The Development of Fiber Optic Transceiver

Introduction of Fiber Optic Transceiver

The fiber optic transceiver is consisted of a transmitter on one end and a receiver on the other end which are designed to work separately. In another words, the transmitter and the receiver can work together without each others’ impact. Detailedly, for data transmission, the transmitter will convert the electrical signal into light signal and transmit the light signal to the receiver. Once the receiver receives the light signal, it will convert the light signal into electrical signal again. Finally, the information will be transmitted to the computer to understand. What should be noted is that the receiver and the transmitter can work with their own circuitry and transmit the data in both directions.

To fulfill the need of fiber optic transceiver market, the type of fiber optic transceivers diversifies to achieve higher and higher transmission speed and smaller and smaller size, such as: GBIC, SFP, XFP, SFP+, etc.

Figure 1. The development of fiber optic transceiver

The Emergence of 1*9 Fiber Optic Transceiver

1*9 fiber optic transceiver is the earliest fiber optic transceiver, which is stationary and weld directly in circuit board of a communication equipment. As time goes on, it develops gradually towards miniaturization and hotplug support.

The emergence of 1*9 fiber optic transceiver is of epoch-making significance in the history.

Figure 2. 1*9 Fiber Optic Transceiver

The GBIC Transceiver and Its Application

The GBIC transceiver is also referred as gigabit interface converter transceiver, which was published in 1995. The design of GBIC transceiver is to handle the optical-electric conversion. In another words, the transmitter of GBIC transceiver can convert the electric currents into the light signal and send it to its receiver. Then the receiver will get the light signal and convert it into the electric currents.

To meet the requirement of high-speed network, the GBIC transceiver is designed to transmit at 1 Gbps or more in fiber optic and Ethernet systems. Meanwhile, the design of hot swappable electrical interface makes GBIC transceiver easy to install, so that it can be engaged and disengaged without turning off the system. Besides, one GBIC transceiver can support a wide range of media for hundreds of kilometers, which is very important for the development of fiber optic transceiver.

Figure 3. GBIC Transceiver

The SFP Fiber Optic Transceiver and Its Application

With the fast development of the network, the disadvantages of GBIC transceiver have gradually appeared, because of its big size. To keep pace with the trend of network development, the SFP fiber optic transceiver was invented in 2001.

The SFP fiber optic transceiver is one of the variation of the GBIC transceiver, which can also be called small form-factor pluggable transceiver or mini-GBIC. Its function is the same as GBIC transceiver, but it has a smaller form factor than GBIC transceiver. Also, the data rate has been improved, which is 1-2.5 Gbps.

The SFP fiber optic transceiver is a kind of hot-pluggable transceiver which is commonly applied in the field of telecommunication and data communication. Due to its smaller size and higher speed, it is largely used, instead of GBIC transceiver.

Figure 4. SFP Transceiver

The XFP and SFP+ Fiber Optic Transceiver

The development of fiber optic transceiver market is extremely rapid. On the basis of miniaturization and hotplug support, the products are being developed with higher and higher speed and performance. For instance, X2 fiber optic transceiver, XENPAK fiber optic transceiver , XFP fiber optic transceiver and SFP+ fiber optic transceiver.

The XFP fiber optic transceiver was published in 2002 and SFP+ fiber optic transceiver was published in 2006. And both of the data rate can be 10 Gbps. The main difference between XFP and SFP+ transceiver is the different size. The SFP+ transceiver is smaller than XFP transceiver, which has the same size as SFP transceiver.

With the advantage of small size, hotplug support, low cost and high performance, the SFP+ transceiver meets the standard of high requirement and density and becomes the leading products in 10 Gbps market, which makes XFP transceiver obsolete.

Figure 5. XFP Transceiver

Figure 6. SFP+ Transceiver

The New Transceivers for 40/100G Network

As time goes on, SFP+ transceiver is not able to meet the requirement of high data rate. With the need of wider and wider bandwidth, the transceiver for 40/100G network has been developed and put into use.
As for the 40G QSFP+ SR4 and QSFP+ LR4 transceiver, their connectors are MPO/LC connectors. 40G QSFP+ SR4 transceiver is designed for short transmission, while QSFP+ LR4 transceiver is to use in long distance transmission.

Figure 7. QSFP+ Transceiver

As for the 100G CFP/CFP2/CFP4 transceiver, their connectors are LC connectors, too. All their data rate can achieve 100 Gbps. However, they have a apparent difference, the different size. CFP transceiver has already meet 100 Gbps high data rate, but its big size can’t fulfill the requirement of high-density data center. Take it into consideration, CFP2 and CFP4 transceiver have been developed successively.

Figure 8. CFP/CFP2/CFP4 Transceiver

Conclusion

With the fast development in fiber optic communication, people always go after better transceiver with higher data rate, lower cost, smaller size and higher performance. Therefore, more and more advanced transceivers will be developed successively to achieve a thriving and prosperous prospect like a hundred flowers in bloom.