Gigabit Ethernet Test Challenges on the Manufacturing Floor

摘要

Developing functional test systems for Gigabit Ethernet products requires the test engineer to fully understand the operation of the product, Gigabit Ethernet standards and general manufacturing processes that will provide the best product throughput and consistent product quality. Since these products can have either electrical or optical interfaces, a broad understanding of both parametric and functional test requirements is imperative. With this array of knowledge the test engineer can devise plans that clearly defines the tests, equipment needed to accomplish the testing and whether automation will need to be employed. In addition the test environment must also be defined. The test engineer can greatly simplify the system design effort by making use of tl e existing system chassis rather than designing a new fixture interface, although this is a viable approach for some applications. The information presented in this paper provides the designer with some of the basic concepts and issues that. will confront a test set designer working on 1 Gigabit Ethernet products. The tests covered within this document are meant to provide some basics that can be used wher designing test systems. And depending on the specific product and test requirements, additional test capabilities can be added to the basic test system's configuration.