User guide

In addition, the About button on the Help displays the license information of the
Serial BERT.
Which Test is Appropriate?
Which Test is Appropriate? - Concepts
These topics help you to decide on the appropriate test setup for your device.
Determining How to Test Your Device
The Serial BERT can help you test the performance of components and systems
for high-speed digital transmission equipment.
An important parameter of a digital system is the rate at which errors occur in the
system. The analyzer will compare the bits sent to your device with the bits received
from your device. It will record the number of bit errors and display results such as
the bit error ratio (BER). In addition, accumulated results can be analyzed to help
you determine what caused the bit errors.
The analyzer can be set up to work with your device in many different ways. To
determine the best measurement setup, you must first decide how you want to
test your device. Before actually setting up and making measurements, you may
want to consider the following questions:
• What is the purpose of your test?
• What are the testing requirements of your device?
What is the Purpose of Your Test?
Does the purpose of your test fall under one of the following categories?
• To monitor instantaneous BER during measurement setup, experiments, and
adjustments. See “Instantaneous Measurements - Concepts ” on page 361.
• To measure and log error performance over time. See “Accumulated
Measurements - Concepts ” on page 376.
• To measure the eye height and width of the incoming data signal at specific
alignment BER thresholds. See “Eye Measurements - Concepts ” on page
392.
Planning the Test 1
Agilent J-BERT N4903B High-Performance Serial BERT 25