Testing of transmitters for communication links by software simulation of reference channel and/or reference receiver

1. A computer-implemented method for testing a transmitter for an optical fiber communications link, the method comprising a processor executing software instructions to effect the steps of:

accessing a stored waveform for the transmitter under test, wherein the stored waveform is based on capture of an optical output generated by the transmitter in response to a data test pattern applied to the transmitter;

processing the waveform, to simulate propagation of the waveform through a reference receiver, the reference receiver including an equalizer; and

calculating a performance metric for the transmitter based on the propagated waveform, wherein the performance metric is based on comparison to reception of an ideal optical waveform by an ideal optical fiber communications receiver and the performance metric is a difference between (a) SNR for the ideal optical fiber communications receiver and (b) SNR for a test optical fiber communications link comprising the transmitter under test, a reference channel and the reference receiver.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the reference receiver includes an equalizer with a slicer, and the SNR for the test optical fiber communications link is measured at an input to the slicer.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of processing the waveform comprises processing the waveform in firmware.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the equalizer includes a finite length equalizer.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the equalizer includes an infinite length equalizer.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the equalizer is not physically realizable in hardware.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the equalizer includes a decision feedback equalizer comprising a feedforward filter and a feedback filter.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the feedforward filter has a length of not more than 50 unit intervals.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the feedforward filter has a length of not more than 20 unit intervals.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein the feedback filter has a length of not more than 50 unit intervals.

11. The method of claim 7 wherein the feedback filter has a length of not more than 10 unit intervals.

12. The method of claim 7 wherein the feedforward filter is a fractionally spaced feedforward filter.

13. The method of claim 7 wherein the feedforward filter includes a tap fed by a constant.

14. The method of claim 7 wherein the feedback filter is fed by the data test pattern.

15. The method of claim 7 wherein the step of processing the waveform includes selecting an equalizer delay.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of processing the waveform includes processing the waveform, to simulate propagation of the waveform through a reference channel and through the reference receiver.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the steps effected by the processor executing the software instructions further comprise:

processing the waveform, to simulate propagation of the waveform through multiple different reference channels;

for each reference channel, calculating a channel-specific performance metric based on the simulated propagation; and

determining the performance metric for the transmitter based on the channel-specific performance metrics.

18. The method of claim 16 wherein the steps effected by the processor executing the software instructions further comprise:

processing the waveform, to simulate propagation of the waveform through multiple different reference channels;

for each reference channel, calculating a channel-specific performance metric based on the simulated propagation; and

selecting the worst channel-specific performance metric as the performance metric for the transmitter.

19. The method of claim 1 wherein the steps effected by the processor executing the software instructions further comprise:

accessing the data test pattern, wherein the step of processing the waveform includes use of the data test pattern.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of calculating the performance metric utilizes an optical modulation amplitude (OMA) of the captured waveform.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the steps effected by the processor executing the software instructions further comprise:

using the captured waveform to compute the OMA.

22. The method of claim 20 wherein the steps effected by the processor executing the software instructions further comprise:

using the propagated waveform to compute the OMA.

23. The method of claim 20 wherein the step of computing the OMA is based on estimating a pulse response for the transmitter under test and integrating the estimated pulse response.

24. The method of claim 20 wherein the step of computing the OMA is based on estimating a pulse response for the transmitter under test, using the estimated pulse response to synthesize the transmitter response to a square wave input, and computing the OMA based on the synthesized transmitter response.

25. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of calculating the performance metric utilizes a baseline of the captured waveform.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein the steps effected by the processor executing the software instructions further comprise:

using the captured waveform to compute the baseline.

27. The method of claim 25 wherein the steps effected by the processor executing the software instructions further comprise:

using the propagated waveform to compute the baseline.

28. The method of claim 1 wherein the ideal waveform is an ideal rectangular NRZ optical waveform, and the ideal optical fiber communications receiver is an ideal matched filter receiver.

29. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

applying the data test pattern to the transmitter under test;

capturing the optical output generated by the transmitter in response to the applied data test pattern; and

storing the waveform based on the captured optical output.

30. A computer-implemented method for testing a transmitter for an optical fiber communications link, the method comprising a processor executing software instructions to effect the steps of:

accessing a stored waveform for the transmitter under test, wherein the stored waveform is based on capture of an optical output generated by the transmitter in response to a data test pattern applied to the transmitter;

processing the waveform, to simulate propagation of the waveform through a reference channel and the reference receiver, the reference receiver including a decision feedback equalizer having a feedforward filter and a feedback filter and a slicer; and

calculating a performance metric for the transmitter based on the propagated waveform, wherein the performance metric is based on comparison to reception of an ideal optical waveform by an ideal optical fiber communications receiver, wherein the performance metric is a difference between (a) SNR for an ideal optical fiber communications link, the ideal optical fiber communications link including an ideal transmitter and ideal optical fiber that outputs a distortion-free version of the transmitted waveform and an ideal matched filter receiver; and (b) SNR for a test optical fiber communications link comprising the transmitter under test, the reference channel and the reference receiver, the SNR for the test optical fiber communications link measured at an input to the slicer.

31. The method of claim 30 wherein the steps effected by the processor executing the software instructions further comprise:

processing the waveform, to simulate propagation of the waveform through multiple different reference channels;

for each reference channel, calculating a channel-specific performance metric based on the simulated propagation; and

determining the performance metric for the transmitter based on the channel-specific performance metrics.

32. The method of claim 30 wherein the steps effected by the processor executing the software instructions further comprise:

computing an optical modulation amplitude (OMA) and a baseline of the captured waveform, wherein the step of calculating the performance metric utilizes the computed OMA and baseline.