Anritsu Corporation has released an FEC symbol capture function and bathtub test capability for its 116-Gb/s PAM4 error detector (ED) MU196040B. This offers more functionality for developers of 400-GbE*1 and 800-GbE*2 devices.
To support larger and faster transmissions, data centres, which are key infrastructure in 5G mobile networks, are investigating speed upgrades from the current 100 GbE*3 to 400 GbE and in future to 800GbE/1.6TbE standards.
PAM4*4 used in 400 GbE is easily affected by noise and transmission path losses, making it difficult to achieve the previous level of error-free transmissions and requiring use of FEC (Forward Error Correction*5) to correct generated errors and maintain transmission quality. To meet this need, Anritsu has added two new features to its MP1900A - the FEC symbol capture function to evaluate FEC-based network elements, and the PAM4 Bathtub*7 test capability.
The new MP1900A ED function determines if the errors can be corrected by FEC and starts capturing data streams only when the burst errors exceed the FEC uncorrectable threshold. From the captured data, a user can discover what kind of data steam caused the uncorrectable burst errors. The PAM4 bathtub test capability is available to evaluate and quantify the jitter phase margin.
The modular MP1900A running embedded Windows 10 can be expanded. As well as supporting 400-GbE and 800-GbE PAM4, it is a bit error rate tester for various high-speed interfaces, including PCI Express Gen5 and USB4, using a full line of modules and application software.
