Test and Measurement

Network test specialist EXFO has released the FTBx-5255 Optical Spectrum Analyzer (OSA) for field applications to meet the live network testing needs of telecom service providers, internet content providers and network equipment manufacturers all under pressure to deliver flawless services to a high-speed, data-hungry market.

The M8040A from Keysight Technologies is a highly integrated 64Gbaud bit error ratio tester (BERT) that makes it easier for engineers in validation labs and R&D to perform physical layer characterisation of receivers for emerging 400G data centre interfaces.

R&D and validation labs that need to characterise high-speed receivers are facing new test challenges, such as tighter timing margins, channel loss, non-linearity, level interference and crosstalk effects. Test efficiency and accuracy are essential, and that’s where the M8040A shines, according to Keysight.

Optical fibre manufacturers can quickly assess the geometry of any optical fibre with a new high-speed automated measuring system from Arden Photonics.

Designed for production and R&D environments, the FGC-G range delivers repeatable, operator-independent results in less than 10 seconds. The comprehensive measurement capability for end-face geometries includes core diameter, core non-circularity, cladding diameter, cladding non-circularity and core-to-cladding concentricity.

EXFO has added baseband unit (BBU) emulation technology recently acquired from Absolute Analysis to the FTB-1 Pro portable test platform. This BBU emulation technology has already been approved and adopted by a North American Tier 1 mobile network operator, the company says.

Test and measurement specialist OptoTest wants to make sure its customers are aware of a pending update to the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) FOTP-171 standard for testing short-length multimode graded-index and singlemode fibre cable assemblies.

Anritsu has introduced the MP1900A signal quality analyser, a next-generation bit-error rate test (BERT) platform designed to meet the test and measurement requirements driven by cloud and data centre operators.

The new instrument is the successor to the MP1800A, which has been on the market since 2007. Back then telecom operators and carriers called the shots. Now the data centre and storage vendors are moving the market in new directions and influencing test requirements at all levels in the value chain, from operators through to the chip and module manufacturers.

The OFC 35SF from Nextrom is an axial tension proof testing system designed to test the strength of speciality optical fibres in accordance with international standards.

Developed from the test system for standard diameter fibres, the specialty fibre test system incorporates extended tension ranges for tensile testing and large diameter integrated bending wheels to test fibre strength in eight directions. This provides a highly accurate test system where the resolution is maintained by using multiple tension gauges for different test ranges.

Test and measurement vendor Viavi Solutions has announced availability of the SmartClass Fiber MPOLx optical loss test set, which is tailored for contractors inspecting enterprise and data centre cabling systems using ribbon fibre with multi-fibre push on (MPO) connectors.

The company says the MPOLx is the industry’s first dedicated optical loss test set that can perform all MPO Tier 1 (basic) test and certification requirements, including tests for length, optical loss, polarity and inspect fibre end-face condition.

AFL has released two new optical time-domain (OTDR) modules for its Rogue modular test platform: the RG-2100 Quad 850/1300 multimode plus 1310/1550 nm singlemode OTDR and the RG-2100 Dual 1310/1500 singlemode OTDR. The new modules are ideal for verifying the installation of singlemode and multimode fibre networks.

Both modules may be installed in either the ROGUE compact cB1 base or the Rogue intelligent iB1 base. Both include integrated visual fault locator (VFL) and are available with optional integrated optical light source (OLS) and optical power meter (OPM).

EXFO has launched the FTB-740C-CWDM, a tunable optical time domain reflectometer (OTDR) module designed for its handheld FTB-1 platform, which enables technicians to test all 18 ITU-defined CWDM channels without having to swap modules.

This capability will be speed up network testing for cable multiple-service operators (MSOs) and contractors, who will always have the CWDM wavelength required for characterising their network through multiplexers and demultiplexers (mux/demux).