Timbercon Introduces the New QSFP/QSFP+ Electrical Loopback
Timbercon, Inc., a fiber optic product and solution manufacturing company, announced today the availability of the QSFP/QSFP+ passive electrical loopback. The electrical loopback is used for testing QSFP/QSFP+ transceiver ports in board level test. Substituting the electrical loopback for a full featured transceiver provides a more cost effective, low cost alternative.
The electrical loopback is packaged in a standard MSA housing compatible with all QSFP/QSFP+ ports. It features a customizable memory map and allows operation at any power including the four (4) maximum power levels identified in the MSA. Transmit data from the host is electrically routed (internal to the loopback module) to receive data outputs and back to the host. Because the electrical loopback module does not contain laser diodes, photodiodes, laser driver or transimpedance amplifier chips, it provides an economical way to test QSFP/QSFP+ ports during R&D validation, production testing and full system testing.
In addition to the electrical loopback function, the QSFP/QSFP+ provides a MSA standard 2-wire serial communication interface to digital diagnostics and preloaded 256kB EEPROM two-page memory map. The QSFP/QSFP+ Loopback also contains a two-colored LED indicator that displays the operating status of the module. A solid green LED illumination indicates the module is fully seated, operating in a high power mode and the illumination of the amber LED signifies the module is fully plugged in, operating in low power mode. When the LED blinks green or amber, it signifies the module is deselected and will not respond to the host commands until it is reselected and the LED stops blinking.
“The QSFP/QSFP+ electrical loopback adds another solution for test engineers in both manufacturing and development environments,” said Mike Reiling, Key Account Manager. “ The addition of the QSFP/QSFP+ to our XFP, SFP and SFP+ electrical loopbacks has strengthened our commitment to economical board testing as well as full system testing using our Armadillo optical loopbacks .”