Innovations keep coming at OFCNFOEC 2009

March 26, 2009

 

 

SAN DIEGO, CA—While the exhibition hall of OFCNFOEC 2009 seemed more compact than in 2008, many test-equipment companies are still introducing new products. In particular, equipment makers are focusing on 40-Gbps and 100-Gbps network test equipment. Much of that equipment uses multiple 10-Gbps lanes.

Agilent Technologies introduced several new products this week. The company added three measurement features to its 86100C DCA (digital communications analyzer). The instrument now has a reference receiver for 16X Fibre Channel (14.025 Gbps), the 86015D. This module doubles the bandwidth of the 86105C from 10 GHz to 20 GHz. On the show floor, Agilent demonstrated this capability using 16 Fibre Channel optical modules from Finisar and Opnext. Jitter analysis software (86011C Option 401) lets the instrument measure jitter on long data patterns, up to PRBS31. Complex modulation analysis software lets the 86100C (Firmware version 8.1) analyze signals that incorporate complex-modulated signals by converting received signals into I-Q diagrams.

Agilent also introduced the N7700A photonic application suite of software for performing high-speed optical measurements. And the company introduced a PXI optical communications analyzer module that works on data rates from 155 Mbps to 10.518 Gbps.

Anritsu introduced several instrument cards for its tester mainframes. First is a 10-Gbps Ethernet plug-in module for its MD1230B Data Quality Analyzer. The MU120138A has four 10-GbE ports. The MD1230B can hold up to five modules. You can cascade up to eight analyzers for testing large-scale 10-GbE transport systems.

The company also introduced a plug-in module for its MP1590B Network Performance Tester that supports testing of SDH/SONET/OTN/PDH/DSn interfaces at bit rates from 1.5 Mbps to 11.1 Gbps.

Another introduction from Anritsu was the MU909060A1/A2/A3 Gigabit Ethernet module for its handheld Network Master MT9090A family. The MT9090A uses the module to let field engineers and technicians test Ethernet access network lines during installation, maintenance, and troubleshooting.

Centallax introduced a multichannel signal integrity test system that uses up to five 10-Gbps pods to produce PRBS (pseudorandom bit sequence) patterns for performing BER (bit error rate) tests. The system consists of a Model ST10ME controller and TG5P1A PRBS pods. The system lets you run one channel with a bit sequence of interest and use the other four channels as “aggressors” that add interference to the primary channel. For example, you can set each of the four aggressors with a preprogrammed amount of sinusoidal jitter.

General Photonics demonstrated the PMD-1000 polarization optimized PMD (polarization-mode dispersion) source. You can use the instrument to measure PMD before and after PMD-generating network equipment. The instrument produced first-order and second-order PDM elements.

Inphi demonstrated a reference design for making BER measurements at speeds up to 28 Gbps. The reference design uses Inphi’s 5080MX multiplexer. You can use the reference design for technologies such as 100-Gbps Ethernet, 14-Gbps Fibre Channel, 40-Gbps DQPSK (differential quadrature phase-shift keying), and 100-Gbps DP-QPSK (dual-polarization phase-shift keying).

ILX Lightwave announced the LDC-3700C series of laser-diode controllers. An upgrade to the company’s LDC 3700 series, the 3700C lets you control low-power to medium-power laser diodes through its 50 mA/100 mA and 200 mA/500 mA current sources.

JDSU announced a new option for is TestPoint 10-Gbps line of enhanced FEC (forward-error correction) I.4 to its 10-Gbps module. It’s designed to let you test FEC on networks that use AMCC’s EFEC I.4 code. The company has partnered with Polatis to use its 80x80 optical switch module. The partnership lets JDSU automate photonics measurements. JDSU has also added LXI instrument control to its MAP-200 multiple application platform.

Picosecond Pulse Labs exhibited the Model 8020 optical splitter for its line of pattern generators. With the Model 8020, you can send a bit pattern from one source to four receivers.

Polatis introduced the Series 200 optical switches. These 80x80 switches eliminate the need to convert optical signal to electrical form for switching in data networks operating at 10 Gbps or 40 Gbps. The switches add less than 1 dB of power loss.

PVI Systems demonstrated the miniAVIT inspection system that lets you inspect the surface of fiber end faces for scratches, chips, cracks, or contamination.

Synthesys Research displayed its 17.5-Gbps BertScope that decomposes jitter and displays it in a map form. With the new feature, the BertScope adds a new form of jitter measurement called sub-rate jitter. In this measurement, the instrument measures the jitter not on every bit, but on bit intervals such as 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, and 128 as well as 5, 10, 20, 40, and 80. With this measurement, you might find a way to characterize jitter that you once thought was random. You can read more about the jitter map at “BertScope boosts speed, decomposes jitter.”

Yokogawa demonstrated its transport analyzer, which provides insight into WDM (wavelength-division-multiplexed) optical signals.

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