FPGA burst-mode receiver enables 10G PON in SFP and XFP footprints

While most current optical line terminal (OLT) implementations are in central office formats with large port counts in huge chassis configurations, there is growing demand amongst system architects, chief technology officers and carriers for fewer port, compact, low-power and low-cost form factors for 10G passive optical network (PON) OLTs.

Microchip Technology Inc., through its Microsemi Corporation subsidiary, now offers the only field programmable gate array (FPGA) for 10G PON OLT implementation in compact form factor. The new PolarFire FPGA burst mode receiver (BMR) solution is also the only offering of its kind enabling 10G PON solutions in small form factor pluggable (SFP) and 10 Gb SFP (XFP) footprints.

Microchip’s new BMR solution enables customers to build OLTs in unprecedented small form factor modules while drawing the lowest power in extreme thermal environments. Completely customizable with the industry’s fastest (10.8 nanosecond) lock times in mid-range FPGAs for PONs, the BMR enables a compact PON solution in tiny optical module-based form factors. As an increasingly popular telecommunications technology used to provide fiber to the end consumer, PONs implement a point-to-multipoint architecture using unpowered fiber optic splitters to enable a single optical fiber serving multiple endpoints.

Complementary Microchip solutions include the new SY88029L burst mode limiting amplifier. With burst mode signal detect time of less than 7 nanoseconds, the SY88029L is the first limiting amplifier fully compliant with XGSPON and NGPON2 timing requirements.

Microchip’s new PolarFire FPGA 10G PON BMR solution comes with complete with a suite of tools to enhance designers’ application development efforts, including a reference design, Libero Integrated Design Environment (IDE) software and a hardware kit.

The new PolarFire FPGA 10G PON BMR solution is available now, and is free for current subscribers of Microchip’s Libero design suite.