Agilent/Keysight N4903A

The Keysight N4903A is a serial Bit Error Rate Tester (BERT) engineered for validation and characterization of high-speed digital interfaces across data rates from 150 Mb/s to 12.5 Gb/s. The instrument combines precise jitter generation, automated tolerance testing, and signal integrity analysis in a single platform suitable for R&D, validation, and manufacturing environments. Built-in Clock Data Recovery (CDR) operates from 1 Gb/s to 12.5 Gb/s with tunable loop bandwidth, while calibrated jitter injection exceeds 0.5 UI across multiple jitter types including Random Jitter (RJ), Periodic Jitter (PJ), Sine Jitter (SJ), Bounded Uncorrelated Jitter (BUJ), and Intersymbol Interference (ISI).

Technical Specifications

• Data Rates: 150 Mb/s to 7 Gb/s standard; up to 12.5 Gb/s with appropriate options; programmable to 13.5 Gb/s in select configurations


• Jitter Injection: Greater than 0.5 UI calibrated and integrated; supports RJ, PJ, SJ, BUJ, ISI, and sinusoidal interference


• CDR Operating Range: 1 Gb/s to 12.5 Gb/s with compliant loop bandwidth tuning


• Output Transition Times: Less than 20 ps


• Peak-to-Peak Jitter: Less than 9 ps


• Pattern Generation: PRBS sequences, memory-based patterns, and pattern sequencer for complex training sequences


• Subrate Clocking: Configurable 1:n ratio outputs


• Logic Levels: Configurable including LVDS for data and clock outputs


• Reference Connectors: 10 MHz REF IN and REF OUT


• Additional I/O: USB 2.0, Ethernet, Serial Port 1, Parallel Port

Key Features

• Automated, compliant jitter tolerance testing for PCI Express, SATA, Fibre Channel, FB-DIMM, CEI, Gigabit Ethernet, and XFP/XFI standards


• Integrated error detection for comprehensive signal analysis


• Bit Recovery Mode option for analyzing undeterministic or unknown data streams


• Spread Spectrum Clocking (SSC) generation capability


• Differential I/O compatibility with 50 Ohm termination requirement

Typical Applications

• High-speed serial interface validation and compliance testing


• Signal integrity characterization and jitter tolerance analysis


• Pattern-based stress testing and error rate measurement

Environmental Specifications

• Operating Temperature: 5 – 40 °C


• Maximum Relative Humidity: 95%


• Operating Altitude: Up to 2000 meters


• Power Supply: Auto-selecting with AC power range monitoring