Channel Operating Margin (COM) is an increasingly important quality-evaluation method for SERDES links. However, eye/BER evaluation techniques have not been officially standardized. As a result, developers are left to make their own decisions related to channel characterization, waveform processing, data accumulation, and impairment handling.

Though there a number of tools that exist for making these determinations, but they all produce different results. The best solution may be to modify the COM procedure by taking into account the findings of traditional eye/BER evaluation analysis. 

In this 20-page white paper, nominated for the DesignCon 2016 Best Paper Award, you will learn: 

• Sources of difference between COM and eye/BER analysis
• Differences in transmit jitter evaluations
• A comparison of crosstalk evaluation in COM and BER
• A method for comparing results from BER and COM simulations
• A modification to the COM procedure that eliminates problems without considerable work increase.