Tektronix Expands 100G Electrical Test Portfolio

By DE Editors

Tektronix announced an expansion of its portfolio of instrumentation and software to support designers working on the electrical side of 100Gbps communication systems. The introductions include the LE320, a two differential channel, 9-tap Linear Equalizer supporting data rates up to 32Gbps as part of a BERTScope receiver test system; new options for the PPG/PED multi-channel BERTs that provide signal impairments and output adjustment at data rates up to 32Gbps, as well as, a new 40Gbps error detector model; and Option CEI-VSR that automates the DSA8300 Sampling Oscilloscope to perform required compliance tests for the CEI-28G-VSRstandard.
 
According to the company, the LE320 provides test engineers with output signal conditioning and tunable input equalization to create an optimal system for testing four electrical channels operating at 25-28 Gbps each. The Sampling Oscilloscope Option CEI-VSR will ensure efficient and consistent compliance testing support so that design teams can smooth the transition to manufacturing.
 
“As 100G moves into the mainstream, we are providing two critical additions to our portfolio that address challenges in 4x25G electrical PHY testing for chips, gearboxes, transceivers and systems,” said Brian Reich, general manager, Performance Oscilloscopes, Tektronix. “For receiver testing we’ve enhanced our BERTScope with support for electronic channel modeling and equalization while adding 40 Gbps support to our multi-channel BERT. And for transmitter electrical testing we are providing designers with an automated solution for CEI-28G-VSR.”

The LE320 will support signal conditioning on data rates from 8Gbps to 32Gbps in a 9-tap design used to deliver the high-precision error rate testing required by 100G communication standards like CEI-28G-VSR.The remote head design of the LE320 enables designers to minimize cable length in their test system and avoid signal degradation issues which are significant at 25-28Gb/sec.

The PPG/PED line of multi-lane BERTs has now been enhanced to provide expanded jitter impairment capability, new output adjustment flexibility and higher speed error detection capability to better meet the requirement of these standards, the company says.
 
The extended range of jitter insertion options includes option HFJIT,  which now provides BUJ as well as RJ and SJ; and high amplitude/ low frequency PJ as part of new option LFJIT. Also introduced is option ADJ, which adds adjustable outputs with fast rise/fall time and low intrinsic jitter required for 32 Gbps multi-channel pattern generator applications. Data rate margin testing has been enhanced with the introduction of the new PED4000 series of error detector products capable of data rate of up to 40 Gbps, in one or two-channel configurations.
 
The Implementation Agreement for Optical Internetworking Forum Common Electrical Interface (OIF CEI) 3.0 specifies the tests and limits for devices based on OIF standards. CEI-28G-VSR is one of those standards and is intended for use in very short-reach electrical channels in pluggable optical transceivers.

By using Option CEI-VSR with a Tektronix DSA8300 Sampling oscilloscope,  design engineers can perform compliance measurements in less than five minutes, the company says. In addition, Option CEI-VSR can be used to determine the optimal value for CTLE peaking as required by the CEI-28G-VSR Host-to-Module interface specification. The best CTLE filter is chosen from a given set of filters and used to perform the measurement.
 
For more information, visit Tektronix.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.