How to Test Automotive SerDes Receiver Conformance

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Performing electrical tests using MIPI A-PHY specifications

Testing automotive SerDes (serializer / deserializer) receiver conformance requires ensuring the quality of the digital transmission by measuring the receiver's ability to recover data from an impaired input signal. SerDes are asymmetrical; the downlink, or forward direction, has a substantially higher data rate than the uplink or backchannel. The downlink uses higher-order modulations like pulse amplitude modulation 4-level (PAM4) to achieve faster data rates, while the slower uplink data uses non-return-to-zero (NRZ) encoding. The modulation format changes result in different test methods depending on the test traffic direction.

Automotive SerDes receiver testing at the physical layer requires stressing the receiver and validating its operation in the noisy environment of a car. Use an arbitrary waveform generator and its associated software to generate noise profiles defined in the MIPI A-PHY specification. The software stresses the receiver's clock recovery and error correction mechanism while monitoring the link performance. The software must emulate (as required by the specification) different noise sources present in a vehicle, including broadband, spectrally shaped noise profiles, and dynamic, transient events operating in specific frequency bands for finite periods.

Automotive SerDes receiver test solution

Automotive SerDes receiver testing requires various physical layer tests to meet the current MIPI A-PHY receiver specifications. The Keysight automotive SerDes receiver test solution helps you validate your receiver health by stressing it with noise profiles mimicking the harsh environment of a car to ensure it receives the signal as intended. The automotive SerDes receiver test software includes control software for the arbitrary waveform generator to generate noise profiles defined in the MIPI APHY specification. The software can emulate different noise sources present in a vehicle, including broadband, spectrally shaped noise profiles, and dynamic transient events operating in specific frequency bands for finite periods.

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