Fully automated, universal and fast: decoding of 8b/10b buses with the R&S RTO oscilloscope

06/08/2015

Rohde & Schwarz expands the application field of its R&S RTO oscilloscope by adding an option to decode and analyze 8b/10b encoded interfaces up to 6.25 Gbit/s. The new software option's full autoset function configures all settings at the push of a button.

The new R&S RTO-K52 decoding option helps developers design, verify and debug modules with 8b/10b encoded buses. At the push of a button, the R&S RTO uses the option's full autoset function to determine the channel, decision level and bit rate settings, allowing developers to quickly start measuring. All of these settings can be readjusted manually.

Decoding is based on the clock rate and 8b/10b-specific bit alignments of the captured waveform. The decoded data symbols and control symbols are displayed clearly and are color coded. A tabular list of the protocol contents is also provided. The 8b/10b decoding option's powerful search and navigation function enables users to quickly isolate data contents as well as error states such as disparity violations.

The R&S RTO features an up to 128-bit serial pattern trigger for precise triggering on individual bit sequences. The optional R&S RTO-K13 HW-CDR hardware clock data recovery delivers accurate results for embedded clock signals.

The new test solution allows users to correlate 8b/10b encoded interface commands with other circuit signals over time, for easy isolation of critical states and fast identification of system design errors. 8b/10b encoded buses are used in the common USB 3.0 and PCIe interfaces and many other applications. The MIPI UniPro M-PHY interface in smartphones as well as display interfaces such as HDMI use 8b/10b encoding, as do base stations based on the Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI).

The R&S RTO-K52 8b/10b serial decoding option is now available from Rohde & Schwarz.