Introduction to PCIe 4.0 Electrical Compliance Test

Figure 1: PCI Express is now in its fourth generation
and poses daunting physical-layer test challenges

The Peripheral Component Interface Express standard (PCI Express, or PCIe) has been with us for some 14 years now, a pretty good run by computer-industry standards, and it shows no signs of fading away anytime soon. Now in its fourth generation, which sports data-transfer rates up to 16 Gb/s, PCIe presents daunting physical-layer test requirements (Figure 1).

Plan For Successful USB Compliance Testing (Part II)

Figure 1: A representative transmitter
compliance test setup

In the first post in this series, we looked at some of the basics of USB 3.0 and 3.1 compliance test and covered the USB-IF's role in overseeing the protocol. Now, let's look into some aspects of physical-layer test.

Plan For Successful USB Compliance Testing (Part I)

Figure 1: The coveted SuperSpeed USB logo

Certifying a device's implementation of a serial protocol standard is a fairly complex process involving a number of levels: electrical test, interoperability, backward compatibility, link layer, and so on. Generally, some organization oversees a given protocol, managing the revision process for the protocol itself as well as the testing process that a product must undergo. Passing the relevant compliance test suite and having a valid Trademark License Agreement on file bestows the prized right to display the protocol's logo on the product's box (Figure 1). That logo's presence tells the product's users that their device's serial interface operates within parameters set by the overseeing organization.