Investigator^TM for Serial RapidIO

A Full Test Suite to Validate Your Serial RapidIO Devices and Network

Investigator’s architecture incorporates its protocol analyzer and traffic generator into the same hardware, making it an elegant and complete solution for debugging devices within  a Serial RapidIO implementation. 

General Specifications:

• Integrated Protocol Analyzer and Traffic Generator
• Supporting Serial RapidIO Rev 1.x and Rev 2.x
• 1.25, 2.5, 3.125, 5.0 & 6.25Gbps link speeds
• x1, x2, and x4 link configuration support
• Up to 16 time-synchronized full-duplex 1x links, or 8 full-duplex 4x links
• Lossless 100% line rate data capture
• Visibility down to the bit level
• Real time, full line rate analysis, filtering and triggering
• Maximum 4GB capture memory per 4x link
• Automatic Descrambling

Passive & Active Modes

Investigator™ monitors RapidIO link traffic in different modes:

Bypass Mode:  Investigator is passive to the line, and monitors traffic in real time agnostically.

Traffic Generation Mode:  Investigator is used as an end-point device, so generate traffic to the device under test, and simultaneously listen to its response on a separate port.

Monitor Multiple Points

The capacity of Investigator is 16 link pairs.  This gives the tool the capability of monitoring multiple points simultaneously, and view the results with full time correlation. 

This capability is not limited to a single protocol.  Multiple types of protocols can also be monitored to check data passing through multiple protocol domains.

Monitor Errors Real-Time

Investigator™ captures data at full line rate.  Couple this with its advanced triggering and filtering, allows users to monitor for conditions and errors in real-time.  This not only saves time to find the problem, but also helps designers quickly find which device is misbehaving.  This proprietary filtering and triggering is unique to the industry, and has the power to reduce your debug time in half or more.

Find and Debug Errors Fast

Investigator software provides exceptional functionality to find and debug errors fast.  The software can constantly monitor data on the line, and only capture events necessary for your debug.  This both saves time as well as  precious capture data, insuring you will capture only the required conditions that caused the problem.

To achieve this, the software utilizes a number of advanced functionality, including:

• Alarms:  Build and save custom trigger, filter and capture configurations to server for later use, or use as part of a formal test procedure
• Advanced triggering: Start capturing data only when specific conditions are met
• Powerful filtering:  Sift through trace data fast, and filter out all conditions except the ones you are looking for
• Search facilities: Find any data pattern within any packet or control symbol, and maintain a library of predefined search patterns
• Bookmarks: Set bookmarks for reference in later debugging

Search Facilities Find next and previous packet Create  and go-to bookmarks Search for source or destination address Search for any data pattern within a packet or control symbol Library of predefined search items Find trigger events within a trace.

Data Display Formats Raw, 8B/10B, hexadecimal, and frame modes Detailed decode of each packet or control symbol down to individual bit level Highly configurable trace display with color coded channel data Independent or merged channel views Multi-layer post capture filtering on all fields. Save/print/export trace segments or entire capture with comments.

Search for any Control Symbol or Packet

Expert Control: Find and Trigger on Anything

Part of the exercise of validating and debugging involves finding the problem quickly, without having to sift through gigabytes of data. With Investigator, the advanced triggering will allow you to trigger on any event or character within the protocol specification, and then setup automated multi-step tests.

Generate Real Serial RapidIO Traffic Your Device

Absolute Analysis Investigator’s Serial RapidIO Traffic Generator allows you to  generate compliant traffic into a Device Under Test (DUT) with complete control over the timing and content of the data.

Valid and invalid traffic streams can be defined to test device error recovery.  The traffic generator’s  ability to maintain full-line rate traffic, even across multiple links, allows device performance to be measured and operation under stress to be characterized.

Investigator’s Traffic Generator together with the Frame Builder application allows user-defined data to be sent across the interface.

A variety of connector types available

The ports on every Investigator test system have been standardized to accommodate the widest range of connections using the SFP (small form factor pluggable) transceiver specification.

We support the most common connection methods for Serial RapidIO devices, which include:

• QSFP to SMA cables
• Flying leads
• Interposer cards
• Midbus Probes
• QSFP to InfiniBand style cables  (not shown)
  
• QSFP to optical cables (not shown)

One of the most popular ways to get to an sRIO signal is through the use of our Embedded Systems Probe, shown below.  Go to the Embedded Systems Probe accessory page for more information.

We have the widest variety of connectors and cables available.  Please contact us or your sales rep to discuss your specific connector and cabling needs.

 

Investigator Platforms - Select the chassis to suit your needs

Investigator Platforms have been designed to meet a number of different customer

requirements from high port count to extreme portability and ruggedization.

Investigator makes use of industry standards within its design to protect customer investments in our technology. This means future upgrade paths are flexible and cost effective.  Often, additional protocols and capabilities can be self-installed into existing hardware, without having to send the unit back to the factory.

Investigator platforms use industry standard PC-based platforms, Windows-based operating systems and Java-based applications.

To see a full list of platforms supported, click here.

Investigator Library API - Write your own test case suites

All of the functions used by the various Investigator applications are made available to the user through the Investigator Library APIk. The ‘C’ compatible interface allows 3rd party applications to be created on top of the investigator platform that can be used for Test Automation, Production Testing or Conformance Testing.

The API can also be accessed from a UNIX platform using remote procedure calls enabling the integration of Unix-based platforms into the Investigator Solution. As the support of Java-based applications increases within the Investigator platform, parts of the solution can run natively under UNIX.

Specific Applications

Investigator is designed for and in use today  in the following industries & applications:

Call us now to schedule your complimentary demo and to learn more about how Investigator^TM for Serial RapidIO can help you