New Infiniium XR8 targets high-speed digital testing demands

Keysight Technologies (NYSE: KEYS) has introduced its next-generation Infiniium XR8 real-time oscilloscopes, developed to support high-speed digital and compliance testing in modern electronics design.

As interface standards such as USB, DisplayPort and DDR5 continue to evolve in speed and complexity, engineers are working within tighter performance margins and shorter development timelines. Higher data rates and increased system complexity have extended validation cycles, reduced noise tolerance and intensified laboratory constraints. The Infiniium XR8 has been designed with a new hardware and software architecture intended to address these challenges in high-speed digital applications and emerging standards.

The XR8 incorporates newly developed front-end ASIC technology alongside an integrated analogue-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital signal processing (DSP) engine. This architecture is intended to maintain signal integrity, improve timing accuracy and deliver consistent, repeatable measurements across high-speed serial, memory and mixed-signal designs. These capabilities are particularly relevant for debugging and validating high-speed interfaces, where minor signal impairments can affect system performance and compliance margins.

A revised mechanical design reduces overall power consumption, improves thermal management and lowers acoustic noise, while maintaining a compact footprint. This enables deployment in space-constrained laboratories and dense validation environments, supporting stable and low-noise operation.

The XR8 operates on Keysight’s Infiniium 2026 software platform, which is designed to enhance response times, system stability and workflow efficiency for high-speed digital and compliance testing. The user interface includes flexible waveform windows, updated visualisation tools and workflow features such as drag-and-drop functionality and an integrated SCPI recorder. Multithreaded processing and improved memory management are intended to support advanced measurement capabilities, including jitter decomposition, pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) analysis and equalisation techniques.

According to the company, the combined hardware and software architecture enables improved signal fidelity and compliance margin, with intrinsic jitter performance as low as 13 femtoseconds RMS and noise below 130 microvolts at 8 GHz bandwidth. The system is designed to support validation of high-speed interfaces, including USB4v2, DisplayPort 2.1 and DDR5. Keysight also states that the updated ADC and DSP engine, together with the Infiniium 2026 platform, can reduce acquisition, analysis and reporting times compared with previous models, contributing to shorter validation cycles.

Jun Chie, Vice President of Product Management at Keysight, said the XR8 has been developed to help engineers manage increasing design complexity and compressed schedules by supporting signal fidelity and more efficient compliance workflows.

Girish Baliga, General Manager of Industry Marketing at Keysight India, said that as India expands its activity in AI data centres, 5G-Advanced, next-generation computing, aerospace and defence, signal integrity requirements are becoming more demanding, increasing the need for high-speed digital test and measurement capabilities.