1. No category

January 2015
MATH
SHIFT
AMPLITUDE
FILTER
ZOOM
TRIGGER
TIME
BASE
Written by Engineers
...for Engineers
SPECIAL REPORTS
Oscilloscopes
Thought-controlled scopes
further delayed
MEDICAL TEST
Innovations gather and interpret
EEG and genetic data
RF/MICROWAVE TEST
Let your digital receiver measure
its own noise figure
High-Speed
Digital Test
Instruments target
serial I/O links and
DDR interfaces
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EE201501-AD Keysight-49382.indd 2
© Keysight Technologies, Inc. 2014
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EE201501-AD Keysight-49382.indd 3
12/9/14 9:51 AM
.
3
Janauary 2015, Vol. 54, No. 1
C O NT E NT S
C O M M U N I C AT I O N S T E S T
January 2015
SHIFT
AMPLITUDE
FILTER
ZOOM
SPECIAL REPORT
High-Speed Digital Test
16
TRIGGER
TIME
BASE
Written by Engineers
...for Engineers
RF/Microwave Test
20
MATH
SPECIAL REPORTS
Oscilloscopes
Thought-controlled scopes
further delayed
High-Speed
Digital Test
MEDICAL TEST
Innovations gather and interpret
EEG and genetic data
RF/MICROWAVE TEST
www.evaluationengineering.com
On Our Cover
Designed by NP Communications
4
EE201501-COVER-nolabel.indd COVERI
.
Let your digital receiver measure its
own noise figure
by Thomas T. Leise, Andrew L. Silveira, and
Jeremy T. Perkins, Raytheon
I N S T R U M E N TAT I O N
Instruments target
serial I/O links and
DDR interfaces
Let your digital receiver measure
its own noise figure
Instruments target serial I/O links and
DDR interfaces
by Rick Nelson, Executive Editor
SPECIAL REPORT
Oscilloscopes
12/9/14 3:49 PM
10
Thought-controlled scopes further
delayed
by Tom Lecklider, Senior Technical Editor
SOFTWARE
Medical Test
Cloud Computing
24
The importance of trapdoor functions
26
by Tom Lecklider, Senior Technical Editor
Software
29
Application supports connectivity,
visibility
by Rick Nelson, Executive Editor
Innovations gather and interpret EEG
and genetic data
by Rick Nelson, Executive Editor
AT E
Industry Happenings
28
ITC again ascending
by Tom Lecklider, Senior Technical Editor
D E PA R T M E N T S
6
8
30
31
Executive Insight
Editorial
EE Industry Update
EE Product Picks
Index of Advertisers
32
‘Million unit’ company offers RF test and
services
by Rick Nelson, Executive Editor
EMC
EMC Test
27
W
Written
by Engineers
…for Engineers
Vendors target conducted, radiated
immunity
by Tom Lecklider, Senior Technical Editor
www.evaluationengineering.com
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EE201501-TOC MECH EB.indd 4
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EE201501-AD Universal.indd 5
12/9/14 9:53 AM
5
EDITORIAL
Wearables ready
to grow up
6
http://www.evaluationengineering.com
EDITORIAL
T
.
EVALUATION ENGINEERING
he wearables market is poised for significant growth. As one data point, IHS Technology forecasts that shipments of sensors for wearable electronic devices will
rise by a factor of seven from 2013 to 2019—reaching 466 million units worldwide.
The research firm cautions, however, that the growth of wearable devices won’t
keep pace—with wearable device shipments reaching 135 million units in 2019, less
than three times the 50 million units shipped in 2013. The discrepancy results from
each wearable incorporating an average of 4.1 sensor elements in 2019 vs. 1.4 in 2013.
If wearables are to meet or exceed such forecasts, they may have some growing up
to do. In a Nov. 27 New York Times “Room for Debate” section titled “Is wearable
tech destined to fail?” Bridget Carey, a senior editor at CNET, writes that wearables
are going through their “awkward teenage years,” where many devices “collect data
and bombard us with alerts.”
Eva Chen, editor of the personal-style magazine Lucky, counters arguments that
women won’t adopt wearables for reasons of fashion. Michael Kors, she writes in the
Times, built a women’s-wear empire around large men’s-inspired watches. She hopes
collaboration between tech companies and fashion designers will result in wearables
that “balance elegant form with functionality that you just can’t live without.”
In contrast, Ben Bajarin, a principal analyst at Creative Strategies, writes in the
Times that for wearables (fashionable or otherwise) “to truly take off, they need
to disappear and become embedded into the apparel we already wear”—including
sensors in our shoes to count steps and in our shirts to monitor heart rate. In this he
echoes cellphone pioneer Martin Cooper who wants to see cellphones disassembled,
with sensors distributed across the body.
Of course, consumers—fashion-conscious or otherwise—aren’t the only potential
users of wearable technology. Pierre Theodore, a lung surgeon at the University of
California San Francisco, concludes the “Room for Debate” section by noting that
although smart glasses, for example, will require considerable evolution, they might
ultimately provide doctors with hands-free access to data in a hospital setting. The
same should be true of other professions as well.
Other news suggests that the “considerable evolution” Dr. Theodore wants to see
is underway. The Wall Street Journal reports that Intel will provide chips for future
generations of Google Glass and work with hospitals and manufacturers to develop
new applications, but Google will continue to work on consumer applications.
Beyond fashion and function, wearables present additional challenges that will need
to be worked out. The data they collect could be hacked, sold to marketers (which may
be legal under license agreements that end users seldom read), or even subpoenaed.
Kate Crawford, a visiting professor at MIT’s Center for Civic Media, a principal
researcher at Microsoft Research, and a senior fellow at NYU’s Information Law
Institute, reports in the Atlantic that a court case involving Fitbit data is already
underway. The plaintiff wants to use the data, as interpreted by analytics company
Vivametrica, to show that she suffers from low activity levels for a person of her
age and profession as a result of a personal injury four years ago.
In this case, the plaintiff is using her own data in support of her claim, but it’s
easy to see that an insurance company, for example, could use such data to deny a
disability claim, or a prosecutor could use it to challenge an alibi.
Wearables will inexorably grow up, offering us our choice of fashion and functionality. But it behooves us to beware of the potential consequences of storing vast
amounts of wearable-derived personal data in the cloud.
EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Rick Nelson
e-mail: [email protected]
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Deborah Beebe
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Tom Lecklider
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6 • EE • January 2015
EE201501-Editorial MECH dB.indd 6
Publishers of this magazine assume no responsibility
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competition, nor do they assume responsibility for statements/opinions, expressed or implied, in the columns of
this magazine.
Printed in the U.S.A.
www.evaluationengineering.com
12/9/14 3:45 PM
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EE201501-AD Keysight-49482.indd 7
12/9/14 10:47 AM
7
EE INDUSTRY UPDATE
China and U.S. boost
industrial semiconductor market
matrices, RF/microwave and optical switching products, and
precision resistor switching networks for sensor emulation.
Continuing strength in China and a resurgent U.S. economy
are combining to drive accelerated growth in the worldwide
market for semiconductors used in industrial applications this
year, according to IHS Technology.
Global market revenue for industrial semiconductors is expected to rise by 12.9% in 2014, reaching $38.5 billion, up from
$34.0 billion in 2013. This represents an even larger increase
in market growth compared to an 11.4% expansion in 2013.
The United States and China, the world’s two largest markets
for industrial semiconductors, are propelling global growth this
year, with revenue increases of 13% and 17%, respectively.
The two regions were responsible for strong market increases
in the second quarter, compensating for a decline in Europe.
Virginia Tech partners with VTI
Instruments
ANSYS and NCSA achieve
supercomputing milestone
8
.
ANSYS and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications announced that they have scaled ANSYS Fluent to 36,000
compute cores—an industry first that could lead to greater efficiencies and increased innovation throughout manufacturers’
product-development processes.
As companies increasingly seek to minimize time and cost
pressures while maintaining quality by using engineering
simulation, they have been constrained by compute power.
High-performance computing has become a core strategic technology enabling enhanced insight into product performance and
improving the productivity by considering more design variants.
element14 and TI name
winning entry in IoT design challenge
The element14 Community, in partnership with Texas Instruments (TI) and Plotly, has announced the winning design of
the “Internet of the Backyard” design challenge—a competition aimed at bringing Internet of Things (IoT) capabilities
to everyday backyard appliances and devices. Janis Alnis of
Latvia was named the Grand Prize Winner for his Tomato Plant
Monitoring System.
“A big thank you to Janis and all of the competitors who took
part in the Internet of the Backyard competition,” said Dianne
Kibbey, global head of community, element14. “Janis’ plant
monitoring system was chosen for effectively leveraging the
power of IoT in a practical, personal, and fun way. We look
forward to seeing all of the competitors continue on with the
designs that made this yet another successful Community
challenge.”
Pickering Interfaces reaches
PXI milestone
Pickering Interfaces, a provider of modular signal switching and
instrumentation, announced a significant milestone in providing
test engineers with the optimum PXI solutions for their test and
measurement applications. The company now offers more than
1,000 PXI modules, including the BRIC high-density switching
8 • EE • January 2015
EE201501-IndustryUpdate MECH EB.indd 8
Virginia Tech College of Engineering recently announced
the completion of Goodwin Hall (formerly the Signature Engineering Building)—Smart Infrastructure Laboratory. The
Virginia Tech Smart Infrastructure Laboratory (VT-SIL) aims
at advancing education and research in areas that utilize sensor
information in an effort to improve the design, monitoring, and
daily operation of civil and mechanical infrastructure as well
as investigate how humans interact with the built environment.
Goodwin Hall is the most instrumented building for vibrations in the world, with more than 240 accelerometers distributed throughout the building, according to VTI Instruments,
which partnered with Virginia Tech on the project. The facility
will be valuable in the improvement of research in fields including structural health monitoring, building dynamics, foot pattern
tracking, behavioral science, and smart energy use.
Keysight, Stanford work to
streamline students’ experience
Keysight Technologies announced it is supplying its BenchVue
software to Stanford University’s Department of Electrical
Engineering. The visual and intuitive software simplifies the
use of test instruments in the lab. As a result, students spend
less time, and require less help, setting up the assigned lab,
thereby allowing instructors to stay focused on lesson plans.
Keysight’s BenchVue software makes it easy to view, capture, and export measurement data from test instruments to other
software applications such as Excel and MATLAB.
MU researcher develops
water-based nuclear battery
From cell phones to cars and flashlights, batteries play an
important role in everyday life. Scientists and technology companies constantly are seeking ways to improve battery life and
efficiency. Now, for the first time using a water-based solution,
researchers at the University of Missouri have created a longlasting and more efficient nuclear battery that could be used for
applications such as a reliable energy source in automobiles and
also in complicated applications such as space flight.
Insightful mathematics for an
optimal run
Sure, we can become better runners by hydrating well, eating
right, cross training, and practice. But getting to an optimal
running strategy with equations? That’s exactly what two
mathematicians from France propose in a paper published in
the SIAM Journal on Applied Mathematics.
“By modeling running in the form of equations and solving
them, we can predict the optimal strategy to run a given distance
in the shortest amount of time,” said Amandine Aftalion, who
co-authored the paper with Frederic Bonnans.
www.evaluationengineering.com
12/10/14 12:30 PM
SEMI reports third quarter 2014
worldwide semiconductor equipment
figures
SEMI, the global industry association for companies that supply manufacturing technology and materials to the world’s
chip makers, has reported that worldwide semiconductor
manufacturing equipment billings reached $8.82 billion in the
third quarter of 2014. The billings figure is 8% lower than the
second quarter of 2014 and 15% higher than the same quarter a
year ago. The data is gathered jointly with the Semiconductor
Equipment Association of Japan from more than 100 global
equipment companies that provide data on a monthly basis.
Worldwide semiconductor equipment bookings were $9.32
billion in the third quarter of 2014. The figure is 4% higher than
the same quarter a year ago and 6% lower than the bookings
figure for the second quarter of 2014.
Lower-cost flow batteries to
create $190 million energy storage
market in 2020
Large-scale stationary energy storage is key to a smarter
power grid and for integration of intermittent renewables.
Redox flow batteries are touted as an emerging option but
have been too expensive. Now, falling costs will carve out a
360-MWh market in 2020, worth $190 million, according to
Lux Research.
Within the stationary energy storage market, four flow battery chemistries, led by vanadium-based systems, are gaining
commercial traction. The vanadium redox flow battery is
the most mature technology and accounts for 75 MWh of
deployed systems.
Sponsors provide travel
support enabling students to attend
APEC 2015
The joint sponsors of the Applied Power Electronics Conference
have announced the continuation of the popular travel support
program of $40,000 for students planning to attend APEC 2015
in Charlotte, NC, March 17-21, 2015. Now in its tenth year,
the program will subsidize a portion of the travel and conference expenses for students from around the world. A total of
43 students will benefit from this program, with some sharing
the financial support with colleagues from the same institution.
imec partners with Huawei on
optical data-link technology
Nanoelectronics research center imec and global information
and communications technology company Huawei have taken
a further step in their strategic partnership focusing on optical
data-link technology. The joint research on silicon-based optical interconnects is expected to deliver benefits including high
speed, low power consumption, and cost savings.
Silicon photonics is a key enabling technology expected to
revolutionize optical communications by paving the way for
www.evaluationengineering.com
EE201501-IndustryUpdate MECH EB.indd 9
the creation of highly integrated, low power optical transceivers
used for data transmission and telecommunications.
Cypress and Spansion signed
a definitive agreement to merge
Cypress Semiconductor and Spansion announced a definitive
agreement to merge in an all-stock, tax-free transaction valued
at approximately $4 billion. The post-merger company will
generate more than $2 billion in revenue annually and create a
global provider of microcontrollers and specialized memories
needed in today’s embedded systems.
“This merger represents the combination of two smart, profitable, passionately entrepreneurial companies that are No. 1 in
their respective memory markets and have successfully diversified into embedded processing,” said T. J. Rodgers, Cypress’s
founding president and CEO. “Our combined company will be a
leading provider of embedded MCUs and specialized memories.
We will also have extraordinary opportunities for EPS accretion
due to the synergy in virtually every area of our enterprises.”
Keysight joins NYU WIRELESS to
advance 5G technology
Keysight Technologies has announced that it has joined the
NYU WIRELESS university research center as a key sponsor
of the fundamental groundwork that the research center is laying
for the new generation of wireless technologies known as 5G.
“We are gratified to have Keysight join us as a member of
our board of affiliated industrial sponsors, and we’re looking
forward to reaping the benefits of the deep 5G knowledge
the company has developed while creating advanced testing
technology,” said Professor Theodore (Ted) Rappaport, NYU
WIRELESS director and founder. “Our student and faculty
researchers, as well as the emerging body of knowledge on
wireless communications, will all benefit from this association.”
UNH-IOL prepares industry for
2015 Ethernet innovation
The University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL), an independent provider of broad-based
testing and standards conformance services for the networking
industry, has announced expanded interoperability testing and
support for 40 and 100 Gigabit Ethernet (40G/100G) including
25-Gb/s serial-lanes, Power over Ethernet (PoE), Backplane
Ethernet, and Automotive Ethernet. This activity is taking place
within several of the UNH-IOL’s consortia and collaborative
testing programs.
With heightened demand for 40G products in 2014, the
UNH-IOL 40 and 100 Gigabit Ethernet Consortium has seen a
significant increase in participation from members seeking 40G
interoperability, which along with IEEE standards-compliance
is a helpful market differentiator. The consortium also has received its first 100G products for testing. To better support its
member community, over the past six months the consortium
added 12 new Ethernet test suites—in particular, physical-layer
electrical testing for hosts, modules, and cables covering IEEE
clauses 83, 85, 86, 92, and 93 of the 802.3 standard.
January 2015 • EE • 9
12/10/14 12:30 PM
.
9
SPECIAL REPORT - OSCILLOSCOPES
Thought-controlled scopes
further delayed
by Tom Lecklider, Senior Technical Editor
10
.
Continuing technical challenges mean that would-be early
adopters of thought-controlled scopes will have to wait a little
longer before taking delivery.
One of the problems facing thought-based control is overcoming the high noise level generated by the random thoughts
that occur throughout a day. According to meditation expert
Dr. Deepak Chopra, the average person has about 50,000
thoughts per day.1 And, for what distance do your thoughts
remain effective? It might be fun to change channels and
triggering setups on an unsuspecting colleague’s scope,
but equally, your own scope’s settings could be affected by
someone else. A thought-controlled scope no doubt needs to
include a training algorithm so it learns to respond only to
the current user’s thoughts.
Range, target discrimination, and background noise are a
few of the considerations at least temporarily holding back
introduction of thought-controlled instruments. Until this
type of user interface is perfected, scopes will continue to
use knobs, buttons, menus, soft keys, and touch screens with
various levels of sophistication including gestural control.
as a gesture…. Or, when I need to do editing or formatting or
anything that requires accuracy and precision…. I love tablet
systems for browsing and reading, but they are not where I
get my real work done.”2
Norman’s preference for a choice of control methods coincides with the approach taken by the major oscilloscope
manufacturers and a few of their competitors. For example,
Teledyne LeCroy’s WaveSurfer 3000 scopes use the latest
version of the company’s MAUI touch-screen graphical user
interface (GUI), but they also retain a full complement of
control knobs, buttons, and soft keys. Christopher Busso,
senior product marketing manager at the company, said,
“MAUI… boosts test efficiency through a smooth, transparent, and intuitive user experience. All important controls for
vertical, horizontal, and triggers are one touch away. Users
can touch a waveform to position it and draw a box around a
portion of interest; doing so will automatically open a zoomed
view. It’s easy to position cursors, configure measurements,
and interact with tables of measurement data.”
“In recent years,” he continued, “Teledyne LeCroy has
improved its touch interface by going to larger full-screen
Strengths and weaknesses
menus and selection dialogs as well as improving touch and
Wide choice
swipe scrolling and helping users identify touchable areas.
In a recent blog post, Don Norman, one-time vice president of
In MAUI, essentially everything is touchable, including the
Apple’s Advanced Technology Group, cofounder and principal
grid, the waveforms, the measurements, spectrogram plots,
of Nielsen Norman Group, and an advocate of user-centered
and more.”
design, wrote “…every
Similarly, Keysight
method of controlling
Technologies’ Infidevices has strengths and
niium range retains
weaknesses. Good oldconventional controls
fashioned levers, knobs,
but since June 2014 has
and buttons are often
featured an upgraded
the best way to control
GUI. Brig Asay, prodphysical devices. Mice,
uct manager and planmenus, and keyboards
ner at the company,
have their virtues, as do
said, “The new user
pen-based and gestural
interface is designed
systems. In the ideal
to help with a touch
world, we would have
screen. The user intera choice of methods.”
face support of gestures
Norman specifically
(or multitouch) greatly
elaborated on gesturenhances the user exing. He said, “I like
perience because the
my smart phone and
scope will drive more
my tablets, and most
like a smart phone or
of the time I enjoy gestablet computer. The
turing: except when I
interface also provides
accidentally do some- Figure 1. Custom display composed using the SmartGrid feature
significantly more flexthing that is interpreted Courtesy of Rohde & Schwarz
ible windows. You can
10 • EE • January 2015
EE201501-SpecRep-Scopes MECH dB.indd 10
www.evaluationengineering.com
12/9/14 4:41 PM
Test&Measurement
Precision Digital
Oscilloscopes
.
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SPECIAL REPORT - OSCILLOSCOPES
12
.
now dock and undock analysis windows like you would with
Google Chrome or similar applications. This helps users
when doing difficult analysis.” A series of YouTube videos3
demonstrates the new interface capabilities.
The Rohde & Schwarz SmartGrid feature (Figure 1) associates unique characteristics with distinct display areas. This
allows RTO/RTE scope users to compose custom waveform
and data displays through drag-and-drop operations. In addition, Richard Markley, oscilloscope product manager,
explained that the touch screen now recognizes finger-drawn
trigger masks on math channels including FFT as well as live
time-domain channels. These scopes have a reduced set of
hardware controls but with color coding that clearly identifies
the channel being affected by a control.
Mark Briscoe, product planner for the mainstream oscilloscope product line at Tektronix, also commented about
touch-screen simplicity. He said, “…A major advantage to
using a touch screen on an oscilloscope is that it allows interaction directly with a waveform on the display as opposed
to indirectly affecting the waveform by adjusting a control.
Touch screens on oscilloscopes also can add to productivity when performing certain tasks like zooming on specific
regions of a waveform. Using the touch screen, users can
draw a box on the display to zoom to that region.” Figure 2
shows an application of Tek’s Visual Trigger feature based
on multiple touch screen-drawn or downloaded inclusion/
exclusion areas.
Figure 2. Visual trigger using three areas
Courtesy of Tektronix
Until this year, Siglent Technologies America scopes have
used only traditional controls. According to the company’s
Jade Wan, customer support engineer, the new SDS3000 with
a 10-inch touch screen has been introduced to the Chinese
market. In common with other touch-enabled scopes, the
Siglent model includes easy rubber-band zooming as well as
more screen-based selection. Wan explained that the large
display has “…plenty of on-screen space to view and operate
12 • EE • January 2015
EE201501-SpecRep-Scopes MECH dB.indd 12
multiple functions at once such as simultaneously analyzing
analog and digital signals.”
Nontouch control
Tek’s Briscoe also emphasized the need to present a very
familiar user experience. This is particularly true for Tek’s
new MDO3000 that combines a logic analyzer, a protocol
analyzer, an arbitrary function generator, a digital voltmeter,
and a frequency counter with the basic MDO’s oscilloscope
and spectrum analyzer functionality. Without detracting from
a touch-screen’s attractiveness, he said, “To date, there has
not been any functionality that a touch-screen, or a multitouch-screen, interface can provide that a more traditional
bezel button coupled with physical controls or a mouse-driven
interface can’t. In fact, there is nothing better for making
precise, accurate control changes, like positioning a cursor,
than a physical knob.”
Briscoe continued, “Precision is one of the things that touch
screens have struggled to enable where physical controls have
traditionally excelled. Another advantage of physical controls
is that their operation is fairly consistent over time.” He concluded, “The behavior of front-panel controls is typically the
same from instrument to instrument. Customers know what
to expect when moving from one oscilloscope series to the
next or even from one manufacturer to the next.”
Rigol Technologies’ Chris Armstrong, director of product
marketing and software applications, echoed the benefits of
nontouch controls expressed by Briscoe.
Armstrong said, “Rigol currently utilizes a
blend of hard and soft keys on our product
line. The main advantages are ease of use,
flexibility, and value. The most used keys
are hard keys or knobs, such as the horizontal
scale knob. This provides quick and reliable
access to the most frequently used settings
on the instrument.” He concluded, “Soft
keys add a level of flexibility by allowing
a single button to access multiple menus.
These are used to configure scope parameters, such as trigger type, or to set up the
decoding process on a mixed-signal scope
[such as the recently introduced DS1054Z].”
Yokogawa also increased its scopes’
capabilities while retaining conventional
front-panel controls. Tom Quinlan, general
manager test and measurement division
North America, described the company’s
PX8000 precision power scope. He said,
“The Yokogawa PX8000… can capture
voltage and current waveforms precisely,
opening up applications and solutions for
a huge variety of emerging power measurement problems...
[and] the capability to analyze cycle-by-cycle trends [makes]
it ideal for the measurement of transient effects. When the
load changes rapidly, engineers can gain insights that will
enable them to improve the control of the inverter.”
In Siglent’s SDS2000 Series without touch control, helpful icons are automatically displayed when a trigger type is
selected so that users have a clear understanding of what each
www.evaluationengineering.com
12/9/14 4:41 PM
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SPECIAL REPORT - OSCILLOSCOPES
type will do. The company developed
what it calls super phosphor technology
(SPO), included in the SDS2000, that
features up to 110,000 waveforms/s
capture rate, a 28-Mpoint memory
depth, and a hardware-based digital
trigger system. Wan explained that
the GUI in the earlier SDS1000 Series
scopes was software based. However,
the SDS2000 Series GUI is synthesized
by an FPGA, reducing the load on the
CPU and providing faster processing.
No knobs/buttons control
Neither PC-based scopes nor modular
scopes that are controlled by a PC or
portable device have any knobs or buttons. They may have a GUI that mimics
hardware controls, and touch-screen
control also is possible. Pico Technology’s Trevor Smith, business development manager, said, “PicoScope has
support for different PCs and multiple
operating systems with screen size and
resolution selectable by the user. This is
very different from traditional benchtop
oscilloscopes, enabling PicoScope to be
controlled from a keyboard, mouse, or
touch screen. Which is best to use can
vary depending on the PC in use and what
you are doing with the scope.” Figure
3 shows a large amount of information
from a PicoScope 6000 Series scope
arranged on a high-resolution display.
He continued, “For example, if capturing data and holding a probe with
one hand, you might want to quickly
change a voltage range or time base with
a keyboard shortcut or tap on a touch
screen. If, however, you are zooming
and panning through captured data or
creating a mask to test against, then the
mouse can be better.
“A big problem for users of low-cost
benchtop oscilloscopes is the fixed
size and resolution displays that they
employ.” Smith concluded, “Seven- or
nine-inch WVGA (800 x 480 pixel) displays are typical offerings. That’s a poor
match for engineers who are working on
today’s mainstream designs and need
to view multiple waveforms correlated
with several measurement functions at
different levels of abstraction.”
As explained by Teradyne’s Randy
Oltman, instruments product line director, “All of …[our] oscilloscopes
are modular and use soft front panels
(GUIs) running on the control computer.
Alternately, the GUI can be bypassed
and controlled directly through a command-based interface…. An additional
benefit of Teradyne’s oscilloscope GUIs
is that they can generate automation
code to allow the user to reproduce
the steps taken in the GUI to achieve a
certain oscilloscope state or measurement. When developing automated
tests, this code-generation capability
can dramatically cut test development
time, reducing cost while improving the
deployment time of new tests.”
NI’s Chris Delvizis, senior product
manager at the company, agreed with
Pico’s Smith that more information can
be presented on a PC or tablet, “Users
aren’t limited to tiny, built-in displays.
They can use any sized PC monitor
or tablet to view more information at
once.” However, Delvizis added, “…
OEM board-only
versions are
also available
mccdaq.com/USB-230-Series
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14 • EE • January 2015
EE201501-SpecRep-Scopes MECH dB.indd 14
Figure 3. PicoScope tiled presentation on high-resolution display
Courtesy of Pico Technology
www.evaluationengineering.com
12/9/14 4:42 PM
interacting with a keyboard/mouse on a PC or touch screen on
a mobile device is easier because users can interact directly
with the information on the screen rather than a disjointed
knob or button. While the same could be said about traditional oscilloscopes with built-in touch screens, these touch
screens aren’t up to par with users’ expectations. The touch
screens in today’s iPads have better resolution and are more
responsive than the touch screens in today’s oscilloscopes.”
Distilling the inputs
There’s no question that people have accepted many of the
gestures used to control consumer electronics devices. Swiping
and pinching and even two-finger swiping have been legitimized by the sales of millions of tablets and iPhones. Using
these basic gestures has become intuitive, although it’s easy
to argue that scopes inherently have different user-interface
requirements than popular consumer devices.
And, as Tek’s Briscoe said, conventional controls can accomplish whatever a touch screen can do—just not as quickly
or conveniently but often more accurately and precisely.
Bench scopes that have touch screens also provide menus,
soft keys, and conventional controls.
In contrast, PC-based and modular instruments depend
entirely on the associated GUI to simulate a familiar scope
user experience. NI’s Delvizis related many of his comments to the company’s recently introduced multifunction
VirtualBench instrument, for which touch-screen control
is relevant. However, most modular oscilloscopes are not
used to replace a conventional bench scope but rather as a
digitizer in an automated test application. For these instruments, other interface capabilities are more important than
touch-screen support.
Based on the investments that scope companies have made
to integrate touch-screen control, scope user interfaces may
be moving toward a new paradigm. However, while adding
touch without removing other control methods improves ease
of use and flexibility, this is only an evolutionary change: It
further extends the present paradigm but is not a new one.
The currently available wide range of control methods
seems very much in line with Don Norman’s ideal world full
of choice. From that point of view, a new touch screen-only
paradigm would be a retrograde step. Now that so many
scopes offer next-gen feature-rich GUIs, user preferences
soon should become clear.
For a discussion of yet another factor influencing the future
of instrument interfaces, see the online sidebar to this article:
“Divergent user experiences: the patent system at work.”
.
References
1. Experience a Free Meditation Session, Chopra Addiction
and Wellness Center, Flyer, 2014.
2. Norman, D., Gestural Control: The Good, the Bag, and the
Ugly, Linkedin, March 20, 2014
3. Keysight Technologies Infiniium User Interface Videos,
YouTube.
www.evaluationengineering.com
EE201501-SpecRep-Scopes MECH dB.indd 15
12/9/14 4:42 PM
15
Sponsored by
SPECIAL REPORT - HIGH-SPEED DIGITAL TEST
Instruments target serial
I/O links and DDR interfaces
by Rick Nelson, Executive Editor
16
.
High-speed-digital serial I/O links and DDR memory interfaces
are presenting significant measurement challenges as fourthgeneration standards emerge. As signals travel at ever higher
speeds over digital interfaces, designers face signal-integrity
challenges and need to be able to measure jitter and evaluate
complex modulation schemes. Instruments including oscilloscopes, bit-error-ratio testers (BERTs), network analyzers, and
protocol analyzers as well as hardware and software options all
may have a role to play.
High-speed serial test challenges continue to grow as technology evolves. Addressing receiver test and calibration, Ellen
Spindler, product marketing manager at Keysight Technologies,
said, “Each interface defines a certain worst-case condition
where the receiver must be able to detect the transmitted bits
properly.” The test point at which the receiver test condition is
defined with respect to parameters like input level, jitter, and
interference has moved into the receiver IC, she said, so it cannot
be directly accessed with oscilloscope probes any longer. “We
have seen this for PCIe 3,” she said, “and expect this also for
MIPI M-PHY gear 3, USB 3.1, and PCIe 4.” In addition, she
said, “New digital data formats are popping up, other than the
traditional non-return-to-zero (NRZ), to optimize bandwidth and
reduce power consumption. Popular examples are PAM-4 on the
network interfaces and a new three-wire MIPI C-PHY interface.”
Chris Loberg, senior technical marketing manager at Tektronix, commented on memory test. “One of the most significant
developments for 2014 was the release of the LPDDR4 standard,”
he said. “Compared to LPDDR3, the new specification presents
a number of test and measurement challenges due to a lower
input/output voltage of just 1.1 V, higher data rates, and compact
mechanical designs that limit access to test points.”
Another concern is interoperability. “We are finding that more
users are integrators buying parts from various vendors for their
own boards,” said Roy Chestnut, product manager at Teledyne
LeCroy. “They need quick verification that the system works as
expected and do not necessarily need a full compliance package.
Often, they are verifying functionality by using analysis tools
such as eye diagrams. Interoperability needs validation, so protocol analysis is
a unique method
for interoperability testing.”
Cost also is an
issue—both cost
of test and cost of
the serial interface implementation. “The cost
of testing highFigure 1. MP1800A BERT
speed serial links
Courtesy of Anritsu
16 • EE • January 2015
EE201501-SpecRep-HighSpeed MECH dB.indd 16
with the instruments currently available on the market is too
high,” said Chris Nunn, product manager for high-speed serial
test at National Instruments. Added Mike Resso, product manager at Keysight, “Serial-bus testing has become very complex
due to 28-Gb/s data rates, smaller design margins, and lower
cost requirements.”
To address such challenges, Keysight offers the N1930B physical (PHY)-layer test system (PLTS 2014). With that product,
Resso said, “We
have addressed
these issues with
a full suite of
features that help
designers create
faster channels
in a shorter time
to market and for Figure 2. J-BERT M8020A high-performance BERT
Courtesy of Keysight Technologies
less money.”
PLTS 2014, which shipped in February, can perform PHYlayer testing and characterization of high-speed interconnect and
measure impedance, insertion loss, return loss, crosstalk, and
skew. It can generate eye diagrams and supports conversion,
RLCG modeling, and multichannel simulation.
BERT
BERTs also have a key role to play in high-speed digital test, and
Anritsu has recently introduced the MU181500B jitter modulation
source for its MP1800A 32-Gb/s multichannel BERT (Figure 1).
According to Hiroshi Goto, business development manager at
Anritsu, “The source generates wide-amplitude SJ up to 1 UI at a
jitter frequency of 250 MHz, ensuring sufficient margin for receiver
jitter tolerance tests. Additionally, the intrinsic jitter of typically
275-fs rms is extremely low for accurate measurements even at
low jitter amplitudes.” He added that the MZ1834A/MZ1838A
4/8 PAM converter is another recently introduced option for the
MP1800A. “The high-quality NRZ waveform of the MP1800A
and wideband passive PAM converter generate high-quality PAM
signals with assured S/N that make the solution well suited for
high-speed backplane/interconnect applications,” he said.
Keysight also offers BERTs, including the J-BERT M8020A
high-performance BERT for receiver characterization of singleand multilane devices running up to 16 or 32 Gb/s (Figure 2).
Spindler said, “The complexity of RX test setups continues to
increase with higher data rates—for example, de-emphasis is
required in most interfaces operating above 5 Gb/s.” Other issues include closed eyes after the channel and the need to lock
to lower rate system reference clocks using spread-spectrum
clocking. To meet the challenges, the J-BERT M8020A, she
said, “offers the highest level of integration,” with its built-in
de-emphasis capability, four BERT channels, continuous time
www.evaluationengineering.com
12/9/14 4:38 PM
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EE201501-AD Keysight-49471.indd 17
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SPECIAL REPORT - HIGH-SPEED DIGITAL TEST
18
.
linear equalizer (CTLE), clock recovery capability, and a multiplying PLL for locking to reference clocks.
Keysight’s new M8195A 65-GS/s arbitrary waveform generator is integrated into the M8000 Series BERTs, Spindler said,
to support receiver testing and non-NRZ data formats. Beate
Hoehne, new product introduction manager for the Digital &
Photonic Test Division of Keysight, said the J-BERT M8020A
and M8195A support 32 Gbaud and beyond.
“To maximize transmission within the PHY layer, you need to
combine and optimize all dimensions for efficiency, cost, power,
reach, reliability, and so on,” she said. “It is not clear what will
be the right combination of symbol rate, bits per symbol, and
number of carriers,” she continued, asking, “Will 32-Gbaud
PAM4 or 32-Gb/s NRZ be the right solution? Will MIPI C-PHY
or next-gen D-PHY be the right approach for mobile devices?”
She concluded, “The M8195A provides the flexibility to support
all the existing and new standards.”
Teledyne LeCroy’s Protocol Solutions Group focuses on
high-speed serial communications test with several products,
according to Chestnut. The SierraNet M408 with 40-GE native
capture addresses the new 40-Gb/s Ethernet specification, he
said. The SierraNet M408 handles Fibre Channel up to 16 G
and 10-G/40-G Ethernet fabrics.
He added, “The Eclipse X34 M-PHY protocol analyzer and x4
SMA M-PHY interposer, along with M-PCIe protocol analysis
software for M-PCIe protocol testing, support the MIPI M-PHY
market addressing test needs for mobile platforms.”
In addition, he said, the Voyager M310 protocol analyzer and
exerciser covers the new USB 3.1 specification with speeds to
10 Gb/s; it offers optional support for link-layer compliance
tests. And finally, he said, for PCI Express Gen 3, the company
has released new compliance tools with the Teledyne LeCroy
PCIe 3.0 PTC.
For memory applications, Teledyne LeCroy offers its DDR
debug toolkit for use with certain Teledyne LeCroy oscilloscopes
(Figure 3). The PHY-layer analysis package for DDR (DDR2/3/4
and LPDDR2/3) separates reads from writes. “This is the first
step in analyzing DDR signals and a time-consuming process
with the aid of analysis software,” said Robert Mart, product
manager. “DDR debug toolkit effortlessly does so with a single
button press.”
The DDR debug toolkit also deals with the simultaneous
analysis of four measurement scenarios, presents up to 10 eye
diagrams simultaneously while offering eye-mask testing and
eye-parameter measurements, and supports DDR jitter analysis.
LPDDR test
Loberg at Tektronix listed several test offerings released over
the past year, including a comprehensive test solution for
LPDDR. He added, “Tektronix offers integrated PHY-layer
testing and debug of the LPDDR4 standard in its DDR-LP4
analysis software. By automating test setup and execution,
DDR-LP4 gives memory designers the confidence that they are
in full conformance with memory standards.”
In addition, Tektronix released a test solution for HDMI 2.0
compliance test. “The successor to the widely adopted HDMI
1.4a/b standard, HDMI 2.0 is designed to meet the bandwidth
requirements of forthcoming Ultra HD or 4K televisions while
using existing cabling for backward compatibility,” Loberg
said. “It significantly increases bandwidth to 18 Gb/s and adds
such features as 32 audio channels and simultaneous delivery
of video and audio streams to multiple users. As with previous
HDMI versions, compliance and debug test solutions are critical
to ensuring successful implementation of the specification.”
Compared with alternatives, Loberg said, “The Tektronix
HDMI 2.0 test solution reduces test setup complexity through
the use of a new automation framework for transmitter testing
and a direct synthesis approach for receiver testing that eliminates the need for additional equipment like cable emulators
and noise stressors. With the Tektronix AWG70000 arbitrary
waveform generators, engineers can produce required receiver
test signals and specified impairments automatically using
direct synthesis methods which reduce test setup time and
additional instrument cost.” He added that Presto Engineering
has adopted Tektronix’s HDMI test solution. (See page 32 for
more on how HDMI test fits within Presto’s test and engineering services offerings.)
In addition, Loberg said, over the last year, Tektronix introduced a 40GBASE-CR4 debug and automated compliance
solution and enhanced IBIS-AMI S-parameters modeling support for Tektronix oscilloscopes. The company also debuted
40-Gb/s high-performance BERT for datacom and long-haul
testing, a new BERTScope model to address 100G optical
receiver test, and MIPI mobile protocol decode solutions for
oscilloscopes.
Also addressing MIPI is Rohde & Schwarz. The company
recently introduced the R&S RTO-K40 option for the R&S
RTO high-performance oscilloscopes; the option addresses the
need for fast analysis and testing of MIPI RFFE (RF front-end)
interfaces. It also offers automatic glitch rejection. The R&S
RTO-K40 option allows users to directly trigger on content
such as “extended register write” or error states such as “bus
park error” of the MIPI RFFE protocol. The decoded protocol
content is displayed in an easy-to-read color-coded overview
as well as in tabular format. A search and navigation function
helps users to track even long records and directly jump to
positions of interest in the protocol.
User-programmable FPGA
Figure 3. DDR Debug Toolkit overview screen
Courtesy of Teledyne LeCroy
18 • EE • January 2015
EE201501-SpecRep-HighSpeed MECH dB.indd 18
National Instruments recently introduced the PXIe-6591R and
PXIe-6592R high-speed serial instruments (Figure 4), which
include an open, user-programmable FPGA to offer sufficient
www.evaluationengineering.com
12/9/14 4:38 PM
flexibility for testing both standard
and custom serial interfaces.
Addressing cost of test, Nunn
at NI said, “Oscilloscopes and
bit error rate testers often are
too expensive and slow to justify
the coverage they provide while
protocol-specific hardware often is not flexible enough to
integrate into automated test
systems. With the introduction Figure 4. PXIe-6591R high-speed
instrument
of the PXIe-6591R and PXIe- serial
Courtesy of National Instruments
6592R, we bring protocol-aware
test solutions to the market at one-tenth the cost of traditional
high-speed serial test solutions along with the added benefits
of the PXI platform. One of the PXI benefits includes tight
synchronization with other PXI modular instruments such as
oscilloscopes, which results in a highly integrated and complete
test solution.”
DesignCon 2015, scheduled for Jan. 28-29 in Santa Clara,
CA, will offer an opportunity to explore high-speed digital
test further. Keysight will be showing the J-BERT M8020A
with new generator performance and capabilities, Spindler
said. Hoehne added that the company also will show the AWG
M8195A used for PAM4 signal generation and analysis. And
Resso said the PLTS 2015 release will be demonstrated; it will
include new features such as Save State and Round Robin as
well as support for PXI.
D
I
G
I
T
A
L
H
I
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-
Goto said, “Anritsu will be displaying three solutions for
high-speed interconnect testing at DesignCon 2015. The signalintegrity test solution will feature the MP1800A BERT along with
the VectorStar vector network analyzer (VNA) and MP1825B
4-tap Emphasis. We also will be displaying a 100G AOC test
solution featuring the MP1800A. Our third station will include
a 65G PAM4 BERT.”
According to Nunn at NI, “We plan to show the PXI-6591R
controlling a TI DAC38J84 high-speed DAC through the
JESD204B protocol. The Xilinx GTX transceivers on the PXIe6591R and PXIe-6592R high-speed serial instruments support a
broad variety of protocols, and NI provides a number of software
examples to demonstrate how to integrate common protocols as
well as LabVIEW architectures for several application patterns.”
Chestnut said Teledyne LeCroy will exhibit its DDR, USB3,
and PCIe test solutions as well as the HDO high-definition oscilloscopes and the recently launched 100-GHz 10Zi oscilloscope.
“We also will present our Voyager M310 analyzer/exerciser, the
PCIe Summit T3-8 and Summit Z3-16 exercisers, and the Kibra
480 compliance and protocol analyzers,” he said.
According to Loberg, “The Tektronix DesignCon 2015 presence includes a combination of technical paper presentations,
panel moderation, and a large show-floor exhibit with educational demonstrations.” Common themes that will resonate in
these activities, he said, include embedding and de-embedding
techniques needed to preserve signal margins and approaches
to testing in accordance with new 100 G standards (28 Gb/s,
56 Gb/s) coming into the serial communications industry.”
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EE201501-SpecRep-HighSpeed FINAL.indd 19
12/9/14 4:50 PM
.
19
RF/MICROWAVE TEST
Let your digital receiver
measure its own noise figure
by Thomas T. Leise, Andrew L. Silveira, and Jeremy T. Perkins, Raytheon
M
20
.
odern digital receiver/exciters (DREX) used in radar
and communications systems
are capable of significant self-testing
in a production factory environment.
Long past are the days where the analog
portions of the system existed as line replaceable units (LRUs) separate from the
digital. Greater levels of mixed-signal
integration and size reduction have
created production environments where
the optimal solution is to use the built-in
spectrum analyzer of the DUT itself.
To such an end, a simple technique
was developed to allow a DREX to measure its own noise figure (DREX-SM) using the traditional Y-factor methodology
of a hot-source/cold-source comparison.
complete assembly with access only to
the external interface(s). The integrity
of the product is violated if the LRU is
opened to allow measurement of noise
figure. To make this measurement, it is
desirable to use the inherent functions
of the digital receiver.
The most common method used for
measuring noise figure is the Y-factor
approach. A known hot and cold temperature noise source is applied to the
input of the DUT, and the noise results
at the output are compared to determine
noise temperature of the DUT itself.
(1)
(2)
Concept
Figure 1 shows a notional block diagram
of a radar receiver/exciter. Notice that the
LRU contains frequency references, local
oscillator generation, up/down frequency
conversion, and digital-to-analog (D/A) and
analog-to-digital (A/D) as well as signal
processing functions.
In a production environment, testing
of this LRU must be performed as a
(3)
where: Te = noise equivalent temperature
T0 = reference state noise
temperature, usually 290K
Overview of the Y-factor method
for measuring noise figure
and the second is for the actual measurement of the DUT. The equipment needed
includes a calibrated noise source and a
power detector, such as a spectrum analyzer or power meter. The noise source is
specified by its excess noise ratio (ENR)
which is the ratio of the difference in hot
and cold noise temperatures to a reference
of 290K. Expressed in dB:
(4)
where: Th = hot or ON noise temperature
of the noise source
Tc = cold or OFF noise temperture
T0 = 290K
The Y-factor (Y) is found by measuring the noise power at the output of the
system with the noise source as the input
to the system. Specifically, the Y-factor
is the ratio of the output noise power with
the noise source in the ON state (NON)
to the power when the noise source is
in the OFF state (NOFF).
The Y-factor method generally is a two-step
procedure: the first step is for calibration,
(5)
The noise figure (dB) can be calculated
from the ENRdB and the Y-factor by
(6)
DREX-SM variation of the
Y-factor technique
Figure 1. Notional radar receiver/exciter block diagram
20 • EE • January 2015
EE201501-RFMicro FINAL.indd 20
The Y-factor calibration step is required
to account for the noise figure of the
power detector (for example, spectrum
analyzer). For the technique presented
here, the calibration step is not required
since the spectrum analyzer in this case is
part of the DUT. With this, the technique is
simplified to making two measurements:
one for NON and another for NOFF. From
these measurements, the noise figure then
can be computed directly from equation 6.
www.evaluationengineering.com
12/10/14 11:37 AM
The Y-factor shown in equation 5 and
equation 6 is a linear term and requires
that the values of NON and NOFF be in
units of actual power. For convenience,
most measurements taken by the digital
receiver typically would be expressed in
terms of decibels (dB or dBm). Because
of this, the following equation is used to
find the Y-factor:
(7)
Since Y is a linear ratio, the unit for
the measured power levels does not
necessarily need to be referenced to a
specific power, such as dBm. The digital
receiver’s measurement can be generically in dB without loss of accuracy in
the technique.
For example, if using a source with an
ENR of 6 dB and the measured values
for NON and NOFF are -20 dB and -22
dB, using equation 7, Y can be found
as follows:
Figure 2. Typical receiver channel noise floor vs. gain setting
Noise figure then can be found by equation 6.
the noise floor of the analog chain. The
noise floor of the ADC is a fixed dBm
level. It is additive not multiplicative
noise and therefore is not specified as a
noise figure. In measurements, it can be
thought of as a noise figure for a fixed
condition of analog gain and a noise
figure in front of the ADC. As a rule
of thumb, the gain in the analog chain
usually is set to keep its noise floor at
least 10 dB above that of the ADC, as
shown in Figure 2.
NFdB = 6dB – 10log10 (1.585 – 1) =8.3dB
Results of the DREX-SM method
(8)
For a baseline, receiver noise figure was
first measured with a noise source and a
spectrum analyzer as discussed in reference
1. These measurements were through the
analog up/down conversion chain as identified in Figure 1. So that a comparison of the
results would be meaningful, the gain of the
analog chain was set high enough that the
contribution from the ADC noise floor of
the DREX would be negligible. Baseline
and DREX-SM method results are given
in Table 1 and Figure 3. Frequencies f1
through f5 are equally spaced frequencies
within the system’s operatDREX-SM
Difference
ing frequency band.
To validate this technique, noise figure
measurements were made using the Yfactor method with a spectrum analyzer
as discussed in reference 1. This method
actually measures the noise figure of the
analog chain only, from RF input to just
before the ADC of the receiver.
In most cases, the noise figure of a receiver will be primarily due to the analog
chain, with little contribution from the
ADC. For this to hold true, the noise floor
of the ADC must be adequately below
RF
Frequency
Baseline
Spectrum
Analyzer
Measured NF (dB)
Method
NF (dB)
(dB)
f1
8.83
8.79
-0.04
f2
9.80
9.86
0.07
f3
9.64
9.60
-0.04
f4
9.54
9.80
0.26
f5
9.35
9.22
-0.13
Table 1. DREX-SM method vs. baseline comparison
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EE201501-RFMicro MECH dB.indd 21
Considering the
DREX ADC noise
floor contribution
For verifying the DREXSM method, the gain of the
analog chain was set at its
highest level. This allowed
the noise figure of only
the analog chain to be the
quantity for comparison. However, as the
gain of the analog chain is reduced, the
noise floor contribution from the ADC
increases and must be considered in
overall system design. Because of this,
there is a trade-off between dynamic
range and noise figure of the DREX when
planning the gain of the analog chain. It
should be noted that there is a potential
pitfall in assuming that the noise figure
of a DREX is simply equal to the noise
figure of the analog chain.
Noise figure measurements were
made with both the DREX-SM and the
baseline Y-factor method while varying
the gain of the analog chain. The gain
adjustments were made with digital RF
attenuators near the back end of the
analog chain. Overall, the baselinemethod noise figure measurements
remained relatively constant while the
DREX-SM method shows the noise
figure increasing with higher attenuation. Results can be seen in Figure 4,
demonstrating that the ADC noise floor
contribution to noise figure becomes
significant with increasing receiver
attenuation (decreasing analog gain).
With a reasonably high-gain analog chain, an increase in attenuation
should result in a decrease in gain
(gain measurements verified this but
are not shown here), with very little
effect to noise fi gure. It can be seen
in Figure 4 that the DREX-SM and
the baseline methods each show little
change in noise figure for attenuation
up to about 8 dB. For higher attenuations, the DREX-SM noise figure results
January 2015 • EE • 21
12/9/14 4:35 PM
.
21
RF/MICROWAVE TEST
Figure 3. DREX-SM method vs. baseline comparison
22
.
Figure 4. Contribution of the ADC noise floor to noise figure measurements
increase. For an attenuator setting of
higher than about 15 dB, in this case,
the actual noise figure of the DREX is
significantly different than that of the
analog chain only. The increase seen
in the baseline noise figure from 25 dB
to 30 dB of attenuation most likely can
be attributed to the contribution of the
attenuator itself.
Measurements, Rohde & Schwarz, Application Note.
Additional reading
1. Fundamentals of RF and Microwave
Noise Figure Measurements, Keysight
Technologies, Application Note 57-1.
2. Noise Figure Measurement Accuracy – The Y-Factor Method, Keysight
Technologies, Application Note 57-2.
Conclusion
A variation of the Y-factor method,
using a DREX to self-test noise figure,
has been proven to be a practical option
for highly integrated systems. It can
be argued that measuring noise figure
using the internal spectrum analyzer of
the DUT yields a more representative
value of system noise figure because it
includes any passive loss between the
analog chain and the ADC, and more
importantly, the ADC’s effective noise
figure contributions. This method can
be used for design verification and
production acceptance testing of highly
integrated DREX systems.
Reference
1. Leffel, M. and Daniel, R., The Y
Factor Technique for Noise Figure
About the authors
Thomas T. Leise is an Engineering Fellow with Raytheon’s Space and Airborne
Systems Division. He has 30 years of
experience in radar, EW, antenna, and
receiver/exciter systems.
Andrew L. Silveira is a senior electrical engineer with Raytheon’s Integrated
Defense Systems Division. He has worked
for Raytheon for more than 12 years,
primarily on RF design and integration.
Jeremy T. Perkins is an electrical engineer with Raytheon’s Integrated Defense
Systems Division. He has been with the
company for two years, working on a radar program. Prior to joining Raytheon,
Perkins was an assistant professor of
electronics at Southside Virginia Community College.
Visit www.rsleads.com/501ee-008
22 • EE • January 2015
EE201501-RFMicro MECH dB.indd 22
www.evaluationengineering.com
12/9/14 4:35 PM
.
EE201501-AD HOUSE.indd 23
12/10/14 10:37 AM
23
CLOUD COMPUTING
The importance of
trapdoor functions
by Tom Lecklider, Senior Technical Editor
I
24
.
f you and I were to meet with no possibility of being overheard, we could
agree upon the secret encryption key
we would use in our public communications. One of the NIST-recognized
encryption schemes would be nearly
impossible to compromise as long as
neither of us disclosed the key to anyone
else. In symmetric encryption, you and
I would use the same key to encrypt the
plaintext message as to decrypt it. There
is only one key, and each time we wanted
to change it securely, we would need to
meet again.
In contrast, asymmetric encryption has
both a public and a private key. There is
no attempt made to hide the public key,
which is used to encrypt the plaintext
message. Knowing the public key and
the encryption method, you and I can
securely derive private keys but no one
else can. Cyphertext decryption uses the
private key.
A so-called trapdoor function typically lies at the heart of modern encryption algorithms. Trapdoor functions are
mathematical operations that are easy
to perform in the forward direction
but much more difficult to execute in
the reverse sense. 1 Algorithms often
are based on modular arithmetic, and
a simple example illustrates the idea.
The modulus or mod function returns
the remainder 4 when the modulus is 11
and you sum addends 9 and 6: 15/11 =
1 with remainder 4.
The numbers 0 through 10 form the
cyclic group or commutative ring upon
which summation (mod 11) and multiplication (mod 11) are defined. The
remainder or residue always will be
equal to one of these values. In another
example, modularly summing 22 and
18 is equivalent to 7: (22 - 2 x 11 = 0)
+ (18 – 11 = 7) = 7, or 22 +18 = 40: (40
– 3 x 11) = 7. The modulus can be any
non-zero integer; 11 arbitrarily is used
here. Quantities that are equivalent on the
ring of numbers are said to be congruent.
For example, 22 + 18 ≡ 18 = 7 mod 11.
As mathematical theory has evolved
and computing capabilities have improved, what initially seemed to be an
adequately difficult trapdoor later was
P1 + P2 = P3 defined on elliptic curve Y2 = X3 + Ax + B
(Tom Lecklider, EE-Evaluation Engineering)
24 • EE • January 2015
EE201501-CloudComputing MECH dB.indd 24
deemed not to be. This point is illustrated by the progression from the RSA
algorithm that relies on factoring very
large integers. Next came work by Diffie, Hellman, and Merkle that involves
computing discrete logarithms. More
recently, a cryptography algorithm based
on the mathematics of elliptic curves has
become popular. Each move to a different algorithm was made because the
mathematical trapdoor was thought to be
more difficult to solve than the previous
one while still remaining relatively easy
to implement in the forward direction.
RSA algorithm
RSA is named for Rivest, Shamir, and
Adleman, the first researchers to publicly
describe the approach. To begin, two prime
numbers P1 and P2 are randomly chosen and
multiplied together to find the maximum
value or modulus max. A new number pub
is selected (0<pub<max) as the public key.
Anyone can know the values of pub and
max but not P1 and P2.
RSA performs encoding by raising each
element in a numerically coded version
of a plaintext message to the pub power
(modmax). For example, with P1 = 13 and
P2 = 7, max = 91. With pub = 5, a letter
encoded as 67 is encrypted as 67^pub
(mod 91): 67 x 67 = 4,489, which is
larger than 91, so 4,489 (mod 91) = 30.
Using the congruent value 30 for the next
multiplication, 30 x 67 = 2,010, and 2,010
(mod 91) = 8. And so on for a total of
four times, until 67^5 (mod 91) is found
to equal 58. Mathematically, the mod
operation can be performed after all the
multiplications, but in a real application
that uses extremely large numbers, it may
be more practical to use congruent values
for the intermediate multiplications.
This type of modular multiplication is
closely related to the Euclidean algorithm
that determines the greatest common divisor between two integers by a process
of successive division by the remainder
from the previous operation. The Exwww.evaluationengineering.com
12/9/14 2:17 PM
tended Euclidean algorithm calculates
an associated factor at each step. It is
the final value of this factor, the modular
multiplicative inverse, that is the private
key—29 in this case. Multiplying 58 by
itself 29 times (mod 91) will result in the
original 67 being recovered.1
The modular multiplicative inverse exists if and only if P1 and P2 are coprime—
they have no common factors. Because
P1 and P2 are chosen to have hundreds
of digits, factoring the product to find P1
and P2 is computationally very difficult.
Nevertheless, with RSA, I can choose a
public key and a pair of prime numbers
and tell you and anyone else the resulting
max and pub values. You can send me
encrypted messages that only I can decode
with my private key. Similarly, you can
choose your own pub′ and P1′ and P2′
values, telling me only the values of pub′
and max′, so that I can send messages that
you can decode with your private key. We
never have to meet again.
DHM key exchange method
Moving up a level in difficulty, the DiffieHellman-Merkle (DHM) method also uses
modular arithmetic but involves discrete
logarithms instead of factoring. You and
I agree to use a certain prime number n as
well as a separate base number g, which is
specially chosen as a primitive root mod
n. This means that for every integer b<n,
there is an integer k such that gk ≡ b (mod
n): k is called the discrete logarithm of b
to the base g modulo n.
I choose a secret number A and compute
gA mod n, which I send to you using a
public communications link. You choose
a secret number C and compute gC mod n,
which you send to me also without regard
for security. I compute gCA mod n using
my secret integer A, and you compute
gAC mod n using your secret interger C.
We both get the same value [(gA mod n)C
mod n = (gC mod n)A mod n = gCA mod
n = gAC mod n] that we use as a shared
symmetric encryption key.2
Knowing n, g, gA mod n, and gC mod n,
anyone trying to decrypt messages needs
to solve a difficult discrete logarithm
problem to determine A or C. In practice,
n may have 200 to 300 digits and both A
and C at least 100.
Elliptic cryptography
Rather than using relatively straightforward
modular multiplication or exponentiation
www.evaluationengineering.com
EE201501-CloudComputing MECH dB.indd 25
to relate the values within a cyclic group,
elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) is
based on the group of modulo n points
that lie on a curve typically described
as Y2 = X3 + AX + B. When evaluated
as a straightforward algebraic equation
using real numbers, a curve similar to
that in the figure results. However, for
cryptographic purposes, the equation is
modularly evaluated, resulting in a field
of discrete X,Y points.
A straight line drawn through points
X1,Y1 and X2,Y2 will intersect the curve
only at one other point X 3 ,Y 3 (or at
infinity, which is included in the set of
allowed points). By definition, X1,Y1, +
X2,Y2 = X3,-Y3; that is, the sum is defined
to be on the side of the curve opposite
to the intersection. Doubling a point is
defined in the same way as addition,
but because only one point is given, the
straight line is assumed to be tangent to
the curve at that point.
For the curve Y2 = X3 + 2x + 2 mod
17, and starting with the point P 1 =
(5,1), find P3 = 2 x P1. The slope at P1
is given by s = 3X12 + 2/(2Y1) mod 17.
The new X3 = s2 -X1 -X2 mod 17, and
Y3 = s(X1 - X2) -Y1 mod 17 where X1
= X2 = 5 and Y1 = 1.
The slope s is evaluated as (3 x 52 +
2)/(2 x 1) mod 17 ≡ 9/2 mod 17. Modular
division is not straightforward: 9/2 = 9
x 2-1. The multiplicative inverse of a
number Z (mod m) is a value that when
multiplied mod m by Z = 1. In this case,
the multiplicative inverse exists because
2 and 17 are coprime: 2 x 9 mod 17 ≡
1, so 9/2 mod 17 ≡ 9 x 9 mod 17 ≡ 13.
Similarly evaluating the expressions
for X3 and Y3 gives P3 = (6,3): so, 2 x
(5,1) = (6,3). In general, the number of
discrete points on a curve is close to the
modulus value. For this curve, there are
19 points including the point at infinity.3
Similarly, multiplication and exponentiation can be defined on an elliptic
curve. And, following the same type of
public/private key exchange as used in
the DHM method, two parties can establish secure communications. However,
when elliptic curve cryptography is used,
the much harder problem of finding the
discrete logarithm of a random elliptic
curve element results—and nobody actually has figured out how to do that in
a practical sense. Just how much more
difficult this method is can be seen by
noting that the RSA algorithm would
need a 2,380-bit key to be as secure as
a 228-bit ECC key.1
Other schemes
Rather than rely on modular arithmetic, the
family of advanced encryption standard
(AES) algorithms uses substitution-permutation operations. Exclusive ORing, swapping
rows for columns in arrays, shifting array
rows by different amounts, substituting
lookup table values, and similar actions
are repeated a number of times depending
on the length of the key. Decryption runs
the steps in the reverse order.
AES is based on work by Rijndael and
Rijmen, two Belgian cryptographers, and
the NIST specification dates from 20012002. The Rijndael algorithm allows key
lengths in multiples of 32 bits up to 256,
but only lengths of 128, 192, and 256
are implemented in AES. The method is
a symmetric key algorithm, so it has the
usual problem of secure key distribution.
All three key lengths have been approved
by the NSA for secret information and
the 192-bit and 256-bit key lengths for
top secret.4
Summary
Encryption algorithms are available at
various levels of complexity and security.
Discussing a few of the more popular ones
has demonstrated the principles underlying them, although necessarily at a very
basic level. Those algorithms adopted
as government specifications have been
extensively studied and often standardized.
For example, NIST recommends a series
of elliptic curves for government work.5
References
1. Sullivan, N., “A (relatively easy to
understand) primer on elliptic curve
cryptography,” ars technica, October
2013.
2. Rouse, M., “Diffie-Hellman key
exchange (exponential key exchange),”
TechTarget, August 2007.
3. “Elliptic curve cryptography,” University of California at Santa Barbara,
Computer Science Department.
4. “CNSS Policy No. 15 Fact Sheet
No. 1,” Committee on National Security Systems, National Institute of
Standards and Technology, June 2003.
5. “Recommended Elliptic Curves For
Federal Government Use,” National
Institute of Standards and Technology,
July 1999.
January 2015 • EE • 25
12/9/14 2:17 PM
.
25
MEDICAL TEST
Innovations gather and interpret
EEG and genetic data
by Rick Nelson, Executive Editor
W
26
.
earable monitoring devices,
cognitive mobile apps, and
cloud-based computing are
combining to provide consumers with
vast quantities of information—and the
capability to help them interpret the data.
A recently demonstrated medical-datagenerating wireless electroencephalography (EEG) headset from imec and Holst
Centre supports home EEG monitoring.
Genetic information, too, is part of the
mix, and although it may not be readily
available from a wearable device, it can
be derived in a relatively simple way by
Pathway Genomics, which makes DNA
collection kits and provides screening for
genetic risk factors.
To help patients interpret the genetic
information, IBM Watson Group and
Pathway Genomics are leveraging the
natural-language processing and cogni-
Wearable EEG headset for home monitoring
Courtesy of imec
26 • EE • January 2015
EE201501-MedicalTest MECH dB.indd 26
tive capabilities of a cloud-based implementation of Watson, the computer that
won the game show Jeopardy! The companies say consumers will be able to make
use of Watson’s cognitive intellect to gain
insights and recommendations based on
their own genes and data derived from
wearables.
Mobile app
In November, the companies announced
a mobile app called Pathway Panorama,
which, they said, “…will call upon
Watson’s unique capability to uncover
insights from Big Data by understanding
the complexities of human language, referencing millions of pages of healthcare
data from medical journals and clinical
trial data within seconds.”
The data will be combined with information about the individual’s lifestyle
and biomarker data to make personalized recommendations to help the user
live a healthier life. Panorama also will
routinely monitor a user’s health and
wellness information and ping the user
with any new relevant recommendations.
For example, a consumer can ask the
Pathway Panorama app questions based
on her or his DNA, like “How much
exercise should I do today?” or “How
much coffee can I drink on Monday?”
The cognitive app answers and provides
guidance based on the healthcare-related
evidence-based data ingested by Watson
and on the individual’s biomarkers, vital
signs, DNA, electronic health records, and
other information.
“The medical industry is undergoing
a dramatic and systemic change, putting
consumers more in charge of their own
healthcare. Giving the consumers access
to a powerful tool built upon cognitive learning and Watson will make the
change even more transformative,” said
Michael Nova, M.D., chief medical officer, Pathway Genomics, and a member
of the Watson advisory board, in a press
release. “Working with the IBM Watson
team, we were able to quickly create a
working demo of our wellness app with
the most powerful cognitive computer in
the market today.”
“By tapping into IBM Watson’s cognitive intellect, Pathway Genomics is
allowing consumers to ask health- and
wellness-related questions in their own
words and receive personalized and relevant responses,” added Stephen Gold,
vice president, IBM Watson Group.
EEG wearable
As for recent wearable device innovations,
imec and Holst Centre have demonstrated
their next-generation wireless EEG headset. The headset combines dry electrodes
with integrated skin-to-electrode impedance monitoring to provide information
about the contact quality throughout the
entire EEG recording. Integrated signal
processing cancels out motion artifacts.
The impedance monitoring and motion
artifact cancellation overcome the difficulty
of making reliable EEG measurements
outside controlled environments.
Within controlled environments, electrode-to-skin impedance is measured before the EEG recording, and the electrodes
are carefully adjusted until they all have a
proper electrical contact to the skin. During recording, patients are instructed to
avoid any kind of motion, especially any
that involves head and jaw movements.
In contrast, the imec and Holst Centre
wireless EEG headset enables continuous
measurement of the electrical impedance
between the skin and the electrodes, providing information on the contact quality
throughout the entire EEG recording.
Moreover, the imec and Holst Centredeveloped motion artifact handling approach is based on bandpass and adaptive
filtering, which substantially reduces the
contamination of the EEG recordings due
to motion, and it can operate in real time.
These promising results, the organizations
say, are a significant step toward the
development of wireless EEG systems
with dry electrodes that can be used in
daily life.
www.evaluationengineering.com
12/9/14 2:06 PM
EMC TEST
Vendors target conducted,
radiated immunity
by Rick Nelson, Executive Editor
I
nstrument introductions, trade-show
highlights, and an agreement on turnkey solutions illustrate new EMC test
capabilities. ETS-Lindgren and Instruments for Industry (IFI) recently introduced an electromagnetic field generator
and solid-state dual-mode amplifier,
respectively. The latter targets automotive
600-V/m radar-pulse radiated immunity
testing, as does an amplifier that AR RF/
Microwave Instrumentation demonstrated at the Automotive Testing Expo 2014
in Novi, MI. AR also recently announced
an agreement with MVG to offer one-stop
shopping for EMC turnkey solutions.
First, ETS-Lindgren unveiled its
EMField Generator, which the company describes as integrating separate
components into a compact, modular,
and efficient testing tool. The company
noted that for decades radiated immunity
testing has been performed using bulky
RF power amplifiers, and immunity
systems have been inherently inefficient,
losing up to half of their power to heat,
cable loss, couplers, and other hardware
components. Until now, engineers have
had to compensate for these losses by
increasing the size of the amplifiers.
“We have challenged the traditional
assumption that delivering a higher
field strength requires more power and
are bringing a game-changing technology to the market,” said Bryan Sayler,
senior vice president of ETS-Lindgren.
“For labs looking to test in the 1-GHz
to 6-GHz range, the EMField Generator
provides a highly efficient and portable
alternative to the traditional amplifier
and antenna configuration.”
The EMField Generator combines
amplifiers, directional couplers, power
meters, and an antenna array into one
simplified design.
Amplifiers for automotive test
For its part, IFI, a unit of AMETEK Compliance Test Solutions, debuted a dualmode, solid-state amplifier that combines
continuous (CW) and pulse (P) operating
www.evaluationengineering.com
EE201501-EMCTest MECH dB.indd 27
modes. The new S31-500-900P ampli- product range, starting with MVG-EMC
fier has been optimized for performing shielded rooms and absorbers, to deliver
600-V/m radar pulse radiated immunity high-performance turnkey products for
testing in the 0.8-GHz to 3.1-GHz band.1 EMC and other markets.
The amplifier has a 500-W
continuous rating along
with the capability to deliver more than 900 W in
the P mode.
Suitable for labs and
many automotive OEMs,
it supports tests in accordance with specifications
set by Ford2 and General
Motors and followed by
other manufacturers. The
unit offers a peak powerr
rating that allows it to
generate a 600-V/m testt
with either high-gain, narrowband antennas or a
single wideband antenna.
When used with narrowS31-500-900P dual-mode, solid-state amplifier
band antennas, the S31Courtesy of Instruments for Industry
500-900P has sufficient
Philippe Garreau, CEO of MVG, statpower to allow overtesting or provide
greater coverage of the EUT to reduce ed, “AR and MVG have built a strong
relationship and understanding of their
testing time.
AR RF/Microwave Instrumentation customers. By combining our product
also is targeting 600-V/m radar applica- lines and this knowledge, we will be
tions and to that end highlighted its AR able to offer a one-stop shop of quality,
700S1G4A portable, self-contained, air- tailored EMC solutions.” Don (Shep)
cooled, broadband, completely solid-state Shepherd, chairman of AR, added, “The
amplifier at the Automotive Testing Expo. knowledge and experience of our systems
The instrument delivers 700-W CW from engineers combined with our extensive
0.8 GHz to 4.2 GHz. At the show, AR range of EMC instrumentation mean the
also highlighted its line of benchtop and addition of MVG-EMC anechoic test
rack-mounted broadband power ampli- chambers will allow us to supply statefiers, EMI receivers, and complete EMC of-the art solutions and offer unrivalled
test systems with a specific emphasis on support to our customers.”
automotive conducted immunity testing
References
using the CI00401A test system.
1. Automotive 600V/m Pulse Radar Test
Agreement on turnkey systems
with a Dual-Mode Amplifier, InstruIn related news, AR and MVG have signed ments for Industry, Application Note
a memorandum of agreement to provide 118.
turnkey solutions. With this agreement, 2. Electromagnetic Compatibility SpeciAR brings its experience and line of EMC fication for Electrical/Electronic Comand RF/microwave products to marry with ponents and Subsystems, Ford Motor
MVG installation expertise and diverse Company, EMC-CS-2009.1, 2010.
January 2015 • EE • 27
12/9/14 2:08 PM
.
27
Indus
ppen
tr y Ha
ings
Tom
ider
Leckchlnical Editor
r Te
Senio
eer
Engin
ation , FL
lu
a
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ot
EESaras
28
.
ing
A generally upbeat tone highlighted
ITC 2014 in Seattle. The technical sessions were well-attended, and this year’s
firing-line questions from industry experts added a great deal of interest.
In his keynote address, Synopsys’ Aart
de Geus covered test topics ranging from
finFETs to silicon brain augmentation,
the underlying theme being systemic
complexity. According to de Geus, yet
another 10x gain in test efficiency is
needed. He said that in providing lower
cost and better ICs, you don’t just differentiate your product, you add value
by changing your customer’s opportunity
space.
The Optimal+ customer presentation
this year was presented by Carl Bowen
from AMD, who discussed the application of adaptive test technology to AMD
production. Both companies underestimated the amount of work required—and
also the nearly immediate gains that
would result, which helped to change
attitudes among detractors, Bowen said.
The need for a champion was stressed
as well as knowing who supported and
who resisted the new idea. Where you
can show that the new approach truly
delivers better results, the detractors
have little to fall back on.
The test compression session began
with Global Foundries’ Brian Keller’s
description of merged test patterns for
different types of cores that allowed multiple types to be simultaneously tested.
Lively Q&A concluded that wrappers
were central to the method’s success.
Janesh Rajski from Mentor Graphics
presented an improved compression
technique called isometric test compression. This scheme includes a template
register that controls the points at which
the data is allowed to change state—it
doesn’t have to change, but it can. Within
a test cube, even less data than previously
thought is absolutely necessary. The
template register is configured to retain
28 • EE • January 2015
EE201501-IndustryHappenings.indd 28
ITC again ascending
this data while the ATPG provides the
rest, supporting a reduced toggling rate
as well as high test compression.
In the “Big Data” session, Ali Ahmedi
from University of Texas Dallas expanded upon the good-die/bad-neighborhood
idea by giving more weighting to die
close to a given die. He also proposed
including data from other wafers in the
same lot, assuming that they too would
have similar properties. His method
retains a die’s X-Y location but more
accurately represents the die’s performance because it results from considering more data.
T. M. Mak from Global Foundries
discussed silicon interposer testing as
the first paper in the “Not Your Dad’s
Board Test” session. Functionally, interposers are similar to double-sided
PCBs but with top-side track density
up to 500 traces/mm—about 100x the
density of a fine-trace PCB—and too
tight to probe, although the bottom-side
microbumps can be probed. Using a conductive elastomer sheet on the top side
provides continuity between bottom-side
microbumps and the top-side traces. One
type of fault that might be exposed is a
TSV with defective insulation—because
silicon is semiconducting, each TSV
must be insulated. Adding active test
circuitry and determining the extent of
any cracks are ongoing investigations.
In the “Validation: Pre-Silicon, Emulation, Post-Silicon” session, Mentor’s
Kenneth Larsen discussed the role of
hardware emulators in the development
of very large ICs. Where software might
run a scan test at a 1-Hz rate, emulation
operates at megahertz speeds—a 64-hour
simulation was run on Mentor’s Veloce
emulator in about one minute. Emulation
also helps to verify the quality of tools
and processes used in post-silicon test,
Larsen said.
And in an analog mixed-signal session, ON Semiconductor’s R. Vanhooren
addressed analog fault model use in
test coverage and component quality
issues. He explained that mixed-signal
IC ppm defect improvement had slowed
considerably around 2010 and claimed
that undiagnosed analog faults were
the root cause of increasing automotive electronic system problems. Using
the example of a power-on test circuit,
Vanhooren showed that defect-specific
masking combined with a genetic algorithm could improve test coverage.
In his keynote address, Patrice Godefroid from Microsoft Research presented
software test techniques and trends. Dr.
Godefroid is credited with developing
the scalable automated guided execution (SAGE) test approach, also called
whitebox fuzzing, which is based on a
combination of fuzzing and dynamic
test generation. In contrast to static test
generation, dynamic test generation
modifies the input test data in response
to the received output. Using seed data
is called directed automated random testing (DART), and fuzzing is the random
and gradual modification of input data
to eventually find a combination that
yields the desired output.
To verify Windows security, the
SAGE test application has been running on a dedicated group of 100 test
PCs for the last five years, Godefroid
noted. Not all faults have the potential
to cause serious and costly problems,
but faults do represent possible entry
points for hackers. Within limits, it’s
OK for users to find and report small
performance issues—the customer is
the ultimate tester, he said.
The role of test has changed and
continues to change. With approaches
such as Agile, software test becomes
a continuous part of each developer’s
job. Godefroid compared the near 1:1
developer-to-tester ratio prevalent at
software manufacturers years ago with
the 10:1 ratio achieved today.
www.evaluationengineering.com
12/10/14 8:21 AM
CATEGOR
TAGS: ben
tion, power se
SOFTWARE
For more in
Keysight T
Application supports
connectivity, visibility
by Rick Nelson, Executive Editor
“I
t should be simple to connect
to your bench instruments and
collect data, but often it’s not,”
according to Dan Pleasant, manager,
technology and architecture, BenchVue Program, Keysight Technologies.
Enhancing simplicity is the goal of
BenchVue software, and to that end, the
company released its second version in
December. BenchVue is an intuitive,
easy-to-use PC software application
that provides multiple-instrument measurement visibility and data capture
that eliminate the need for instrument
programming.
BenchVue, Pleasant said, is a single
application that integrates your bench
instrumentation through plug-and-play
connectivity. It does not require programming of special instrument drivers;
simple point-and-click data capture
makes it easy to log data and capture
screen images. Users can easily export
data in desired formats, and they can
access manuals, drivers, FAQs, and
videos while monitoring and controlling
their bench instruments via a computer
or mobile device.
The software’s plug-and-play capability supports LAN and GPIB as
well as USB. LXI 2.6+ instruments are
discovered automatically, as are GPIB
instruments, Pleasant said. He noted that
while users can control their instruments
via BenchVue, they retain the option
of using the instrument front panel for
complicated measurement operations.
The new version, BenchVue 2.5, connects to seven instrument types. New
for version 2.5 are power sensors and
data-acquisition units. The new version
continues to handle the five supported
by the original version of the program,1
including oscilloscopes, power supplies,
spectrum analyzers, digital multimeters, and function generators. In all, the
software is compatible with more than
200 Keysight instruments. BenchVue
Mobile, which originally interfaced to
www.evaluationengineering.com
EE201501-Software MECH dB.indd 29
.
BenchVue showing DMM, spectrum analyzer, power supply, and oscilloscope displays
Courtesy of Keysight Technologies
oscilloscopes, power supplies, and multimeters, now adds support for spectrum
analyzers and function generators.
And while the original version facilitated screen and trace capture for
oscilloscopes and spectrum analyzers,
the new version adds screen image logging, trace logging, and deep data capture
(for example, I/Q) for oscilloscopes
and measurement logging for spectrum
analyzers.
“Since BenchVue’s initial introduction, bench-instrument users have
strongly embraced its ease-of-use in
helping them accomplish their measurement tasks,” said Rod Unverrich, senior
software manager at Keysight, in a press
release. “The new software release builds
on the capabilities our customers have
come to love by further simplifying
instrumentation usage on the bench.”
BenchVue’s key features include the
following:
• data logging for digital multimeters,
oscilloscopes, data acquisition units,
signal analyzers, power supplies, and
power sensors;
• plug-and-play functionality for instrument control of all supported instruments,
including waveform select and output
control for function generators;
• a mobile application to free engineers
from their bench, enabling them to remotely monitor and respond to tests; and
• one-click screen capture with annotation for fast professional documentation.
Keysight’s BenchVue software for the
PC can be downloaded for free. Six “Pro”
version upgrade licenses are available
to extend BenchVue’s functionality for
multimeters, function generators, power
supplies, oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers, and data-acquisition systems. The
upgrade licenses range in cost from $150
for power supplies to $750 for function
generators. The Pro versions provide
unrestricted data logging and add alert
notifications. The function-generator
Pro version also links BenchVue to
Keysight’s Waveform Builder software
to support waveform editing.
In related news, Keysight announced
in October that it is supplying BenchVue
to Stanford University’s Department
of Electrical Engineering (see page 8).
Reference
1. “Free Software Accelerates Testing
with Bench Instruments,” EE-Evaluation Engineering Online, Feb. 21, 2014.
January 2015 • EE • 29
12/10/14 10:48 AM
29
EE PRODUCT PICKS
30
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Modular OTDR
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The AQ7280 is
based on a plug-in modular design that allows it to
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Measurement speed and ease of use are facilitated by
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The MW82119B PIM Master
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The MW82119B provides tower
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The MW82119B PIM Master with the Site Master option supports the full array of site tests. Field users can
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NI InsightCM Enterprise is a new software solution that
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Using NI InsightCM Enterprise, companies can costeffectively monitor both critical and ancillary rotating
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Simulation Tool
MultiSIM BLUE, the NI Multisim Component Evaluator
Mouser Edition, is an all-in-one circuit simulation tool
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Available via free download, MultiSIM BLUE enables
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30 • EE • January 2015
EE201501-ProductPicks MECH dB.indd 30
Network-Analyzer Extension
The R&S ZVAX-TRM is an extension unit for high-end
network analyzers in the vendor’s R&S ZVA family. The
R&S ZVAX-TRM can be combined with an R&S ZVA to
yield a compact and highly customizable system. It
conditions the signals from the network analyzer as
required for a given task and either returns them to the
analyzer or outputs them via its integrated high-power
test ports. The combination of an R&S ZVA and an R&S
ZVAX-TRM enables users in development and production to measure parameters such as compression, noise
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Rugged Android Tablet
The IMT-1 Android 4.2
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Dual T1 E1 Express Boards
The T1 E1 Express PCIe analysis and emulation boards
can monitor T1 E1 line conditions such as frame errors,
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www.evaluationengineering.com
12/10/14 10:47 AM
support comprehensive analysis
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100-GHz Oscilloscope
The 10-100Zi 100-GHz, 240-GS/s
oscilloscope incorporates the vendor’s 100-GHz technology first publicly
demonstrated in July 2013. The 10-100Zi
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the 10 Zi Series of high-performance
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that allows users to build oscilloscopes
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The 10 Zi oscilloscopes are built from a single Master
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App for SMU Instruments
A free app called IVy for
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IVy’s patent-pending design provides for simultaneous
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EE201501-ProductPicks FINAL.indd 31
Advertiser
INDEX OF ADVERTISERS
Page
Avtech Electrosystems Ltd.......................www.avtechpulse.com..............................................................31
CertifiGroup ..............................................www.CertifiGroup.com..............................................................31
Educated Design & Development. Inc......www.ProductSafet.com ............................................................31
Keysight Technologies..............................www.keysight.com/find/HSD-insight ......................................2-3
Keysight Technologies..............................www.keysight.com/find/getmydemo ......................................... 7
Keysight Technologies..............................www.newark.com/Keysight_Function_Generator ...................17
Measurement Computing Corp ................www.mccdaq.com/USB-230-Series.........................................14
National Instruments................................ni.com/automated-test-platform ..............................................BC
Pickering Interfaces Inc. ..........................www.pickeringtest.com .............................................................. 1
Pico Technology........................................www.picotech.com/pco535 ......................................................13
Saelig Company, Inc. ................................www.saelig.com .......................................................................22
Stanford Research Systems.....................www.thinkSRS.com .................................................................IFC
Teseq ........................................................www.tesequsa.com .................................................................IBC
Universal Switching Corp .........................www.uswi.com ........................................................................... 5
Vision Research........................................www.visionresearch.com .........................................................19
W5 Engineering ........................................www.W5engineering.com.........................................................15
Yokogawa Corp of America ......................tmi.yokogawa.com ....................................................................11
This index is provided as a service. The publisher does not assume liability for errors or omissions.
January 2015 • EE • 31
12/10/14 11:22 AM
.
31
‘Million unit’ company offers
RF test and services
by Rick Nelson, Executive Editor
32
.
Presto Engineering CEO Michel Villemain founded the company in 2006
and established its first facility in San
Jose in 2007 under an agreement with
Cypress Semiconductor. Villemain cited
his rationale for starting the company,
saying that after years of experience
at companies including Schlumberger
(later NPTest), KLA-Tencor, and FEI,
“I became more and more convinced that
part of the future of the semiconductor
equipment business would be services.”
Throughout his tenure at Schlumberger and FEI, he said, his customers
included 400 or so labs. But as technology evolved and became more complex,
only about 20 of those labs could afford
to upgrade to the latest equipment every
year. Presto’s goal, he said, was to address the needs of the remaining 380 labs.
“I coined the ‘labless’ concept at the
time,” Villemain added, noting that at
the front end, foundries had enabled
semiconductor manufactures to become
fabless. “I said, let’s try to mimic that and
create a labless segment at the back end.”
In 2010, under an agreement with
NXP (similar to the earlier one with
Cypress), Presto established a facility in
Caen, Normandy. It also was expanding
its offerings beyond the failure-analysis
services it originally offered into production test and other engineering services.
“As we were going through this process, we really took a hard look at what
we could uniquely offer to our customers, and by doing this for several years in
California and in Europe, we found out
that to create value we had to specialize,”
he said. “So we needed to establish our
uniqueness. Through lots of customer
dialog and discussion of requirements,
we decided to focus on analog, mixedsignal, and RF.” And in addition to offering customers Presto’s own internal
capabilities, he said, “Presto develops
partnerships to insert additional capabilities that we don’t do in Presto proper but
that we know how to manage”—such as
32 • EE • January 2015
EE201501-ExecutiveInsight MECH dB.indd 32
Michel Villemain
Founder & CEO
Presto Engineering
assembly. “We can expand our offerings
to be a one-stop shop,” he added.
When asked if Presto focuses on consumer or infrastructure RF, Villemain
said the company’s engineering services
apply to both. “We qualify devices going into smart phones,” he said. “When
it comes to production, obviously we
can’t compete at high volumes with
other organizations that are doing that
very well.”
He described Presto as a “million
unit” type of company. Presto offers
companies needing to produce 10,000
units per year the capability to move out
of their own labs and onto a professional
test floor. Presto, he said, bridges the
gap between 10,000 and 1 million units.
When customers surpass the million-unit
threshold, he said, Presto congratulates
them and assists in transitioning to a
higher volume organization.
Villemain said Presto divides the RF
world into standard RF, up to 10 GHz,
and high-speed communications (HSC),
beyond 10 GHz. Within HSC, he said,
he sees three sectors: the K, Ka, and Ku
bands from 12 to 40 GHz; the V band, in
which there is a lot of consumer-related
activity (WiGig, for example) around 60
GHz; and the E band.
This third segment is a recent focus
for Presto. In October, the company
launched a wafer-level E-band RF production-scale testing service in Caen.
E-band finds use in wireless backhaul,
he said, an area now seeing lots of engineering activity. He said the company
was prompted to offer E band capabilities
because “we already have a couple of
customers that are crossing that 10,000unit line and getting ready to move into
volume production.” He noted that the
volumes will be infrastructure-type
volumes—not consumer-level volumes.
Villemain said the company collaborates with traditional ATE vendors including Advantest, Teradyne,
and Xcerra. Higher frequencies require
network analyzers, high-speed oscilloscopes, BERTs, and other instruments
typically deployed in a rack-and-stack
configuration. Rack-and-stack systems,
he said, are evolving toward more integration to eliminate custom wiring and
to make them scalable, but the evolution
is a work in progress.
In another recent initiative, Presto
selected the new Tektronix HDMI 2.0
solution to extend its HDMI test capabilities. Presto will work with Tektronix
to expand its test coverage on highspeed serial bus interfaces including
USB 3.0, PCI Express, Ethernet 40G,
and DDR. HDMI capability is fairly
consistent with Presto’s high-speed
communications positioning, Villemain said, even though HDMI is more
digital than analog. “It’s good for us
to develop competency on the digital
side of these links to complement our
analog practice,” he said.
As for trends, Villemain said he
sees optical communications moving
from long-haul metro installations into
the data center, which creates traction from a volume standpoint and the
need to bring optical communications
technology onto the printed-circuit
board. “From a testability standpoint,
it’s very similar to RF or high-speed
analog,” he said. “It’s just that from the
stimulus aspect you need to position a
fiber light source very carefully and
very accurately to test these devices.”
He concluded, “We see the next step as
silicon photonics.”
www.evaluationengineering.com
12/9/14 2:20 PM
.
EFFICIENT AND MULTI-FUNCTIONAL RF TESTING
NSG 4070 – MORE THAN A GENERATOR
The NSG 4070 is a multi-functional device for carrying out tests to
accompany development and conformity testing in accordance to
IEC/EN 61000-4-6 and several automotive BCI standards. Anyone
NSG 4070 at a glance:
Solution for IEC/EN 61000-4-6 and automotive BCI
who spends a considerable amount of time on test station calibra-
Frequency range 9 kHz to 1 GHz
tion, connecting EUT monitors or documentation can now carry
Easy to operate via front panel or Windows Software
RXWLPPXQLW\WHVWLQJLQDPXFKPRUHHIƂFLHQWPDQQHUZLWKWKH
3rd generation of NSG 4070. Additional highlights: EUT monitoring
results can be annotated during testing with the output incorporated into the report.
Calibration data displayed in graphical or table form
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EE201501-AD Teseq.indd COVERIII
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