• Keysight
    Keysight DCA-M

    Scoping Out 1.6-TB Optical Connectivity

    April 7, 2025
    Keysight’s DCA-M oscilloscope family pushes the bandwidth test envelope.
    Related To:
    Keysight
    Product: DCA-M Sampling Oscilloscope Data rate: Up to 120 Gbaud Bandwidth: 50 GHz Sampling rate: 250 kHz Jitter RMS: Under 90 fs Optical wavelengths: 750 to 1650 nm Noise: - 1 µW (optical) - 275 µV (electrical)Company: Keysight

    Product: DCA-M Sampling Oscilloscope
    Data rate: Up to 120 Gbaud
    Bandwidth: 50 GHz
    Sampling rate: 250 kHz
    Jitter RMS: Under 90 fs
    Optical wavelengths: 750 to 1650 nm
    Noise:

    • 1 µW (optical)
    • 275 µV (electrical)
    Company: Keysight

    Communication systems keep pushing the limits as optical has quickly evolved into an essential ingredient in their design. Technologies like expanded beam fiber-optic connectors are making high-speed optical connections more common. Moreover, silicon photonics is becoming a requirement to support artificial intelligence (AI) in the data center.

    Consequently, the ability to test these systems is important, which demands high-speed oscilloscopes like Keysight’s latest DCA-M Sampling Oscilloscope family (see figure). They're designed to take on the latest 1.6-TB optical transceivers. The 224-Gb/s sampling oscilloscopes can work with data rates up to 120 Gbaud. Available in single- and dual-input versions, they've been built with a host PC in mind, handling optical signal analysis up to 240 Gb/s/lane. The PC runs Keysight’s FlexOTO Optical Test software.

    The scopes incorporate integrated clock recovery support up to 120 Gbaud, eliminating the requirement to configure and route separate sub-rate signals. The test systems are designed to deliver high sensitivity with low jitter. Channel noise for optical connections is less than 1 µW and 275 µV for electrical connections. Jitter RMS is under 90 fs.

    >>For more about oscilloscopes, check out this TechXchange

    30131704 © Dreamstime.com
    This TechXchange is all about oscilloscopes, including their selection, techniques, and vendors.
    About the Author

    William G. Wong | Senior Content Director - Electronic Design and Microwaves & RF

    I am Editor of Electronic Design focusing on embedded, software, and systems. As Senior Content Director, I also manage Microwaves & RF and I work with a great team of editors to provide engineers, programmers, developers and technical managers with interesting and useful articles and videos on a regular basis. Check out our free newsletters to see the latest content.

    You can send press releases for new products for possible coverage on the website. I am also interested in receiving contributed articles for publishing on our website. Use our template and send to me along with a signed release form. 

    Check out my blog, AltEmbedded on Electronic Design, as well as his latest articles on this site that are listed below. 

    You can visit my social media via these links:

    I earned a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Masters in Computer Science from Rutgers University. I still do a bit of programming using everything from C and C++ to Rust and Ada/SPARK. I do a bit of PHP programming for Drupal websites. I have posted a few Drupal modules.  

    I still get a hand on software and electronic hardware. Some of this can be found on our Kit Close-Up video series. You can also see me on many of our TechXchange Talk videos. I am interested in a range of projects from robotics to artificial intelligence. 

    Email

    Continue Reading

    Sponsored Recommendations

    Comments

    To join the conversation, and become an exclusive member of Electronic Design, create an account today!