USB Protocol Analysers

Our range of USB Analysers and Signal Generators provide the most cost effective way to investigate what is happening on your USB bus.

If you are developing target hardware with USB interfaces,  developing the USB stack on the targets, developing the total application with code on the PC and the target or even on two targets using On-The-Go then what you need to be able to see is the transactions and packets that are transmitted over the bus.  But USB is a complex beast and its not possible to do this by just putting a scope or logic analyser on the signal lines -  what you need is an analyser that understand the details of the protocol and can present the data  to you in an immediately understandable way.   The Ellisys products do this and at such an amazingly low price that you can afford to give each engineer his own.

I like this little piece of hardware! 
Got my problem solved in a few hours after spending weeks of trying to find it without
 -  J.T. - The Netherlands

Tracker 110 an Affordable USB Analyser for only £330 ( ~  € 360 )

The Ellisys 110 analysers require connection to an analysis PC via a USB  connection (USB2 recommended) and that analysis PC runs the user interface software as well as storing and displaying the USB transactions being measured.  The analyser is powered from the analysis USB link. 

The Tracker unit  then intercepts a USB link under test  without interfering with the signal.

The analysis PC then runs the USB Data Visualiser is a common user interface for the Tracker and its faster brother the Explorer.  This user interface minimises clutter but allows detail down to the bit level to be displayed when required.

The Tracker 110  provides USB bus analysis at a budget price.  Its user interface minimises clutter but allows detail down to the bit level to be displayed when required.

• Supports low speed (1.5 Mbit/s), full speed (12 Mbit/s) and mixed capture
• The Tracker 110  can capture data at "Full Speed" for an unlimited time if it is itself connected to a host PC with a high speed USB 2.0 connection.
• Non-intrusive analysis of bus data and states
• It is USB bus-powered
• The USB Data Visualiser is a common user interface for the Tracker and its faster brother the Explorer.  This user interface minimises clutter but allows detail down to the bit level to be displayed when required.
• It has a small form factor  85 * 80 * 45 mm, weight 100 grams
• If you need 480Mbits/sec transfer rates, hardware triggering or to analyse split transactions then you should look at the Explorer 200

Explorer 200 Series family of High speed USB 2 protocol Analysers

Able to monitor the fastest USB 2 signals at 480Mbits/sec the Explorer 200s are available as..................

200 Basic

• Low speed (1.5 Mbit/s), full speed (12 Mbit/s) High speed (480Mbits/sec) and mixed capture
• Automatic detection of the speed of the Link Under Test
• An External trigger is included
• A 32Mbyte FIFO memory and a fast clock support the USB 2 maximum data rate under most circumstances
• Split transactions are supported
• Non-intrusive analysis of bus data and states
• It is USB bus-powered
• It has a small form factor  150 * 120 mm, weight 750 grams
• The USB Data Visualiser is a common user interface for the Explorer and its cheaper brother the Tracker.  This user interface minimises clutter but allows detail down to the bit level to be displayed when required.
• The system hardware is upgradeable to the Explorer 200 Std or Pro

200 Standard

As for the Basic plus these additional features.....

• Real time statistical display and traffic analysis identifying individual devices during capture
• Support for On-The-Go Host and Session protocols ( On-The-Go is the standard that defines how USB devices may communicate in the absence of a controlling PC )
• Hub class decodes

200 Pro

As for the Standard plus these additional features.....

• Hardware Trigger option
• USB Class Interpreter option.
• Software Development Kit for those who wish to create their own automated USB data reporting

Explorer 260 High speed USB 2 Protocol Analyser

Able to monitor the fastest USB 2 signals at 480Mbits/sec the Explorer 260 provide all the features of the 200 Pro but in addition....

• 1Gbyte FIFO for long high speed data capture problems
• Support via an optional probe for Interchip at all voltages

Explorer 260 High speed USB 2 Protocol Generator

The 260 Protocol Generator  uses the same hardware with a different Firmware load to create USB traffic in order to...

• Emulate either a USB Host or Device
• Inject Error messages
• Generate sequences of messages with exact delays
• Triggering on events/external stimuli can be used within the message sequences
• Using a scripting language complex test scenarios can be created
• It can import traffic from an Analyser for exact reproduction of fault situations
• An optional Compliance Test Suite will test devices against Chapter 9 of the spec as well as against the HID, Hub and Mass storage class specifications

Explorer DEX Compliance Test Suite

The Ellisys USB Device Examiner (DEX) is a stand-alone USB device compliance test application that operates on the USB Explorer 260 hardware. DEX is provided with the Generator, or can be added as an option to the Analyzer. DEX provides a comprehensive set of robust compliance tests covering Chapter 9 of the USB Specification (Device Framework). Test results are pass/fail, annotated with descriptive detail, and are summarised in a convenient HTML-formatted summary report upon completion of testing. Each test can optionally be captured with an EX260 Analyzer, providing quick and in-depth analysis of test results. The summary report includes instant links to analyzer captures for each test. In addition to the Chapter 9 coverage for any USB device, DEX also provides class-specific testing of several device classes, including mass storage devices, HID devices, and hub class (Chapter 11). The mass storage device class test suite includes read and write bandwidth stress tests.

USB Data Visualiser

The USB Data Visualiser is the user interface for the Tracker and the Explorer devices.  To use one of the the analysers the operator starts the data collection process and then when enough data has been collected the operator stops collection.  During collection the operator sees a count of the number of transactions, data volume and the average bus load. The Pro and 260 versions also include more detailed device specific Traffic analysis.  At any time during collection the user can insert comments so that when the data is reviewed it is easy to identify what operations/actions were taking place. Once the data has been collected it may be displayed and saved for later viewing. The Data Visualiser may be feely distributed to other interested parties so that engineers can view the files saved without needing to be connected to an analyser.

When examining data collected the Visualiser provides may useful features.  The user can :-

• Filter or color code transactions by a number of criteria - device, endpoint etc.
  • The screen shot below shows enumerations of two peripherals taking place at the same time. A hub is shown in blue and a mouse in red
    
• Details of the type of transactions and transfers are shown in a second window
• Decoded and detailed display of standard requests and descriptors are given
• The Display references the USB Specification
                  click on picture for large image
  
• Data may be displayed in a number of different formats
  
• Detection  of USB bus states and low level protocols such as power, IDLE, SE0, SOF and NAK  
• Hub class requests are fully decoded with text descriptions of the data.
• Each transaction is timed with 21nsec resolution
• Data collected to disk and reviewed with extensive filter and search options
• Once data has been collected it can be filtered and saved as a file which can then be viewed by other engineers using the USB Data Visualiser software which may be feely distributed. 
• Test sessions can be shared with other engineers using the demo as a file viewer.
• Text and XTML output formats allow the data be shared with other programs or for creating C header files.
• It runs under Windows 2000 or XP. 

See below to get your copy including example bus transactions 

USB Class Interpreter

Higher level protocols have been defined for a number of common classes of device and by conforming to these protocols a product can operate within Windows using standard drivers.

The USB Class Interpreter included in the Explorer 200 Pro and 260 will recognise class based transactions and will decode and display all the standard fields within the messages associated with these standard Classes. This greatly simplifies the understanding of what is going on as, when required,  it hides the detail of the individual USB transactions (see individual classes for details and examples).

	Class	Support
	Audio	Supported
	Mass Storage	Supported
	Communication	Supported
	Human Interface Device	Supported
	Still Image	Supported
	Printer	Supported
	Bluetooth HCI	Supported
	USB Wireless Adapter	Supported
	Video	Supported
	Hub	Supported
	Wireless Controller	Supported
	Smart Card	Supported
	Test & Measurement	Supported
	Media Transfer	Supported

Users can even create a DLL that will define their own custom protocols

Once data has been collected by an analyser with the Class Interpreter option enabled it may be displayed by any USB Data Visualiser so those just examining data do not need to purchase a separate license.

Real Time Trigger   Available as a firmware upgrade for the Explorer 200 (and included in the Explorer 200 Pro and 260) the hardware triggering can detect numerous conditions occurring on the USB bus, electrical conditions, errors conditions, different types of USB packets and their source/destination/data  as well as external triggering conditions. Powerful and flexible event counters are available. They can act on external or bus events as well as event sequences and the counters can be reset by an event occurrence.

Learn USB with the Ellisys USB Data Visualiser 

The Data Visualiser software can run without a unit present to allow users to share and review displays of captured data.  The software package on installation also includes a number of files with captures of interactions between a PC and standard devices.  It therefore makes an ideal teaching tool to show and help comprehend the details of the USB and Class protocols.

The software runs on W2000, XP and Vista.