Fujitsu Demonstrates Ultra-High-Speed Short-Reach Data Transmission Based on Multi-level Signaling and Advanced ADC/DAC Technology

Oct 22, 2012 18:00 JST

Source: Fujitsu Ltd

SINGAPORE, Oct 22, 2012 - (ACN Newswire) - Fujitsu Semiconductor Asia Pte Ltd (FSAL) has demonstrated the transmission of >100Gbps over a single CEI-28G-VSR channel, effectively quadrupling the data rate throughput defined by the Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) for this chip-to-chip electrical interface. This serves as a benchmark for what can be achieved over short-reach electrical channels using the same field-proven CMOS converter technology deployed in long-haul optical transport systems today.

Key to the study is a comparison of the relative advantages and disadvantages of PAM (Pulse-amplitude Modulation) encoding versus DMT (Discrete Multi-Tone) over this particular channel. The test and demonstration platform is based on the test chips and evaluation boards for the family of 40nm, 65GSps CMOS converters ("LEIA" DAC for transmit and "LUKE" ADC for receive).

Ever increasing demand for higher data transmission rates

The need for faster interconnects and higher port densities within data centers is driving the requirement for higher short-reach transmission rates across boards, through backplanes and between servers. However, there are fundamental challenges in designing short-range interconnect over 30Gbps across even short traces. Here, the limit of efficient signal propagation using standard materials is reached.

Equally, in optical transport networks, increased data traffic is pushing up the speeds required at the core of the network. This is driving the need for higher data rates in metro networks where cost, power and flexibility are key requirements. Over the last few years, the use of coherent detection in long-haul transport links enabled greater performance and flexibility of design by harnessing the capabilities of digital signal processing, enabled by high-speed converters; all built in standard CMOS technologies.

As the market moves forward, the expectation is that the same approach will be needed to transport 100Gbps (and higher) data rates over a few 10's of kilometers of fiber.

Multi-level signalling allows for higher scalability and flexibility

In both cases, the use of multi-level signalling or multi-carrier encoding will enable transmission of higher data rates. For short-reach electrical interconnect, the motivation will be to increase the data throughput over the same link. For short-reach metro links, the motivation will be to reduce cost and total system power by maintaining a low signalling frequency (e.g., 10GBaud) and using encoding to transmit more bits/symbol over less expensive optics.

The range of potential application spaces where multi-level signalling may apply is very wide; anything from a few centimetres between chips and modules to several hundred meters across a data centre to a few kilometers. The common theme is that some form of non-binary signalling would allow for a much more scalable and flexible approach and is viable as long as the power/Gbps is low enough.

About Fujitsu Semiconductor Asia Pte Ltd (FSAL)

Fujitsu Semiconductor Asia Pte Ltd was established as the Asia Pacific Headquarters of Fujitsu Limited Electronic Devices Group in 1986. It provides support, sales and marketing of semiconductors and electronic devices to the Asia Pacific region, including India and Oceania. Fujitsu Semiconductor Asia offers a wide and varied product range such as ASIC, ASSPs, Microcontrollers / Microprocessors (FR-V), System Memory (FRAM / FCRAM) and System LSIs (DVB MPEG/H.264 Source Decoders, MPEG-2/H.264 Encoders). For more information, please see: http://sg.fujitsu.com/semiconductor.

Contact:

Sweety Rajpal (Ms)
Corporate Planning & Communications
Fujitsu Semiconductor Asia Pte Ltd
Tel: +91 120 454 1110
E-mail:fsal.marcom@sg.fujitsu.com

Julian Chow
Text 100 Pte Ltd
Tel: +65 6603 9025 
Tel: +65 6603 9010 
E-mail:Julian.chow@text100.com.sg

Source: Fujitsu Ltd