• Captures traffic between multiple Wireless USB endpoints within a WiMedia cluster
• Designed to help verify interoperability between Wireless USB devices
• Supports the latest WiMedia , Certified Wireless USB and WLP/WiNet Specifications
• Disk spooling mode provides real-time time display of link and protocol activity
• RF listening technology is completely non-intrusive within the wireless USB network
• View protocol information using the CATC Trace™ display
• Displays hierarchical views of WiMedia and the USB IF’s Wireless USB protocol using the CATC Trace™ display
• Interchangeable RF modules allow swapping of radio front ends to add support for future changes in the RF specifications
• Isolate specific areas of interest with real-time triggering on Beacon frames, WiMedia, and encrypted Wireless USB link and transaction events
• Pre-capture filtering excludes non-essential and redundant packets from the trace to focus the analysis effort
• Traffic Summaries automatically report error rates and protocol level metrics that are linked to trace level detail
• Full support for Certified Wireless USB Security, including 4-way encryption handshake and USB cable association option

The UWBTracer™ system is the industry’s most advanced analysis tool for radio-based communications using WiMedia™ Alliance’s Ultra Wideband (UWB) common radio platform and Certified Wireless USB protocol. Only LeCroy’s Protocol Solutions Group could anticipate and deliver the innovative features needed by early developers in this emerging wireless market. The UWBTracer’s extensible design provides for future upgrades as the needs of early adopters change and this new communication standard matures.

The UWBTracer system captures and decodes WiMedia and certified wireless USB protocol using the CATC Trace display

Verification Script Engine - Create Custom Scripts to Automate Routine Verification Tasks

UWBTracer is designed to verify functionality and interoperability between WiMedia devices. It also provides capture of wire line MAC-PHY interface (MPI) traffic to assist early adopters integrating the first prototype UWB radio components. The combination of radio-based analysis as well as MPI recording and traffic generation option allows the UWBTracer to bridge early MAC PHY integration projects with full-fledged wireless device validation needs.

Small, and portable, this flexible platform offers pluggable modules that allow users to upgrade the system in the field. This enables LeCroy to deliver the industry’s first wireless analyzer that supports interchangeable RF modules from alternate PHY vendors. The ability to purchase additional radio modules allows users to upgrade the analyzer front end to support future changes in the UWB specifications or to optimize compatibility with their current test environment.

Swappable RF modules allow users to upgrade the analyzer front-end to support future changes in the UWB specification

Formed out of its acquisition of Computer Access Technology (CATC), LeCroy’s Protocol Solutions Group is uniquely positioned to bring world-class test solutions to the UWB Market. As developers of the first USB and Bluetooth protocol analyzers, LeCroy’s Protocol Solutions Group has the knowledge and expertise to build comprehensive Ultra-wideband test solutions complemented by a fully-featured software suite.

The UWBTracer is capable of capturing and decoding traffic transmitted on multiple logical channels within a Wireless USB network. It faithfully records the exchange between a single host and multiple endpoint devices. By operating in a completely silent “listening” mode, the analyzer does not participate in beaconing and does not impact channel allocation time intervals.

The MPI option is supported through a special cabled interface that taps between MAC and PHY components. The MPI capability thoughtfully includes a junction box, allowing the MPI tap to be positioned close to the physical link while minimizing the cable length the MPI signal must pass. Connectors are included to support either 40-pin IDE, 68-pin or 60-pin Hirose connections. The MPI capture offers packet level visibility to both MAC and PHY header fields. The software can show MPI frames in a chronological view as well as grouping WiMedia events into the logical Wireless USB transfers.

The UWBTracer’s MAC-PHY Interface recording can operate concurrently with the over-the-air capture to effectively provide two independent recording channels. Using the MPI tap in conjunction with the over-the-air capture allows two recording points within a single logical link. Displaying both recording channels in a time synchronized display allows easier analysis of WiMedia packets as they move from the RF domain to the MAC layer.

Multiple UWBTracer systems can also be cascaded allowing analysis of up to 4 wireless channels in a single synchronized display.

The UWBTracer features LeCroy’s exclusive BusEngine technology, which offers real-time triggering to pinpoint specific WiMedia events of interest. This hardware-based recording engine is field upgradeable and provides an easy drag-and-drop interface for setting up multilevel triggering. The event triggering can include up to 256 sequential wait states. There’s full support for counters, timers and looping within the trigger logic. Users can also trigger on protocol errors like length mismatch, aborted frames or FCS errors.

Advanced triggering option supports sequential events and timers for identifying CTA fairness issues in Wireless USB protocol

UWBTracer allows on-the-fly filtering to preserve memory. Filtering can be used to remove repetitive events like bus conditions or non-essential data frames. UWBTracer also makes it easy to filter in or out traffic transmitted on specific channels or sent from specific device addresses.

Comprehensive search is supported for all WiMedia and wireless USB layers. Additionally, the advanced search capabilities allow users to find specific combinations of protocol events using boolean search functions. The analyzer system also includes real-time stats that offer a live display of device operation, including signal strength and frame occurrences.

The UWBTracer now supports spool-to-disk capture to allow extended recording sessions - for hours or even days. In spooled mode, captured traffic is shown in real-time. The ability to instantly view link status and beacon group occupancy in real-time makes debugging interoperability issues faster and more efficient. State changes can be observed - as they occur - without stopping and restarting the test. Signal strength (RSSI) and Link Quality (LQI) are displayed graphically and error events are also flagged in real-time.

The UWBTracer analyzer utilizes the CATC Trace™ display that has become the industry’s de facto standard for wired USB protocol analysis. Tightly integrated with the UWBTracer hardware, this comprehensive analysis suite shows packets time-synchronized in separate rows with every field labeled and color-coded. At the WiMedia Layer, the UWBTracer software provides a chronological view of frames transmitted by devices. At the Wireless USB transfer layer, the software automatically groups the WiMedia frames that part of a logical USB transaction and decodes the equivalents for USB Token, Data and Handshake packets.

The UWBTracer includes several graphical displays that show both timing and protocol information synchronized to trace level detail. These graphical views help users improve performance by making it easy to identify marginal timing conditions that may affect throughput.
More Timing Analysis Screenshots »

The Wireless USB Details View provides a graphical view allowing fast measurements between actual packet timing and scheduled transmit windows.

The MPI option is supported through a special cabled interface that taps between MAC and PHY components. The MPI capability thoughtfully includes a junction box, allowing the MPI tap to be positioned close to the physical link while minimizing the cable length the MPI signal must pass. Connectors are included to support either 40-pin IDE, 68-pin or 60-pin Hirose connections. The MPI capture offers packet level visibility to both MAC and PHY header fields. The software can show MPI frames in a chronological view as well as grouping WiMedia events into the logical Wireless USB transfers.

The UWBTracer’s MAC-PHY Interface recording can operate concurrently with the over-the-air capture to effectively provide two independent recording channels. Using the MPI tap in conjunction with the over-the-air capture allows two recording points within a single logical link. Displaying both recording channels in a time synchronized display allows easier analysis of WiMedia packets as they move from the RF domain to the MAC layer.

Multiple UWBTracer systems can also be cascaded allowing analysis of up to 4 wireless channels in a single synchronized display.

Certified Wireless USB Association & WiMedia Security

The UWBTracer now offers full support for Certified Wireless USB Association Models. This includes the ability to derive the Pair-wise Temporal Keys (PTK) for each session by using a Connection Context to decode the 4-way handshake. This enables UWBTracer to record and trigger on decrypted secured traffic in real time. Users can manually enter a Connection Context, before or after recording the trace. For devices that utilize the Cable Association Model, users can purchase an optional plug-in for capturing the Connection Context using a wired USB tap. In both cases, the UWBTracer system stores the Connection Context for each host-device pair and automatically derives the session key for decrypting secure payloads.