<p>Test Tools are very important in the design of a system. They generally simulate a working environment, only at a higher</p><p>speed, or with less frequently occurring test cases. In the verification of protocols based on the Fibre Channel physical layer,</p><p>this becomes a necessity, as errors can be non-existent or very unusual in normal operating environments. Most systems need</p><p>to be able to handle these unexpected events nonetheless. Therefore, there is a need for a method of introducing these errors</p><p>in a controlled way.</p><p>A bit error generation and logging tool for two proprietary protocols based on the Fibre Channel physical layer has been</p><p>developed. The hardware platform consists mainly of a Virtex II Pro FPGA with accompanying I/O support. Control of the</p><p>hardware is handled by a graphical user interface residing on a PC. Communication between the hardware and the PC is</p><p>handled with a UART. The final implementation can handle four parallel one way links, or two full duplex links,</p><p>independently. This report describes the implementation and the necessary theoretical background for this.</p>

Test Tools are very important in the design of a system. They generally simulate a working environment, only at a higher speed, or with less frequently occurring test cases. In the verification of protocols based on the Fibre Channel physical layer, this becomes a necessity, as errors can be non-existent or very unusual in normal operating environments. Most systems need to be able to handle these unexpected events nonetheless. Therefore, there is a need for a method of introducing these errors in a controlled way. A bit error generation and logging tool for two proprietary protocols based on the Fibre Channel physical layer has been developed. The hardware platform consists mainly of a Virtex II Pro FPGA with accompanying I/O support. Control of the hardware is handled by a graphical user interface residing on a PC. Communication between the hardware and the PC is handled with a UART. The final implementation can handle four parallel one way links, or two full duplex links, independently. This report describes the implementation and the necessary theoretical background for this.