SHF selects Southern Photonics’ OMA to validate optical transmitter performance

SHF Communications Technologies AG, a manufacturer of high-end bit error rate test and optical transmitter systems, has selected Southern Photonics’ IQScope optical modulation analyzer (OMA) to aid in the development and validation of their high-performance optical signal transmitter systems.

“We’ve explored and tested various OMA systems on the market, and only Southern Photonics IQScope offered the perfect mix of high bandwidth and flexibility,” said Dr. Thomas Lee, technology advisor at SHF. “With the IQScope, we are now able to accurately characterize bandwidth demanding modulation formats such as 28-GBaud/s RZ-16QAM, while utilizing our existing oscilloscope inventories.”

SHF develops and manufactures high-end RF electronic components and testing instruments such as bit error rate testers (BERTs) and optical transmitters and receivers. Previously, SHF has been relying on direct detection measurements to validate the performance of their optical transmitters, but the evolution of data modulation formats to complex schemes such as quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) and quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) meant that customers are demanding more in-depth quality metrics such as error vector magnitude (EVM), which direct detection techniques cannot provide.

The Southern Photonics IQScope is an add-on OMA coherent receiver and works with widely deployed equivalent-time oscilloscopes to bring what Southern Photonics asserts is a unique set of advantages such as high bandwidth, finer granularity of measurement, and a lower noise floor (see "Southern Photonics launches optical modulation analyzer aimed at R&D").

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