Methods and apparatus for estimating a bit error rate for a communication system

A system for estimating a bit error rate of a communications system, comprising:

• a transmitter for transmitting a pattern of bits;
• and
• a receiver for receiving the transmitted pattern of bits, comprising:
• a reference pattern generator for generating a reference pattern of bits, wherein the reference pattern generator comprises a plurality of memory elements that are initialized such that the memory elements behave as a counter;
• and
• circuitry for synchronizing the pattern of bits received from the transmitter with the reference pattern of bits, and comparing the pattern of bits received with the bits of the reference pattern to estimate the bit error rate.

A high speed data communication system, comprising:

• a channel;
• a transmitter configured to transmit a pattern of data over the channel to a receiver;
• and
• a router chip between the transmitter and the receiver, comprising:
• a plurality of memory elements initialized to have a predetermined bit in a first memory element and bits different from the bit in the first memory element in remaining memory elements and configured to receive the pattern of data from the transmitter;
• and
• circuitry for determining the number of bits N in the pattern, directing a reference pattern generator to generate a reference pattern of 2N bits after detecting the predetermined bit, and synchronizing the pattern of bits transmitted from the transmitter with the pattern of bits generated by the reference pattern generator.