Receiver and Bit Error Rate Testing (BERT) Basics
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Join Keysight engineers for a skill-building deep dive into receiver and bit error rate testing. This course guides you through the fundamentals of BERT with demonstrations and step-by-step guidance you can start applying in your lab today. By the end of this course, you will be able to confidently perform receiver testing, interpret eye diagrams, and analyze bit error rates to validate high-speed digital designs.

Learn:

  • How bit error rate testers (BERTs) work and why they are essential for receiver validation.
  • How to set up and perform compliance testing using eye diagrams and stress signals.
  • How to identify and troubleshoot signal integrity issues affecting receiver performance.

This course is ideal for digital design, test engineers, or anyone looking to gain a deeper understanding of receiver testing, BERT methodology, and high-speed digital signal validation.

Lessons
Lesson 1 - Introduction to BERTs

Lesson 1 - Introduction to BERTs

Introduces the basics of bit error ratio testers (BERTs), which are used to test the performance of digital communication circuits. BERTs compare the received data stream to the original data stream, and the resulting bit error ratio (BER) indicates the number of errors introduced by the transmission channel.
Lesson 2 - Characterizing Serial Data Links

Lesson 2 - Characterizing Serial Data Links

Introduces serial data link characterization, covering BERT operation, pattern generation, jitter and eye diagram analysis, and how these are used to evaluate receiver performance.
Lesson 3 - Receiver Testing, Bit Error Rate Basics

Lesson 3 - Receiver Testing, Bit Error Rate Basics

Explores the essentials of receiver testing, including bit error rate fundamentals, rare error analysis, sampling, decision thresholds, and test setup considerations.
Lesson 4 - Introducing the BERT

Lesson 4 - Introducing the BERT

Covers BERT fundamentals including instrument design, pattern generation, jitter control, and the diagnostic and setup essentials required for accurate bit error rate testing.
Lesson 5 - Impairments

Lesson 5 - Impairments

Explains signal impairments such as jitter, noise, and crosstalk, and how each affects the accuracy of bit error rate testing with a BERT.
Lesson 6 - What Impairments Look Like

Lesson 6 - What Impairments Look Like

Shows how signal impairments including jitter, noise, and distortion appear in test waveforms, and how they affect bit error rate measurements.
Lesson 7 - Making BERT Measurements with a BERT

Lesson 7 - Making BERT Measurements with a BERT

Demonstrates how jitter, noise, and crosstalk impact BERT measurements in practice, in the context of high-speed testing.
High-Performance Digital Products

Catalogs

High-Performance Digital Products

Today’s enterprise and consumer products are driving the need for faster processing at lower power consumption and pushing your design margins to the extreme. Consumer technologies, communication infrastructure, data centers, pure science, electronic warfare, and quantum computing are driving measurement limits. Learn physical-layer characterization, validation, and compliance testing systems.

Related Product
M8040A 64 GBaud High-Performance BERT

hardware

M8040A 64 GBaud High-Performance BERT

The M8040A high performance BERT covers all flavors of 400 GbE standards testing with support for PAM4 and NRZ signals and data rates up to 64 GBaud.
Related Use Case
How to Analyze PAM4 Receiver Signals

How to Analyze PAM4 Receiver Signals

Characterize PAM4 with BER and SER measurements