Alignment of DigRF4 lane

A method, comprising:

• receiving, over multiple serial interfaces arranged in parallel to couple between a transmitter and a receiver, a data burst which comprises start-of-frame markers and is transmitted over the serial interfaces as multiple respective partial bursts such that each start-of-frame marker is transmitted over the multiple serial interfaces;
• detecting at the receiver a relative symbol offset between two or more start-of-frame markers on respective two or more of the serial interfaces;
• decoding the data burst by identifying, based on the detected relative symbol offset, a serial interface that carries a header of a data frame transmitted in the data burst;
• and
• defining one of the serial interfaces as a primary interface and another of the serial interfaces as a secondary interface, wherein identifying the serial interface that carries the header comprises:
• when the relative symbol offset between the start-of-frame markers in the primary interface and the secondary interface is zero, detecting that the primary interface carries the header;
• when a start-of-frame marker in the primary interface appears ahead of the start-of-frame marker in the secondary interface, detecting that the secondary interface carries the header;
• and
• when the start-of-frame marker in the secondary interface appears ahead of the start-of-frame marker in the primary interface, detecting that the primary interface carries the header.

Apparatus, comprising:

• an input circuit, which is configured to receive, over multiple serial interfaces arranged in parallel, a data burst which comprises start-of-frame markers and is transmitted over the serial interfaces as multiple respective partial bursts such that each start-of-frame marker is transmitted over the multiple serial interfaces;
• and
• an alignment circuit, which is configured to detect a relative symbol offset between two or more start-of-frame markers on respective two or more of the serial interfaces, to decode the data burst based on the detected relative symbol offset, to define one of the serial interfaces as a primary interface and another of the serial interfaces as a secondary interface, and to identify the serial interface that carries the header by:
• when the relative symbol offset between the start-of-frame markers in the primary interface and the secondary interface is zero, detecting that the primary interface carries the header;
• when a start-of-frame marker in the primary interface appears ahead of the start-of-frame marker in the secondary interface, detecting that the secondary interface carries the header;
• and
• when the start-of-frame marker in the secondary interface appears ahead of the start-of-frame marker in the primary interface, detecting that the primary interface carries the header.