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Definition: In general, protocol testers work by capturing the information exchanged between a Device Under Test (DUT) and a reference device known to operate properly.
In the example of a manufacturer producing a new keyboard for a personal computer, the Device Under Test would be the keyboard and the reference device, the PC. The information exchanged between the two devices is governed by rules set out in a technical specification called a 'communication protocol'. Both the nature of the communication and the actual data exchanged are defined by the specification.
Since communication protocols are state-dependent (what should happen next depends on what previously happened), specifications are complex and the documents describing them can be hundreds of pages.
The captured information is decoded from raw digital form into a human-readable format that permits users of the protocol tester to easily review the exchanged information.
Protocol testers vary in their abilities to display data in multiple views, automatically detect errors, determine the root causes of errors, generate timing diagrams, etc. Some protocol testers can also generate traffic and thus act as the reference device.
Such testers generate protocol-correct traffic for functional testing, and may also have the ability to deliberately introduce errors to test for the DUT's ability to deal with error conditions.
Source: Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protocol_(computing))
