N5991SA SAS Receiver Compliance Test Automation Software

Introduction

N5991SA3A and N5991SA4A assist the user in SAS-3 / SAS-4 PHY testing of a receiver. The N5991 framework is widely used also for other computer and server interconnect receiver testing.

N5991 Product Line

High-speed digital standards are quickly evolving to keep pace with emerging technologies such as 5G, Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual Reality (VR), and autonomous vehicles.

Each generational change introduces new test challenges for your digital designs. You need to test your high-speed digital designs across all product development stages — from design and simulation to analysis, debugging, and compliance testing. The N5991 product line anticipates test challenges, optimizes performance, and accelerates time-to-market of your high-speed computing interfaces, datacenter connections, and consumer electronics.

• Supported standards, which include PCIe, SAS, SATA, USB, HDMI, DisplayPort, and MIPI C-PHY. Other standards will be continuously added with the requirements for higher data-speed testing
• Guided setup with automated fast stress signal calibration and compliance measurement functions
• Modern look and feel with enhanced functionalities
• System modularity allows the user to enable only required functionalities
• HTML reports
• Node-locked and transportable licenses
• Characterization mode for in-depth testing
• Single- and multi-lane device testing

Turn your instruments into a solution

An efficient test strategy is a proven competitive advantage. The Keysight Technologies N5991 is the successor to the well-known industry standard N5990A test automation software platform. It follows the same concept – combining the performance of your instruments with the convenience of your PC. The system’s software provides unprecedented test integration, high-throughput, and ease-of-use for a wide range of stimulus and response systems, providing a level of control that transforms a collection of instruments into a universal, user-friendly and highly productive test solution.

Standardize your tests

The N5991 receiver-test options provide dedicated receiver compliance tests for popular and emerging digital buses. The user can choose compliance mode for fast reassurance, or characterization mode for in-depth analysis. The Receiver Test Automation Platform’s compliance testing capabilities have been repeatedly proven at interoperability workshops (“plug fests”). The N5991 builds on the success of previous generations to deliver significant gains in productivity. Like its predecessor, the N5990A, the new system makes it easy to test multiple buses by using the same interface for all available standards. It delivers additional gains by using familiar HTML for reporting results.

Test selection and test results

The test automation software platform lets you select tests from an intuitive tree structure with multiple levels of detail. Select the tests you want to run, together with the number of repetitions. Test results are provided in HTML format. When you measure a parameter range, it delivers a specific graph and a related data table (see Figure 2).

Computer Bus Application SAS – Serial Attached SCSI

SAS test solution for transfer rates of 12 Gb/s and  22.5 Gb/s

The SCSI Trade Association (STA) was established in 1996 to provide a focal point for members to communicate the benefits of SCSI to the industry. STA promotes the understanding and use of Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) technology and influences the evolution of SCSI standards to meet future industry needs. SAS has been shipping dual-port drives since its inception. A benefit of SAS based storage subsystems is the dual-port capability of each SAS drive, providing a redundant path to each drive in the event of a controller-level failover. In addition, multi-initiator capability can be achieved with an SAS Fabric implementation through SAS expanders. This can be further enhanced with simultaneous access and dual-active port support.

In a step towards meeting requirements for very high bandwidth and increasing IOPS for big data analytics and scale-out storage in datacenter, the SCSI Trade Association (STA) has developed the 24G SAS specification. Composed of SAS-4 and SPL-4, the SAS-4 specification is backward compatible with 12 Gb/s but added a 22.5 Gb/s data rate. SAS 22.5 Gb/s uses an encoding scheme that differs from previous versions.

Calibration and testing for SAS 1.5 Gb/s, 3 Gb/s and 6 Gb/s are not supported by the N5991SA SAS receiver test automation.