Test solutions provider Keysight Technologies today announced the launch of M8040A BERT for testing PAM-4 and NRZ devices that operate up to 64 GBaud.

Simplified test setups and repeatable and accurate results will benefit engineers in validation labs and R&D who characterize receivers on the physical layer for the next generation of data center interconnects.

The new 64 GBaud BERT for PAM-4 and NRZ extends Keysight Technologies M8000 series for 400G. The new level of integration and scalability enable R&D and test engineers to handle receiver test challenges for 400G data center interconnects.

The price of a M8040A BERT starts at $323,000 for a 32 GBaud PAM-4 BERT with one channel, including the M8070A software.

Telecom and enterprise try to optimize data center infrastructure to address bandwidth capacity growth, power, reach and service differentiation. Keysight Technologies says higher transmission rates, more transmission lanes and new multi-level data formats like PAM-4 address the increased transmission bandwidth demand for the next generation data center interconnects.

The latest revisions of IEEE 802.3 bs and OIF CEI-56G implementation agreements define PAM-4 and NRZ interfaces for electrical chip-to-chip, chip-to-module, backplane connections and optical interfaces for up to 400 Gbit/s bandwidth.

Keysight Technologies said R&D and validation labs who need to characterize receivers for data center interconnects with PAM-4 or NRZ data rates up to 64 GBaud are facing new test challenges, such as tighter timing margins, channel loss, non-linearity, level interference and crosstalk effects—making test efficiency and accuracy essential.

The test and measurement company said the new M8040A supports PAM-4 signals up to 64 GBaud and NRZ signals up to 64 Gbit/s. The pattern generator module provides built-in de-emphasis, jitter injection and an optional second channel.

Keysight said engineers and designers can select PAM-4 and NRZ in the user interface, eliminating the need for external combiners, cabling and deskew to provide PAM-4 signals.

For best signal quality, remote heads reduce the distance to the device under test. The analyzer module provides true PAM-4 error analysis in real-time for long PRBS and QPRBS patterns — allowing proofing even low bit error ratios and symbol error ratios.

This apart, engineers can control the M8040A from a graphical and remote control interface, according to Keysight Technologies.