New features to proven optical test system address market needs for innovative tests of 10 Gbit/s network elements and systems
Tektronix has announced significant additions and enhancements to its family of modular optical test systems.
Optical equipment manufacturers are delivering dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) products to pack more channels into installed fibre cables.
This tighter channel spacing adds revenue-producing capacity to existing optical networks, but requires closer tolerances and improved test methods, for design and manufacturing of optical components, elements and systems.
To meet these customer requirements, new cards for the Tektronix OTS9100 series provide a number of innovative features, including the industry's first fully integrated wavelength selectable 10 gigabit-per-second (Gbit/s) test system.
The resulting flexibility enables customers to assemble cost-effective test system configurations that speed the design and production of high-capacity 10Gbit/s products.
"Tektronix is enabling innovative solutions that fuel growth in the optical market. Today, that means increasing productivity, lowering costs, and providing accurate, repeatable results that speed the delivery of cost-effective next-generation products", said Rick King, vice president, optical business, Tektronix: "Previously, 10 Gbit/s transmission testers operated over a single, fixed wavelength, and their use in DWDM systems required a complex set of external devices and numerous laser sources.
With the OTS9100 series the wavelength can be selected.
This new capability enables manufacturers to significantly reduce test system cost and test setup time for both design and manufacturing of higher-capacity optical elements for network operators." Laser interface card enables increased throughput and reduced cost: The additions to the OTS9100 series include an innovative external laser port, which accepts stimulus signals from the OTS9600 Series tunable laser, making it possible to test many wavelengths or channels (as used in DWDM technology) with a single tunable laser, rather than multiple lasers, with just one insertion/removal cycle to the device under test.
For cost-conscious equipment manufacturers, this results in a tremendous savings in both equipment cost and reduced setup time. The external port's compatibility is not limited to Tektronix laser sources, such as those available with the OTS9600 series.
The port makes it possible for users to take advantage of existing laser sources and connect them with all the test capabilities of the OTS product family.
This frees manufacturers from the need to purchase, qualify, and calibrate new equipment when they already own lasers in the wavelengths they need.
In addition to the external laser port, the new optics cards add dual receiver electrical outputs, which permit simultaneous bit-error-rate testing, jitter analysis, or physical layer analysis with appropriate instruments; and increased receiver signal sensitivity, which provides more reliable measurements at real-world power levels and more.
