30 January 2003 -- Combining Agilent's 86146B optical spectrum analyzer (OSA) with RSoft's LinkSIM optical communication system simulation software can reduce system test times "by orders of magnitude", the partners claim.
RSoft says that LinkSIM interfaces with the Agilent 86146B OSA to accurately predict optical link performance from time-resolved chip (TRC) measurements. After performing the TRC measurements, the measurement data is imported into LinkSIM where the optical link topology is specified with a graphical user interface and the component parameters are configured according to the system under study.
Simulation determines the system performance resulting from the measured TRC data. Various simulation results can be produced including signal waveforms, eye diagrams, frequency spectra, BER curves, dispersion penalties, and more.
Using LinkSIM, the effect of laser chirp on a variety of system performance metrics - such as the effect on the performance of a long-haul DWDM system with EDFA and Raman optical amplification and dispersion compensation - can be studied across a range of designs.