Ethernet/IP Tester

Multi-Functional Ethernet Test Solution

Ethernet/IP 10G/1G Bit Error Rate Testing (BERT)

BER Traffic generation and verification across all layers - Ethernet, VLAN, MPLS, IP and UDP

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BERT testing packetexpert

Overview

PacketExpert™ 10GX Bit Error Rate Testing (BERT) enables engineers to validate error-free packet forwarding across routers, switches, and transport networks operating at 1G, 2.5G, and 10G Ethernet speeds. The application supports layer-wise wire-speed BER testing across Ethernet, VLAN, MPLS, IP, and UDP layers, allowing verification of packet integrity, sequencing, and loss performance across the entire test path. It includes configurable test pattern generation, Bit Error and FCS Error insertion, real-time BER measurement, and graphical visualization of error counts over time.

PacketExpert™ 10GX supports flexible Layer 3 and Layer 4 routed BER test configurations, enabling validation of IP and UDP packet forwarding through switches and routers acting as devices under test. With timestamped periodic logging, CSV-based reporting, CLI automation support, and portable or rack-mount deployment options, the platform provides a powerful solution for deployment validation, troubleshooting, manufacturing verification, and pre-RFC 2544 or service activation readiness testing.

PacketExpert 10g BERT


Key Features

  • Wire-speed Bit Error Rate Testing up to 10 Gbps on both 10G and 1G ports simultaneously
  • Supports industry standards PRBS patterns 29-1, 211-1, 215-1, 220-1, 223-1, 229-1, and 231-1, constant patterns like all ones, all zeroes, alt ones-zeroes and user-defined test patterns ranging between 1 to 32 bits
  • Supports single and constant-rate Bit Error and FCS Error insertion for receiver stress validation
  • Optional sequence number insertion for detecting packet loss and out-of-sequence packets
  • Supports frame lengths from 64 bytes to Jumbo frames (up to 16,000 bytes)
  • Enables layer-wise BER testing with user-configurable MAC, VLAN, MPLS, IP, and UDP headers
  • Provides real-time BER monitoring with graphical error trend visualization
  • Timestamped Periodic Logging (Errors Only or All Statistics) with CSV export for long-duration BER monitoring and troubleshooting
  • Supports multi-board / multi-port All-Port BERT testing for parallel validation workflows
  • Supports CLI-based automation using Python, C#, and MAPS™ client-server architecture


Use Cases

PacketExpert™ 10GX BERT supports validation workflows across multiple deployment environments:

  • Fiber Link Qualification: Verify optical infrastructure integrity before network commissioning
  • Ethernet Service Turn-Up Testing: Confirm error-free transport before activating customer services
  • Lab and Manufacturing Validation: Validate switches, routers, NICs, and transport interfaces during development and production testing
  • Network Troubleshooting: Identify intermittent BER degradation caused by connectors, optics, or interface instability
  • Long-Duration Stability Testing: Detect micro-burst transmission errors during extended soak testing

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Bit Error Rate Testing (BERT)?
Bit Error Rate Testing (BERT) verifies the integrity of Ethernet links by transmitting pseudo-random test patterns and measuring the number of bit errors detected at the receiver. It helps identify physical-layer impairments before executing higher-layer performance tests.
What speeds are supported by PacketExpert™ 10GX BERT?
PacketExpert™ 10GX supports wire-speed Bit Error Rate Testing across multiple Ethernet rates to enable validation across access, aggregation, and enterprise Ethernet environments.

  • 10/100/1000 Mbps
  • 2.5 Gbps
  • 10 Gbps
Which PRBS patterns are supported?
PacketExpert™ 10GX supports multiple industry-standard PRBS stress patterns such as 29-1, 211-1, 215-1, 220-1, 223-1, 229-1, and 231-1.

These patterns simulate real-world traffic randomness and help detect transmission impairments.
Why is BERT required before RFC 2544 or Y.1564 testing?
BERT validates physical-layer integrity before service-level benchmarking. Running RFC 2544 or Y.1564 without confirming link stability may produce misleading throughput results due to underlying transmission errors.
Does PacketExpert™ 10GX support long-duration BER testing?
Yes. PacketExpert™ 10GX supports extended BER stability testing with timestamped Periodic Logging and Consolidated Error Logging, enabling detection of intermittent transmission issues over long-duration test intervals.
Can PacketExpert™ 10GX log BER statistics during testing?
Yes. The Periodic Logging feature allows engineers to capture:

  • Timestamped error events
  • Periodic statistics
  • BER performance updates

Logs are exported in CSV format for post-test analysis and reporting.

Can PacketExpert™ 10GX detect intermittent link issues?
Yes. Using PRBS stress patterns combined with timestamped logging and long-duration monitoring, PacketExpert™ 10GX helps identify intermittent optical degradation, connector instability, and interface synchronization issues.
Does PacketExpert™ 10GX support multi-port BER testing?
Yes. PacketExpert™ 10GX supports multi-port BER testing, enabling engineers to validate multiple Ethernet links simultaneously for faster deployment verification and lab testing workflows.
What types of interfaces are supported for BER testing?
PacketExpert™ 10GX supports BER testing across both:

  • Electrical Ethernet interfaces
  • Optical Ethernet interfaces
Where is PacketExpert™ 10GX BERT typically used?
Common deployment scenarios include:

  • Fiber link qualification
  • Ethernet service activation testing
  • Lab validation and manufacturing testing
  • Network troubleshooting
  • Pre-deployment acceptance testing
  • Long-duration stability verification
How does PacketExpert™ 10GX integrate with other Ethernet test applications?
PacketExpert™ 10GX BERT works seamlessly alongside:

  • RFC 2544 throughput testing
  • ITU-T Y.1564 service activation testing
  • IPNetSim™ WAN emulation
  • IPLinkSim™ impairment simulation
Does PacketExpert™ 10GX support periodic BER statistics logging?
Yes. PacketExpert™ 10GX supports timestamped Periodic Logging that records either error events only or complete BER statistics at configurable intervals. Logs are exported in CSV format and support long-duration monitoring, troubleshooting, and acceptance testing documentation.

Wirespeed Ethernet BER Testing

Wire-speed Bit Error Rate Testing (BERT) measures transmission integrity across Ethernet (Layer 2), MPLS (Layer 2.5), IP, and UDP layers using industry-standard PRBS patterns (29-1, 211-1, 215-1, 220-1, 223-1, 229-1, and 231-1), constant patterns (All Ones, All Zeroes, Alternating Ones–Zeroes), and user-defined patterns (1–32 bits). Optional sequence number insertion enables detection of packet loss and out-of-sequence packets, while the Process FCS Error Frames option allows analysis of FCS error frames during testing.

Both BERT and Loopback support testing with Stacked VLAN and Stacked MPLS encapsulations, along with configurable frame lengths and traffic rates, enabling validation of complex carrier and enterprise Ethernet transport environments.

Tx Rx BERT Configuration

Tx Rx BERT Configuration

Flexible Configuration Options

PacketExpert™ 10GX supports multiple BERT and Loopback operating combinations, allowing users to configure ports based on specific testing requirements:

  • All Port BERT – All four ports run BERT simultaneously at full wire speed with transmit and receive enabled per unit
  • 2-Port BERT / 2-Port Loopback – Two ports run BERT while the remaining two ports operate in Loopback mode per unit
  • All Port Loopback – All four ports run Loopback simultaneously per unit

Users can select and load the required application configuration depending on the desired test setup.


Traffic Configuration

PacketExpert™ provides flexible traffic generation options that allow technicians to generate Ethernet to IP frames with user-configurable frame sizes at constant or variable traffic rates, supporting realistic network validation scenarios.

  • Constant Rate Type – Allows users to specify a single fixed frame length ranging from 64 to 1518 bytes for standard Ethernet frames and up to 16,000 bytes for Jumbo frames
  • Variable Rate Type – Allows users to vary the frame length dynamically by specifying Minimum, Maximum, and Step Size values. Frame sizes can range from 68 to 1518 bytes for standard frames and up to 16,000 bytes for Jumbo frames. The frame length can be adjusted for each packet using Increment or Random variation modes

Traffic rate configuration supports multiple selectable units including %, Kbps, Mbps, Gbps, Bps, KBps, MBps, and GBps, providing flexibility to control transmission bandwidth according to test requirements.

Traffic can also be configured using the Inter Frame Gap (IFG) option to transmit frames with a specified spacing between consecutive packets. In this mode, emphasis is placed on maintaining the configured Inter Frame Gap rather than bandwidth. The IFG value can be randomized within a range from 12 bytes to 12,500,000,000 bytes, enabling simulation of varied traffic transmission conditions.

Traffic Configuration (Constant and Variable Rate Types)

Traffic Configuration (Constant and Variable Rate Types)

Periodic Logging with Timestamped BER Statistics

PacketExpert™ 10GX includes an advanced Periodic Logging capability that enables automatic recording of timestamped bit error events and performance statistics during BERT execution. This feature provides continuous visibility into link behavior during short-term validation as well as extended stability testing.

Engineers can configure logging per port and select whether to record Errors Only or All Statistics at user-defined time intervals. The generated logs are saved in CSV format, making them easy to review, archive, and analyze for troubleshooting.

For long-duration monitoring workflows, PacketExpert™ 10GX also supports Consolidated Error Logging, which stores all timestamped error events in a single continuous log file for simplified correlation.

Periodic Logging helps identify:

  • Intermittent transmission errors
  • Optical degradation events
  • Connector instability
  • Synchronization issues
  • Burst-error conditions during soak testing
Periodic Logging

Periodic Logging



All Statistics Log

All Statistics Log

Error Log

Error Log

Results Statistics

BERT Results (with LEDs)

PacketExpert™ analyzes the received BER pattern and displays key performance measurements including Bit Error Rate (BER), Bit Error Count, Bit Error Seconds, Sync Loss Count, Sync Loss Seconds, Error-Free Seconds, No Rx Data Count/Seconds, and overall BERT Status. These results provide immediate visibility into link stability and transmission integrity during BER testing.

All Port BERT - Results

All Port BERT – Results

Error Insertion

PacketExpert™ provides Error Insertion capability to introduce controlled transmission impairments into outgoing traffic for validating receiver behavior and network robustness. Two types of error insertion are supported: Bit Error Insertion, which inserts bit-level errors into the outgoing Tx stream, and FCS (Frame Check Sequence) Error Insertion, which transmits frames with intentionally corrupted FCS values to verify frame integrity detection. Both Bit Error and FCS Error insertion support Single Error Insertion, allowing manual insertion of a single error, and Rate Error Insertion, enabling configurable constant error rates ranging from 10-1 to 10-9.

In addition, FCS Error Insertion supports Continuous Error Insertion, where every outgoing frame is transmitted with an FCS error for receiver stress validation. PacketExpert™ BERT Rx also provides an option to process frames containing FCS errors as valid BERT frames, allowing continued BER analysis even when corrupted frames are received during testing.

Bit Error Insertion

Bit Error Insertion

BERT Results with Bit Error Insertion

BERT Results with Bit Error Insertion


FCS Error Insertion

FCS Error Insertion

Port Statistics

Detailed per-port statistics are provided for comprehensive traffic analysis. In addition to key metrics such as Frame Count, Frame Rate, Link Utilization (Layer 1 line rate in %), and Data Rate (Layer 2 throughput in Mbps), statistics are categorized by Frame Type (Broadcast, Multicast, VLAN), Frame Length ranges (64 bytes, 65–127 bytes, 1024–1518 bytes, Oversized, Undersized), and Protocol Type (IPv4, IPv6, UDP, TCP, ICMP, IGRP, etc.).

  • Statistics for Stacked VLAN and Stacked MPLS encapsulations are also provided, including packet counts per VLAN/MPLS stack position, enabling detailed analysis of tagged traffic across multi-layer network environments.
Tx and Rx Frame Statistics

Tx and Rx Frame Statistics

  • The All Ports results screen in BERT displays consolidated Tx/Rx Frame Statistics, BERT Status, and BERT Statistics for all four ports in a single view.

All Port BERT Statistics

All Port BERT Statistics

Generate Report

PacketExpert™ provides a report generation option to create consolidated test reports in CSV and PDF formats. The generated reports for the All Ports BERT test include Interface details, BERT Statistics, Tx/Rx Statistics, and Tx/Rx configuration parameters for each of the 10G/1G ports, supporting documentation, analysis, and test record maintenance.

BERT Report Generated in PDF file formats

BERT Report Generated in PDF file formats

BERT Report Generated in CSV file formats

BERT Report Generated in CSV file formats

Resources

Note: PCs which include GL hardware/software require Intel or AMD processors for compliance.

Please Note: The 'Pxx' in the Item No. refers to the hardware platform on which the software will be running. Therefore, 'Pxx' can either be PXE (1G) or PXG (10G) or PXN (10GX) depending upon the hardware.

Item Description
PXN100 PacketExpert™ 10GX
PXN101 10G option for PXN100
PXE100 PacketExpert™ 1G
CXN100 CLI Server for PXN100
CXE100 CLI Server for PXE100
PacketExpert™ 10GX - Brochures
PacketExpert™ 10GX
PacketExpert™ 10GX mTOP™
PacketExpert™ 10GX CLI
PacketExpert™ 1G - Brochures
PacketExpert™ 1G
PacketExpert™ 1G - mTOP™
PacketExpert™ 10GX - Presentations
PacketExpert™ 10GX
PacketExpert™ 1G - Presentations
PacketExpert™ 1G

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