DATA SHEET
I2C Protocol Validation Suite - Specifications Datasheet - I2C Protocol Validation Suite
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Product Details
- Overview
- Functional Coverage
- Parametric Coverage
- Features
- FAQ
Overview
I2C (Inter-Integrated Circuit) is an asynchronous, 2-wire serial communication protocol. I2C Protocol is well suited for data transfer between ICs at relatively low speed. Its simple 2-wire interface simplifies IC design with fewer pins and smaller packages thus reducing the board space and cost.
As a part of product validation, it’s important to validate the product’s conformance against the protocol specification to ensure the interoperability of the product. 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 in the traditional way needs a lot of time and effort.
Soliton’s I2C Slave Validation Suite is an off the shelf validation tool using NI’s PXI platform, which helps to validate the devices’ compliance with the timing and electrical specifications of the NXP I2C protocol. The tool can also validate the device’s tolerance to and recovery from a variety of I2C faults & exceptions and provides a comprehensive set of reports. Users have claimed that using this automated solution for I2C Slave Validation has brought down the test time/ validation time from few days to few hours.
Functional Coverage
SPEED MODES
- Standard mode
- Fast mode
- Fast Plus mode
- Highspeed mode (1.7MHz)
- Highspeed mode (3.4MHz)
I2C PROTOCOL FEATURES
- START Condition
- STOP Condition
- Acknowledge
- General Call Address
- Software Reset
- Device ID
I2C FUNCTIONAL TESTS
- Register Write
- Register Read
- Write N Bytes
- Write N Bytes
- Write N – Read N Bytes (Combined Format)
I2C FAULT TESTS
- Send additional clock bit
- Skip clock bit
- Skip START / STOP/ RP-START/ BYTE/ACK
- Send NACK
- Send ACK for last Read Byte
- Send invalid Register Address / Data Byte
Parametric Coverage
I2C Legacy Timing Parameters
- fSCL SCL Clock Frequency
- tSU;STA (Setup Time for a Repeated Start Condition)
- tHD;STA (Hold Time (repeated) Start Condition)
- tLOW (Low Period of the SCL Clock)
- tHIGH (High Period of the SCL Clock)
- tSU;DAT (Data Setup Time)
- tHD;DAT (Data Hold Time)
- trCL (Rise Time of SCL Signal)*
- tfCL (Fall Time of SCL signal)*
- trDA (RiseTime of SDA Signal)*
- tfDA (Fall Time of SDA Signal)*
- tSU;STO (Setup time for STOP Condition)
- tBUF (Bus Free Time between a Stop and Start Condition)***
- tSP (Pulsewidth of spikes to be filtered)
- tVD;DAT (Data Valid Time)***
- tVD:ACK (Data Valid Acknowledgement Time)***
- trCL1 (Rise Time of SCL signal after Repeated Start/ACK)**
* Rise/Fall time is only controlled in places where Master driving using controlled slew signals
** Supported only in High-Speed Mode
*** Not Supported in High-Speed Mode
Electrical IO Validation
- VIL (Low level input voltage)
- VIH (High level input voltage)
- Vhys (Hysteresis of Schmitt Trigger inputs)
- VOL (Low level output voltage)
Features
Features of I2C Protocol Validation
- Simple, Flexible, Modular, and Light Bench Setup
- Easy to use I2C Protocol Exerciser and Debugger to perform various I2C 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 from external programming environment/automation frameworks like LabVIEW, C#, Python, TestStand, etc
- Leverage Soliton’s experience in protocol validation and debugging
FAQ
What kind of engagement models is offered for I2C Validation?
We offer 2 engagement models. In the First mode, the user can purchase a license of the I2C Slave Validation Suite and do the validation inhouse. In the second mode, the user can send us 3 DUT's, we will do the validation and send the test reports in 3 working days.
Do I always need to test for full I2C compliance?
No, this is not always the case. If your customer has a very narrow use case, or your chip’s I2C IP is the same as a previously tested chip, then it is possible that you do not need the extensive validation that our service/suite provides.
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 of our comprehensive report or validation suite.
What else can I do with NI's PXI chassis/modules?
The 6570 module is a general-purpose programmable pattern generator and acquisition device with deep memory. It can be programmed using LabVIEW or other programming languages to emulate any synchronous digital protocol with 5ns resolution and 39ps line skewing resolution. 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.
Whether the tool can be readily used for validation?
Yes, The tool comes with readily available test scripts which can be used for validation after entering the device-specific details
Can I build custom tests on top of I2C protocol?
The tool comes with a flexible test editor that allows the user to create custom test cases using the I2C functions provided.
Technical Documentation
Soliton’s I2C Slave Validation Suite is an off the shelf validation tool using NI’s PXI platform, which helps to validate the devices’ compliance with the timing and electrical specifications of the NXP I2C 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 I2C Slave Validation Suite Software compatible with Windows OS (Win 10)
For more details, download the datasheet
I2C Protocol Validation Suite - Specifications Datasheet - I2C Protocol Validation Suite
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Hardware
Soliton’s I2C Slave Validation suite is based on the NI – PXI Platform and the NI part configuration lists the hardware required to perform the validation.
The Solution also contains a Soliton Interposer Board for signal conditioning purposes. The Connection Details of the board is given below
Support & Training
For any queries, contact us at [email protected]. We will respond within 1 Business day
TYPICAL USER BASE FOR I2C VALIDATION SUITE
- Semiconductor Chip Manufacturers making I2C Slave Devices
- Companies making QSFP+ Pluggable Optical Transceivers used in optical fiber technology. These companies need to adhere to and test against the SFF-8679 specification which includes specs for the 2-wire I2C Interface. Hashtags: QSFP Protocol Validation, SFP Protocol Validation, QSFP Testing, SFP Testing, SFF Compliance, SFF-8679 Compliance.
- Companies making display devices that need to comply with and test against the I2C Bus specifications listed in DDC, DDC2B, DDC2Ab, DDC2B+, DDC2Bi, E-DDC standards. Hashtags: DDC Compliance, DDC2B Compliance, DDC2Ab Compliance, DDC2B+ Compliance, E-DDC Compliance, EDID Compliance, EDID physical layer validation
- SMPS Unit Manufacturers who need to test against PMBus, an evolution of the I2C Specification.
- 2-wire interface on ATCA Compliant controllers and devices
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