Knowledge Center

PoE (silicon) controllers and hardware reference designs by themselves do not assure finished product conformance to 802.3 standards.  Current generation PSE controllers are highly configurable such that end product specification conformance depends on system management of those devices.  PD controllers have no impact on critical PD conformance behaviors including average and peak power draw and PD classification integrity.

The standard Microsoft Excel test reports associated with Sifos automated test suites require that reports automatically run Excel macros when they pop up.

By default, Microsoft Excel will inhibit .xlsm workbooks from running macros.  This default setting must be modified using the Trust Center where macro security can be set to minimum or  ‘Trusted Locations’ can be specified to allow Sifos reports to open properly.

Most test parameters are subjected to fixed PASS/FAIL criteria that come from 802.3 standards. 

In certain instances, a specific measurement or test result does not provide enough information to render the PASS/FAIL decision.  In these cases, the Info serves as a warning of a possible issue.

In other instances, the 802.3 standard may allow but recommend against a specific behavior.  This too may result in an Info mark in the test report.

In general, a test report that has no FAIL markings may be deemed to represent conformance to the applicable standard.

Generally no.  The 802.3 specifications are written to apply to a single-port PSE and therefore do not account for system power management behaviors of a multi-port PSE.  So each port should be tested individually with all other ports unpowered.  By default, the PSE Conformance Test sequencer will enforce this.

Using the ‘sequence’ command in PowerShell PSA, there is an override capability to block the sequencer from shutting all PSE ports down.

Tracking Service is a support agreement for the PSE Conformance Test Suites.  As PSE’s become increasingly diverse and take advantage of the many “designer freedoms” permitted by 802.3 standards, PSE Conformance Test Suites must continuously evolve and adapt to properly address each PSE implementation in the market.   Also, with the large number of test parameters captured during PSE testing, there is always the ongoing opportunity to improve and refine the measurement and analysis methods deployed in these suites.

Tracking service enables end customers to stay fully up to date with new PSA software releases that include numerous improvements to PSE Conformance Test Suites in each release.