Explore Power Over Ethernet (PoE) PSE Test solutions from Sifos Technology. What type of testing does your PSE need?
Conformance to IEEE 802.3at and 802.3bt standards is necessary to assure PSE interoperability with all PD’s in all connection environments while also assuring safe operation with non-PD’s. PSE designers are challenged by the complexity of IEEE PoE standards and by the fact that PSE controller components, by themselves, do not assure a conforming PSE port. Multi-port PSE’s add further challenges of layered power management that can also impact PSE specification conformance.
All PD’s that draw more than 13 watts are required to support PoE LLDP so that power budgets can be negotiated with 0.1 watt granularity at each PSE port. PSE’s may optionally utilize this protocol to allocate power levels to all connected PD’s.
PSE’s that implement LLDP based power management must properly process protocol messages and meet protocol timing requirements specified in IEEE 802.3at and further extended in 802.3bt.
Whereas PSE Conformance Testing assesses compliance of each stand-alone PSE port to IEEE 802.3at or 802.3bt specifications, Multi-Port Testing assesses system-wide behaviors only observable when many PD’s are powered by a multi-port PSE. Accordingly, testing PSE performance while powering a group of PDs is a critical component to any System Certification or System QA, process.
PoE loading has the potential to disrupt or impair 10/100/1000Base-T data transmission performance. More direct and efficient than traditional packet loss testing, physical layer measurements of signal distortion (SNR) and DC Unbalance Tolerance can be used to qualify 10/100/1000 PSE ports under all DC loading conditions.
As a hardware intensive feature of any PSE, PoE service is vulnerable to component and process defects that can lead to safety and interoperability problems in the field. Highly automated multi-port PSE testing can increase confidence in the integrity of every PoE port in every PSE shipped.
To fully qualify PoE service at any service outlet goes well beyond measuring service availability and voltage. The more subtle PD powering issues in the field typically relate PSE-PD interactions that are challenging to assess.
