MIPI SoundWire® Protocol Validation Suite & Services

MIPI SoundWire® Protocol Validation Suite & Services

DATA SHEET
Download Datasheet - MIPI SoundWire® Protocol Validation Suite Specifications

Product Details

  • Overview
  • Functional Coverage ​
  • Parametric Coverage
  • Features
  • FAQ
Overview

The SoundWire® interface is used to transport data related to audio functions. The SoundWire® interface addresses a wide range of system scenarios where up to eleven Peripheral interfaces share the common bus. SoundWire® also facilitates the development of low-cost, efficient, and high-performance systems. ​

 

As a part of product validation, it is essential to validate the product’s conformance against the protocol specification to ensure its interoperability. As the complexity of the protocol and product increases, the validation time of the protocol interfaces also increases, which, in turn, reduces the RTM. Performing the protocol conformance testing traditionally requires a lot of time and effort.  ​

 

Soliton’s SoundWire® Protocol Validation Tool is an off-the-shelf validation tool using NI’s PXI Platform, which helps to validate the device’s compliance with the timing and electrical specifications of the SoundWire® protocol. The tool SoundWire® also validates the device’s tolerance to and recovery from a variety of SoundWire® faults & exceptions and provides a comprehensive set of reports. ​

Functional Coverage ​
PROTOCOL FEATURES
  • PHY Selection – Basic PHY and High PHY, PHY switching​
  • Device Number Assignment and Testing​
  • Device Grouping Tests​
  • Static and Dynamic Synchronization Check​
  • Test Interrupts​
  • Continuous Clock can be sourced​
  • Bus Reset & Recovery Tests – Soft and Hard Reset ​
  • Clock Pause & Stop​
  • Wakeup Signal Request & Startup​
  • Configurability for Number of BitSlots per Frame & Frame Structure​
  • Arbitration Check​
  • MSB – LSB Bit Ordering​
  • Normal and Bulk Payload Transport​
  • Single & Multiple Dataline support (up to 8)​
  • Parameter Configurability based on Small and Large System Selection
SUPPORT COMMANDS
  • Ping​
  • Write​
  • Read​
  • Reserved Command
FAULT & ERROR TESTS
  • Inverted Clock Polarity​
  • Parity Error​
  • ACK/NACK Check​
  • Sync Error​
  • Bus Clash Error​
  • Other Bit-level and Frame level Error injection
Parametric Coverage
Timing Validation​
  • Clock Frequency​
  • t_high_clock​
  • t_low_clock​
  • t_slew_clock​
  • t_DZ_max​
  • t_DZ_min​
  • t_OV_Data_max​
  • t_OH_Data_min​
  • t_Setup_min_Data​
  • t_Hold_min_Data​
  • t_Keeper_Settle_max
Voltage Validation
  • VIL – Low-Level Input Voltage​
  • VIH – High-Level Input Voltage​
  • VTP – Positive Going Input Threshold Voltage​
  • VTN – Negative Going Input Threshold Voltage​
  • VOL – Output Low Level​
  • VOH – Output High Level​
  • VHys  – Inputs Hysteresis​
  • V_TH – Keeper High-level Voltage​
  • V_TL – Keeper Low-level Voltage
Features
Features of SoundWire® Protocol Validation
  • ISO 9001 Certified Product​
  • Simple, Flexible, Modular and Light Bench Setup​
  • Easy to use Soundwire Protocol Exerciser and Debugger to perform various Soundwire transactions with controllable timings/voltage levels​
  • Protocol compliance testing with zero coding​
  • Comprehensive reporting feature to report the test pass/fail reports​
  • Generates Full Compliance reports in less than 2 hours​
  • Reproduce failure cases in a few clicks​
  • Easy to build and test custom device-specific tests​
  • Automation Capability (DLLs/APIs) from external programming environment/automation frameworks like LabVIEW, C#, Python, TestStand, etc​
  • Leverage Soliton’s experience in protocol validation and debugging
FAQ
How is this product different from existing Protocol Exercisers, Debugger or Analyzers?​

This product is mainly used for performing functional and electrical compliance validation of the SoundWire devices (post silicon validation) whereas the other existing protocol exercisers, debuggers or analyzers are used for performing basic functional tests during the device bring up​.

Can't I build a home-grown solution instead?​

While this is certainly an option, we expect that it will take a highly experienced automation engineer between 3-6 months to create a first version of a similar tool. To create a robust and flexible tool takes experience, and we have been improving this tool over the last 3 years since release. We believe it is worth the cost to skip the learning curve and avail our comprehensive report or validation suite.

What else can I do with NI's PXI chassis/modules?​

The PXIe-657x module is a general-purpose programmable pattern generator and acquisition device with deep memory. It can be used for other protocol validation tools from us. Also, it can be programmed using LabVIEW or other programming languages to emulate any synchronous digital protocol. NI’s PXI chassis supports high bandwidth and synchronization-friendly control and read back from a huge variety of digital, analog, and special-purpose modules in a compact form factor.

What is the interposer board referenced in the system diagram?​

The Protocol Validation Suite requires custom external circuitry for signal conditioning. Each purchase comes with a complimentary interposer board, which is a separate PCB designed and delivered by us. ​

Which oscilloscope models are supported?​

The Protocol Validation Suite supports any NI scope by default. The tool has a flexible architecture that allows the support of other oscilloscope models. We can help you in building the oscilloscope plugin for one of your oscilloscopes​.

What type of documentation and training will be available for each solution?

User manuals, Getting started guides, and tutorial videos are available for each solution and can be easily accessed from within the product. Additionally, we will provide short live training sessions upon request. ​

Can the tool be used for out-of-the-box validation?

Yes, The tool comes with out of box test scripts which can be used for validation after entering the device-specific details​

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Technical Documentation

Soliton’s SoundWire® Validation Suite is an off-the-shelf validation tool that uses NI’s PXI Platform, which helps to validate the device’s compliance with the timing and electrical specifications of the SoundWire protocol. It contains the below components. ​

  • NI PXIe 657x – Digital Pattern Generation Card with the PXIe Chassis setup ​
  • Soliton PVS Interposer Board
  • Oscilloscope – For performing voltage measurements
  • Soliton Soundwire® Validation Suite Software compatible with Windows OS (Win 10) 
For more details, download the datasheet
Download MIPI SoundWire® Protocol Validation Suite - Specifications

Hardware

Soliton’s MIPI SoundWire® Validation suite is based on the NI – PXI Platform, and the below NI part configuration lists the hardware required to perform the validation

The solution also needs a custom Interposer Board for signal conditioning purposes.

 

The DUT can be connected through the Berg Connector​
The DUT can be connected through the Berg Connector​

Support & Training

For any queries, contact us at [email protected]. We will respond within 1 business day.​

*Please note that this product is in the alpha stage.

 

TYPICAL USER BASE FOR MIPI SoundWire® VALIDATION SUITE

 

  • Design Engineers, Test Engineers, Post Silicon Validation Engineers, Engineering Managers, Validation Managers, Lab Managers etc. from the Semiconductor Industry.
  • Post Silicon validation of Chips with SoundWire interface.​
  • Semiconductor Chip Manufacturers making SoundWire Devices.​
  • Product Manufacturers making products with SoundWire interface.​
  • Audio device Manufacturers who need to test against  SoundWire specifications.

 

OTHER PROTOCOL VALIDATION SERVICES OFFERED BY SOLITON

 

I3C Protocol Validation     SPI Protocol Validation     SPMI Protocol Validation     RFFE Protocol Validation

 

UART Protocol Validation     SMBus Protocol Validation     PMBus Protocol Validation