Scope maker LeCroy has introduced PCI Express
Gen 1.x, 2.0 and 3.0 decode annotation for validation and debug,
adding protocol awareness to its physical layer tools.
"Hardware and system engineers can simultaneously understand the
physical layer and protocol behaviour of high-speed PCI Express
serial data signals. The capability provides a link layer protocol
decode for up to four PCI Express signals annotated on the
oscilloscope physical layer waveform," said the firm. "It is the
first and only oscilloscope-based decode solution for Gen 2.0 and
Gen 3.0 standards."
For simultaneous symbol/primitive and protocol level
understanding, LeCroy's optional 8b/10b decode annotation tool can
be added.
All the standard maths, measurement, cursor, zoom, and other
analysis tools available in the oscilloscope may be used
concurrently.
"The annotation capability is especially helpful for the
emerging PCI Express Gen 3.0 standard, where silicon physical layer
[PHY] links are beginning to be validated before the standard has
been finalised," said LeCroy. "In the early PHY validation stages,
the physical layer signals may not exhibit the desired signal
fidelity, and a significant amount of physical layer debug must
often occur before a specialised protocol analyser can be
used."
Within the tool, algorithms deconstruct the waveform into
protocol information, and then annotate the physical layer waveform
on the oscilloscope grid. Annotation condenses or expands depending
on the time base/zoom ratio setting.
Various portions of the protocol are colour-coded.
"For instance, TS1 and SKIPs are colour-coded a grayish blue
while Electrical Idle, Error, or Unrecognized frames are
colour-coded red," said LeCroy.
Decoded information is shown in tables and touching a specific
frame index in the table or searching for a specific frame type
automatically creates a zoom trace showing physical layer detail
along with expanded decode information.
The option is compatible with the WavePro 7 Zi, WaveMaster 8 Zi,
WavePro 7000, and WaveMaster 8000 series of oscilloscopes, as well
as serial data/disk drive analysers based on the same hardware:
including the SDA11000, SDA13000, and SDA18000.
Bandwidth is recommended as at least the PCI Express GT/s rate,
with a minimum oscilloscope sample rate of 4x the data rate.