Optical system gains bit-error-rate tester

A Yokogawa - Test and Measurement product story

Edited by the Electronicstalk editorial team Jul 18, 2005

Yokogawa has added a 10Gbit/s bit-error-rate tester to the range of modules available for the company's AQ2200 Series modular optical instrumentation system.

Yokogawa has added a 10Gbit/s bit-error-rate tester to the range of modules available for the company's AQ2200 Series modular optical instrumentation system.

The new AQ2200-601 integrates a pulse pattern generator, error detector and signal generator - all the essential elements in bit-error-rate measurements - in a compact module.

When combined with other AQ2200 Series modules such as optical modulators, receivers, power meters and attenuators, it provides all the facilities required for error-rate curve measurements and optical device characterisation.

The pulse pattern generator function can generate patterns up to 256bit in length (optionally extendable to 64Mbit) including pseudorandom binary signals (PRBS) from PRBS7 to PRBS31, with support for multiple bitrates from 9.95 to 11.32Gbit/s, variable in steps of 1kHz.

The 64Mbit option supports SDH/Sonet frame programming.

Other adjustable parameters include output amplitude (0.5 to 2.0V peak-to-peak in steps of 10mV), offset (-2.0 to +3V in steps of 10mV), and crosspoint (30 to 70% in steps of 1%).

A trigger output is provided for oscilloscope synchronisation, as well as a port for external 10Gbit/s clock synchronisation input and 1/16 or 1/64 synchronisation input.

This makes it possible to perform an error rate test with jitter deliberately added to the data pattern.

A clock and data recovery (CDR) function extracts the clock from the data signal and performs synchronisation when a data signal is the only input.

In optical communications, the CDR function is a useful tool because the data signal is often transmitted alone.

In addition to the CDR input port, there are ports for separate data and clock signal inputs.

The AQ2200-601 can be used with the AQ2201 three-slot or AQ2202 nine-slot mainframes to form a complete compact, lightweight optical measurement system that optimises the use of laboratory bench space and is easily portable.