Question

describe the following in detail:

a) A Breakout Box

b) A Protocol Analyser

Answer 1

Break out Boxs
Breakout boxes are the simplest form of digital test equipment and are used to monitor and test plug connections and interfaces (e.g., electrical interfaces such as V.24, V.35, RS-449, and RS-332 and optical interfaces such as G.703) The box contains the signal lines that are accessible through test sockets (passive boxes) or are arbitrarily linkable together (active boxes). Thus a null modem can be constructed by swapping the appropriate signal lines in an active box. DTE/DCE emulators. which not only operate at the signal level but also at the character level, are a more advanced version of active breakout boxes and can therefore be used as modem testers.

A pocket-sized RS-232 breakout box

Some of the varients of Blackout boxes are given below

• Breakout boxes for post-production studio editing suites
• Industrial I/O breakout box
• RS-232 breakout box
• Personal computer sound cards
• Docking stations for notebook computers.
• Electronic control units (ECUs) in automotive engines
  

Protocol Analyser

A protocol analyzer is a tool (hardware or software) used to capture and analyze signals and data traffic over a communication channel. Such a channel varies from a local computer bus to a satellite link, that provides a means of communication using a standard communication protocol (networked or point-to-point). Each type of communication protocol has a different tool to collect and analyze signals and data.

Protocol analyzers are an indispensable tool for the network administrator. These tools (Figure below shows how they are structured) are capable of monitor on, storing, and analyzing network traffic.

A knowledge of the PDU structure of the monitored layers (e.g., signal coding, frame structure, packet structure) is required for the analysis, thereby making these analyzers protocol specific. Modern analyzers support entire protocol hierarchies. Many protocol analyzers also in-tegrate functions like the ones mentioned in conjunction with test equipment. Following is a list of requirements for analyzers.

• Complete recording and storage of the network traffic being ob-served. Time stamp accuracy is required (with Ethernet and X25 in the range of microseconds, with fast transmission systems such as Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, and ATM in the range of nanoseconds).
• Extensive filter facilities. These include the definition of filters using Boolean expressions, agreement on triggers for starting the protocol recording, and support of alarm filters in the creation of sound or video signals.
• User-friendly interfaces for the network administrator on which in-formation is represented in the form of ten, graphics, or histograms. Online monitoring on the screen is also desirable, even in the case of higher transmission rates.
• Support for monitoring traffic over different types of media and multichannel measurements.
• Provision of facilities for testing the physical state of lines, for example, using an (integrated) time domain reflectometer.
• Collection and clear presentation of statistical information describ-ing network load and error rates.
• Automatic detection of changes describing network configuration.
• Functions for generating network loads to enable load tests to be carried out under controlled conditions.
• Facilities for remote operation, for example, over a dialup port (outband) or remote login (inband) used to initiate and control tests performed by the analyzer.
• Online and offline analysis of test results.
• Convenient facilities for storing and reactivating analyzer configu-rations.