Supporting speeds from 10Mbps to 800Gbps, Ethernet is reliable, scalable and intuitive – making it perfect for cost-effectively harnessing the power of the IoT.
As a result, Ethernet is now the de facto network communications technology for engineers working in multiple industry segments – from robotics, automotive and manufacturing to defense, drones and logistics.
Xena Networks is a leading vendor of Ethernet Traffic Generation & Analysis (TGA), Physical Layer 1 & Network Emulation solutions.
Our award-winning products are used for validation, QoS & QA testing in a broad range of industry segments. We are committed to helping customers bring new products faster to market by providing cost-effective Ethernet test solutions that are easy to use.
Ethernet validation testing plays a critical role in ensuring the reliable and efficient operation of systems in industries such as manufacturing, logistics, and healthcare. Identifying and addressing issues with latency, bandwidth, jitter, and packet loss helps optimize the performance and productivity of these systems. Here are examples:
When transmitting large amounts of data, it’s essential to verify there’s sufficient bandwidth to ensure data transfer without delays or packet loss.
Even a small degree of packet loss can cause errors and reduce the efficiency of the system. Measuring the packet loss rate between components is essential to ensure it is within acceptable limits.
Measuring the latency performance between key components within an integrated system, such as between a controller and servo motor, is critical for time-sensitive applications.
Measuring jitter – the variation in latency over time – is necessary to avoid unexpected delays or fluctuations in communication.
Quality of Service (QoS) testing is important in many industries to ensure different systems meet specific prioritized performance requirements. Here are some examples:
Prioritization Testing:
Test the network’s ability to prioritize traffic based on defined QoS parameters. This involves sending different types of traffic (e.g., control signal, emergency stop, video, data) and assessing if the network properly assigns priority.
Congestion Testing:
Simulate network congestion scenarios by injecting high volumes of traffic or generating artificial bottlenecks. This test helps assess the network’s ability to handle congestion and maintain QoS under heavy loads.
Real-Time Testing:
Validate whether the network performance meets the real-time criteria. This involves comparing the measured QoS metrics against the defined real-time traffic thresholds.
The Xena test platform is used to generate various traffic types to validate how the DUT prioritize different traffic types and how the system performs under high traffic loads. Xena offers scalable multi-port, multi-stream and multi-service traffic with high latency sensitivity for QoS validation.
Validating that congestion controls work properly, requires testing how the network performs under heavy traffic loads. Xena’s Ethernet TGA solutions make it easy to set up multiple flows with different priorities to measure parameters like throughput and latency.
Test chambers are used to simulate specific environmental conditions or other external factors such as EMC, temperature, humidity and vibration etc. This allows tests to be performed in a well-defined, accurate, consistent and repeatable manner.
To test if a Device Under Test (D.U.T.), such as an Ethernet switch, router or similar network element works error-free or within pre-defined error limits during QA testing, an Ethernet Traffic Generator & Analyzer (TGA) – located outside the test chamber – can be used to generate Ethernet traffic through the D.U.T. in the test chamber. Here are examples:
Xena offers a selection of test modules enabling you to test all Ethernet speeds from 10Mbps to 800Gbps.
Our range includes specialized versions adapted for specific industries such as the Z10 Odin. This test module has native 1000BASE-T1 and 100BASE-T1 interfaces for testing Ethernet traffic transmitted over twisted-pair cables which are also used ubiquitously for communication between automotive components, robots and other automation equipment in modern industrial applications.
Xena’s test solutions include feature-rich software for generating Ethernet traffic and analyzing the result. The primary tool is XenaManager.
There are also test suites for running standard tests such as RFC2544, RFC2889, RFC3918 and Y.1564, and specialized AN/LT tests along with a comprehensive range of powerful scripting and test automation options such as Xena OpenAutomation (XOA), an open-source test automation framework featuring a Python API that runs on any OS.
Choose between the robust scalable 4U XenaBay with space for up to 12 test modules, or the small, easy-to-transport 1U XenaCompact with just one test module.
All our solutions include the Xena Value Pack which consists of 3 years’ SW updates, 3 years’ HW warranty, free online/email support for the lifetime of the product and free product training.
Together with our low port-pricing, this represents significant savings on the TCO of your Ethernet traffic generation and analysis solutions.
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