Keysight Technologies has announced a four-level pulsed amplitude modulation (PAM-4) capability for the Keysight EEsof EDA Advanced Design System (ADS) Channel Simulator. The introduction of this capability further advances Keysight’s leadership position in IBIS-AMI SerDes channel simulation. PAM-4 is a signaling technology utilized for high-speed SerDes links over electrical backplanes that are attempting to deliver a data rate of greater than 56 Gbps per lane.
The new technology enables system designers to easily compare the various design tradeoffs between non-return-to-zero (NRZ) and PAM-4 signaling technologies. The ADS Channel Simulator with PAM-4 capability features a number of new built-in measurements that can capture effects such as slicer threshold levels and how they adapt over time, timing skew for each slicer, and multi-tap decision feedback equalization.