Key Facts
The R&S®RTO6 and R&S®RTP oscilloscopes support triggering and decoding of PCI Express Gen 1.1 and 2.0 signals. Users can set up decoding in seconds via the intuitive menu dialogs. For detailed analysis, results can be viewed as color-coded telegrams and/or in a table. Errors and other protocol-specific fields, such as TLP and OS are identified efficiently using the oscilloscopes' protocol trigger.
From the app cockpit, any protocol can be configured in only a few steps. Once the desired generation/bus speed has been chosen, the relevant channels selected and the correct levels set, decoding begins automatically. For PCI Express, a link size of up to 4 can be decoded simultaneously.
Simple and quick configuration of the PCIe bus decoding
Efficiently analyze the decoded bus frames by overlaying the time domain signal with PCIe color-coded packets. Messages can be displayed in hex, bin and ASCII format. Users have the choice to display the data in a concise table or with all detailed information. The flexible screen setup ensures you always have an excellent overview.
Decoded PCIe Gen (x4 link) shown with the synchronized waveform, zoom window and with all details in the result table
Trigger on specific PCIe packets, data and errors
The protocol-specific trigger lets you reliably isolate protocol events and errors. High acquisition rates make Rohde & Schwarz oscilloscopes ideal for finding errors quickly. Protocol-specific trigger results can then be decoded. For PCIe, this allows users to trigger on specific OS (SKP OS, Training Seq, etc.), DLLP (ACK, Vendor, etc.), TLP (Mem, IO, etc.) and errors (CRC16, LCRC, etc.).
Select from a comprehensive list of protocol types for triggering to focus the acquisition on the details of interest
Comprehensive search functions simplify the analysis of long signal sequences. You can search for waveforms based on various criteria, such as signal faults and protocol content. All detected events are shown in a table with timestamps. The individual events can be examined in a zoom window with simple navigation between events.
Search for protocol details in long acquisitions
The protocol dialog gives users additional settings to help ensure stable and reliable decoding. For example with PCIe Gen 1.1/2.0, the CDR/PLL settings can be fine-tuned to the captured signal. For Gen 3, RX equalization settings such as CTLE and DFE are built-in.
Advanced settings for PCIe decoding
