18 September 2012

Avago enhances Versatile Link POF product family, integrating digital driver and receiver logic

Avago Technologies has announced the latest product enhancements to its Versatile Link plastic optical fiber (POF) product family.  This product platform has become a widely adopted solution for industrial communications and control links for industrial applications.

Avago says that its POF products offer infinite voltage isolation and electromagnetic interference (EMI) immunity performance that far exceeds what can be achieved with traditional copper cable standards. POF cable solutions can weigh up to 75% less then copper cables, while providing similar or greater performance with a 50% tighter bend radius at comparable cost.

“The enhanced Versatile Link POF product family is already an industry-standard for robust industrial communications,” says Bernd Luecke, director of marketing for Avago Industrial Fiber Optic Products in Regensburg, Germany. “The enhancements Avago has released now give designers more capability to integrate their designs and achieve lower cost without compromising on performance or circuit isolation,” he adds.

Designed for robust industrial networking applications, communication over POF offers benefits versus copper-based implementations. Since optical fiber has no metal in its construction, the communication link has infinite isolation between nodes at the same time and, since light is used to transmit the signals, there are no effects from or creation of EMI on the transmission line. 

The firm says that there are additional challenges of copper cables caused by the longer assembly time and labor costs due to the steps needed for cable prep (stripping multiple layers of insulation, tinning the strands, multiple wires to solder and terminate the foil shield). Testing an assembled copper cable is also slightly more complex than POF, as copper requires tests for continuity, shorts, opens and breakdown voltage.

The new Versatile Link products deliver a durable low-cost solution while also providing increased performance and easier design solutions, says Avago.  The product family offers system designers integrated digital logic (TTL) interfaces for both transmitter and receivers.

Integrated circuits within the Versatile Link components manage the translation from electrical-optical signals on both ends.  These new products are the first Versatile Link parts to offer 3.3V and 5V power supply options. All the horizontal packaged devices are available now, and the two tilted packaged devices will be available within the next quarter.

The white paper 'Fiber versus Copper Links: Making the Right Chose for Industrial Environments' is available on Avago's website (publication #AV02-3500EN).

Tags: Avago

Visit: www.avagotech.com/pof