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INSPECTOR for PCIe

Interposer Card for Diagnostic Testing, Exercizing and Debug of PCIe Devices at up to Gen4 16GT/s speed

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About INSPECTOR

INSPECTOR is an interposer module designed for non-intrusive monitoring, diagnostic, exercizing and debug of PCIe devices. INSPECTOR uses transparent switching technology to connect on the upstream side to a PCIe host platform, and on the downstream side to the device under test (DUT). INSPECTOR supports PCIe 1.x, 2.x, 3.x, and 4.0 interfaces on either ports, and up to 8 lanes (x8). It is typically used for bring-up and diagnostic testing of PCIe 4.0 DUTs at PCIe 4.0 16GT/s speed using existing PCIe hosts operating at PCIe 3.0 8GT/s speed, but can support any link speed/width combination on upstream and downstream ports. INSPECTOR's built-in diagnostic capabilities allows validation engineers to instantly diagnose issues with their PCIe devices, without the need for expensive test equipment. In particular, it enables design, test and validation engineers to:

  • Monitor PCIe interface power-on process
  • Diagnose PCIe interface PHY and link issues
  • Analyze throughput performance in real-time, in production environment 
  • Check PCIe interface reliability
  • Perform PCIe interface stress tests and random tests via scripting (exercizer functionality)

It also allows firmware/software engineers to develop their devices firmware and software on the actual production system running the Operating System of choice.

INSPECTOR is used as a PCIe 4.0 Host Interoperability platform at PCI-SIG Compliance Workshops (PCIe 4.0 FYI testing).

  • INSPECTOR interposer card (x16 mechanical upstream and downstream connectors)
  • INSPECTOR GUI software (Windows x64, Linux x64)
  • USB cabe for remote connection to INSPECTOR (6 feet)
  • INSPECTOR user manual

Features & Capabilities

Diagnostic Features

  • Link status/Negotiated speed
  • Detected/Active lanes
  • Lane polarity
  • 8GT/s and 16GT/s equalization status
  • Negotiated Max. Payload
  • LTSSM state history
  • Recovery state counter
  • 128b/130b framing errors
  • Encoding/Disparity errors
  • ASPM L0s status

Throughput Analysis Features

  • Host to DUT: throughput per packet type, throughput total, max. throughput
  • DUT to Host: throughput per packet type, throughput total, max. throughput

Exercizer Features

  • Force Receiver Detect
  • Disable low-power negotiation
  • Set Loopback Master
  • Set initial Equalization presets
  • Force entry into L2 power state
  • Force entry into L1SS power states (L1.1, L1.2)
  • Change initial EQ Presets at 8 GT/s and 16 GT/s 
  • Redo equalization

Testsuite Automation

  • Python scripting with support for conditional statements
  • Logging with time stamping

Model Upstream Downstream Price (USD)
3434 Gen3 x4 Gen3 x4 $1,990
31648 Gen3 x16 Gen4 x8 Contact us