BitPhyer: Ethernet Testing for the Future

Is this test tool right for you?

BitPhyer’s intriguing ability to test even the strangest networking scenarios without much effort makes testing devices quick, efficient, and intuitive.

BitPhyer revolutionizes the use of FPGA’s for Ethernet conformance testing. I have been using BitPhyer for six months, and in that time I have adapted the tool to do multiple forms of conformance testing. The flexibility granted by the FPGA presents the opportunity to perform a diverse set of tests that were much less feasible without BitPhyer.

Error Highlighting, Looping, Triggers, and more!

BitPhyer’s software allows the user to write code to generate Ethernet frames. When BitPhyer receives a frame, you can trigger events such as sending frames or delaying a transmission. You can also create loops, making it very simple to send hundreds of custom frames whenever you want.

Flexibility and Feasibility, on Multiple Levels

The first level of flexibility in BitPhyer is based around  Common Test Sequence (CTS) code. This code allows the user to generate previously un-thought of scenarios. The example code below shows how to stress a device by sending 5000 large frames with fourteen nibbles of idle between them.

main(){
seq{
 
buf(1){idle=24;}
  
buf(2){
   
frame(status=”accept”, size=1518);idle=14;
 
}
 
bufcrtl(buffer=2,txmode=”loop”, count=5000);
}
}

If CTS isn’t cutting it for you, you can jump right past it, and write or edit the data to be uploaded, adding another level of flexibility. After CTS code is written, it is “run” to generate the upload data. This data is comprised of every individual frame in hex form, as well as the idle, buffer controls, and sequences. This allows the user to edit the individual nibbles of the frames to be transmitted, customizing them on a level not possible with CTS code.

Testing Automation

BitPhyer’s software has built-in support for automated testing. An automated test suite has been created for IOL’s Clause 4 MAC test suite, with Clause 31 Flow Control’s test suite under development. Automated test suites make testing simple. Plug your device in, click run, and get a comprehensive report.

User Friendly Generation

The BitPhyer GUI allows the user to easily generate and capture responses to many types of frames, including ICMP 802.3 SNAP, VLAN, ARP, ICMP, PAUSE and POE TLV frames. BitPhyer’s software also includes a CRC generator!

In-Depth User Guide

BitPhyer has a full-fledged user guide to get new users up and running. It covers most of BitPhyer’s features and is updated with the addition of new BitPhyer features. The user guide covers topics from installation to the CTS scripting and grammar subsystems.

Conclusion

With its many features and overall flexibility, BitPhyer is an invaluable addition to our testing capabilities. With BitPhyer, new types of testing have suddenly become possible, decreasing the chances of missing a critical bug, and increasing network interoperability across the globe.