Difference between USB protocol analyzer and USB exerciser/emulator?

[rayaprolu]

What is the Difference between a "protocol analyzer" and "emulators/exerciser" of device , example say USB or any other peripheral like I2C, EMAC, etc. ?

 

[bigdogguru]

A protocol analyzer typically captures traffic pertaining to a specific protocol for later analysis this task is usually carried out without effecting or disturbing the original system under analysis.

While an emulator/exerciser typically refers to a device designed to emulate a particular microcontroller, microprocessor or a peripheral device attached to a particular bus protocol like I2C, SPI, RS-232, etc.

Emulators for microcontrollers or microprocessors are typically referred to as In-Circuit Emulators (ICE) and offer a more comprehensive list of features for debugging methods combined with trace capture and analysis.

Emulators for a particular bus protocol can typically emulate a specific peripheral device through the means of scripts and other programmatic methods.

Do these points help your understanding?

BigDog

 

[rayaprolu]

Hi,

Thank you so much. It kind of gives me an understanding on basic difference. But i m trying to understand it w.r.t the following perspective:

USB example -

USB device (mouse/pendrive...etc) ------(USB interface)----------> PHY (SMSC/Micrel/ etc..)------- (ULPI interface)-----------> FPGA/ASIC

In the above scenario, I want to write/read data between FPGA/ASIC (where my USB controller resides) and PHY. Check its validity in every mode of USB.
I also want to check the data transfer from USB device to PHY (bulk data) and further transfer it to controller.

How can analyser/emulator/exerciser play role here? What does it do for me in this scenario.

Thank you so much !!