I3C CTS (Conformance Testing Suite)
How to test the I3C devices for Interoperability or Conformance Testing?
I3C Protocol is gaining momentum and going to be mainstream technology in automotive, data centers, and many other applications. The number of semiconductors with I3C interfaces shipped in the market has grown 3x in the last 3 years the growth is expected to double in the coming decade. With the growth in semiconductor chips having I3C interfaces the devices such as sensors and eeproms also need to support or migrate towards I3C Protocol. Migration to the I3C interface will enable devices to send higher performance and better control and configuration.
Here are some of the main advantages of migration to the I3C Interface
- Multi-master support and Multidrop capability
- Dynamic addressing
- In-band interrupts
- Hot Join support of new devices
However, migration to I3C Interface is a good option but comes with some obstacles as well. The I3C devices need to work with each other as during the migration some devices will support I3C Interface and others will continue to use the legacy I2C Interface.
MIPI consortium which has defined the I3C Specification has recently come up with the standard for Interoperability testing of I3C devices.
The test suite has the following details.
1. There is a total of 55 tests defined in various categories and in that some tests have subtests.
2. Target Dynamic address assignment tests cases to test dynamic address-related commands. These tests verify that the target detects and correctly implements commands. These tests are crucial to a target to operate on an I3C bus.
How to run I3C Interoperability tests on your I3C device:
Prodigy Technovations has come up with an I3C Protocol conformance test suite to enable interoperability testing of I3C devices. It’s a simple test suite run along with I3C PGY Device. Once the tests are run the device manufacturers will be easily able to find any conformance issues related to I3C Protocol. The test suite empowers engineers and saves a significant amount of development time and gives confidence in the I3C device.
