PSA / PVA Installation Guide
December 4, 2019
Sifos Technologies
Page 6
2.
About PowerSync / PhyView Family of Instruments
2.1.
Standard Features
All
PowerSync
and
PhyView
test instruments from Sifos Technologies have standard features that include:
An instrument
controller
(or controller blade) with embedded controller
firmware
, a
10/100BaseT control
port
, a
console port
(either USB or RS-232), and an external trigger BNC jack.
The instrument controller
supports a single user connection at any one time
.
Two fully autonomous
test ports
per instrument or test blade with embedded test port
firmware
per port. A
maximum of 12 test blades, or 24 test ports, may be configured to a PSA-3000 or PSL-3000 chassis.
One RJ-45 socket per test port that should connect to a
device-under-test
(DUT).
A second RJ-45 socket per test port that may be switched to feed through LAN traffic to and from the DUT
socket.
Host computer
software
(“PSA software”) to operate the test instrument consisting of an interactive script
automation shell,
PowerShell PSA
, and several instrument-specific graphical user interface applications
including
PSA Interactive
and
PVA Interactive
.
PowerShell PSA, PSA Interactive, and PVA Interactive are supported on
Microsoft Windows
platforms
including Win10, Win8, Win7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP.
PowerShell PSA and PSA Interactive are supported on various
Linux
PC platforms including Red Hat (Fedora),
SUSE, and Debian distributions.
PSA Software is based on the
Tcl/Tk
scripting language.
PowerShell PSA
is the command level underpinning
to each graphical user interface application provided with PSA Software.
The
console port
is only provided for IP address configuration and updating controller blade firmware.
There is no
text-based command-line-interface (CLI) available from the console port
.
PowerSync and PhyView test instruments are exclusively controlled using the 10/100BaseT control port. A low level
proprietary protocol is utilized by
PowerShell PSA
host-based software to communicate with PowerSync &
PhyView test instruments.
There is no support for a text-based CLI (e.g. telnet) on the 10/100BaseT control port
.
PowerShell PSA is the only CLI interface to the test instrument.
2.2.
Applications & DUT Connections
2.2.1.
Power-over-Ethernet PSE Testing with PSA-3000 and PSL-3000 Instruments
The
PowerSync Analyzer
(PSA) and
PowerSync Programmable Load
(PSL) instruments are designed to test
IEEE 802.3at Power Sourcing Equipment (PSE’s). PSE’s are generally end-span switches and routers that deliver
DC Power superposed on 10/100/1000BaseT LAN connections. PowerSync Analyzer and PowerSync
Programmable Load test ports must mimic, under program control, certain attributes and states of Powered Devices
(PD’s) while also performing measurements on PoE related signals and power levels. Additionally, with the advent
of IEEE 802.3 PoE LLDP protocols, these test ports also mimic many potential layer 2 LLDP protocol behaviors of
second and third generation PD’s.
2.2.2.
Connecting PSE’s to PSA-3000 and PSL-3000
Test ports
Each test blade (or equivalently, each
slot
on the PSA-
3x48, or PSL-3x24) has two pairs of RJ-45 sockets, one
pair for
Port 1
and one pair for
Port 2
. The top socket is
labeled either
THRU
(PSx-3202) or
OUT
(PSx-3102)
while the lower of the socket pair is labeled
PSE
(
see
Figure 1
). Each test port within a test slot is fully
independent of the other test port with only one exception –
testing of 4-pair PSE’s including both new 802.3bt PSE’s
and proprietary 4-pair powering PSE’s.
Ordinary, 802.3at-compliant PSE ports need to be
connected to the
PSE 1
and
PSE 2
inputs. 4-pair powering
PSE’s may also be connected to
PSE 1
and
PSE 2
inputs on
PSx-3202
test blades while these PSE’s must be connected
to the
PSE 2
input on
PSx-3102
test blades and
PSA-3002
instruments.
Figure 1
. PSA/PSL-3000 Connections
