Southern Photonics And Micram Launch New Ultrafast Arbitrary Waveform Generator Enabling Next Generation Communications Systems Development

Auckland, New Zealand and Bochum, Germany - 22nd February 2012 - Southern Photonics, in collaboration with Micram, has announced the launch of a new 34GS/s Arbitrary Waveform Generator (AWG) to be demonstrated for the first time at OFC/NFOEC 2012 Exposition in Los Angeles, California.

Co-developed by Southern Photonics and Micram, the AWG-34G is a fully integrated fast AWG system which enables researchers and engineers to generate high order complex modulation formats, such as 16QAM, at speeds of up to 136Gb/s. The AWG-34G incorporates a powerful and intuitive graphical user interface (GUI) that brings a new level of programming ease and flexibility to academic and industrial research labs around the world.

“Currently available bench-top AWGs simply do not have the bandwidth necessary to meet the needs of future communications systems development,” said Dr. John Harvey, CEO of Southern Photonics. “We are committed to providing communication system developers with a full suite of state-of-art tools. By leveraging Micram’s unique ultrafast VEGA signal converter technology, we are enabling researchers to generate any high speed multi-level electronic signal they require, then convert them into complex modulated optical signals using our IQ Transmitter, which we are also demonstrating at OFC.”

“We can then fully characterize the optical performance with the IQScope, our new Complex Modulation Analysis tool,” Dr. Harvey continued. “By offering this complete suite of tools, we enable our customers and partners to focus their efforts on their R&D priorities, instead of being distracted by the need to build their own signal generators, sources, or characterization tools, activities that are entirely peripheral to their core research.”

The AWG-34G leverages the power of Micram’s world record-setting VEGA DACII ultrafast signal converter to deliver the world’s fastest AWG performance of up to 34GS/s. The AWG-34G generates simple arbitrary waveforms, which can then be easily modified via its integrated “Making Waves” GUI to achieve complex operations such as precompensation for channel dispersion. A built-in library of PRBS patterns enables engineers to rapidly generate waveforms for system and device evaluation and optimization.

“Micram has successfully placed VEGA technology in research labs worldwide, but an increasing number of our customers want a complete turnkey solution for waveform generation”, said Dr. Matthias Tom Frei, CEO of Micram. “Our focus is to continue to develop and manufacture the fastest devices on the market. By partnering with Southern Photonics’ expert software and system design teams, we can now deliver a complete AWG system that fully utilizes the ultrafast speed of our devices in a simple, easy to use package. The co-development of the AWG-34G with Southern Photonics has created a powerful collaborative team and we now expect to continue our work together, producing an ongoing stream of world-class test and measurement products in the future.”

Southern Photonics and Micram will be demonstrating the AWG-34G in their respective booths at the OFC/NFOEC Exposition, March 6-8th, 2012 at the LA Convention Center. Southern Photonics booth is located at 2235 and Micram’s booth is located at 2136.

For information about Southern Photonics visit www.southernphotonics.com
For information about Micram VEGA is available at www.micram.com/vega