Jason Coppoli, Product Manager at Teledyne LeCroy, presents the Voyager M480X Protocol Analyzer at Display Week. This analyzer is designed for USB protocol analysis, supporting standards from USB 2.0 (480 Mbps) up to USB4 Version 2.0 (80 Gbps). A key capability for display applications is its ability to capture and analyze DisplayPort traffic that is tunneled over a USB4 connection. The system can export this captured data into a native format for in-depth analysis with dedicated DisplayPort tools.
—
HDMI® Technology is the foundation for the worldwide ecosystem of HDMI-connected devices; integrated with displays, set-top boxes, laptops, audio video receivers and other product types. Because of this global usage, manufacturers, resellers, integrators and consumers must be assured that their HDMI® products work seamlessly together and deliver the best possible performance by sourcing products from licensed HDMI Adopters or authorized resellers. For HDMI Cables, consumers can look for the official HDMI® Cable Certification Labels on packaging. Innovation continues with the latest HDMI 2.2 Specification that supports higher 96Gbps bandwidth and next-gen HDMI Fixed Rate Link technology to provide optimal audio and video for a wide range of device applications. Higher resolutions and refresh rates are supported, including up to 12K@120 and 16K@60. Additionally, more high-quality options are supported, including uncompressed full chroma formats such as 8K@60/4:4:4 and 4K@240/4:4:4 at 10-bit and 12-bit color.
—
The Voyager M480X serves as a critical tool for compliance testing, being the official protocol compliance test platform for the USB-IF for USB-3 link layer and the sole solution for USB4 compliance. It also supports Thunderbolt, Power Delivery, and Type-C functional compliance testing. The device features two Type-C analyzer ports that act as a non-intrusive sniffer on a USB4 link, and a Type-C exerciser port that can generate real protocol traffic to emulate a fully-featured USB device, which is essential for certification.
A significant feature of USB4 Version 2.0 highlighted is the support for asymmetric link configurations. Instead of a symmetric 2×2 lane setup, the link can be configured with three transmitters and one receiver. This enables a data rate of 120 Gbps in one direction and 40 Gbps in the other. This capability is particularly useful for tunneling DisplayPort 2.1 with its ultra-high bit rates (UHBR), allowing a single USB-C cable to drive multiple high-resolution displays, such as two 8K monitors at 60Hz, while simultaneously carrying other data.
The physical layer of USB4 v2 uses PAM3 (Pulse-Amplitude Modulation 3-level) signaling, a major shift from the previous NRZ signaling. PAM3 transmits data using three voltage levels, encoding ‘trits’ (0, 1, 2) instead of binary bits, which adds complexity but enables higher data rates. Currently, only Apple and Intel (with its Barlow Ridge chip) are shipping silicon that supports these speeds, which are also associated with Thunderbolt 5.
The analyzer itself is an FPGA-based platform powerful enough to handle the complexities of 80 Gbps capture and PAM3 signaling. In addition to its USB-C ports, the M480X includes dedicated DisplayPort tunneling ports for direct access to analyze tunneled traffic, with future plans to add DisplayPort generation capabilities. The rear of the unit provides Ethernet and USB-C connectivity to a host PC and a sync port for linking multiple analyzers to test complex devices like USB hubs.
