Getting Started and Using Masks
Telecommunications (telecom) and data communications (datacom) industries have established standards for equipment manufacturers. One of these standards defines the electrical parameters for waveforms. By applying these standards, both telecom and datacom equipment manufacturers can ensure that their equipment will operate properly together by first certifying waveform integrity.
To verify waveform integrity during the equipment manufacturing phase, Infiniium Oscilloscopes have a feature called Mask Testing. Within seconds, you know whether your equipment’s waveform complies with the industry standard.
Introduction to Mask Testing
What is a Mask?
A mask is a template that you load into the oscilloscope used during mask testing. The mask shows the acceptable electrical parameters of a waveform by defining regions of the oscilloscope display where the waveform must not intersect. If the waveform crosses the boundary of a region of the mask, it fails the mask test.
The types of masks that you can use to test waveforms include:
• Industry standard masks
Industry standard masks are included in this Mask Template Kit.
•Automatically generated masks
•
When to use Mask Testing
You should use mask testing whenever your waveform must conform to an industry standard. You can do mask testing during manufacturing to ensure that your design meets the requirements of the telecom or datacom industries.