Where is Protocol analyzer used ?
Embedded System Testing :
Embedded System have multiple devices and each of the devices uses bus to communicate to the main chip or processer and other devices in the system. The Embedded system generally has SPI or I2C device to communicate to EEPROM device and I3C to communicate for the sensor interface. Protocol analyzer can be very useful to debug and validate the embedded system and figure our failures of any of devices in the embedded system.
Post silicon validation:
During the chip development process, Once the Chips is back from the foundry all the interface of the Chip or SoC needs to be tested. Most of the SoC or chips have I2C,SPI and I3C or eMMC based on the application of the chip. The Protocol analyzer is a very handy tool for the hardware validation engineer to debug the bus interfaces.
Pre Silicon validation:
In chip or SoC development , before the chip is taped out its engineering manager needs get the confidence development of chip, Emulation platforms like Zebu or Palladium are commonly used to do the hardware validation. Protocol analyzer can be a very useful assist tool for the emulation engineer to check for sanity of the communication interface like I2C and SPI along with the emulation Platform.
What are the various types of Protocol analyzer used in SoC or embedded System Development?
I2C Protocol Analyzer:
I2C or IIC (Inter integrated Circuit) is the most commonly used communication interface between two devices. This is the simple two wire protocol used to communication between the Integrated Circuits in the embedded system. An I2C Protocol analyzer plays a very important in the debug of I2C Bus interface.
SPI Protocol Analyzer:
SPI Serial Peripheral Interface is the most commonly used communication interface between two devices, similar to I2C but for higher speeds of the transfer. An SPI Protocol analyzer plays a very important in the debug of SPI Bus interface.
SPMI Protocol Analyzer:
SPMI (System Power Management Interface) is a standard with 2-wire synchronous serial, bidirectional interface that connects the integrated Power Controller(PC) of a System on- Chip (SoC) processor system with one or more Power Management Integrated Circuits (PMIC) voltage regulation systems. An SPMI Protocol analyzer plays a very important in the debug of SPMI Bus interface.
I3C Protocol Analyzer:
I3C serial bus interface is emerging as a chosen interface for all future sensor connectivity in mobile phone and automotive Industry. An I3C Protocol analyzer plays a very important in the debug of I3C Bus interface.
RFFE Protocol Analyzer:
The RF Front-end control interface (RFFE) serial bus interface is used for controlling RF frond end devices. There are variety of front end devices such as Power Amplifiers (PA), Low-Nose Amplifiers (LNA), filters, switches, power management modules, antenna tuners. It is widely used in mobile devices. An RFFE Protocol analyzer plays a very important in the debug of RFFE Bus interface and mobile subsystems.
eMMC Protocol Analyzer:
emmC Protocol Analyzer enables design and verification engineers to test and debug SD, SDIO and eMMC by triggering on command, response, data or CRC errors. An eMMC Protocol analyzer plays a very important in the debug of eMMC Bus interface and mobile subsystems.
UFS Protocol Analyzer:
UFS Protocol Analyzer, offers capture and debug of data across MPHY, UniPro and UFS protocol layers. An UFS Protocol analyzer plays a very important in the debug of UFS Bus interface and mobile subsystems.
Automotive Ethernet Protocol Analyzer:
Automotive Ethernet interface is used in-vehicle bus communication and also to support feature-rich ADAS in smart and connected vehicle. An Automotive Ethernet Protocol analyzer plays a very important in the debug of Ethernet Bus interface in a connected Vehicle.
What are the various Features of the Protocol analyzer?
The protocol analyzer comes with the following features :
●Triggering: Each of the protocol analyzers and equipped with various kinds of trigger, multi-level triggers, multiple consecutive event triggers etc.
●Protocol Layer support: The protocol analyzer tool has complete support for protocol analysis. All the layers of the protocol are analyzed.
●Traffic Generator: The protocol analyzer generate protocol specific data and timing and give the validation engineer complete control of data and timing. The traffic generator also have the ability to generate back to back traffic on the communication bus.
●Error Injection: The protocol analyzer are also equipped with error injection capability. Bit error test patterns can be generated and sent over the communication channel.
How to integrate Protocol analyzer in the development Environment?
The protocol analyzer provides access to API libraries. These API can be integrated into the development environment and advanced level of validation and testing can be achieved. The API can be used to generate traffic on the communication bus as well as capture of the traffic on the communication Channel.
What is Prodigy doing to advance in the Protocol analyzer market?
Prodigy Technovations on regular basis looks at the new trends in the market and comes up with new set products for the Protocol analyzer market. Prodigy Technovations has expert team working on the latest cutting edge technologies and Prodigy Technovations is going to lead the market in the coming years.
