We need to analyze the USB communication between a smartphone and a prototype board equipped with a custom embedded USB chip. We'll be testing the USB link over various periods, from 5 minutes to 24 hours, maybe longer. The tests will be run at USB full speed. What we need is to:

• Be able to save a record of the USB communication for at least 24 hours.
• Evaluate the quality of the USB signals over the entire capture session.

Which USB Protocol Analyzer do you recommend for this project?

Thanks for your question! Assuming that your smartphone and board are using high-speed USB (480Mbps) connections, we recommend using either the Beagle USB 480 Protocol Analyzer or the Beagle USB 480 Power Analyzer  – Standard or Ultimate Editions. To save vast amounts of data over long periods, we also recommend using the Beagle API Software, vs the Data Center Software along with our analyzers.

	Figure 1: Beagle USB 480 Protocol Analyzer	Figure 2: Beagle USB 480 Power Protocol Analyzer

When using any of our USB analyzers with the Data Center Software , the captured data is stored in the RAM of the analysis PC. Considering the extensive tests that you will be running, you may need to capture more data than the computer's RAM can support.  That being the case, we suggest using the Beagle API Software. The API allows you to write a custom program for running your test as well as store data in a hard drive or flash drive instead of the computer’s RAM.

Here is a summary of the non-intrusive Beagle USB analyzers that will work for your smartphone traffic project:

• The Beagle 480 Protocol Analyzer  is a non-intrusive monitor for high-speed, full-speed, and low-speed USB 2.0 (480 Mbps / 12 Mbps / 1.5 Mbps). The Beagle 480 analyzer has real-time USB class-level decoding with the Data Center software, two capture modes: real-time and delayed-download, high-speed USB chirp detection, robust automatic speed detection, hardware-based packet suppression, and digital inputs and outputs for synchronizing with external logic. The Beagle 480 analyzer can also detect suspend/resume events and unexpected signals. In addition, the Beagle 480 analyzer has a software circular buffer mode (a rolling 1 GB of space in the analysis PC’s RAM).
• The Beagle USB 480 Power Protocol Analyzer – Ultimate Edition  has all of the capabilities of the Beagle 480 analyzer plus additional features including: real time current and voltage monitoring, enhanced USB 2.0 advanced triggering, and extra-large hardware buffer. The Beagle 480 power analyzer has a hardware circular buffer of 256 MB capacity plus a large hardware circular buffer.

Additional resources that you may find helpful include the following:

• Beagle Protocol Analyzer User Manual
• Data Center Software User Manual
• API Documentation

We hope this answers your question. If you have other questions about our protocol analyzers or other Total Phase products, feel free to email us at sales@totalphase.com, or if you already own one of our devices and have a technical question, please submit a request for technical support.