Physical Layer Performance Should Be Characterized Before & During Protocol Layer Testing

The physical layer is the foundation of your network; an error-free physical layer is becoming increasingly important as data rates grow and demands on fiber increase. Efforts to increase the capability of a network places many demands on the physical layer. As these demands increase it becomes increasingly more important to understand the margin for error-free operation. Protocol testing alone will only show whether errors exist or not in the physical layer, but it provides no understanding of the source of those errors or the rate at which they will increase if network conditions change.

In order to fully understand the performance of your network it is best to test both the protocol layers and the physical layers with real world conditions. 

It is very important to understand the performance of the physical layer in order to know the limits of operation. Just like stressing the protocol layers with delay, error injection, and other stressful conditions the physical should be tested with real world stressful conditions to determine the true performance.

This chart plots the bit error rate vs. power of the network. Without the ability to modify the physical layer parameters, it is difficult to understand the true real world performance of your system or optical module.	This chart plots the bit error rate vs. power of the network with real world stressful conditions applied to the optical signal. The physical layer is fully characterized to help you understand the optical performance of your system or optical module.

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