Altra Broadband Transceiver Done

IRVINE, Calif.--Feb. 07, 2002-- Altra Broadband announced today the completion of a Dense Subcarrier Multiplexing (xDSM) transceiver board for broadband networking. The system has been used to transmit data at speeds greater than one gigabit per second on fiberoptic communication links. On multimode fiber, reach was extended to 3.5 km representing a 10X improvement over the IEEE Gigabit Ethernet Standards. This performance was achieved on 62.5-micron fiber using a single 850 nm VCSEL without the use of mode-conditioning patchcords or any additional specialized optics for mode filtering. On singlemode fiber, the system was used to transmit a gigabit-speed xDSM waveform over 26 km with a 6X improvement in bandwidth efficiency. When scaled to multi-gigabit speeds, this efficiency leads to significantly lower cost optoelectronics.

``Once again Altra's design team has achieved a key milestone on schedule,'' said Dr. Lawrence Williams, Altra Broadband's Vice President of Technology. ``We will now leverage the xDSM transceiver system to nail down requirements for our ASIC design implementation.''

The new transceiver system utilizes the company's proprietary xDSM technology, an advanced combination of digital signal processing, multilevel signaling, and subcarrier multiplexing. Transceiver implementation was accomplished using programmable logic and a custom printed circuit board. All baseband signal processing functions including initialization, channel equalization, and subcarrier multiplexing were implemented in the most advanced Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). Successful development of this complete, real-time xDSM system marks a significant milestone toward the productization of the breakthrough technology in silicon.

Altra Broadband Inc.