Anritsu Corporation (President Hirokazu Hamada) has strengthened the sampling oscilloscope function of its BERTWave MP2110A by releasing a Clock Recovery Unit (CRU) option for generating a trigger clock from a 53-Gbaud PAM4 optical signal. Since this is a built-in CRU it offers excellent operability at a lower price than external designs. In addition, combined use with other already released options supports all-in-one evaluation of various types of PAM4 optical modules for cost-effective development and manufacturing of PAM4 optical modules now being actively installed on networks.

Development Background

As demand for data communications increases with full-scale deployment of 5G services, there is a need to build these fast, large-capacity networks at the same low cost as earlier networks. Optical modules supporting these 100G to 400G fast, large-capacity networks output PAM4 optical signals, instead of the previous NRZ signals.

On the other hand, a sampling oscilloscope for signal waveform quality evaluation requires a separate trigger clock signal synchronized with the data signal, but optical modules outputting PAM4 signals commonly do not have a trigger signal. In this case, the trigger signal is generated from the data signal using clock recovery. However, use of clock recovery creates a problem of higher costs. To solve this issue and help cut development and manufacturing costs, Anritsu has added this 53-Gbaud CRU option to the previous 26-Gbaud option for installation in the MP2110A sampling oscilloscope.

Product Outline

The all-in-one BERTWave MP2110A platform is composed of a sampling oscilloscope for evaluating optical waveforms, and a BERT for measuring bit error ratio (BER). The MP2110A oscilloscope can be configured to support various applications by selecting additional bit rates and interfaces of the electrical and/or SMF/MMF inputs. Adding this new option completes all-in-one support for all current IEEE standards, enabling evaluation of all types of PAM4 optical modules without requiring a trigger clock. Additionally, production throughput can be increased by selecting the 4ch oscilloscope to measure multiple channels all-at-once, helping configure a flexible test system matching the site requirements at optimum cost.

MP2110A Optical Module Measurement Solution using Clock Recovery Options

BERTWave™ MP2110A Features

• Selection of built-in 1/2/4ch sampling oscilloscope BERT options
• World-beating sampling oscilloscope level sensitivity for analyzing optical signals ranging from 26G NRZ to 53G PAM4, plus built-in CRU option
• BERT with same waveform quality and high sensitivity as expensive R&D models, with clock recovery built-in as standard
• Fast, reliable measurement using built-in PC

[Click for more details about the MP2110A]

Target Markets and Applications

■ Target Markets
Manufacturers of optical modules and optical transmission equipment

■ Usage
Performance evaluation of physical layer of 25G to 400G optical transceiver modules and equipment components, such as optical cables, used by data centers, Core/Metro networks, 4G/5G mobile backhaul, 5G mobile fronthaul
• Transmission Paths: Ethernet, eCPRI/RoE, CPRI, SDH/SONET, OTN, InfiniBand, Fibre Channel
• Optical Transceiver Modules: CFP2/4/8, SFP28, SFP56, QSFP28, QSFP56, OSFP, QSFP-DD Cables: Active Optical Cables (AOC), Direct Attach Cables (DAC)
• Devices: TOSA, ROSA, High-Speed Optical Engines, PHY, Driver ICs