, Inc. 2014
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Manual Part Number
N4903-91020
Edition
Release edition, December 2014
Printed in Germany
Agilent Technologies, Deutschland GmbH
Herrenberger Str. 130
71034 Böblingen, Germany
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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

1
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
•Data Out
Agilent J-BERT N4903 High-Performance Serial BERT
User Guide
sAgilent Technologies 9
S

•Clock Out
•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