Product category:
Stand-Alone Instruments
News Release from: Advantest (Europe) | Subject: Q8331
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 19 March 2002
Wavelength meter covers all fibre types
Advantest has developed a new multi-wavelength meter aimed at the growing market for DWDM (dense wavelength division multiplexing) backbone and metropolitan area networks.
Advantest has developed a new multi-wavelength meter aimed at the growing market for DWDM (dense wavelength division multiplexing) backbone and metropolitan area networks Designed for use in both R and D and production, the Q8331 enables quick and accurate simultaneous measurements of the emission wavelengths and power levels of up to 300 DWDM channels One of the ways in which optical engineers have been working to respond to the explosive growth in data traffic is by using DWDM to increase the number of transmission channels available within optic fibres
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 11 May 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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As a result, the latest DWDM systems now possess a capacity of up to 256 such channels.
By raising this number, however, engineers are forced to narrow the spacing between adjacent channels, making it easier for neighbouring pulses to interfere with each other.
Thus, it becomes vital that engineers check and tune the wavelengths and power levels of individual channels to ensure that they are in exact compliance with specifications such as the ITU-T grid - a set of channels that are spaced at a set interval established by the International Telecommunication Union.
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Building on the high standard established by the company's previous offering, the Q8331 provides improved measuring accuracy, a faster measurement time of approximately 0.5s (twice the speed of conventional systems), and the ability to simultaneously measure a maximum of 300 channels.
Optical engineers will also find that the Q8331 makes it easier to monitor and tune wavelengths because its standard LCD display gives them the choice of viewing either actual wavelength fluctuations or their numerical equivalents.
Another feature that will ease the burden of testing is the Q8331's pass/fail function, which will enable users to determine whether channel deviation (also known as drift) and other wavelength characteristics comply with the ITU-T grid - all without having to perform any complicated operations.
The Q8331 is also well suited for measuring the gain, or amplification factor, of DWDM optical fibre amplifiers because it has a low gain flatness of +/-0.2dB.
The Q8331 has a measurable wavelength range that runs from 1270 to 1680nm (covering the full applicable wavelength range of current optical fibres) and a measurement accuracy of +/-1ppm, a significant improvement on the +/-2ppm accuracy provided by the company's previous offering.
To further ensure measurement precision, the Q8331 has embedded temperature and atmospheric pressure sensors, which monitor changes in the surrounding test environment and compensate wavelength readings accordingly.
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