Electrical Loopback Module for Switch Port Testing

2024-09-06

With the explosion of AI and the growth of demand for cloud services, the demand for hosts such as network switches and network cards has also increased. The production testing of hosts has become more and more important, and port testing is an even more indispensable part. According to conventional understanding, the host port is to plug and unplug optical modules and DACs to achieve communication between hosts. If optical modules or DACs and other products are used in the production process, the production cost will become very high and the efficiency will not be optimal. Based on this situation, the industry has developed an electrical loopback module (Loopback) specifically for port testing. This electrical loopback module has the low-speed protocol handshake function of the optical module or DAC, and completes the host multi-channel Tx->Rx signal loopback at the same time. This type of module not only costs much less than an optical module or DAC, but also has higher testing efficiency.

In response to the requirements of different network switch or network card manufacturers, the industry has also developed different types of electrical loopback modules and compatible with different CMIS versions. For different applications, we also bring different electrical loopback modules.

1. To meet the needs of different packages, Wolck brings the following passive electrical loopback modules in all packages to meet the needs of network switches and network cards with different port designs.

2. For host testing that requires understanding of power consumption or heating conditions and simulating heating of optical modules or AEC, we can provide electrical loopback modules with different power consumption or displays, so that port heating can be understood in real time to eliminate problematic ports. It can also be used as an option for reliability testing.

3. For DAC applications, an electrical loopback module that matches the DAC loss can be customized to verify the host port, and an insertion loss value of 3db-9dB@26.56Ghz can be selected.

4. With the emergence of LPO modules, a new generation of hosts that support LPO has also appeared. Active electrical loopback modules can further support and verify such hosts. Since active electrical loopback modules have CTLE adjustment and FFE monitoring functions, they can be used to optimize the host's Rx capabilities during the test process, especially in EVT/DVT small batch testing. At the same time, active electrical loopback modules can truly simulate the work of optical modules and AECs with different DSPs, which is more suitable for practical applications to verify host ports.

5. The creative active loopback module with real-time bit error meter monitoring function is particularly suitable for reliability testing in production to verify the performance of the host port Tx, monitor the real-time bit error curve and SNR and other related parameters, and verify the reliability of the host port Rx through different FFE settings.

6. For various special host port test requirements, we can realize customized development according to the customer's requirements of packaging, firmware, impedance, loss, power consumption, monitoring pins, etc.

How to choose Electrical or Optical Module?

Los conectores MPO abren grandes oportunidades