Anritsu tester conducts FEC evaluations on OTN transmission equipment

13 November 2003 Richardson, TX Lightwave -- Anritsu Co. has introduced the MP1590A Network Performance Tester, which it claims is the first single instrument capable of performing OTN, SDH/SONET, DS-n, and PDH analysis, as well as jitter and wander measurements, at multiple rates up to 10.7 Gbits/sec. Designed with a random error insertion function, the MP1590A performs Forward Error Correction (FEC) evaluations on ITU-T G.709 OTN transmission equipment at both the design and manufacturing stages.

A compact PCI card-based architecture provides numerous advantages, allowing users to configure the MP1590A to conduct performance testing from 1.5 Mbits/sec to 10.7 Gbits/sec for electrical, and 1310-nm to 1550-nm for optical signals. Previously, engineers could only perform these multi-bit rate measurements using a multiple-instrument test system, say Anritsu representatives. This flexible architecture is economical because users purchase testing capability only as they need it.

For OTN equipment, the MP1590A can provide performance and jitter testing of OTU-1 (2.66 Gbits/sec) and OTU-2 (10.71 Gbits/sec) in accordance with ITU-T G.709. Unique Poisson error insertion and variable optical output power functions enable it to perform accurate FEC evaluations. OTN unit functions can be tested by MP1590A error/alarm generation/detection capabilities.

Highly accurate jitter measurements can be performed with the MP1590A. In addition to generating and measuring jitter on SDH/SONET, OTU-1, and OTU-2, the MP1590A is the only instrument in its class with the ability to perform accurate 10-Gigabit Ethernet (10.3 GHz) jitter tests according to the ITU-T standard, contends the company. Measured results can be displayed in numeric value or graphs so that easy pass/fail tests can be conducted. A wide variety of mappings at 622 Mbits/sec, 2.5 Gbits/sec, and 10 Gbits/sec rates can be analyzed with the MP1590A.

The MP1590A external modulator option provides a unique solution for DWDM applications. OTN and SDH/SONET tests can be performed over a wide wavelength range when the MP1590A is used with an external tunable laser source. The MP1590A's waveform quality and low intrinsic jitter characteristics make it well suited as the reference optical source for jitter measurements in this configuration.

The MP1590A can output clock/frame synchronization signals to an external sampling oscilloscope, so the analyzer can evaluate errors/alarms while the oscilloscope simultaneously evaluates the input waveform. In this set up, the MP1590A derives the trigger from the received signal so that waveform analysis is possible for devices that do not have their own sync output.

According to Anritsu, the MP1590A is easy to operate and as much as 60% smaller and 30% lighter than competitive instruments. It is completely portable and based on standard Windows XP.