Anritsu To Demonstrate Complete PAM4 Signal Simulation System At ECOC 2013

PAM (Pulse Amplitude Modulation) is one of the most promising techniques under development by telecoms equipment manufacturers and component suppliers as they strive to meet customers’ requirements for data rates as high as 100Gbps in the backplane and in server-to-server connections.

Anritsu’s demonstration system implements PAM4 modulation in a signal simulation on the Anritsu MP1800A signal quality analyser (SQA) alongside Anritsu’s new MZ1834A PAM4 converter.  Signal analysis is implemented through LeCroy’s 65GHz LabMaster Scope.

This system may be used by R&D engineers to verify the transmission capabilities of various media – including even copper cable for very short links – providing for multi-level signal generation with an adequate opening in each level’s eye. To achieve this, it is essential that the original signals be of high quality, with quick rise/fall times and low jitter, and that the SQA be capable of managing channel synchronization on generation, while offering inter-channel skew control. R&D engineers also need to tune the multiple eye openings in the resulting signal, a feature that should be provided by the SQA.

The provision of multi-level signal generation for PAM testing is best achieved by adding dedicated modules which offer a complete array of pre-set coupled connections, allowing engineers to simply input multiple electrical differential signals and get out a high-quality, multi-level PAM output signal. Anritsu’s demonstration system shows how this capability can be provided by combining the MZ1834A PAM4 converter with the MP1800A SQA. Anritsu will also soon offer the MZ1838A, a PAM8 converter supporting a three-channels modulation compared with the MZ1834A’s two channels.

At ECOC 2013, Anritsu will also be demonstrating DP-QPSK modulation for high-speed backhaul applications, a 100GbE optical test laboratory, and the MT908x Access Master OTDR.

Alessandro Messina, Business Development Director for optical test instruments at Anritsu, said: ‘The quality of the simulated signal is a key factor in the successful verification of new transmission techniques such as PAM4 and PAM8 modulation. Anritsu’s PAM4 demonstration at ECOC shows how a high-quality signal generation system can help R&D engineers to reduce the effort and time required to implement a test set-up for backplanes running at up to 100Gbps.