VIENNA, Austria – March 7, 2023 – Anritsu Corporation and KYOCERA Corporation have successfully completed the PCI Express® *1, *D 5.0 (PCIe® 5.0) optical transmission test using the Anritsu-R MP1900A signal quality analyzer and the on-board KYOCERA optical module. This world-first test*A converted a PCIe 5.0 electrical signal (32 Gbit/s transmission rate) into an optical signal using an optional endpoint card*2 (AIC).
Anritsu and KYOCERA will publicly repeat the test live at OFC2023 in San Diego, California, USA, from Tuesday, March 7 to Thursday, March 9, 2023. *B
*A: PCIe® 5.0 optical Transmission test (interviewed by Anritsu in September 2022).
*B: At booth No. 6309 of the cooperating manufacturer AIO Core.
Background of testing
Advanced value-added services such as 5G, IoT and cloud applications are spreading rapidly, creating unprecedented demand for higher data transfer speeds and large amounts of data. However, modern energy-intensive data centers face cost and sustainability challenges as data transfer speeds and throughput increase. This Anritsu/KYOCERA test converted an electrical signal into an optical one at an early stage by installing an integrated optical module, significantly reduced due to KYOCERA's multilayer ceramic technology, next to the host (MP1900A, simulating the processor output signal for testing purposes). The test confirmed that the converted to E/O signal was transmitted at a standard PCIe® 5.0 32 Gbit/s speed to an endpoint located 25 meters from the host. In addition, the successful optical signal transmission test has confirmed the potential of this technology to reduce data center power consumption by reducing signal loss. In the future, Ethernet will not be used to transmit the signal between servers due to power consumption and latency issues. Instead, the servers will use direct PCIe® connections. Next-generation data center operators using PCIe® optical signal transmission will benefit businesses by reducing power consumption and reducing latency.
Thanks to this successful testing, Anritsu and KYOCERA are helping to solve the emerging problems of tomorrow's digital society.
Demonstration scheme
The OFC2023 demonstration will feature the MP1900A from Anritsu, which simulates the operation of the central processor, and the KYOCERA integrated optics module when connecting equipment to the endpoint AIC. The points “a”-“d” in the figure below are explained as follows:
a. The PCIe® 5.0 electrical signal output from the MP1900A is converted to an optical signal by the integrated optical module before transmission. After optical transmission and re-conversion back to an electrical signal by an on-board optical module on the side of the endpoint 25 m away, the electrical signal is connected to the AIC.
b. The AIC switches to feedback mode using a signal transmitted through the built-in optical modules using the MP1900A Link Training function.
c. MP1900A receives feedback data from the AIC and confirms that the data is error-free.
d. The optical signal transmitted from the on-board optical module is split and sent to the MP2110A sampling oscilloscope from Anritsu for monitoring to ensure that the PCIe® 5.0 optical signal is transmitted correctly.
Anritsu-R MP1900A Signal Quality Analyzer Circuit
The MP1900A is a high-performance BERT*3 for Rx tests of high-speed computing and data interfaces, including PCIe®, USB, Thunderbolt™ and 400/800 GbE. The channel Learning State Machine (LTSSM*4) functions are supported by the industry's best PAM4*5/NRZ*6 PPG to produce high-quality signals, a highly sensitive ED input signal, a high-precision jitter generation source (SJ, RJ, SSC, BUJ) and a vertical noise generation source. (CM-I/DM-I*7 and white noise), facilitating various applications, including compliance tests and safety margin, as well as troubleshooting.
Anritsu BERTWave MP2110A circuit
The MP2110A 4-channel sampling oscilloscope with integrated CRU*8 is the ideal all-in-one solution for analyzing NRZ and PAM4 patterns of optical transceivers and 10G-800G devices. Combining a sampling oscilloscope and a CRU in one tester makes operation easier and saves space.
Diagram of the on-board optical module KYOCERA
Thanks to its miniature form factor, the integrated KYOCERA optical module facilitates installation next to the processor, which allows both converting electrical signals from the processor at the earliest possible stage and reducing wiring losses when sending/receiving electrical signals. Moreover, this KYOCERA product provides the world's first 512 Gbps*C data bandwidth, which helps data centers and supercomputers reduce power consumption and provide higher speeds and more bandwidth.
*C: PCIe® 5.0 product (interviewed by KYOCERA in September 2022).
*D: PCI Express® and PCIe® are registered trademarks of PCI-SIG.
Technical terms
*1 PCI Express®
A single bus standard for connecting computers and peripherals; standardized from Generation 1 to Generation 5 depending on the transfer rate.
*2 Additional cards
An endpoint expansion card (memory, network adapter, etc.) connected to a host with a processor, etc.
*3 BERT
The abbreviation for Bit Error Rate Tester is a test device for measuring the error rate of a digital signal.
*4 LTSSM
Short for State Machine channel learning state; state transition to control the channel state of a serial bus such as PCI Express® and USB.
*5 PAM4
Short for pulse-amplitude modulation; a transmission method controlled by a change in voltage amplitude (pulse height). The PAM4 transmits two bits of data in one time interval using four voltage levels.
*6 NRZ
An abbreviation for non-return to zero; one of the forms of digital signal transmission.
*7 CM-I, DM-I
CM-I: Abbreviation for common-mode interference; DM-I: Abbreviation for differential interference; noise added to the signal voltage.
*8 CRU
Short for clock recovery unit; a function for generating a trigger signal from an input data signal. Sampling oscilloscopes require the trigger signal to be synchronized with the data signal, but the CRU supports monitoring the waveform of the transmitting equipment without trigger signals.
