Transceiver Toolkit Design Example

Hi Dave,

Thanks for your advice.

I am interested in making a device that outputs multiple channels of test patterns over SMA (single-ended, into 50 Ohm loads) at 10 Gbps or faster. Since the dev board has 7x channels wired to SMA (7x transmit, 7x receive, all of them diff pairs), I think I should be able to make at least 6 channels output in sync. (The overall goal is to make a "poor man's 0 Gbps multichannel arbitrary pattern generator".)

What is your opinion on how likely I am to be able to get reasonable waveforms out of the SMAs if I terminate one of the differential outputs, and transmit only single-ended signals?

As best I can tell, the Stratix IV transceiver dev board that provides 10+Gbps transceivers is very expensive (~$13k), versus ~$5k for the Stratix V dev board, which is why I'm currently considering the Stratix V-based board.

I'm willing to wait a few months for the dev boards to start using non-engineering-sample chips. I heard a rumour that this will happen sometime in March/April, but I'd be grateful for more information on the timing here, if anyone has any.

Cheers,

Peter