E2960B Series for PCI Express® 2.0

The most integrated and comprehensive PCI Express x1 through x16 test solution, with superior probing

Overview

The E2960B Series is the industry’s most complete and integrated test system with x1 through x16 protocol analyzer, exerciser, compliance test packages and an array of probing solutions to meet test needs.

• The non-intrusive analyzer provides an authentic system view with genuine and unaltered signal characteristics.

• The exerciser provides thorough testing of the link from x1 to x16, with an automated LTSSM exerciser and predefined compliance test to expedite test cycles.

• The protocol to logic gateway (P2L gateway) for correlation with the Keysight Technologies, Inc. logic analyzers, enabling broad visibility into all parts of the system.

• Integrated solution for stimulus (exerciser) and response (analyzer) enables detailed observation and full understanding of the DUT’s behavior.

These capabilities provide our customers with the fastest time to insight. Leaving more time for design debug, and bringing products to market quickly.

E2960B Key Features

• Reliable traffic capture and analysis.

• Fastest lock times in the industry, 3 to 4 FTS lock time typical, for effective active state power management (ASPM) testing.

• Easy flow and context sensitive display for clear protocol viewing.

• Full package of post processing capabilities including flow control tracking, traffic overview and real time statistics.

• Sophisticated triggering, search, and filtering capabilities.

• Includes unique logic capabilities such as lane view, fast ASPM sync time, and trigger on ordered set.

• Comprehensive probing capabilities, including Mid-bus 2.0, Flying Lead 2.0 and slot interposer probes.

• Unique LTSSM testing using pre-configured tests.

• Innovative jammer tool to simplify error injection and disruptive tests.

• PTC 2.0, compliance tests for PCI Express Gen1 and Gen2 on the same test card.

• Upgradable hardware model, can be used for PTC 2.0 or upgraded to the compliance assured test package with 170 PCI-SIG recommended additional tests, or to full exerciser capabilities.

• Cross triggering between logic analyzer and protocol analyzer.

• Ping-pong triggering with flags is supported.

• Strong integration between exerciser and analyzer allows the analyzer to capture only the key segments of the device behavior.

• Replay traffic in the exerciser recorded with the protocol analyzer.

• Consistent use model between both stimulus and response to minimize learning curve.

From a lightweight portable system to large-scale validation environment

The E2960B Series is designed to be lightweight and portable and take minimum space in your labs. However, if you need many analyzers or exercisers at once, the architecture is designed to support this. Multiple chassis can be connected together to form a large scale, time synchronized test system.

Typical Configurations

The E2960B Series supports two main types applications, exerciser and protocol analyzer.

The main characteristic of the exerciser application is to create stimulus to the device under test (DUT). If you are testing an add‑in card, the exerciser can be programed to emulate a root-complex. If you are doing root-complex testing, then the exerciser can be programmed to emulate an end device.

The exerciser application has programmable behaviors at the physical, data link and transaction layer, to allow you to comprehensively validate the behavior of your DUT before releasing the product. You can program the behavior of the exerciser yourself, or you can purchase the compliance assured test package from Keysight, which includes over 170 fully automated tests to validate the correct behavior of your device.

If problems are uncovered during the testing, then protocol analyzers are used to further debug and troubleshoot the issue at hand.

One of the key challenges of doing debugging in PCI Express Gen 2 is access to the signals. The E2960B Series analyzers address this challenge by providing a full array of probing solutions, mid-bus probes, slot interposer probes, and flying lead probes, to meet your test needs.

The E2960B Series protocol analyzers also include sophisticated features such as state-based triggering, easy-flow, context sensitive columns to help you gain insight faster.

PCI Express Gen 2 Ready Program

As the industry starts validating PCI Express Gen 2 designs, many discussions are underway to decide whether to continue investment in test equipment for PCI Express Gen 1 or to shift the investment to Gen 2. The Gen 2 Ready program has been created to make this decision easier. The Gen 2 Ready program is investment protection of your current test tool investments. Independent of the required lane width, x1 to x16, the Keysight E2960B Series for the PCI Express 2.0 analyzer and exerciser is now available either at 2.5 Gb/s or 5 Gb/s. You can use the E2960B today just for Gen 1 applications, and migrate to Gen 2 testing over time. The upgrade to Gen 2 functionality is fast and easy, with a software only update—no need for exchange, or swapping out hardware.