The explosive growth of data traffic is driving the need to increase communication speeds between servers and network equipment. The next generation of the 400GbE Ethernet standard uses PAM modulation to increase data transfer per unit of time by increasing the symbol rate and adding more lanes. PAM signals have an advantage over non-return-to-zero (NRZ) signaling by doubling the amount of data transferred per unit of time; however, they can also lead to technical problems, such as reduced power consumption and an increased signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). These issues require high-quality signal sources and highly sensitive input measurements.
Anritsu's MP1800A series of signal quality analyzers supports the evaluation of optical devices and modules that meet the latest communication standards, and with the addition of the MP1800A series Multichannel Pulse Pattern Generator (PPG) and Error Detector (ED), it can easily support the high transmission speed of NRZ and PAM4 methods as well as BER measurements using the G0374A 64 Gbaud PAM4 DAC and MP1862A 56G/64 Gbit/s DEMUX.
The MP1800A signal quality analyzer is a plug-in Bit Error Rate Tester (BERT) module that can generate up to eight channels of synchronized signals using the 32G multichannel PPG module. The G0374A, which will be showcased at ECOC2016, is an accessory for the MP1800A series. It is used in conjunction with the MU183020A 32 Gbit/s Multichannel PPG module to generate 64-Gbaud NRZ/PAM4 signals by simply converting 32 Gbit/s NRZ half-rate signals. It can also be combined with the MP1862A 56G/64 Gbit/s DEMUX and the MU183040B 28G/32 Gbit/s high-sensitivity ED module to support BER measurements of high-speed PAM4 signals.
