Microwave Journal
www.microwavejournal.com/articles/14252-agilent-introduces-industry-s-first-sd-uhs-i-card-compliance-test-tools-for-portable-consumer-electronics

Agilent Introduces Industry’s First SD UHS-I Card Compliance Test Tools for Portable Consumer Electronics

September 14, 2010
SANTA CLARA, Calif., Sept. 14, 2010 -- Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) today announced the industry’s first secure digital ultra-high-speed (SD UHS-I) card compliance test application and a third-party compliance tool. The compliance test package, helps design engineers accelerate the turn-on and debug of SD UHS-I card-based systems used in portable consumer electronics. The new test package also gives design engineers an efficient way to ensure their SD devices and hosts will interoperate.

The Agilent U7246A SD UHS-I card compliance test application, which runs on Agilent Infiniium 9000 and 90000 Series oscilloscopes, provides SD UHS-I card physical-layer compliance measurements. Compliance tests are based on the SD Association (SD) 3.0 SD UHS-I card specification.

SD is the world-leading standard for removable memory cards used in portable devices (PDAs, digital camcorders and cameras, GPS receivers and mobile phones). The new-generation memory card specification dramatically improves consumers’ digital lifestyles by increasing storage capacity from more than 32 GB up to 2 TB with ultra-high speeds up to 104 MB/s.

The Agilent SD UHS-I card compliance test application provides automated physical-layer testing capability for bus output timing analysis and current consumption tests in the 3.0 specification. The application automatically configures the oscilloscope for each test and generates a HTML report at the end of the test. The report compares the results with the specification test limit and indicates how closely the device passes or fails each test.

Signal access is provided by Tokyo Electron Device’s new SD compliance tool TD-BD-SDCMPTestC, which is based on an FPGA board design. The SD compliance tool is available from Tokyo Electron Device in Japan. Customers outside Japan are served through Tokyo Electron Device’s worldwide authorized distributor, BitifEye Digital Test Solutions. In addition, BitifEye provides first-level customer support for the tool.

Engineers can easily debug data signal integrity issues using the SD UHS-I card compliance test application in conjunction with the SD compliance tool from Tokyo Electron Device. The application, which operates on the FPGA-based tool, sets up the scope to separate the read and write data for measuring eye diagrams and current. In addition, the software supports automated read and write tests with different analog electrical conditions.

“Agilent has been very active in the SD Association for the past two years,” said Jay Alexander, vice president and general manager of Agilent’s oscilloscopes business. “Our goal is to provide the most efficient compliance and characterization tool to help our customers achieve conformance with their SD UHS-I products for the consumer and mobile industries.”

“BitifEye’s SD UHS-I test fixture enables signal access for full compliance testing with Agilent’s SD UHS-I card compliance test software,” said Alexander Schmitt, CEO of BitifEye. “The combination provides our global customers with a comprehensive SD UHS-I card test solution.”

Information about Agilent’s U7246A SD UHS-I card compliance test application is available at www.agilent.com/find/U7246A. Information about the SD compliance test tool is available at www.bitifeye.com/cms/front_content.php?idcat=125. Product images are available at www.agilent.com/find/U7246A_images.

U.S. Pricing and Availability
The Agilent U7246A SD UHS-I card compliance test application is available today and is priced at $4,500.