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How to Analyze PAM4 Receiver Signals

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High-Performance BERT
+ High-Performance BERT
High-Performance BERT
+ High-Performance BERT

Using error analysis to gain insight into PAM4 receiver signals

Analyzing PAM4 signals requires multiple-bit error rate (BER) and symbol error rate (SER) measurements. The BER is a measure of the receiver’s quality and is assessed by taking the ratio of errored bits to transmitted bits. BER measurements are important for characterization because standards consortia define BER compliance requirements. Analyzing specific errors on only 0s or 1s is useful for troubleshooting problems in the receiver or elsewhere in the link.

Similarly, you can determine SER by taking the ratio of errored symbols to transmitted symbols. It gives the performance in terms of symbol errors instead of bit errors. As PAM4 has four symbols, there are five possible SER measurements — one for each individual PAM4 symbol and one total SER measurement that takes into consideration all symbols. Knowing these SERs, the user can identify which PAM4 symbol is in error or how often a specific symbol encounters an error. This detailed SER analysis is helpful for the complete characterization of the PAM4 system.

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PAM4 analysis solution

PAM4 receiver analysis solution

Characterizing, designing, and debugging links using PAM4 signaling requires various BER and SER measurements. The Keysight PAM4 analysis solution combines the Keysight M8040A high-performance BERT with advanced measurement software to enable detailed error analysis for both BER and SER. The solution supports long pseudorandom binary sequences (PRBS) and memory-based patterns.
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