Is 200G Active Optical Cable Good? What Are the Advantages?

In recent years, optical networks have developed rapidly. In order to ensure the stability and flexibility of transmission, users and manufacturers require a newer type of transmission product to achieve higher-performance signal transmission. To meet this need, active optical cable (AOC) appeared.

Active optical cable refers to a communication cable that needs to use external energy to convert electrical signals into optical signals or convert optical signals into electrical signals in the communication process. The optical transceivers at both ends of the optic cable provide photoelectric conversion and optical transmission functions. AOC uses one optical cable to connect two high-density connectors.

At present, the active optical cable products on the market include 10G SFP + AOC, 25G SFP28 AOC, 28G SFP28 AOC, 40G QSFP + AOC, 56G QSFP + AOC, 100G QSFP28 AOC, 120G CXP AOC, 200G-SR4 QSFP DD AOC.

Now, what we are introducing is 200G-SR4 QSFP DD AOC.

1. What is 200G AOC?

The concept of active optical cable has been described in detail above. In a nutshell, 200G AOC is an active optical cable with a transmission rate of 200G.

2. Overview of 200G AOC

It is a pluggable and parallel optical fiber QSFP with eight channel and dual density, which is used for 2x100g Ethernet applications. This optical transceiver is high performance for short-distance multi-channel data communication and interconnection applications.

It integrates 8 data channels in each direction with a bandwidth of 8x25.78125Gbps. Each channel can use OM3 fiber to transmit 70m or OM4 fiber to transmit 100m. These transceivers are designed to use a multimode fiber optical system with a nominal wavelength of 850nm.

The electrical interface uses 76 contact edge type connectors. The optical interface uses a 24-fiber MTP (MPO) connector. The module integrates technology-proven circuits and VCSEL technology to provide reliable services which is long-life, high-performance and consistent.

3. Advantages of 200G AOC

Facing the trend of the data center which is featured by high speed, low cost, and high density, 200G AOC provides a better solution.

Compared with active optical cables of other speeds, 200G active optical cables have greater advantages in link and data. In terms of transmission distance, AOC can achieve a longer transmission distance than copper cable. Moreover, it also has better aerodynamic heat dissipation in the cabling system.

Summary: 200G AOC has a higher transmission data rate and a higher density layout and it can achieve the same transmission rate with a relatively low cabling cost under the same conditions.