Release Notes

BERTScopeTM Software

Introduction
Welcome to the BERTScope Software Release Notes. This document tracks the changes for each BERTScope Software Release. Included in these release notes are details on all new features and enhancements, a list of resolved issues, and pointers for upgrading and error reporting.
Error Reporting
If you encounter a problem, please notify us with a problem report. Please include all instrument settings and a detailed account of the steps leading up to the problem. If you can reproduce the problem, please note that as well.

If possible, please attach the BERTScope Software configuration file to the report. In the BERTScope Software, use Config -> Save Configuration to save the current configuration (the software will prompt for a filename). Configuration files are stored in D:\Bitalyzer\Configurations and have a .cfg extension. Please also attach the ISMsgs.log file. This file can be found in the C:\ root directory.

Please contact the Tektronix Technical Support Center:
Customers calling within the U.S. call 1-800-833-9200 press 3.
Customers calling from outside the U.S. call 503-627-2400.

All reports should be submitted using the following link http://www.tek.com/Measurement/programs/tech_support/.

Version 11.02.1903

Fix for 100 Mhz Eye issue
Fix for PGm unstable clock issue

Version 11.02.1886

New Features
- Enhance BERTScope application software to
- Add support for USB 3.1 personality
- Add support for USB 3.1 Loopback control
- Automation support for USB 3.1 receiver testing application


Clear Quest Bug Fixes
CR00482034 - BERTScope: Retain all tested points in JTOL sweep chart and table
CR00463281 - Make PCIe3 skip filtering available
AR - 40261 - JTOl Binary Search Issue
CR00410232 - "Generate Frequencies" Button In JTOL Template Kills The BERTScope
CR00482034 - BERTScope: Retain all tested points in JTOL sweep chart and table
CR00406072 - Operation of the SJ at rates > 22.4 Gb/s (MiniMUL use) seems to be broken
CR00402107 - Warnings for HF jitters above 22.4G are inconsistent
CR00482033 - Changing SJ modulator from 130 to 270ps and back to 220ps results in no RJ available
CR00482143 - With 1UI on the 130ps modulator, switching to the 220ps modulator results in 1.6UI
CR00483972 - If the SJ modulator is set to 220ps, the RJ intrinsic limit showed 39.4% UI EVEN WHEN THE SJ WAS TURNED OFF
CR00481096 - PGM Clock Unstable - Dly Symmetry- Temperature Issue (Recode trial freq logic)
CR00458633 - Crash and BSOD when removing all Eye Diagram measurements with remote client
CR00480986 - When disconnecting DPP/CR or LFPS Switch from the BERTscope the BERTscope freezes
CR00478655 - AR - LSI - SJ stress Intermittently measuring about 60% of what it should be at 6Ghz
CR00480643 - External Clock Input 4.25 gig, SJ is twice what they were expecting



Version 11.01.1454

New Features
- Enhance BERTScope application software to support increased SJ modulation amplitude and to extend the frequency modulation range for RJ, BUJ, HFSJ (new hardware features of the BSA286CL only).
- Added User Interface Menu items and Remote control commands to control additional SJ ranges (130, 220 and 270 pS) from 10Gbps to
28.6Gbps.
- Added User Interface Menu items and Remote control commands that extends range of RJ/BUJ/HFSJ to 28.6Gbps.
- Modified Jitter Tolerance test view to use the additional SJ ranges.

Clear Quest Bug Fixes
- CR00476835 - EANalysis:PSENsitivity:BDATa? does not return expected value
- CR00464879 - BERTScope: SJ Limits in Jitter Tolerance view not shown correctly
- CR00464282 - BERTScope: Print To File On a network location kills the BSA application every time
- CR00461558 - Sending JTOL:LDTP will intermittently cause the BERTScope software to become unresponsive and creates numerous Run-time error
- CR00476665 - Sub Rate mode not properly initialized on Power up.
- CR00477224 - Generator Delay Cal times out during PCIe Gen 3 Equipment Initialization
- CR00463320 - DPP Extended Features not detected properly on BERTScopes with major version > 10



Version 11.01.1377

New Features
- Support Windows 7 32 bit operating system

Clear Quest Bug Fixes
- CR00458688 - PG “Reference Clock Enabled” is not saved/restored when saving a configuration
- AR#38809 - JTOL test issue at low frequency - Customer can’t select whether to use PM or SJ for SJ rates below 160 kHz
- CR00433584 - Error Detector Delay Calibration Error With PCIe Jitter Enabled
- CR00398023- Jitter Tolerance test confidence level adjustments are not working
- CR00429346 Unstable clock with 50%UI RJ at 10.3125GHz

Version 10.15.1284

New Features
- PCIE Link training support added in Bertscope software as well as firmware. Driver and FPGA able to handle DUT requests during Link training.
- Ability to Create a table of the Tap values corresponding to a bunch of Preset values with the current DPP settings and pushing the table down to DPP firmware so that the look up be faster when serial requests from DPP come in.

Clear Quest Bug Fixes
- CR00403570 - Detector was synchronized but the ED said "no sync"
- CR0043525 - DPP Save Restore Configuration did not work
- CR00401966 - PG Clock Unstable with External Clock Input
- CR00404498 - BSA can not find the USB driver of the DPP125C
- CR00404501 - UI: Set Gen Outputs for DPP does not seem to work properly
- CR00407084 - Selecting to program generator outputs does not automatically set the Stressed clock selection for the
Sub-rate output
- CR00410232 - UI-Customer Found: "Generate Frequencies" Button In JTOL Template Kills The BERTScope
- CR00406284 - Customer Found: Jitter Tolerance Test Failure With The Secondary Frequency (CF)
- CR00402209 - UI: After Selecting Set Gen. Outputs For DPP Menu Item and The Menu Item Is Not Checked

Known Issues
- CR00425637 - Mask Test / Eye diagram Control Center Picoseconds keypad doesn't get displayed.
- CR00425629 - Eye Diagram, Configure measurement, Rising level crossing can't be set to 90%-10%
- CR00425649 - Clear Eye Mode FIR doesn't reject all 0 taps.
- CR00425742 - BER Contour - Cannot set Picosecond per Division to 500
- CR00425643 - Jitter Peak - Cursor is not center when performing Fit Cursor
- CR00425629 - Eye Diagram, Configure measurement, Rising level crossing can't be set to 90%-10%
- CR00427670 - Stress Cobminer Frequency Response Graph Still Reponding to Setting change While It is Turned Off
- CR00425687 - When CR Nominal Freq Does Not Match Input, Trace Button Still Enabled and No Error Msg
- CR00427867 - Contact Tektronix View shows the old version of Software.
- CR00425704 - In the SSC Waveform View, Print Report Does Not Work
- CR00427906 - System Allows DPP:DATARATE set to 28.6G (above Max Value) Without Error Msg
- CR00428067 - After PCIe link equalization, final tap values are not displayed in DPP Control display

Version 10.15.1017
New Features
- Supports new BSA286C model with pattern generation to 28.6 Gbps.
- Subrate clock output now provides sinusoidal jitter up to maximum pattern
generator rate in BSA260C and BSA286C.
- User interface to control the PCIe Interference Test Set (BSAITS125):
Users can select a loss value in dB and the software uses an algorithm to
set the loss paths in the Interference Test Set. To achieve a finer loss
resolution the user may include the DPPS as an ISI source.
- User Interface to control the DPPS125: Users control the pre-shoot,
de-emphasis and gain/loss. Users entry of tap coefficients for the FIR
is friendlier and more responsive.
- Interface to Clock Doubler, Clock Multiplier and Eye Opener functionalities in DPPS.
- Clock recovery unit now supports calibration for the PCIE multiplier fixture.
Improvements and Repairs
- Improvements to auto-center algorithm in eye diagram.
- Improvements to online help.

Version 10.13.1019
Bug Fixes
- Fixed a bug in the Mask test. After running Mask test for the first time and when Jitter Peak or BER Contour is run and subsequent runs of Mask test will fail. This bug was fixed.
- Eye Diagram will show dots while running with Infinite persistence. This bug was fixed with increase in time to render Eye.
- Other issues pertaining to Build were fixed.

Version 10.13
10.13 Bug Fixes
- In BERTScope software releases 10.11 and earlier, the BERTScope Detector's Symbol Filter function required non-consecutive repetitions of the 8b/10b symbol patterns to be filtered (for example, USB SKPs or SAS/SATA ALIGNs) to be separated by at least 10 symbols in the incoming data stream. In BERTScope software release 10.13, this separation between symbol sequences to be filtered is no longer necessary.
- Manufacturing improvements will be made with this software release, pertaining to failures with Jitter Peak measurements.
- JIttermap failure at DDR frequencies when shipped with PDM board version 215 and above.

Version 10.11
10.11 New Features and Enhancements
-High Frequency Sine Jitter feature has been added to the Stress View. HFSJ allows the user to set modulation frequencies in the range up to 1 GHz.
-Bertscope support for USB 3.0 Receiver testing.

Version 10.10
10.10 New Features and Enhancements
-Support for USB3 Test Solution
Internal changes that enable the USB3 test rig
-Symbol Filtering improvements
SAS Primitives and SAS Aligns; works on all frequencies
-PCIe 8G Brute Force Loopback patterns
A way to get the 8G PCIe devices into loopback


Version 10.9
10.9 New Features and Enhancements
-Jitter map - Livedata
Jitter Map on Live Data in Long Pattern Triangulation mode (up to 11.2 Gb/s on the C models)
-CR - Jitter transfer function measurement
For USB 3.0, the CR calibration requires that the Bandwidth has to be set such that the -3dB point of the loop calibration graph is at 4.9 MHZ. Add measurement for what the -3dB point was, and remote-control query to return the measurement result.
-SJ on high frequencies
Jitter support is extended to frequencies above 22.4GHz (SJ only)
-Jitter Tolerance changes and bugfixes
Per-point Baseline SJ, stability improvements, second relax time, and more
-CleanEye-specific Measurements now work with FIR
-Keep Page" functionality in Generator Pattern files
A Page can be marked to "don’t touch" when loading a 2-page pattern
-Real Pattern Length calculation
Now when loading a "10" pattern the application knows the length is 2 bits. CleanEye and other functionalities take that into account.



Version 10.8.1015

Jitter map had issues in the J2 and J9 measurements and they were fixed.
Options trial had issues and has a fix for it.
New system flavors for the 25G platform has been added.

Version 10.8
New features and Enhancements
-Symbol filtering
-Stressed Live data
-Flexible Clean Eye Measurements
-Support for different ram page sizes on Page A/B
-Jitter Map - Variable depth measurements in TJ
-Jitter Map - J2 and J9 measurements in Total Jitter
-External Page A/B Select
-CR25000 - GUI support and firmware changes
-Jitter Tolerance - Relax mode with Page A/B

Symbol filtering
-When 8b10b stream is being received by the Detector, this feature lets user filter out skip sequences inserted in the stream for synchronization purposes.
-The interface allows the user to specify which symbols (up to 4) to filter.
-Feature available for C models only, and when corresponding option is purchased.

Stressed Live data
-The data received by the Detector is passed to Generator. The Generator may add stress to this data before outputting it. Both Generator and Detector need to work off the same clock.
-Feature available for C models only, and when corresponding option is purchased.
Page sizes on Page A/B
-Allows flexible partiotioning of Generator memory so if two pages are of very different sizes the memory can still accommodate them.
-The total memory (16Mbit on A and B models, 128Mbit on C model) is allocated in quarter-size chunks, so, for example, if one page fits in 3/4 of the memory the second page should be no bigger then 1/4 of the memory.



Flexible Clean Eye Measurements
-Amplitude, Rise Time, Fall Time, and Deemphasis Ratio, when measured on the Clean Eye, provide much more precise and flexible definition capabilities and for more accurate measurements.
-Every measurement point is specified as a compound measurement on a particular range of a certain bit (or bits) of the pattern.
-The method of measuring the point could be Maximum, Minimum, Average, or Mode of the specified range. The presets corresponding to different protocol standards are also provided.

Jitter Map - Variable depth
-Ability to specify arbitrary targets to measure Peak to Peak BER in Total Jitter. The range of the value can be any between 1.00E-12 and 1.00E-2.
Jitter Map - J2 and J9 Measurements
-New measurements to Total jitter has been added to support J2 and J9 standards in Total Jitter.

External Page Select
-Enhances the functionality provided by the connector (Page Select) at the back of the BERTScope to also mimic the work done by the "Page Switch" button on the Generator screen where in the user can initiate a switch to the other page momentarily at the end of the first page, have it run the second page merely one time from beginning to end, and automatically return to the beginning of the first page.
CRU 25000
-Support for Half-rate clock out has been added for data rates above 14.3 Gb/s.
-Software support for built in equalization with the new phase detector.
-CR firmware to support the new platform.

Version 10.7.3033

1.New GSM FPGA file that fixes the instability in SJ amplitude
2.Unnecessary UI initializations are removed to reduce the application footprint. (ie. If JMAP isn’t included there is no need to initialize Jittermap views etc).
3.Bug Fix: Wrong ASCII string passing resulted in shutting off ALL outputs in case of overcurrent instead of one.

Version 10.7.3031
Bertscope Options

The application did not verify that the serial number matches the device family ("016" or
"017" or "028" prefix). Instead it displayed the actual serial number and relies on MIC
novram filed to provide the family. This has been fixed. The change also affects options
dialog utility.

Turn on use of best delay range in Jitter peak. (Ported from Jittermap).
Version 10.7.3029
Jitter Map

Jitter map had issues when using a longer user pattern like CJPAT. Either it failed to find points to arrive at the measurements or it was very slow. A fix has been made to address this issue.
CRU New Features & Improvements

-Release new firmware for CR(Version 1.1.9)
-Support for 14.3 GHz
-Fix for 100MHz clock glitch in PCI-PLL tester
-More consistent locking results in more repeatable measurements
-DCRJ support
Version 10.7

New features at-a-glance:
-Support for the BERTScope Si 17500C
-Jitter Map - Requires purchase and installation of Jitter Map option.
-Expanded SJ frequencies for Jitter Tolerance
-Save Remote server commands to a Log file.

New Features and Enhancements

Support for BERTScope Si 17500C

-The BERTScope Si 17500C Signal Integrity Analyzer advances the BERTScope Family to 17.5 Gb/s.
Jitter Map

-Jitter Map separates Total Jitter (TJ) into its sub components, providing insight into jitter problems for design engineers, and making compliance testing easy with automated measurements for standards such as
Fibre Channel, SFP+ (SFF-8431),
IEEE 802.3aq (10GBASE-LRM),
DisplayPort,
PCI Express (PCIe) 2.0 and 3.0 (in draft),
and IEEE 802.3ap (10GBASE-KR). *

*Requires purchase and installation of Jitter Map option

Expanded SJ frequencies for Jitter Tolerance

Jitter Tolerance can now utilize the low frequency SJ capabilities available with the XSSC option -Must have the XSSC Hardware and Software option installed


Issues Resolved in Version 10.7.300x

Calculation of Stress amplitudes

Calculation of stress amplitudes at certain frequencies resulted in the clipping of amplitudes and the keypad showed wrong amplitude ranges.

Jitter Peak with F/2 Jitter

The Jitter peak will not work with higher F/2 stress levels.

Single Value Export

The algorithm for single value export has been improved so that it works reliably with all frequencies and patterns.

GPIB Configuration

The GPIB configuration on the BERTScope must not be set as the System Controller for remote operation to operate correctly. This option can now be de-selected from the IEEE Address dialog that is launched form the BERTScope Remote Server Application. The GPIB address can also be set from this dialog.

Remote Operation

Intermittent crashes could occur while running the BERTscope via remote control, particularly when controlling stress such as during Jitter Tolerance .
Version 10.6
Changes to GPIB configuration
There is a change in the remote control GPIB(IEEE488) configuration setup for recently shipped BERTScopes and those that have been upgraded to Windows XP.

The GPIB configuration on the BERTScope must not be set as the System Controller for remote operation to operate correctly. This option can no longer be de-selected from the IEEE Address dialog that is launched form the BERTScope Remote Server Application.

This should be done as follows:

-From the Windows Start menu select Programs-National Instruments-Measurement + Automation Explorer
-From the Measurement & Automation Explorer, expand Devices and Interfaces
-Right Click GPIB0.
-Uncheck the System Controller Checkbox.
-Select OK.


Updating CR Firmware
It is recommended that you update your CR firmware after you install 10.6. The CR will continue to function without the upgrade but will report that the firmware is out of date.

To upgrade you CR firmware, download the following installation on to a PC. Do not download this file to the BERTscope and execute it on the BERTSCOPE because it will corrupt the BERTScope application.

http://www.synthesysresearch.com/Support/Software/BERTScopePC_and%20_Applications/Setup_BERTScopePC10_6_3002.exe

Once the has completed, double click on the Setup_BERTScopePC10_6_3002.exe which will start the installation program

Select the BERTScope CR firmware update utility when the installation program "Select Options" page is displayed

Once the installation completes you can update your CR firmware by selecting BERTScope-CR Update from the PC Start menu.


New features at-a-glance:
-F/2 stress - Duty cycle distortion generation *
-Pattern Editor improvements
-Plot of derivative of frequency in SSC View
-Improved reliability of Jitter peak measurement on single bits

* Requires installation of F/2 option

New Features and Enhancements
F/2 stress

-A common issue in high speed systems is that the final stage 2:1 multiplexer can have an imbalance in symmetry between inputs. This results in an output data stream of uneven bit periods, with odd bits of one length, even bits of another. F/2 jitter is a difference in the pulse widths of odd vs even bits. The deliberate creation of F/2 jitter stress is another type of high speed jitter, like RJ and BUJ, which are non-compensatable through the use of receiver equalization. This additional stress type can be used to create additional eye closure beyond our 0.5 UI maximum for RJ and BUJ.

-F/2 is an orderable option requiring existing BERTScope units to be returned to our factory for calibration
Pattern Editor Improvements
-Patten auto fill option
oPattern auto fill automatically replicates the pattern in the pattern file to end on a 128 bit boundary.
-Base keyword
oBINARY, HEX, OCTAL keywords can be used to specify base of numbers in pattern file. Eliminates the need to prefix number with 0b, 0x, or 0o.

Plot of derivative of frequency vs time in SSC view
-The plot of the derivative of frequency vs time can also be plotted by selecting the plot type on the SSC View. When the dF/dt plot type is selected, the maximum value of the dF/dt plot is displayed on the measurement sidebar. ( Requires CRj or DCrj)
Improved reliability of Jitter peak measurement on single bits at lower frequencies

-The Jitter peak measurement on single bits has been improved at frequencies less than or equal to 2.5Ghz. The single bit measurement had difficulty finding the correct points and was unable to fit the data properly. As a result the measurement would not be able to complete. The delay resolution was improved and now the measurement works more reliably at lower frequencies.


Issues Resolved in Version 10.6.3007
-Occasionally when running the SSC Waveform view using remote control , the BERTScope application would crash.
This has been fixed.

Issues Resolved in Version 10.6.3006
-Occasionally when running Jitter Tolerance in search mode using remote control, the BERTScope application would crash. This crash would be preceded by the error message:
ISGSM::get_LFRJAmplitudeUI: Gsm_GetLFRJAmplitudeUIPcnt1K call failed.
This has been fixed.

Issues Resolved in Version 10.6.3001
-#1772 The pattern editor was indicating a syntax error when repeat counts are include in the pattern. For example the following pattern with repeat counts of 6 and 4064 is correct but the pattern parser would generate a syntax error when Check Syntax was selected. This has been corrected.
ASSIGN WIDTH 10
ASSIGN K28_5neg 0b0011111010
ASSIGN K28_5pos 0b1100000101
ASSIGN D11_6pos 0b1101000110
ASSIGN D10_2neg 0b0101010101
%

%
% Send Symbol Lock Pattern for 400 us
{K28_5neg D11_6pos K28_5pos D11_6pos {D10_2neg}6} 4064

-#1778 The EYE:MDENABLE remote command was retuning server error. This has been fixed.

-#1778 The EYE:MDENABLE remote command was retuning server error. This has been fixed.

-#1780 GSM:SJ:FREQ remote command was returning 0 when SJ freq is in the khz range. This has been fixed.

-#1791 Not getting change view warning message when changing views when changing views using quick view. The change view warning will now be displayed when changing views using the quick view button

Version 10.5
New features at-a-glance:
-Short Cut for View Switching
-Support for the new LTS *
-Increased Limit of Export Samples in Eye Diagram
-New Auto Align Mode - Bit Error Rate (BER)
-Display of Jitter Spectrum Integration with Slopes
-CleanEye Speed up
-Telecom Jitter Measurement
-SynFM **
-Support Windows XP O/S

* Requires the LTS
** Requires the SynFM hardware
New Features and Enhancements
Short Cut for View Switching
A button has been added on the top left section of the display next to the view title bar to allow the user to access to a list of historical views that s/he was viewing and to access to the views within the same group if exists.
Support for BERTScope Lightwave Test Set (LTS)
The new BERTScope Lightwave Test Set (LTS) 8500A is the first flexible stress solution to offer 850 nm receiver jitter tolerance testing (stressed eye) to 8x Fibre Channel and 10 Gb/s Ethernet Short Reach (10GBASE-SR) standards for transceiver types such as XFP and SFP+. In combination with the BERTScope S 12500B signal integrity analyzer, the LTS 8500A offers compliance test and deep insight on all high speed ports of common short reach optical transceivers.
The BERTScope LTS features an 850 nm optical source, and an optional 10 Gb/s optical reference receiver (Option OPT REC) with 10 Gbit band clock recovery, enabling transmitter test and optical stress calibration. When combined with the BERTScope S 12500B, all of the stress impairments required by 1x, 2x, 4x, 8x, and 10x Fibre Channel are available, along with those of 10GBASE-SR. For the first time, engineers are able to generate a test quality 850 nm stressed eye, calibrate it at the time of test if required, and then set the desired optical modulation amplitude (OMA) using the built in output level control.
Increased Limit of Export Samples in Eye Diagram
The total exporting samples have increased from 100,000 points to 1,000,000 points when exporting Single-Value Waveform to .CSV file in Eye Diagram.
New Auto Align Mode - Bit Error Rate (BER)
The DATA control in the Detector view now has a new menu item "AutoAlign Mode", which has three sub-menu items: "Help on AutoAlign Mode?", "Prob Density Func", and "Bit Error Rate".
Probability Density Function - Is the old way of doing the auto align. Vertical Scanning is done at different time offsets and the data is analyzed to find the amplitude and offsets. Horizontal scanning is done at the voltage offset from the previous procedure and the data is analyzed to find the time offset. The data analysis looks for the darkest spot in the gathered data to arrive at the final values.
Bit Error Rate (BER) Mode - Vertical scanning is done at different time offsets and the data is analyzed to find the amplitude. Algorithm measures Bit Error rate at different time offsets within the unit interval and voltage offsets within the amplitude range from the previous procedure to arrive at a best BER point.
Display of Jitter Spectrum Integration with Slopes
Notch marks for rising and falling slopes are displayed in the Details view of the Jitter Spectrum, Peak-to-Peak screen, when the Jitter Frequency and Slope Factor get set in the "Configure" dialog box of the Measurements side bar.
CleanEye Speed up
The Clean Eye and FIR Filtering processes were too slow. Performance has been improved.
Telecom Jitter Measurement
Telecom Jitter measurements evaluate the total amount of jitter between two frequencies and can be displayed as peak-to-peak or RMS Telecom Jitter in the Jitter Spectrum chart. The Details view of Telecom Jitter shows the frequency range as well as the Telecom Jitter measurement.
User now can choose to display these Telecom Jitter Measurements by selecting the Configuring Measurement List menu.
SynFM
The support in the software for the SynFM will be enabled by the presence of the hardware.
Once it is present, the user will see "SSC/PM" block instead of the current "SSC" in the Generator screen, and its menu will have what the current SSC has plus some additional items.
The only visible changes in the software are the wording of the SSC menu items and labels under SSC button, where prefix "SSC" has been added, to distinguish between different kinds of modulation SynFM can support.
Support Windows XP O/S
BERTScope applications now can run on Windows XP operating system. Contact SyntheSys Research Technical Support for details.

Issues Resolved in Version 10.5
-#1734, DET:RRES remote command vs. manual "Reset Results" behave differently. The manual command re-syncs the ED; the remote command does not. New DET:RESEtall remote command is implemented; it has the some functionality as "Reset Results" button in the Detector view.
-The BERTScope knob now controls the selections on the BERTScope CR GUI.
Knob works with Numeric Keypad: Turn left - value decreases; Turn right - value increases
Knob works with Chart Pan-X: Turn left - chart scrolls right; Turn right - chart scrolls left
Knob works with Chart Pan-Y: Turn left - chart scrolls up; Turn right - chart scrolls down
Knob works with Chart Zoom-X: Turn left - image shrinks; Turn right - image grows
Knob works with Chart Zoom-Y: Turn left - image shrinks; Turn right - image grows
Knob works with Chart X-Axis Cursors: Turn left - cursor goes left; Turn right - cursor goes right
Knob Works with Chart Y-Axis Cursors: Turn left - cursor goes down; Turn right - cursor goes up
Version 10.3
New features at-a-glance:
-The "Clean Eye" option, which includes Clean Eye, Single Value waveform export and Jitter Peak on a single bit has been renamed to PatternVU.
-Added Q Scale for Jitter Peak and Q-Factor plots
-Additional Export File Formats for single value export in Eye Diagram
-MilliUI and UI units in Y-axis of Jitter Spectrum chart
-Support for new DCRj *
-Support for the new DPP **

* Requires DCRj
** Requires the DPP
New Features and Enhancements
Q Scale for Jitter Peak and Q-Factor
When Q scale is enabled in the Jitter peak view or the Q-Factor view, the Y-axis is converted from BER values to Q values. The Raw results will also be changed accordingly in the table.
Support for DCRj
The new BERTScope™ Digital Communications Receiver (DCRj) control view has been added to the System menu to support the DCRj instrument. The DCRj optical reference receiver is a flexible, multi-functional instrument that complements the powerful signal integrity analysis capabilities of the BERTScope S.
The DCRJ is designed for 10 Gb/s telecommunications testing, possessing both optical and single-ended electrical data inputs. Combine the DCRJ with the BERTScope S 12500B signal integrity analyzer for the ability to look deeper into device performance. Generate, measure, and analyze jitter from 5 kHz to >80 MHz to test compliance, characterize performance and design margin, and to precisely see and troubleshoot device behavior.
Export File Format in Eye Diagram
When exporting Single-Value Waveform to .CSV file in Eye Diagram, the File Format selection is as follows:
Y values If exporting Y values data only
Y Values, VerboseIf exporting Y values data with header information
X-Y ValuesIf exporting X and Y values data (with comma-delimited)
Stat Eye (X-Y, Verbose) If exporting X and Y values data with header information
data (with comma-delimited)

Also, the total exporting samples have increased from 10,000 points to 100,000 points.
MilliUI and UI units in Y-axis of Jitter Spectrum chart
In addition to the display units of the Y-axis in the Jitter Spectrum chart, which are Percent of Unit Interval (%UI) and Picosecs (PS), the user can now set MilliUI (mUI) or UI display unit from the Chart Setup menu or through Remote Commands.

DPP (Digital Pre-Emphasis Processor)
The BERTScope DPP (Digital Pre-Emphasis Processor) is a 12.5 Gb/s instrument capable of programmable three-tap pre-emphasis for compliance testing to standards such as 802.3ap, Serial Attached SCSI, 10GBASE-KR backplanes, DisplayPort, and USB 3.0 as well as for the next-generation 8 GT/s PCI Express® standard under development
Issues Resolved in Version 10.3
-The word "Clear Eye" has been changed to "Clean Eye" in the application, remote command, on-line help and manuals.
-1687 The Integrated Jitter RMS value in the Jitter Spectrum view was being calculated incorrectly.
-Removed interdependency between PCI-E Jitter (LF Random Jitter) and External LF Jitter.
-Jitter peak had problems in finding the points when the signal contained low frequency stress. Improvements have been made in the algorithm to find the points reliably.
-1701 Masks were incorrectly being scaled by the data input Attenuation factor. This problem has been fixed.


Version 10.1
New features at-a-glance:
-De-emphasis measurement
-Jitter peak on single bit *
-Attenuation Factors
-Duty Cycle distortion measurement (DCD) **
-Support for 100Mhz sine jitter ***
-Remote commands to set Delay value in Femto seconds
-Improved reliability/repeatability of Jitter Peak measurement

* Requires Clear Eye option be purchased
**Requires CRj
*** RequiresHW/SW option be purchased

New Features and Enhancements
De-emphasis measurement
Complies with PCI Express 2.5 and 5.0 GT/s methodology for transmitter testing. Distinguishes between transition and non-transition bits and automatically measures and provides the ratio of amplitudes.
Jitter peak on single bits
Whereas jitter measurements are usually composed of measurements from all edges in a pattern, this feature allows a jitter peak measurement to be made on a specified edge in a repeating pattern, providing the pattern is no longer than PRBS-15

Attenuation Factors
For measurements using attenuating probes, or where the analyzer input is preceded by a fixed value attenuator, the user is able to enter the value and have all amplitude readings and displays scaled correctly.

Duty Cycle Distortion Measurement
DCD is a required measurement for several standards including PCI Express. This measurement is available on the Clock Recovery view. You must have a CRj unit in order to get this measurement.
Support for 100Mhz sine Jitter
The previous maximum jitter modulation frequency was 80MHz for SJ. This extension allows the full range of "High Frequency DJ" called for in 5.0 GT/s PCI Express receiver testing of 1.5 - 100 MHz.
You must have the PCIe option installed and enabled on your BERTScope to utilize this.
Remote commands to set Delay value in Femto seconds
GENerator: DDEFs
GENerator:DDEFs?
Set or retrieve the Generator data delay in FS.

DETector: DDEFs
DETector:DDEFs?
Set or retrieve the Detector data delay in FS

Issues Resolved Since version 10.0
-1525 The BERTScope software was incorrectly using log base 10 instead of natural log to calculate the # of bits for confidence level in Jitter Tolerance
-1542 Clear eye display has been sped up by 35%.
-1581 Missing help on Internal Synthesizer. Help has been added.
-1589 Intermittent loss of synch when RJ amplitude is changed
-1590 Freq keypad allowed one to set freq above 7.5 GHz on a 7.5 BERTScope. This was corrected to limit the freq one can enter to 7.5 GHz
-1593 FIR filter was only saving 2 significant figures in the FIR filter file. It has been changed to save 4 significant figures.
oFIR filter was causing a time reversal of the signal after being applied. This has been corrected
oThe FIR filter was being applied incorrectly. This has been corrected.
-1630 Bits tested was not recorded in Jitter Tolerance if limit reached using From Bottom or From Top algorithm. Bits tested will now appear when limit is reached.
-1649 Generator bit map was missing from sidebar.
-1665 While using the RAM Editor certain ASCII RAM files erroneously report errors while converting and saving the raw RAM file. This has been fixed.
-1666 The SSC control sometimes would be disabled during startup even when the SSC control option was actually present.
-1667 The SSC would be turned off after running a Delay calibration. This has been fixed so it does not turn off after running a delay calibration
Version 10.0
New features at-a-glance:
-Support for the new CRJ - Clock Recovery Unit
-Jitter Tolerance enhancements*
-Jitter Spectrum View
-Support for the SSC option of the BERTScope B version**
-Spread Spectrum Clock (SSC) waveform View
-Clear Eye View and Clear Eye with FIR filtering
-Average Volts/Power computation added to Eye Measurements
-Can display crossing voltage in % when in optical mode
-Display desktop button

* Those customers wishing to enable the Jitter Tolerance feature should contact their SyntheSys Research sales representative.
** BERTScope B SSC software features only come with the BERTScope B version of hardware with additional SSC hardware. Those customers wishing to upgrade to a BERTScope B with SSC should contact their SyntheSys Research sales representative.
New Features and Enhancements
Support for CRJ

The new BERTScope™ CRJ Variable Clock Recovery Jitter Analyzer is based on our BERTScope CR, the highest performance instrumentation-grade adjustable clock recovery product available today. The CRJ retains all of the functionality of the current BERTScope CR, with additional Jitter Analysis capabilities
Jitter Tolerance
Several new search algorithms have been added to Jitter Tolerance for use in Search mode. The set of available algorithms now includes From Bottom, From Bottom (Fine), From Top, Binary, and Refine Search. The two From Bottom algorithms approach the SJ amplitude from low to high; the Fine algorithm eliminates sweep mode and searches for the SJ threshold starting at the bottom. From Top does a sweep mode search and always approaches the SJ threshold from high to low. Binary performs a binary search for the threshold, and Refine Search uses a combination of approaches to find the SJ threshold.

The ability to flip the Generator page when using two-page user patterns has also been added. The page flip occurs during the relax phase and is intended to help the DUT regain sync if it has lost it during the course of testing.

The Jitter Tolerance chart can now be panned and zoomed, similar to the other BERTScope views such as the eye diagram. Simply use the pan and zoom buttons to navigate, and use the Reset Chart Coordinates to set the reset the chart-viewing region.

Jitter Spectrum
A new physical measurement view has been added, Jitter Spectrum. The Jitter Spectrum is the breakdown, by frequency, of the jitter components of the input data signal to the CRJ. Similar to the frequency spectrum seen on a spectrum analyzer, the Jitter Spectrum view’s X-axis represents frequency (in Hertz), and the Y-axis represents magnitude, in either %UI (Unit Interval) or time (ps).
The Jitter Spectrum chart can be panned and zoomed, similar to the other BERTScope views such as the eye diagram.

The jitter spectrum display lets you quickly validate device compliance to serial data standards, such as PCI-Express Gen2, which specify a total jitter value over a band-limited range of frequency. These measurements are also very useful in isolating the source of excessive jitter in a system.

The CRJ unit is required to utilize this feature.

BERTScope B SSC Option
The BERTScope B SSC option gives the user the ability to add Spread Spectrum Clocking (SSC) to the output of their internally generated clock. This feature is commonly used to reduce electromagnetic interference (EMI) generated by electronic components. By using SSC, the energy in the nominal frequency can be "spread" across a wider band by dithering the clock.

When SSC is enabled, the clock frequency will be varied according to a user-specified rate and deviation. The resulting clock frequency over time is modulated similar to the figure below.


SSC Waveform display
There is a new view under Physical Layer Test, labeled SSC Waveform, which can display the Spread Spectrum Clock (SSC) waveform. The x-axis is time and the y-axis is frequency.
A CRJ unit is required to utilize this feature.

Clear Eye and Clear Eye with FIR filtering
The Eye diagram can now be displayed two modes: Classic Eye and Clear Eye. Classic Eye and Clear Eye can be selected form the Eye Diagram View - Eye Setup - Eye Operating Mode.

Classic Mode displays the Eye Diagram as it as always been displayed with no changes.

Clear Eye displays each bit individually in a single line one pixel thick or in other words as a single valued waveform. The result is a ‘cleared up eye diagram’.

In addition, when in Clear Eye mode, FIR filtering can be applied to the Eye diagram and the effects observed. This is useful for simulating low pass filters in communication channels or high pass filters in receivers.

The FIR filter can be configured using the FIR Filter dialog by selecting Eye Setup-FIR Filter-Enable followed by Eye Setup-FIR Filter-Configure. FIR filters can also be saved in a file and later retrieved using the FIR Filter configuration dialog

Display crossing voltage in %

The Cross Voltage measurement available on the Eye Measurement panel in the Eye View can now be displayed in percentage as well as milli -Volts.

The voltage level at the crossing point measured in percentage is computed as follows: CV% = (CV - 0-Level) / (1-Level - 0-Level)
Average Volts/Power computation
A new measurement, Average Volts or Power,has been added to the Eye View measurement pane. Average Volts or Power is the average (weighted by signal density) energy (Electrical Mode) or power (Optical Mode) of the signal in the eye diagram. When in Electrical Mode, the Average is in Volts. When in Optical Mode, the Average is in Power units (dBm or uW). Additionally, when in Optical Mode, the Dark Calibration must be performed first and is automatically subtracted during the Average Power calculation.

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Display desktop button
A Display Desktop button has been added under the Utilities section of the Tools tab on the System View.

The Display Desktop button will minimize the BERTScope User Interface and make the Windows Desktop visible. The minimized BERTScope User Interface will be displayed as a button in the taskbar on the bottom of the screen. Clicking the minimized BERTScope display will restore the BERTScope Use Interface again.
Version 9.83
New features at-a-glance:
-Jitter Tolerance enhancements*
-Support for the SSC option of the BERTScope B version**

* Those customers wishing to enable the Jitter Tolerance feature should contact their SyntheSys Research sales representative.
* BERTScope B SSC software features only come with the BERTScope B version of hardware with additional SSC hardware. Those customers wishing to upgrade to a BERTScope B with SSC should contact their SyntheSys Research sales representative.
New Features and Enhancements
Jitter Tolerance
Several new search algorithms have been added to Jitter Tolerance for use in Search and Contour modes. The set of available algorithms now includes From Bottom, From Bottom (Fine), From Top, Binary, and Refine Search. The two From Bottom algorithms approach the SJ amplitude from low to high; the Fine algorithm eliminates any large steps and simply searches for the SJ threshold at the highest precision. From Top does the opposite and always approaches the SJ threshold from high to low. Binary performs a binary search for the threshold, and Refine Search uses a combination of approaches to find the SJ threshold.

The ability to flip the Generator page when using two-page user patterns has also been added. The page flip occurs during the relax phase and is intended to help the DUT regain sync if it has lost it during the course of testing.

The Jitter Tolerance chart can now be panned and zoomed, similar to the other BERTScope views such as the eye diagram. Simply use the pan and zoom buttons to navigate, and use the Reset Chart Coordinates to set the reset the chart viewing region.

There is a new status message in the Jitter Tolerance table if the test point reached the SJ limit without errors. This new status is "xxx". ?

BERTScope B SSC Option
The BERTScope B SSC option gives the user the ability to add Spread Spectrum Clocking (SSC) to the output of their internally generated clock. This feature is commonly used to reduce electromagnetic interference (EMI) generated by electronic components. By using SSC, the energy in the nominal frequency can be "spread" across a wider band by dithering the clock.

When SSC is enabled, the clock frequency will be varied according to a user-specified rate and deviation. The resulting clock frequency over time is modulated similar to the figure below.



New Mask Files
New mask files have been added to support the PCI-Express and Fully Buffered DIMM (FBDIMM) standards. These can be found in the D:\Bitalyzer\Mask folder.
Issues Resolved Since ver 9.7
-When using Jitter Tolerance Contour Mode, if no errors were encountered at the SJ limit, the contour extrap BER was -100%.
-Setting the number of bits for the Jitter Tolerance Test Limit did not allow scientific notation.
-Jitter Tolerance Template Builder - if you only have 2 points, the green template is not drawn.
-In the Jitter Tolerance Setup menu, it wasn’t clear that the BER Threshold menu item was linked to the settings in the Test Limits menu. This menu item has been moved to the Test Limits menu.
-If when using Jitter Tolerance Search using bits and errors and specify 0 errors as the limit, the number of bits in the table is 0. This has been avoided by changing the lower limit of errors to 1.
-The Sine Interference default was not useful. It has been changed to 100 MHz.
-On a few systems, the detector would not be able to sync when switching frequencies to the range of 3-4 GHz. This has been fixed.
-In Jitter Tolerance Contour mode, sometimes get a blank result would be reported in the table if the test point did not encounter any errors before reaching the SJ limit.
-In the Remote Client, the EYE:MCONfig:ADD and REM were missing the commands for "Clock Unit Interval" measurement.
-In the Remote Client, the VIEW JTOL command did not work (although VIEW JITTERTOLERANCE worked).
-The Remote Client call to CONTour:MFILe was calling the save function, not the load function (which is correct, the documentation was incorrect) - this has been fixed in the documentation. The call to CONTOUR:CMFName to load a file has been added to the documentation.
-The Mask positioning algorithm has bee improved.
-The Use Pattern Start state was not being kept in sync with the selected pattern resulting in a symptom where only one word of a user pattern was being transmitted by the generator, causing no sync conditions.


Version 9.7
Issues Resolved Since ver 9.5
-The config file restore was not restoring the generator delay.
-Older MUL 242 and 243 systems exhibited an unstable clock at exactly 6 Gb/s.
-On a few systems at 2.5 Gb/s, the delay calibration was not produced correctly, resulting in a "wavy" eye diagram when zoomed into the crossing.

Version 9.5
Issues Resolved Since ver 9.0
-The eye measurements were not updating after auto-center and pan/zoom.

Version 9.0
New features at-a-glance:
-Jitter Tolerance testing (option available for purchase)*
-Support for the BERTScope B version, with stressed external clock, enhanced clock output dividers, and operation down to 100 MHz (hardware upgrade)**
-Level crossing measurement
-Overshoot measurement
-New Remote Control protocols to query the BERTScope capabilities

* Those customers wishing to enable the Jitter Tolerance feature should contact their SyntheSys Research sales representative.

** BERTScope B software features only come with the BERTScope B version of hardware. Those customers wishing to upgrade to a BERTScope B should contact their SyntheSys Research sales representative.
New Features and Enhancements
Jitter Tolerance
Jitter Tolerance tests how well a device under test (DUT) handles various amounts of sinusoidal jitter (SJ) in an automated fashion. Various SJ frequencies can be tested in one run using one of three operating modes for Jitter Tolerance: Margin, Search, and Contour. These are described below.
Margin Mode
Margin Mode tests the DUT at specific amplitudes of SJ over a range of SJ frequencies, yielding pass/fail results at each SJ frequency. The use of template files facilitates the quick loading of a list of SJ parameters, and the ability to add or subtract a "margin" of SJ amplitude enables the assessment of where your DUT operates with respect to the template. In addition to creating your own template files, there are a number of pre-configured template files that conform to industry standards.
Search Mode
Search Mode uses a proprietary search technique to find the point at which the DUT just passes a particular BER Threshold (i.e. 1.0 E-12). Similar to Margin Mode, this mode tests the DUT at various SJ frequencies, but instead of testing only one value of SJ amplitude, it finds the SJ amplitude at which the DUT transitions from a passing to a failing BER.
Contour Mode
Contour Mode performs a search similar to Search Mode, but instead of finding the exact value of SJ amplitude at which you pass the BER Threshold, it takes many BER measurements at the transition point, followed by an extrapolation to estimate the SJ Amplitude at which the DUT can reach the BER Threshold. This enables the user to perform a much quicker test, yet yields results that reflect a very low BER. Contour Mode also compares the results of the extrapolation to the current template, yielding pass/fail results per SJ frequency.
BERTScope B Features
The BERTScope B includes support for stressing an external clock, a multitude of clock output dividers, and operation down to 100 MHz.

All types of stress can now be added to an external clock input. Note that there are some frequency limitations to the external clock when adding stress. Please consult the BERTScope help documentation for these limitations.

The subrate output can be either a full-rate stressed clock, or a divided clock. The list of available subrate dividers has been expanded. The number of available dividers is dependent upon frequency, with the lowest frequencies having the most limited number of dividers, and the highest frequencies having the full range of available dividers.

A multitude of amplified clock output dividers are also available. Similar to the subrate dividers, the clock output divider availability is dependent upon frequency, with the higher frequencies having the full range of available dividers. Note that unlike the BERTScope A where the amplified clock outputs could be stressed, the BERTScope B does not stress the amplified clock, but instead stresses the subrate clock.

Operation down to 100 MHz is now available. This includes basic BER testing as well as all physical layer tests.

Note that older systems will need a hardware upgrade to enable these BERTScope B features.
Eye Measurements
Rising and Falling Level Crossing
The Rising and Falling Level Crossing measurements measure where the rising or falling edge crosses a user-defined voltage threshold level. These measurements are reported in units of ps of delay. These measurements are useful in such applications as measuring differential skew.

Overshoot
Level 0 and Level 1 Overshoot measurements indicate how far the signal travels beyond the 0 and 1 levels respectively in either mV or % Unit Amplitude (or in uW or dBm if in optical mode).

Remote Control Protocols for Capabilities
There are several new protocols to query for the BERTScope capabilities. These include queries for the following optional features: Physical Layer Tests, 2-D Error Map Analyzer, FEC Emulation Analyzer, Generator Stress Module, Live Data Option, Jitter Tolerance Option. Other queries include those for the model number (A and B), and the product family (Bitalyzer 1500, BERTScope 7500, and BERTScope 12500).
Issues Resolved Since ver 8.5
-Shift and Sync used with a user pattern caused a noisy eye diagram while detector was not in sync yet.
-Delay calibration reported holes/glitches when there were none found in output file.
-BER Contour only drew one point in the upper half of the eye on certain BERTScopes.
-Low frequency delay calibration had holes.
-On-screen mask values were wrong in the eye center.
-Shutting down the Remote Client should pop up a waning dialog.
-Subrate divider reverts to full rate when internal and external clock is toggled.
-Jitter peak does not get colored in if restoring a config that last displayed jitter peak in table mode.
-Toggling RJ or BUJ on and off would occasionally cause the system to go out of sync.
-Color of eye diagram was dim and reflected a lower sample count at low frequency.
-Occasionally, the eye diagram would stop redrawing.
-Auto-aligning Jitter Peak before any data was displayed caused the UI to crash.
-Detector auto-align occasionally failed at low frequency.
-The threshold would get reset to a very high value after running physical layer tests that included an auto-align, and would put the instrument into a no sync state.
-In BER Contour and Mask views, auto-center followed immediately by loading a mask caused artifacts in the eye diagram.
-Low frequency eye had horizontal artifacts if the sample depth was increased.
-Icon for the BERTScope Program in Add/Remove Programs was the wrong icon.
-Using the knob while bringing up the keypad caused the UI to crash occasionally.
-Restoring a configuration file with a Mask file loaded generated warning messages.
-The Generator status bar was yellow even if stress was turned off using the global Disable Stress.
-The Delay Calibration message box occasionally popped up after restoring certain configuration files.
-Could not change stress settings for SJ, RJ, BUJ, or SI without enabling stress first.
-In Jitter Peak, (TJ-DJ) / RJ should be close to 14.069, which is the theoretical prediction.
-Q Factor View in optical mode only showed details on chart in uW.
-Auto-align would occasionally fail if sinusoidal interference was turned on.
-The voltage margin adjustment for the eye mask was not behaving properly.