SFP test equipment (what to use) - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: Syllith
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 25, 2023, 07:06:47 pm
content: I work for a telecom company that tests equipment before it goes out into the field. We have dozens of different SFPs we must test and our client has specifically asked us to check the EEPROM data stored on it such as wave length, serial number, manufacturer, etc. This is to catch counterfeits since EEPROM data often gives them away. Currently, we're using this to accomplish everything:https://www.router-switch.com/os6450s-cbl-60.htmlI wrote some software that telnets into this switch to access the shell where I execute commands to get this EEPROM data and parse it out so our technicians get a really simple overview of only the relevant data. We also connect the SFP we're testing to another switch and ping it so we ensure network communication is happening as well. This all works great, except that these switches are customer owned product (which we don't want to use for testing) and they're hard to find and are becoming less reliable due to their age.We want a solution that doesn't rely on customer owned equipment and we'd like it to be a bit more modern. Here are the requirements:1. It has to have the ability to display EEPROM data (Serial number, manufacturer, wavelength, etc).2. It has to have some kind of interface so we can read data straight from the unit. Telnet or RS232 serial are preferred (we need to keep records and write software for it)3. It does not have to be a switch, but that might be the easiest way to go. If there was a dedicated device to test SFPs, that would work too, but it would still need to show EEPROM data no matter what.4. We'd like it to have quite a few ports on it, but isn't totally necessary. Our technicians only have so much time to test and right now they have the ability to plug in several SFPs to the switch at once. They plug in 1 fiber cable to the one they want to test, use the software I wrote to test it, then move the fiber cable to the next slot and do it again. If we had to do this 1 at a time isn't awful, but it's not desired either.So based on this information, does anybody have any recommendations on how we can achieve this? Thanks for any help

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 25, 2023, 08:05:24 pm
content: You can make this using a microcontroller, a display and a network interface. All you need towards the SFPs is I2C. Add an I2C multiplexer and you can read multiple ports. If you loop the SFP back electrically, you'll have a link up (depending a bit on the type of SFP though, single or dual fiber). Since SFPs can also read their received signal level, you can have a rough indication of how well they work.

author: colorado.rob
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 25, 2023, 11:06:13 pm
content: If you are willing to do fairly trivial FPGA design and software development, FPGA boards with 2-4 SFP cages are available. These are going to be a few hundred dollars to a few thousand. The FPGA interface is trivial as all you need is the I2C interface. Then just read the data and either display it on a screen, or dump it out of a USB serial port.I created a Vivado board support package for this board:https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256801088848039.html