All-in-one tester homes in on triple-play PONs
Anritsu has high hopes for its MT9080 ACCESS Master series of "all-in-one" testers for field troubleshooting of optical metro and access networks. The Japanese vendor claims that ACCESS Master is the industry's first suite of products to combine, as standard, the three necessary functions for construction, installation and maintenance of optical-fibre links: an OTDR; a light source for fibre identification; and
optical power measurement. The MT9080 series can identify fault locations on in-service PONs; the key is an out-of-band 1650 nm laser that does not affect live triple-play applications.
www.eu.anritsu.com
Multifunctional OTDR evaluates port quality
The latest version of the OptiFiber Certifying OTDR from Fluke Networks, US now incorporates a raft of additional functionality, including OTDR port-quality check, trace overlay and easy 250x/400x magnification set-up. The automated port-quality check, for example, warns the user when the OTDR port is dirty or contaminated. "Dirty port connections are a problem with most OTDRs," notes Fluke. "Users may be spending hours trying to find a problem in the link, when the problem is really in the OTDR port."
Fluke claims that fibre-endface inspection is simplified with the 250x/400x toggle feature, which can quickly change the OptiFiber set-up to match the setting of the dual-magnification video probe. The user can see the detail of a fibre core at 400x and then, with the roll of a thumbwheel, quickly change to 250x to see more of the endface. Meanwhile, the trace overlay feature allows the user to see multiple OTDR traces at the same time, such that traces between multiple fibres in a bundle can be compared against each other for obvious anomalies. The maximum range for multimode is extended to 7000 m at 1300 nm and to 3000 m at 850 nm. For singlemode, maximum range is increased to 20 km at both 1310 nm and 1550 nm.
www.flukenetworks.com/optifiberv1.8
Active and passive test for Fibre Channel SANs
A multi-application protocol-analysis module for 4 Gbit/s Fibre Channel storage-area networks is now available from Agilent Technologies, US. By combining active test (traffic generation) and passive test (protocol analysis) in the same module, the Agilent 1735A is said to decrease the complexity of the test environment, saving up to 30% on capital expenditure and test costs. Configured as a protocol analyser, the platform includes two independent full-duplex analysis subsystems, each one able to capture relevant information through an intuitive multibranch triggering and filtering sequencer. Time correlation is provided between all of the analysers, enabling multiport, system-level measurement.
The product is a companion to the Agilent N2X multiservices tester for converging network infrastructures, combining routing, switching, transport and storage testers into an integrated solution. Configured as an active tester, the 1735A enables Fibre Channel traffic generation at wire speeds of 1-4 Gbit/s, with allowances for any combination of data, error, link, fabric control and fabric services test.
www.agilent.com/find/fctester
Simulation to enhance VCSEL design cycles
RSoft Design Group, US, has unveiled a mixed-level simulation-software tool created in collaboration with Agilent Technologies, the US manufacturer of fibre-optic transceiver modules for telecoms/datacoms markets. The platform allows direct extraction of the parameters of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) from one level to the next. The software was created by interfacing RSoft's system-level OptSim 4.0 and active-device-level LaserMOD 2.0 simulation platforms.
Designers can now simulate new devices, examine their performance in a system and export equivalent circuit models for use with SPICE3, PSpice, ADS, Virtuoso Spectre and HSpice without the costly delay of calibrating and fitting incompatible models. According to a joint press statement, "This comprehensive design and simulation solution meets Agilent's stringent requirements for an end-to-end design flow for VCSELs and VCSEL-based optical interconnect solutions."
www.rsoftdesign.com
Tunable laser ensures 'outstanding stability'
German ultrafast components specialist u2t Photonics has introduced a 1310 nm tunable mode-locked laser for applications in optical sampling or transmission set-ups. The 10 GHz pulsed source allows users to adjust the repetition rate between 9.8 and 10.8 GHz, while the pulse width is lower than 1.5 ps. Housed in the same compact package as the widely used 1550 nm version, the easy-to-use source provides a wavelength tuning range of 80 nm (typical). According to the specification sheet, the laser's "outstanding stability in operation makes it well suited for reliable BER measurements, and its low RMS jitter down to 50 fs allows the generation of pulses for data rates as high as 160 Gbit/s when used in combination with an optical multiplexer". The product is available now; order code is TMLL1310.
www.u2t.com
Media converters cope in harsh environments
A new line of bulkhead media converters (BMCs) for military and other harsh-environment applications is now available from US component manufacturer Stratos Lightwave. Housed completely within an industry-standard bulkhead connector, the BMCs accept a standard optical signal (such as Fast Ethernet) and convert it to an industry-standard signal such as IEEE802.3u (100BT). The devices handle both the optical-to-electrical and the full physical-layer conversion. Stratos claims the converters reduce the engineer's overall design burden by removing all "inside-the-box" fibre management.
The converter family consists of a number of standard options, including Gigabit Ethernet and Fast Ethernet media conversion using the RJ-45 interface connection. Other variations include Ethernet MII or GMII ribbon-cable interfaces, and 1x/2x Fibre Channel transceivers with a ribbon-cable interface on the electrical side. Maximum optical link distance is 2 km for Fast Ethernet and 550 m for Gigabit Ethernet. BMCs are available for either 62.5/125 or 50/125 μm multimode fibre, and can be equipped with one to four optical channels in various combinations of simplex and duplex configurations.
www.stratoslightwave.com
InP-based modulators are a compact solution
The Centre for Integrated Photonics, UK, has launched a range of indium-phosphide-based electroabsorption modulators for single-wavelength or DWDM applications at 40 and 10 Gbit/s. One of the key specifications of the EAM design is low insertion loss: figures of 4.5 dB or 4 dB (typical) for the 40 Gbit/s and 10 Gbit/s variants respectively provide good power margins for system design.
The 40 Gbit/s version (40G-SR-EAM) offers a bandwidth of 32 GHz (typical) for error-free transmission; the drive voltage is just 2.9 V. The device is offered in a compact package with a K-connector or in chip-on-carrier form. Variants of the 40G-SR-EAM are available for use in either the 1550 or 1300 nm bands. The 10 Gbit/s version (10G-LR-EAM) offers a bandwidth of 10 GHz (minimum) and a drive voltage of 2.9 V. It is suitable for 1550 nm applications transmitting over uncompensated links up to 100 km.
www.ciphotonics.com
Efficiency is everything in holographic gratings
Wasatch Photonics, US, has unveiled a new family of volume phase holographic diffraction gratings, which it claims provide superior performance thanks to their high dispersion capability, high efficiencies for both polarization modes, wide bandwidth, low losses and rugged design and packaging (including hermetic sealing and small form factors). Operating in transmission mode, the gratings are suitable for applications in DWDM, spectrum analysis and laser-cavity tuning. Last summer, Wasatch was granted US Patent 6 750 995, entitled "Enhanced volume phase grating with high dispersion, high diffraction efficiency and low polarization sensitivity". The patent covers variations of the E-VPG concept, including those using prisms.
www.wasatchphotonics.com
Ethernet-over-SDH: it's a matter of intelligence
RAD Data Communications, Israel, is rolling out a family of intelligent converters for Fast Ethernet-over-SDH/SONET applications. Ramon Horkany, product line manager at RAD, explained: "Since much of today's access to SDH/SONET networks is over lower-speed PDH tributaries, the RICi-E1 and RICi-T1 converters give carriers an easy and inexpensive solution for offering Fast Ethernet services immediately, over current-generation SDH/SONET backbones." The RICi devices forward packets from a 10/100BaseT Ethernet port to the TDM network over a G.703 E1 or T1 uplink at wire speed, ensuring that these expensive TDM circuits are fully utilized.
www.rad.com