multiLane ML4079D 400G Bit Error Rate Tester User Manual

June 1, 2024
multiLane

Pulsar | User Manual
Installation | Connection | Calibration| Measurements
User Manual revision 1.0

multiLane ML4079D 400G Bit Error Rate Tester

Notices

Copyright © MultiLane Inc. All rights reserved. Licensed software products are owned by MultiLane Inc. or its suppliers and are protected by United States copyright laws and international treaty provisions.
Use, duplication, or disclosure by the Government is subject to restrictions as set forth in subparagraph (c)(1)(ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software clause at DFARS 252.227-7013, or subparagraphs (c)(1) and (2) of the Commercial  Computer Software — Restricted  Rights clause at FAR 52.227-19, as applicable.
MultiLane Inc. products are covered by U.S. and foreign patents, issued and pending. Information in this publication supersedes that in all previously published material. Specifications and price change privileges reserved.

General Safety Summary
Review the following safety precautions to avoid injury and prevent damage to this product or any products connected to it. To avoid potential hazards, use this product only as specified.
Only qualified personnel should perform service

To Avoid Fire or Personal Injury
Use Proper Power Cord. Only use the power cord specified for this product and certified for the country of use.
Observe All Terminal Ratings. To avoid fire or shock hazard, observe all ratings and markings on the product. Consult the product manual for further ratings information before making connections to the product.
Do not apply a potential to any terminal, including the common terminal that exceeds the maximum rating of that terminal.

Do Not Operate Without Covers.
Do not operate this product with covers or panels removed.
Avoid Exposed Circuitry. Do not touch exposed connections and components when power is present.
Do Not Operate with Suspected Failures.
If you suspect there is damage to this product, have it inspected by qualified service personnel.
Do Not Operate in Wet/Damp Conditions. Do Not Operate in an Explosive Atmosphere. Keep Product Surfaces Clean and Dry

**** Caution statements identify conditions or practices that could result in damage to this product or other property.
Electro static sensitive device. Operate in ESD supervised and controlled areas.

Revision Control

Revision number Description Release Date
4.2.5 [Cerberus GUI for Pulsar
](https://www.multilaneinc.com/products/pulsar/) 1/17/2024

Product Software

The instrument includes the following software:

▪ Cerberus SW
Instrument GUI runs on Windows XP (32/64 bit), Windows 7,8 and 10.
NOTE. These applications require the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5.
If the Microsoft.NET Framework 3.5 is needed, it can be downloaded through this link:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/2/0/e/20e90413-712f-438c- 988efdaa79a8ac3d/dotnetfx35.exe.

For more products updates, check the following webpage: www.multilaneinc.com/products.html

Minimum PC Requirements
The Windows PC properties for Pulsar’s software should meet the following specifications:

  • Windows XP SP3 or greater
  • Minimum 1 GB RAM
  • 1 Ethernet card to establish connection with the device
  • USB Connector
  • Pentium 4 processor 2.0 GHz or greater
  • .NET Framework 3.5 sp1

List of Acronyms

Acronym Definition
BW Bandwidth
BERT Bit Error Rate Tester
Conf Configuration
DUT Device Under Test
FEC Forward Error Correction
FW Firmware
GBd Giga Baud
Gbps Gigabits per second
GUI Graphical User Interface
HW Hardware
ISI Inter-symbol Interference
JTOL Jitter Tolerance
KGU Known Good Unit
NRZ Non-Return to Zero
PAM4 Pulse Amplitude Modulation (4-level)
SI Signal Integrity
SNR Signal-to-Noise Ratio
Sim Simulation
SW Software

Pulsar

multiLane ML4079D 400G Bit Error Rate Tester - Pulsar

Installation

After downloading Cerberus setup file, select run and follow this easy step- by-step setup installation procedure:

multiLane ML4079D 400G Bit Error Rate Tester - Setup installation
procedure

Connecting to the Instrument

To connect to the instrument, follow this sequence of steps:

  • Install Cerberus.
  • Connect the power cable to the power jack of Pulsarand plug it into an AC outlet. The power cable is already included in the package accessories.
  • Power Up Pulsar.
  • Connect the device to the network* using a RJ45/LAN cable. LAN connection can be validated with a ping to the static instrument IP.
  • Run Cerberus.
  • Connect using the IP address of the target instrument(s) (Figure 2). The IP address is printed on the back side of the instrument.

multiLane ML4079D 400G Bit Error Rate Tester - Connection
box

NOTE ▪ In the case of a connection failure, a pop-up message will appear indicating a connection error (Figure 3).
multiLane ML4079D 400G Bit Error Rate Tester - Connection failure
notification*To add the device to the network, consult Appendix I at the end of this manual

Connection & Mode Selection

After connecting to the instrument by typing its IP in the appropriate text box, select the desired mode of operation and press “Configure”.

multiLane ML4079D 400G Bit Error Rate Tester - mode
selection.

TDR Measurements

When selected, the rightmost checkbox starts the instrument and software in TDR mode. This mode allows the user to perform time and frequency domain measurements such as TDR, and Sdd11.
This mode can be used for many applications, including impedance profile evaluation, locating faults & discontinuities, and phase matching.
This section will list and explain how to perform all measurements that fall under this umbrella.
Time-Domain Reflectometry
TDR can be used for many applications, such as to characterize the impedance of DUTs, backplanes, and other physical media, locating faults, discontinuities or breaks along a cable, cable matching, and more.
Impedance Profile Gating Calibration
Gating is the default calibration method for return loss measurements, and the one that should be used when the DUT is followed by unwanted system components such as MCB traces, connectors, etc. The calibration wizard uses TDR to allow the user to locate the DUT’s boundaries, set markers and apply gating. This process is done as follows:

  • Select the channel(s) on which the calibration will be performed.
  • Click on “Align”

multiLane ML4079D 400G Bit Error Rate Tester - Align
Step

  • Disconnect the twinax (SMPM to 2.4 mm) cable from the host and click on “Confirm”then “done”.

multiLane ML4079D 400G Bit Error Rate Tester - Confirm
Alignment

  • Close the page to exit the calibration wizard.
  • Plug the OSFP/QDD connector in the host.

TDR Measurement

  • Measurements can either be differential or single ended. For single ended measurement, “Single_Ended” mode should be selected in the main window tab and only one port is used for each channel while the second is terminated with a 50Ω load.
  • Select the channel(s) on which the impedance profile measurement will be performed.
  • Click “Confirm” to measure the impedance profile.
  • Press to measure continuously or for a single capture.

multiLane ML4079D 400G Bit Error Rate Tester - Impedance profile
Graph

Locating Faults & Discontinuities
One popular application for TDR is locating faults and discontinuities in a physical medium.
As the velocity of propagation of electromagnetic waves in vacuum is known, additional information related to the characteristics of the physical medium such as the copper cable’s velocity of propagation (VoP) allows the speed of propagation to be estimated and the distance between two points can therefore be calculated.
Placing two markers at different points on the graph will allow the user to see both the temporal and spatial difference between the two points.
The velocity of propagation can be set in the “Advanced Settings” tab.

multiLane ML4079D 400G Bit Error Rate Tester - Velocity of
propagation

It is also possible to add a positive or negative ohm offset to each/all channels.

User defined mask

multiLane ML4079D 400G Bit Error Rate Tester - User defined
mask

The user can define in the measurement section a custom mask by setting the minimum and maximum time, as well as impedance. A Pass/Fail verdict is shown to indicate if the points are within the mask or violating it.

Math

multiLane ML4079D 400G Bit Error Rate Tester - Math
Functions

A math function is included to perform (-) (+) (*) (/) operations using the selected channels.
Propagation Delay

multiLane ML4079D 400G Bit Error Rate Tester - Skew
Measurements

Propagation Delay is used to measure intra and inter pair skew. The marker impedance level is set at half of the input signal’s voltage.

Return Loss
Pulsar can also be used to measure return loss. Similarly to impedance profile, Pulsar performs a TDR measurement in time domain and then converts it to the frequency domain, resulting in return loss measurements.

Gating
Gating is the default calibration method for return loss measurements and the one that should be used when the DUT is followed by unwanted system components such as MCB traces, connectors, etc. The calibration wizard uses TDR to allow the user to locate the DUT’s boundaries, set markers and apply gating. This process is done as follows:

  • Select the channel(s) on which the calibration will be performed.
  • Click on “Calibration” followed by “Run” to start the calibration process.
  • Click on “Next Setup”

multiLane ML4079D 400G Bit Error Rate Tester - Calibration
Wizard

  • Connect the twinax cables to Pulsar and click on “Next setup”
  • Remove the twinax (SMPM to 2.4 mm) from the host and press “Next Setup”.
  • Click on “Next Setup”

multiLane ML4079D 400G Bit Error Rate Tester - Gating
setup

  • Apply markers at the points of difference between the main setup’s impedance profile and the other two and press “Apply Gating”.

multiLane ML4079D 400G Bit Error Rate Tester - Markers

  • Close the page to exit the calibration wizard.

Return Loss Measurement
Press to measure continuously or for a single capture.

multiLane ML4079D 400G Bit Error Rate Tester - Return Loss
Measurement

Measurements and masks can be loaded in the software by pressing “Measurement” on the bottom right side of the page.
The available measurements for return loss are loss at Nyquist and the return loss mask, for which the mask type is available for different standards that the user can choose from.

multiLane ML4079D 400G Bit Error Rate Tester - Return Loss
Mask

Appendix 1 – Adding Pulsar to the Network

To create a local network connection, please follow these steps:
▪ Create a local network connection between the laptop and Pulsar using Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4).
o Open “Control Panel” and choose “Network and Internet”.
o Open “Network and Sharing Center”.

multiLane ML4079D 400G Bit Error Rate Tester - Pulsar to the
Network

▪ Click on “Change Adapter Settings”, then choose “Local Area Connection”.

multiLane ML4079D 400G Bit Error Rate Tester - Change Adapter
Settings

▪ In the Networking Tab, click on “Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)” then “Properties”.

multiLane ML4079D 400G Bit Error Rate Tester - Networking
Tab

▪ Add a similar IP Address that shares a subnet with the instrument IP in the Advanced tab. This will be used to ping the instrument once the IP Address is changed to match that of the network.
▪ Connect the laptop directly to Pulsar using an Ethernet cable.
▪ Copy the IP Address found on the back of the unit.
▪ Ping the device to make sure that the connection is successful.
▪ Now a new local network has been successfully defined.

multiLane ML4079D 400G Bit Error Rate Tester - Networking Tab
2

NOTE:
These steps are illustrated using Windows 10. Kindly note that previous versions of Windows have a similar procedure with slight differences in tabs or folders’ names.

multilaneinc.com

References

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