Patent ID: 8639112
Filing Date: 2014-01-28
Classification: H04B

Abstract:
1. A method for testing a transmitter for an optical fiber communications link, the method comprising: accessing a stored waveform for the transmitter under test, wherein the stored waveform represents an optical output generated by the transmitter in response to a data test pattern applied to the transmitter; processing the waveform in software to simulate propagation of the waveform through a reference channel and/or a reference receiver to generate a synthesized waveform; determining a temporal offset between logic transitions of the synthesized waveform and the data test pattern; temporally shifting the synthesized waveform to generate an aligned synthesized waveform based on the temporal offset; computing an optical modulation amplitude (OMA) based on the aligned synthesized waveform and the data test pattern; and calculating a performance metric for the transmitter based on the OMA.