Alpine Optoelectronics demos Low Bit Error Rate in 50G and 100G QSFP28

At this week's “Big 5G event" in Denver, Alpine Optoelectronics will showcase the low Bit Error Rate (BER) capabilities of its 50G QSFP28 PAM4 optical modules designed to meet the 50GBASE-LR standard for 0 - 10km distance using the Novus 100 Gigabit Ethernet (GE) test platform from Ixia, a Keysight Business,

The demonstration will feature Alpine’s 50G QSFP28 pluggable optical bi-directional (BiDi) transceiver module which meets the 50GBASE-LR standard for 0 - 10km distance over a single strand of standard G.652 single mode optical fiber (SMF). KP4 Forward Error Correction (FEC) functionality is integrated into these transceivers giving network operators the ability to transition 4G network into 5G operations with the required increased bandwidth.

Alpine’s QSFP28 100GE and 50GE optical modules will be demonstrated live simulating real-world network conditions using Ixia’s Novus 100GE QSFP28 test platform. The Novus-W traffic generator will show line rate 50GE Ethernet traffic over 50GE QSFP28-LR BiDi and 100GE QSFP28-LR using KP4 FEC resulting in error-free packet transmission and reception.  The extended reach range of Alpine’s 100G QSFP28 ER4 Lite (30km without FEC, 40km with FEC) emphasizes the benefit of the built-in FEC of Alpine’s optical modules that have excellent BERs. The Novus multi-speed test platform was able to measure the pre-FEC BER to several orders of magnitude better than required by the IEEE 802.3bs standard for devices that support KP4 FEC.

Alpine said its next generation of 50G PAM4 and 100G ER4 transceivers are currently being deployed and tested in early 5G network implementation by Asian Operators. The BiDi module operates at 1270nm/1330nm and is available now in production volume. The product offers superior performance with significant low latency, high reliability and low cost.

“In the next generation 5G transport network, fronthaul and backhaul bandwidths will increase dramatically challenging transceiver performance. In addition, the midhaul layer is being added to the wireless transport network in some cases,” said Tongqing Wang, President and CEO of Alpine Optoelectronics. “Transceivers will play a critical role in supporting the increased performance required for reach, bit error rate (BER) and low latency associated with the standards proposed for 5G in the IMT2020 by the ITU’s Radiocommunication sector. Designed by our experienced team, Alpine Optoelectronics is developing innovative solutions based on PAM4, Coherent, and Silicon Photonics which address the connectivity needs of next-generation networks. We look forward to introducing products with single wavelength 100G module for hyperscale/cloud datacenters.”