News

8 April 2009

 

Advanced Photonix joins Georgia Tech 100G Optical Networking Consortium

Through its subsidiary Picometrix LLC of Ann Arbor, MI, USA, Advanced Photonix Inc (which designs and makes silicon, InP- and GaAs-based photodetectors, subsystems, and terahertz instrumentation) says that it has become a supporting member of the Georgia Institute of Technology 100G Optical Networking Consortium, which was formed last month.

Picture: 100G Optical Networking Consortium co-director professor Stephen E. Ralph (foreground) together with Andrew Stark, Cheng Lin, Yu-Ting Hsueh, Ben Clarke, and Patrick Decker of research group.

 

In total, more than $2.2m in support has been designated for the facility by the consortium's founding research members ADVA Optical Networking, Ciena, OFS, and Verizon and by supporting members Avanex, IBM, Narda Microwave East, Nistica, Picometrix, and RSoft Design Group. Advanced Photonix, via Picometrix, already manufactures 40G high-speed optical receivers.

The consortium will conduct research including 100G fundamental transmission studies and component assessments for high-speed network infrastructure. The facility will use the complementary capabilities of industry personnel to support the facility and to conduct research. A variety of network architectures will be studied in support of the upcoming IEEE 100G standards for short-reach, client-side transport in the local-area network and future IEEE standards for short-reach transmission over laser-optimized, multi-mode fiber in data centers.

Located in Georgia Tech’s Technology Square Research Building, the facility’s new 100G test bed and supporting simulation capabilities enable independent evaluation of optical and electronic signal processing strategies, new modulation formats and receiver technologies, high-speed silicon CMOS-based electronics, and classical/modern forward error correction, all in realistic optical fiber transport and electronic transceiver environments.

Construction on the consortium’s 100G test bed started last July and was enabled by additional support from the Georgia Tech Office of the senior vice provost for Research and Innovation and the Georgia Research Alliance. The first test bed link, which will allow testing of new modulation concepts within a point-to-point link engineered for 10Gb/s systems, became fully functional last November. Two additional milestones, including the creation of a long-haul DWDM mesh network environment exceeding 1000km, are scheduled to be met by this July, when the facility will be fully functional.

“The creation of this consortium at Georgia Tech enhances the competitiveness of our member companies, creating job growth in this critical area of communications and networking,” says Stephen E. Ralph, the consortium’s director and a professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE). “The faculty of Georgia Tech is uniquely able to advance understanding in signal processing, high-speed circuits, and optical components and systems,” he adds. “This combination, together with the expertise of our industry researchers, will enable member companies to develop and demonstrate technical advantages and accelerate deployment of next-generation systems and services while simultaneously influencing the next-generation standards.”

Historically, networking infrastructure has migrated to systems with increased transmission capacity, allowing increased efficiency and the delivery of content-rich services, says Ralph. Advanced Photonix adds that a benefit of the consortium includes having industry leaders working together to support standards that may be implementable over the existing fiber infrastructure, leading to faster deployment of the new technology.

“This consortium is an excellent example of the industry and university collaboration necessary to develop and test the next-generation component technologies that will enable 100G optical transport on both the line side and client side,” says Picometrix’s president & general manager Robin Risser. “Close collaboration with consortium members will help accelerate our development and deployment of advanced 100G optical receivers,” he adds.

“We are also a principle member of the Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF), which promotes the development and deployment of interoperable networking solutions and services and provides feedback to worldwide standards organizations,” comments API’s CEO Richard (Rick) Kurtz.

Search: Advanced Photonix GaAs Photodetectors InP

Visit: www.advancedphotonix.com

Visit: www.picometrix.com