Teledyne LeCroy announced LinkExpert, an alternative software interface for its PCI Express (PCIe) protocol analyzer line of products. LinkExpert provides control and management of its family of protocol analyzer and exerciser hardware while displaying diagnostic information about communication between the root complex (host systems) and end-points (devices).
The new LinkExpert software interface targets design and validation engineers who are responsible for testing and resolving connectivity, interoperability and performance issues as well as ensuring conformance to the design specification.
The new interface takes a smart approach to testing PCIe links and then displaying the results, including any identified errors, connectivity issues and/or overall performance metrics by using intelligent interpretations of bus traffic, eliminating the need for a deep technical knowledge of the various PCIe specifications.
The LinkExpert software interface can operate at all link widths and at all PCIe speeds providing information about link establishment, link maintenance, link performance, signal integrity, and power management of the link under test.
Each of these tests, when selected, will report all of the information necessary to understand the condition of the link and will highlight any identified issues. When issues are identified, this information can be used to determine the root cause of the identified issue. Also, whenever possible, LinkExpert will suggest potential solutions to issues identified during the testing process.
Results are shown in a graphical interface, which is updated through a series of protocol analyzer scans on the device under test (DUT). In addition, LinkExpert can produce a detailed report to document test results as well as known aspects of the PCIe link under test.
The new LinkExpert can be used apart from Teledyne LeCroy’s PCIe Protocol Analysis software to get a diagnosis or in conjunction with it for more in-depth protocol analysis. The software supports scanning on Teledyne LeCroy PCIe protocol analyzer systems using Microsoft Windows 7, 8 or Windows 10.
