Case Study: Kandou validates energy-efficient Chord signaling for 400GE+ and cuts test setup from hours to minutes with Keysight test solutions

Chord Signaling for High-Speed Chip-to-Chip Applications

Kandou, a leader in chip-to-chip link technology and developer of the patented Chord™ signaling architecture, needed to validate its novel multi‑wire ENRZ and CNRZ‑5 signaling algorithms for next‑generation 400GE and beyond. The challenge was to emulate transmit and receive behavior, measure complex multi‑wire waveforms through lossy channels, and cut down lengthy, error‑prone test setup time. Kandou worked with Keysight using Keysight’s test platforms (M8196A AWG, N1000A DCA‑X mainframe with N1045B 60 GHz remote head and N1010A FlexDCA software) to address these needs.

Using Keysight equipment, Kandou loaded Chord‑encoded waveforms into the M8196A to emulate transmitters and used the N1000A DCA‑X/N1045B with FlexDCA to capture, combine and decode the multi‑wire signals. Keysight’s solution validated correct implementation of Kandou’s Chord algorithms, enabled customers to verify 400GE designs even before DSP silicon availability, and reduced test setup time from hours to minutes—delivering faster, repeatable validation and analysis.

Kandou