Testing and Verification of 3rd-party Optical Transceivers

3rd-party fiber optic transceivers has now been perferable and widely used as optical transmission solutions. High quality and high performance compatible 3rd-party optical transceivers can meet your needs for your applications, such as Intel E10GSFPSR compatible 1000BASE-SX and 10GBASE-SR SFP+ transceiver, or Finisar Intel FTLX8571D3BCV-IT compatible 10GBASE-SR and 1000BASE-SX SFP+ transceiver, which are with high performance and can save you money at the same time. To ensure the compatibility of 3rd-party optical transceivers, they need to be carefully and thoroughly tested and verified. This post will talk about several testing and verification methods of 3rd-party optical transceivers.

Popularity of 3rd-Party Optical Transceivers

Nowadays, more and more companies or users prefer to choose 3rd-party optical transceivers. The increasing market demands for 3rd-party optical transceivers illustrate this point. An officially-branded transceiver and a 3rd-party plug has actually no big difference. As long as optical transceivers meet the same international standards, there is no question of compatibility between fiber optic transceiver modules. Most "third party" optical transceivers are made and assembled in exactly the same plants assembling officially-branded transceivers. The primary benefit of using third party optical transceivers is the cost savings. The difference in price often exceeds 80 percent or more. Cost of optical transceivers is a significant part of the total system expenditure. It is important for designers to minimize the cost. Significant savings brought by third party optical transceivers can enable designers to re-invest and make their designs better. This is why 3rd-party optical transceivers have been increasingly popular with users. The following picture shows an HP JD089B compatible 1000BASE-T SFP copper transceiver. It is fully compatible with HP devices.

Methods of Testing and Verification

Before inserting a 3rd-party optical transceiver module into your network, it is very necessary to test and verify that the 3rd-party optical transceiver module can function well and will not do any damage to your network. There are several methods to test and verify 3rd-party optical transceiver modules, but it is not always as easy as it seems. Here is what you need to know if you are considering testing and verifying 3rd-party optical transceiver modules.

1. Test Bit-Error Ratio: You must always operate within an acceptable bit-error ratio (BER) in a digital communication system. Whether you are testing an interface bus in a laptop computer or a telecommunications link, you have to follow this rule. Generally, in a digital communication system, it should be no more than one error in 1012 bits. If the desired BER is not reached, you should check the transmitter, or the receiver, or both.

2. Test Minimal Power Level and Jitter Level: A receiver needs to achieve a minimum power level to achieve the BER target. The level achieved will dictate the minimum allowed output power. Likewise, if the receiver can only achieve a certain level of jitter, this will be used to define the maximum amount of jitter that can be received from the transmitter without malfunctioning. Transmitter parameters may specify the wavelength and the output waveform shape.

3. Test Interoperability with a Worst-Case Transmitter: Network specifications should determine whether a worst-case transmitter will interoperate with a receiver. Transmitters should also have a signal sufficient enough to support the worst-case transceiver.

4. Verify Compliance with Multiple Samples: Several waveform samples are required to remain compliant. Sometimes, a larger population of waveform samples will provide an accurate assessment of transmitter performance. The oscilloscope will collect more data, but more samples will contribute to the increase of likelihood of mask violations. The results are either pass or fail, so it is important to acquire as many samples as possible to get an accurate assessment, which requires aligning the mask to the waveform.

5. Understand Instrumentation Effects: Keep in mind that any transceiver test can be skewed due to the oscilloscope's frequency response. You can achieve consistent results with a reference receiver. Most tests will use a fourth-order Bessel filter response, and the 3-dB bandwidth is at 75 percent of the data rate.

6. Consider Expanding Your Eye Mask: When you expand the eye mask, you can verify a compliant hit ratio. Only a small number of samples are capable of intersecting a mask. Most oscilloscopes will include a modified version of the classic eye-mask test. Once you have the desired number of samples, you can determine how far you can expand the mask. Each test will determine how far you can expand the mask before the mask hits to the total waveform exceeds the ratio.

Conclusion

Several methods to test and verify third-party optical transceiver modules are introduced above. Hope that they can help you avoid pitfalls, and assist you to test and verify your 3rd-party optical transceivers with ease. It is a necessary step to test and verify third-party optical transceiver modules before using them in a network.

Introduction to 10/100/1000BASE-T SFP Module

The SFP transceiver modules are hot-pluggable I/O devices that plug into module sockets. The transceiver connects the electrical circuitry of the module with the optical or copper network. There are many choices of SFP modules. You may see an SFP module labeled as 10/100/1000BASE-T SFP. As we know, 1000BASE-T is a standard for Gigabit Ethernet over copper wiring. How about 10/100/1000BASE-T SFP module? What is a 10/100/1000BASE-T SFP module? In this post, a brief introduction about 10/100/1000BASE-T SFP module will be given.

Overview

The 10/100/1000BASE-T SFP small form-factor pluggable (SFP) transceiver is based on the SFP Multi Source Agreement (MSA). It is a copper SFP supporting 10/100/1000BASE-T copper Ethernet standards. It is compatible with the Gigabit Ethernet and 1000BASE-T standards as specified in IEEE 802.3z and 802.3ab. 10/100/1000BASE-T electrical SFP transceivers use an integrated RJ-45 connector with transformer and PHY IC. The link length is up to 100m over four pair Category 5 UTP cabling. With the hot pluggability, the module offers a flexible and easy way to be installed into SFP MSA compliant ports at any time without the interruption of the host equipments operating online. Besides, this 10/100/1000Mbps SFP transceiver operates at wide temperature ranges and provides high performance. It is ideal for full-duplex Gigabit Ethernet connectivity to high-end workstations and wiring closets utilizing existing copper network infrastructure. And it provides a convenient way to add a copper connection to an SFP type switch that would typically be used for fiber SFPs. Picture below shows a Juniper EX-SFP-1GE-T SFP copper transceiver. It is a 10/100/1000BASE-T copper SFP, which is compliant with the Gigabit Ethernet standard as specified in IEEE STD 802.3 and can fully satisfy the 10/100/1000BASE-T application.

Key Features

• Compliant with SFP Multi-Source Agreements standards (MSA)
• 10/100/1000 Mbps Auto-Negotiation
• Up to 1.25Gbps bidirectional data links
• Hot-pluggable SFP footprint
• Fully metallic enclosure for low EMI
• Low power dissipation
• Compact RJ-45 connector assembly
• Access to physical layer IC via 2-wire serial bus
• 10/100/1000 BASE-T operation in host systems with SGMII interface
• Link length up to 100m with four pair UTP cabling

Applications

10/100/1000BASE-T SFP modules are extremely versatile, working with many equipment that support the SFP type of interface: Ethernet switches, routers and any other networking equipment. They support 10/100/1000 Mbps data-rate in excess of 100 meters and are ideally suited for implementing small form-factor Network Interface Cards (NICs) and uplinks. As such, it is highly appropriate for use in such high-density applications as LAN 10/100/1000BASE-T Fiber Channel, Gigabit Ethernet LAN switch applications, Gigabit Ethernet media converters, switch-to-switch interfaces, switch to switch SerDes interface, switch to switch SGMII interface, switched backplanes, gaming devices, router/server interfaces and other optical transmission systems.

Conclusion

Fiberstore offers a wide variety of SFP modules (T, TX, SX, LX, ZX, CWDM, DWDM and BiDi) to meet your requirements, for example, Meraki MA-SFP-1GB-TX compatible 1000BASE-TX SFP copper transceiver, and HP JD089B compatible 1000BASE-T SFP copper transceiver. Our SFP modules have been tested and guaranteed 100% compatible with various Ethernet switches from major manufacturers like Cisco, HP, Nortel, Extreme, or Netgear. Fiberstore optics are thoroughly tested and are subject to an extensive qualification process before being considered certified to work in modules and switches.

SFP Transceivers for Gigabit Ethernet Applications

SFP, small form-factor pluggable, a hot-swappable input/output device plugs into a Gigabit Ethernet port or slot. It is a popular industry format jointly developed and supported by many network component vendors. SFP transceivers have a wide variety of transmitter and receiver types, which allows users to select the appropriate transceiver for their link needs. Several different categories of SFP modules will be introduced in this article.

1000BASE-SX SFP for Multimode Fibers

The 1000BASE-SX SFP, compatible with the IEEE 802.3z 1000BASE-SX standard and SFP Multi-Source Agreement (MSA) standards, is a cost effective transceiver module with a wavelength of 850nm which supports data rates of up to 1.25 Gbps. It operates on 50/125μm multimode fiber links up to 550m and on 62.5/125μm multimode fiber links up to 300m. It also can support up to 1km over laser-optimized 50μm multimode fiber cable. Its electrical interface is compliant with SFF-8431. And it supports Digital Diagnostic Monitoring (DDM). The following is a picture of TRENDnet TEG-MGBSX compatible 1000BASE-SX SFP transceiver.

1000BASE-LX/LH SFP for Both Multimode and Singlemode Fibers

The 1000BASE-LX/LH SFP, compatible with the IEEE 802.3z 1000BASE-LX standard, is similar with the other SFP transceivers in basic working principle and size. 1000BASE-LX/LH SFP can be used for both single-mode and multi-mode. It is single-mode by design, but when it gets together with its friend "mode conditioning patch cable", it can also be used for multi-mode application. It operates on standard singlemode fiber optic link spans of up to 10km and up to 550m on multimode fibers. 1000BASE-LX/LH SFP transceiver is a high performance 1310nm transceiver for singlemode fibers. It supports dual data-rate of 1.25 Gbps/1.0625 Gbps. 1000BASE-LX/LH SFP transceiver is commonly applied for Gigabit Ethernet links, Fiber Channel Switch Infrastructure and other optical transmission systems. The following picture shows a Cisco SFP-GE-L compatible 1000BASE-LX/LH SFP transceiver module.

1000BASE-EX SFP for Long-Reach Singlemode Fibers

The 1000BASE-EX SFP operates on standard single-mode fiber-optic link spans of up to 40 km in length. An inline optical attenuator should be inserted between the fiber optic cable and the receiving port on the SFP at each end of the link for back-to-back connectivity.

1000BASE-ZX SFP for Long-Reach Single-Mode Fibers

1000BASE-ZX SFP supports link length of up to 80km on single mode fiber at 1Gbps. The precise link span length depends on multiple factors such as fiber quality, number of splices, and connectors. This optic works at 1550nm wavelength and uses an LC connector.

1000BASE-T SFP for Copper Networks

1000Base-T is an extension of standard Ethernet technologies to gigabit-level network speeds. 1000BASE-T SFP operates on four pairs of the commonly installed category 5 unshielded twisted pair (UTP) cable or enhanced category 5 cabling version of UTP cabling of link lengths up to 100m. The following picture shows an HP JD089B compatible 1000BASE-T SFP transceiver.

Summary

SFP transceivers are designed to support SONET, gigabit Ethernet, Fibre Channel, and other communications standards. Each optical interface operates and is managed like a fixed port but gives the customer flexibility to hot-swap or interchange to different optical module types. There is a number of 1000 BASE SFP optics from Fiberstore that are available depending on the customer application and distance capability required. Each optical interface operates and is managed like a fixed port but gives the customer flexibility to hotswap or interchange to different optical module types. Fiberstore optics are thoroughly tested and are subject to an extensive qualification process.