Monday
Jun032019
Open Eye MSA offers an alternative to PAM-4 DSPs
Monday, June 3, 2019 at 6:22PM A group of companies, led by Macom and Semtech, have launched a multi-source agreement (MSA) to offer an alternative to using a digital signal processor (DSP) in high-speed client-side optical modules.
The Open Eye MSA is developing a set of specifications for optical modules that use 50-gigabit 4-level pulse-amplitude modulation (PAM-4) signals whereby only analogue clock and data recovery (CDR) circuitry is required at the receiver.
By using the CDR instead of a PAM-4 DSP, the optical module will consume less power, have lower latency and be less costly to make, says the MSA.
To ensure interoperability, however, module makers using a PAM-4 DSP will need to meet the new MSA specification.
