N5392A Ethernet Electrical Performance Validation and Conformance Software for Infiniium Oscilloscopes

Easy and accurate Ethernet design validation and debug

The Keysight Technologies, Inc. N5392A Ethernet electrical performance validation and conformance software for Infiniium oscilloscopes provides you with an easy and accurate way to verify and debug your 1000BASE-T, 100BASE-TX and 10BASE-T Ethernet designs. The Ethernet electrical test software allows you to automatically execute Ethernet physical-layer (PHY) electrical tests, and it displays the results in a flexible report format. In addition to the measurement data, the report provides a margin analysis that shows how closely your device passed or failed each test.

To make 1000BASE-T, 100BASETX and 10BASE-T measurements with the N5392A Ethernet electrical test software, you also need the Keysight N5395C Ethernet electrical conformance test fixture. If you want to make 1000BASE-T jitter measurements, you also need the Keysight N5396A Gigabit Ethernet jitter test cable. In addition, you can use Keysight 33250A arbitrary waveform generators as disturbing signal sources and choose from a variety of Keysight vector network analyzers to make your return loss measurements.

The N5392A Ethernet electrical test software performs a wide range of electrical tests required to meet the Ethernet electrical specifications for 1000BASE-T, 100BASE-TX and 10BASE-T systems as documented in the IEEE 802.3-2005 and ANSI X3.263-1995 standards. To meet signal quality requirements, your product must successfully pass conformance testing based on these specifications. Performing these tests gives you confidence in your design. The N5392A Ethernet electrical test software helps you execute a wide subset of the conformance tests that can be measured with an oscilloscope.

Features

The N5392A Ethernet electrical test software offers several features to simplify the validation of Ethernet designs:

– Setup wizard for quick and clear setup, configuration and test

– Wide range of 1000BASE-T, 100BASE-TX and 10BASE-T tests enabling standards conformance

– Disturbing signal support for 1000BASE-T Test Mode 1 and 4 tests

– Accurate and repeatable results with Keysight Infiniium oscilloscopes

– Accurate return loss measurements with supported Keysight vector network analyzers

– Automated reporting in a comprehensive HTML format with margin analysis

With the Ethernet electrical test software, you can use the same oscilloscope you use for everyday debugging to perform automated testing and margin analysis based on the Ethernet-standards.

N5392A software saves you time

The N5392A Ethernet electrical test software saves you time by setting the stage for automatic execution of Ethernet electrical tests. Part of the difficulty of performing electrical tests for Ethernet is properly connecting to the oscilloscope, loading the proper setup files, and then analyzing the measured results by comparing them to limits published in the specification. The Ethernet electrical test software does much of this work for you.

The N5392A Ethernet electrical test software automatically configures the oscilloscope for each test, and it provides an informative results report that includes margin analysis indicating how close your product is to passing or failing that specification. See Tables 3 to 5 for a complete list of the measurements made by the Ethernet electrical test software.

Easy test definition

The N5392A Ethernet electrical test software extends the ease-of-use advantages of Keysight’s Infiniium oscilloscopes to testing Ethernet designs. The Keysight automated test engine walks you quickly through the steps required to define the tests you want to make, set up the tests, perform the tests, and view the test results. A setup page enables you to quickly make decisions from the outset regarding the choice of tests and perform functions that affect the testing task. The test selections available in the following steps are then filtered according to the choices made in the setup page. While selecting tests, you can select a category of tests all at once, or specify individual tests. You can save tests and configurations as project files and recall them later for quick testing and review of previous test results. Straightforward menus let you perform tests with a minimum of mouse clicks.

Configurability and guided connections

The N5392A Ethernet electrical test software provides flexibility in your test setup. It guides you to make connection changes with hookup diagrams when the tests you select require it. All Ethernet electrical conformance tests you perform are based on the Keysight N5395C Ethernet electrical conformance test fixture and N5396A Gigabit Ethernet jitter test cable. You connect the oscilloscope to the conformance test fixture using Keysight InfiniiMax active differential probes, SMA cables and BNC cables. Even when you use additional instruments such as the arbitrary waveform generator as the disturbing signal source, or the vector network analyzer for return loss measurements, the N5392A will guide you through the connections with detailed instructions and diagrams.

Reports with margin analysis

In addition to providing you with measurement results, the N5392A Ethernet electrical test software provides a report format that shows you not only where your product passes or fails, but also reports how close you are to the limits specified for a particular test. You can select the margin test report parameter, which means you can specify the level at which warnings are issued to alert you to electrical tests where your product is operating close to the official test limit defined by the Ethernet specification.

Extensibility

You may add additional custom tests or steps to your application using the N5467A User Defined Application (UDA) development tool. Use UDA to develop functional “Add-Ins” that you can plug into your application.

Add-ins may be designed as:

– Complete custom tests (with configuration variables and connection prompts)

– Any custom steps such as pre or post processing scripts, external instrument control and your own device control