SATA InFusion 3G

LeCroy’s SATA InFusion system is the ideal tool for stress testing systems while running real traffic and actual workloads. This system allows you to inject errors and modify traffic in order to verify real-world fault handling.

Explore SATA InFusion Explore SATA InFusion
SATA Sierra M6-4   Complete solution for Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) and Serial ATA (SATA) Protocol verification
SATA Sierra M6-2   Complete solution for Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) and Serial ATA (SATA) Protocol verification
SATA STX A6-4S   STX A6-4S SATA 6G Analyzer System
SATA STX-131   STX-131 SATA 3.0 & 1.5G 1 Port Analyzer System and SATA I/O Compliance Suite
SATA STX-431   STX-431 SATA 3.0 & 1.5G 4 Port Analyzer System
SATA Avalanche   The Avalanche SAS/SATA analyzer is LeCroy's next generation system that decodes 6Gbps and 3Gbps Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) and 6Gbps, 3Gbps and 1.5Gbps Serial ATA (SATA) traffic.
SATracer/Trainer 3G   The LeCroy SATracer/Trainer is an integrated protocol analyzer and exerciser platform that provides fast, efficient and accurate debug, test and verification of Serial ATA semiconductors, devices, and systems.
SATA InFusion 3G   SATA Error Injector for Real World Fault Handling and Error Recovery
Serial ATA Test and Verification: LeCroy's protocol analysis tools are designed from the ground up to address these unique characteristics of Serial ATA. LeCroy's analysis and design suites are developed specifically for use with the SAS and SATA protocols, and provide extensive protocol decoding, expert error analysis, and complete user support when decoding and viewing the recorded traffic. This extensive protocol support, combined with the different traffic views, advanced triggering, data filtering, traffic generation, and error injection capability, allows engineers to rapidly become familiar with SATA-specific issues, and quickly understand new issues the first time they encounter them.
LeCroy provides everything needed for Serial ATA analysis including real-time hardware triggering and filtering on the critical components of Serial ATA traffic. LeCroy's Expert Analysis software simplifies the overall debug process by using collapsible, color-coded packets to represent commands, FISs and primitives. This provides point-and-click "drill down" to lower level details along with the ease of use and understanding that LeCroy is well known for.
Learn more about SATA (Serial ATA)Technology
SATA (Serial ATA) Overview
The storage industry is in the midst of a large-scale transition from parallel ATA, the dominant desktop storage interface, to Serial ATA. This migration reflects a broader transition across the industry to Serial technologies for computer-based communications. Driven primarily by lower voltages and costs required in future chipsets, Serial ATA is poised for industry-wide adoption. The specification thoughtfully preserves software compatibility with the Parallel ATA command set. What's more, it offers smaller, thinner, lower cost cables that also offer compatibility at the physical layer with the emerging Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) standard.
Features
  • Performance - Parallel ATA does not have scalability to support several more speed doublings, and it is nearing its performance capacity. By contrast, Serial ATA defines a roadmap starting at 1.5 gigabits per second (equivalent to a data rate of 150 MB/s) up to 6Gigabits per second.
  • Lower Voltage - Parallel ATA's 5-volt signaling requirement will be increasingly difficult to meet as the industry continues to reduce chip core voltages. Serial ATA is better aligned with future manufacturing processes. It reduces signaling voltages to approximately 250 millivolts (1/4 volt).
  • Pin Count - Currently, the parallel ATA interface has 26 signal pins going into the interface chip. Serial ATA uses only 4 signal pins, improving the pin efficiency and accommodating a highly integrated chip implementation.
  • Improved Cabling - Parallel ATA bulky ribbon cables contain 40-pin header connector. Serial ATA introduces thin, flexible cabling scheme that offers longer cables and improved airflow within the chassis.
  • Software Compatible - Serial ATA is compatible at the register level with parallel ATA. This means Serial ATA requires no changes to existing software and operating systems in order to function, and it provides backward compatibility with existing operating environments.
  • SAS Compatibility - A significant feature offered by Serial ATA is the expectation that SATA will be form-factor compatibility with Serial Attached SCSI. SATA drives will plug directly into Serial Attached SCSI connectors and if supported in the system, will transparently operate as a SATA device. This allows systems to be deployed that can use either Serial Attached SCSI drives, for their high performance or SATA drives that will provide a lower-cost-per-megabyte storage platform.
Architecture
  • Serial ATA is a full duplex protocol. There is a continuous flow of signals from each device moving down the bus. The device and host are transmitting (TX) and receiving (RX) at the same time.
  • Bidirectional traffic pattern eliminates the need for bus negotiation overhead
  • Data characters vs Primitives - Primitives are the simplest elements within the Serial ATA protocol. Primitives are 32-bit DWORDs used to initiate control of the serial line functions (X_RDY, CONT, etc...). In addition to these "handshaking" and flow control signals, Primitives are also used to delimit or "frame" user data.
  • Frame Information Structure (FIS) - A frame is an indivisible unit of information exchanged between a host and device. A frame consists of a SOF primitive, a Frame Information Structure (FIS), a CRC calculated over the contents of the FIS, and an EOF primitive. A FIS is the user payload of a frame; a frame is a group of Dwords that convey information between host and device as described previously.

Developed by the Protocol Solutions Group of LeCroy (formerly CATC), the SAS InFusion™ and SATA InFusion™ systems are the first of their kind. These systems allow you to inject errors and modify traffic in order to verify real-world fault handling. While sitting in the data path on a live system, they can programmatically alter or corrupt traffic. The InFusion systems are the ideal tool for stress testing systems while running real traffic and actual workloads.

The InFusion traffic modifier is designed to verify recovery characteristics within a sub-system. In just minutes, an easy-to-use pop up menu interface allows you to create test scenarios. You can change any field, within any frame, as the data moves across the bus. Any primitive or data pattern can be intercepted and changed to a different pattern you specify. This allows for unprecedented corner case and protocol level error injection for SAS and SATA traffic.

Powerful Error Injection and Traffic Modification Abilities

The InFusion system supports a single 3.0G or 1.5G SAS or SATA link and monitors traffic from both directions. Once the InFusion system has been added to a SAS or SATA link, it automatically passes the boot up sequence and preserves protocol handshaking between devices. It silently monitors the line while transmitting a faithful copy of the original data stream. The system will wait for a specific time interval or count a particular event that you designate before it begins modifying frames or injecting errors. InFusion can be configured to send a single error, multiple errors, or random errors.

When changing fields within a frame, the InFusion traffic modifier will preserve the outbound frame structure, including recalculating the CRC if needed. The response transmitted from the device-under-test will pass through the InFusion system, without modification. This allows true end-to-end system testing. And, the InFusion system will maintain a log that contains a summary of the exchange.

Easy and Versatile to Use

The InFusion system was designed to modify existing traffic between a host and a target, which better reflects real world operating conditions compared to script based simulations. Test scenarios are independent of hardware setup and rarely need to be tuned for different configurations. Firmware or components in the system-under-test can be modified when needed, and then re-verified using the InFusion system.

Sophisticated error injection strategies are now possible using the dual sequencers with up to 256 sequential wait states per sequence. Each state can be configured to check for different conditions or inject different errors before branching to the next state. Looping allows the error injection sequence to repeat at specific intervals. Each sequential state can also include timers and counters to better isolate specific link conditions.

You can setup the InFusion traffic modifier by attaching the system to a LAN using an Ethernet connection. The wizard interface allows you to create custom test scenarios on the PC, and download to the InFusion hardware's memory. You then can detach the InFusion system and move it around your lab so that it may function as a stand-alone instrument. The built in LCD and keypad allows you to start, stop, and control the InFusion session. InFusion can also be controlled with a comprehensive C++ programming API (Windows DLL). InFusion can also coordinate error injection across multiple SAS Links. Up to 4 InFusion systems can be cascaded together (using BNC connectors) to validate fault recovery on SAS “wide” ports.

A Comprehensive Solution for SAS and SATA

LeCroy’s SAS and SATA solutions provide you with advanced features necessary to ease the development and deployment of SAS and SATA devices. By combining the functionality and power of a SASTracer™ or SATracer™ analyzer, SASTrainer™ or SATrainer™ exerciser, and InFusion traffic modifier, you have a complete system that gives you the most in-depth analysis, testing, and validation available for SAS and SATA.

Let LeCroy’s Serial Data Solutions peel back the layers of SAS and SATA to solve your test and verification challenges.