Allion Adopts Tektronix HDMI 1.4a And USB 3.0 Solutions

HDMI is a standard used by leading consumer electronics companies to provide high fidelity digital AV equipment connectivity. Announced in June 2009, HDMI 1.4a brings even greater enhancements including a new Ethernet and audio return channel (HEAC), Automotive and Mobile connectivity, support for 3D over HDMI and more. With this added capability there will be a need to perform additional compliance and validation test requirements to ensure complete interoperability in accordance with the new HDMI CTS 1.4 test specification. In March 2010, a required format for 3D has been added as HDMI1.4a for enhanced 3D capability.

USB technology has quickly become recognized as the industry standard for connecting PCs and peripheral devices. Comparable to other state-of-the-art high-speed interfaces such as PCI Express 2.0 and SATA Gen 3, the performance of USB 3.0 has a data rate of up to 5Gbps, which poses signal integrity measurement challenges. To resolve these challenges, new tools are required.

To address the measurement challenges of the new, complex HDMI 1.4a and USB 3.0 standards, Allion has purchased from Tektronix a suite of equipment for their certification lab comprised of the AWG7122B Arbitrary Waveform Generator and the DSA72004B Digital Serial Analyzer. The AWG7122 features a maximum sample rate of 24 GS/s and a vertical resolution of 10 bits, which allows for the simple output of fast, highly complex signals, and is capable of controlling jitter, noise and other stress signals. By adding the AWG7122B model to its test lab Allion is now able to support test requirements for HDMI 1.4 HEAC (HDMI Ethernet and Audio Return Channel), and USB 3.0 that require stressing the system.

The DSA72004B is a high-performance oscilloscope model that boasts a four-channel frequency bandwidth of 20 GHz with an extremely high sample rate across all channels. The instrument offers tremendous signal integrity through a low-noise floor and high effective number of bits. With the addition of the 20GHz DSA72004B, Allion can now perform critical transmitter tests to determine USB 3.0 standards compliance up to 5 Gb/sec and provide margin testing and debug advice to customers concerning other >5 Gb/sec high speed devices being tested in their lab.

“Tektronix’s deep technical expertise and product adoption at the Panasonic ATC (Authorized Testing Center), Japan’s domestic HDMI certification testing facility, as well as in a number of other prominent Japanese device manufacturers, were the deciding factors in our implementation of Tektronix solutions to assist us in establishing a HDMI 1.4 verification environment,” said Minoru Ohara, Representative Director of Allion Japan Inc. “Our hope is that we can utilize these solutions in verification efforts for other interfaces such as SATA 3.0 and DDR.”