Socionext communications semiconductors used in 38.4-Tbps field trial

Communications semiconductor startup Socionext says it supplied digital-to-analog (DAC) and analog-to-digital (ADC) converters featuring sampling rates up to 92 GSa/s that were used in the coherent receivers and transmitters in the recently announced 38.4-Tbps optical transmission field trial over part of Orange's fiber-optic network (see "Orange sends 38.4 Tbps over 762 km").

Socionext was part of a team under the European Celtic-Plus SASER (Safe and Secure European Routing) project funded jointly by the BMBF (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung) and DGE (Direction Générale des Entreprises), and supported by the IDEALIST project (Industry-Driven Elastic and Adaptive Lambda Infrastructure for Service and Transport Networks). Other team members included Coriant (which supplied the optical transmission and transport technology; see "Coriant CloudWave Optics promises flexible optical transport, greater reach") as well as Ekinops and Keopsys (who paired on the amplification technology.

The trial saw the testing of a variety of modulation formats and data rates in the C-Band, including 24x1 Tbps via DP-16QAM, 32x1 Tbps via DP-32QAM, and 32x1.2 Tbps via DP-64QAM. The 762-km reach for such high-order modulation formats was a record, the participants assert. For example, 762 km is more than twice the reach of any previous field trial for 32QAM, and the 64QAM optical transmission was the first of its kind.

Socionext says the converters, designed and developed by Socionext Network SoC Business Unit, leverage a standard 28-nm CMOS technology. The converters cover a broad sampling range and the maximum sampling rate of 92 GSa/s, as well as offering high effective resolution and analog bandwidth characteristics, greater than 20 GHz, the company asserts.

"We are excited to be able to contribute again to a world record in optical transport with our advanced ADC and DAC technology. Our third and fourth generation DAC and ADC IP optimized for network applications will help system vendors to address the exponential growth of global and metropolitan internet traffic" said Manfred Mettendorff, senior director with Socionext Europe. "Having already supported the launch of the leading 100-Gbit, 200-Gbit, and 400-Gbit technology, we are confident that highly power efficient, economic single-chip terabit systems are also within reach."

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