Timbercon Announces the XFP Electrical Loopback
Timbercon, Inc. announced that it has finished prototype testing of their new XFP Electrical Loopbacks with three (3) key customers and has a limited sample quantity on hand for exclusive pre-production release.
The Timbercon EL-10-07001 XFP electrical loopback is used for testing XFP transceiver ports in host/system boards. By substituting for a full-featured XFP transceiver the electrical loopback provides a cost effective method for XFP port testing.
The EL-10-07001 is packaged in a standard MSA housing compatible with all XFP ports. Transmit data from the host is electrically routed, (internal to the loopback module), to the receive data outputs and back to the host. The electrical loopback path is designed using a XFP signal conditioner IC to ensure excellent signal integrity over 300mm of enhanced FR4 or 200mm of standard FR4 as required by the XFP MSA section 2.1. Since the loopback module does not contain laser diodes, photodiodes, laser driver or transimpedance amplifier chips it provides an economical way to exercise XFP ports during R&D validation, production testing, and field testing.
In addition to the electrical loopback function, the EL-10-07001 provides an MSA standard 2-wire serial communication interface to digital diagnostics, pre-loaded EEPROM memory maps (standard and customized), and XFP power level 3 loading of all four (4) XFP voltage supplies (+1.8V, +3.3V, +5.0V, and -5.2V).
One very unique feature of the XFP loopback is that it contains two LEDs that allow for quick and visible performance indication. The green LED is illuminated when the module is fully plugged in and has power. The amber LED is illuminated when the module is receiving valid data traffic. Internally this function is generated by the CDR/Signal conditioner.
“After great success with our SFP, HSSDC, and RJ-232 electrical loopbacks, XFP is the next logical step for Timbercon’s electrical loopback product line with the SFP+ next on our horizon.” said Justin Redd Director of Engineering.