Kodiak^TM PCIe Gen5 Analysis System

• No tuning (calibration) required, Kodiak’s Rx automatically equalizes (EQs) the incoming PCIe signals at all data rates
• Embedded trace processing architecture and the fastest performance
• Up to 144GB Trace Buffers
• Internal up to 4TB Trace Storage (SSD) and access for multiple users
• Direct Attach Storage, including two PCIe OCuLink ports and two USB 3.2 ports
• Two 10GbE SFP+ (optical/copper) and one 1GbE RJ-45 connections for fast and reliable connectivity
• Multi-user access to Kodiak PCIe Gen5 Analyzer allow maximizing usage of test tool
• Real-time access to traces in memory prior to downloading
• Touchscreen LCD for analyzer configuration, control and status

Introducing the Timeline Widget

The Timeline widget is a powerful chart that provides a visual depiction of resource utilization during a defined timeframe. Its primary purpose is to facilitate accurate and efficient timing measurements, playing a crucial role in identifying and resolving timing issues. Furthermore, the widget serves as a valuable tool for illustrating the distribution of tasks and activities, offering valuable insights into the transactions/events and their respective timeframes. By leveraging the Timeline widget, users can gain a comprehensive understanding of resource allocation and make informed decisions based on the observed patterns and timing data.

In the context of BusXpert software, the Timeline widget specifically focuses on plotting events over time in relation to the PCI Express bus. By presenting a graphical depiction of bus activity, it allows users to analyze and interpret patterns of behavior, identify significant activity periods, and gain a comprehensive understanding of the recorded data.

The Timeline widget offers a detailed and versatile view of the trace content. When zoomed out, it provides an overview of the trace’s composition at a given time, presenting summarized information. Conversely, when zoomed in, it offers a granular perspective, enabling the visualization of individual events and their durations on the wire.

Precision Timing Analysis:

One of the innovative features in BusXpert software is the Instant Timing view, developed by SerialTek. This feature ensures precise synchronization of all captured packets and protocol events within the Timeline widget. It not only maintains tight timing accuracy but also synchronizes with other views, such as Details, Events, LTSSM, Transactions, etc.

To enhance precision timing analysis, the Timeline widget offers several helpful tools. These include manual timing cursors, delta time calculations, bookmarks, and fly-over indications. These tools enable users to perform detailed examinations, compare events, and gather valuable insights for troubleshooting and optimization purposes. They make it easier to measure specific time intervals, calculate time differences, mark important events, and obtain additional information when hovering over data points. The Timeline widget provides a user-friendly way to analyze timing data and troubleshoot issues, such as LTSSM problems.

Additionally, the Timeline widget provides essential bus throughput information, which proves particularly helpful in identifying and addressing data transfer issues. By capturing bus traffic, sideband signaling, and current/voltage concurrently and in precise synchronization, it equips users with comprehensive data for characterizing and resolving performance concerns.

The Timeline widget goes beyond by supporting power management analysis, enabling users to investigate power-related events like power-saving modes, entry and exit latency, and link state transitions. This feature empowers users to assess power-saving mechanisms, pinpoint any irregularities or inefficiencies in power management, and fine-tune power consumption for their system.

Additionally, the Timeline widget presents a clear picture of variations in link speed and width. Users can effortlessly track changes in these aspects over time, facilitating the identification of performance bottlenecks and the optimization of the system’s configuration to achieve optimal efficiency.

In summary, the Timeline widget in BusXpert software offers a comprehensive and intuitive visualization of resource utilization over time. With its precision timing analysis capabilities, it empowers users to uncover patterns, identify issues, optimize power management, and maximize performance by examining power-related events, link state variations, and throughput characteristics.

Driven by the need for ever-faster data transfers, PCI Express signaling has become exceptionally complex in design and difficult to monitor unobtrusively. With SerialTek’s SI-Fi™ interposer technology, the transmitter threshold and pre-emphasis from one link partner reaches the receiver of the other link partner, so the link properly trains to optimum conditions, making the interposer as transparent as possible.

At the core of this technology is a highly specialized linear amplifier design where PCIe analog signals are received at a differential input and distributed to two separate phase-matched differential outputs with a nominal, idealized gain of 0dB.

This approach results in easier set up of the analyzer and product under test and avoids a variety of limitations inherent to other probing approaches where link training sequences don’t pass through the interposer.

SerialTek’s SI-Fi™ interposer technology expands and enables coverage in critical test areas, including link training (LTSSM), Power Management, Hot Plug, Reset, and other situations where the physical link/lane characteristics may change.

No Need for Calibration

Competing PCIe Gen5 analyzers and interposers require lengthy tuning, or calibration, which leads to reliability issues as modern PCIe link training sequences can occur dynamically, not just at boot-up and errors in trace data. PCIe x16 Gen5 SI-Fi interposers are highly accurate electrically, simple to use, and secure safely to the customer’s device. No tuning (calibration) is necessary. Host and endpoint signals pass through the interposer, allowing for real-world PCIe link training and easier setup. With SI-Fi™ technology and Kodiak’s adaptive EQ capabilities, users can plug-n-capture, and save hours in setup time. And if the link characteristics change (e.g., Power Management, Hot-Plug or NSSR), Kodiak can track these changes dynamically and accurately without missing data, ultimately collect data in one shot.

Technical Specifications

Kodiak Enclosure

• Dimensions: 443 x 67 x 305 mm (17 x 2.6 x 12”)
• Weight: 7 kg (15 lbs)
• Mounting: 19” Rack Mount Option, Tilt Feet Option
• Ambient Operating Temperature: 5-35°C at up to 2133m (7000 feet) altitude

Displays and Indicators

• Front Panel LCD: 800×320 4.6” WCGA, Touchscreen
• System Status: RGB LED

Front-Panel Connectors

• Interposer Connection: 4x QSFP-DD
• Ethernet (10 GbE): 2x SFP+ Ports
• Ethernet (1 GbE): RJ45
• PCIe Interface: 2x OCuLink
• USB Interface: 2x USB 3.2 Type A

Rear-Panel Connectors

• Power: IEC C13, 90-264 Vac, 47-63 Hz
• Clock Out: SMA, 50 Ω, 3.3 Vdc, 10 MHz
• Clock In: SMA, 50 Ω, 3.3 Vdc, 10 MHz
• Trigger Out: SMA, 50 Ω, 3.3 Vdc
• Trigger In: SMA, 50 Ω, 3.3 Vdc

Warranty

• One to Three-year limited warranty, Analyzers
• Six-month limited warranty, Interposers

Maintenance and Licensing

• Includes lifetime software updates – no maintenance fees
• Includes full-featured viewer software – easily share and collaborate annotated traces between computers and colleagues and replay captured traffic
• Access SerialTek hardware from any PC and OS (MacOS, Windows, Linux) – no additional licenses needed