Application Examples

  • Design of FMCW LiDAR System

    How to design an
    FMCW LiDAR system using
    VPItransmissionMaker Optical Systems
    (Part 1)


    Dr. Nebras Deb, an optical systems application specialist at VPIphotonics, explains how to design an FMCW LiDAR system using VPItransmissionMaker™ Optical Systems. Both the target distance and velocity are extracted using spectral analysis of the received signal.

  • Design constraints in FMCW LiDAR System

    How to predict and simulate
    the design constraints of an
    FMCW LiDAR system
    (Part 2)


    Eugene Sokolov, a principal application engineer at VPIphotonics, explains how to predict and simulate the design constraints of a FMCW LiDAR system using VPIcomponentMaker™ Photonic Circuits. We discussed the impact of the residual nonlinearity of the laser and how digital predistortion could help to mitigate this effect.

  • Wavelength Minimization at Traffic Grooming

    Automated approach of optimization
    to traffic grooming in DWDM Networks
     
     


    Do you need to optimize the number of wavelength/optical channels required to carry client connectivity services over the whole DWDM network according to engineering rules to meet system requirements? Dmitry Khomchenko, the product manager of VPIlinkDesigner™ and VPIlinkConfigurator™ at VPIphotonics™, demonstrates the automated approach to traffic grooming in VPIlinkConfigurator.

  • Design of Tunable Laser Diode

    How to Simulate
    Multisection Semiconductor Lasers
    with VPI Design Suite
     


    As part of VPIphotonics Design Suite™, VPIcomponentMaker™ Photonic Circuits can help you model some advanced multisection semiconductor devices. In this video, we demonstrate how to simulate a three-section tunable laser diode using our software. We first describe the fundamentals of the Photonics TLM module. Then, we show how to create such a structure using VPIphotonics Design Suite. And finally, we explain how to do the characterization of the simulated device with the help of the Characterize Laser macro.

  • Design of Simple Passive Photonic Circuits

    Trilogy PAM-4 Transmitter – Part 1:
    Schematic creation, parameter editing, sweeps and optimization
     


    In the first episode of our video trilogy, we demonstrate how to use VPIcomponentMaker™ Photonic Circuits as part of VPIphotonics Design Suite™ to simulate a PAM-4 transmitter. We cover the main software functionality and guide you through a design of a simple Mach-Zehnder modulator. Moreover, we create schematic parameters, perform a parameter sweep, and optimize the design.

  • Design of Hierarchical Photonic Circuits

    Trilogy PAM-4 Transmitter – Part 2:
    Hierarchical structures with galaxies, parameter expressions and scripts
     


    In the second episode, we create a dual-parallel Mach–Zehnder modulator to serve as a basis for a final design of the PAM-4 transmitter, using VPIcomponentMaker™ Photonic Circuits as part of VPIphotonics Design Suite™. We demonstrate how to make a hierarchical design with the help of the regular galaxies, add galaxy parameters, and define them using mathematical and Python expressions as well as initialization scripts in parameter settings.

  • Design of Active and Hybrid Photonic Circuits

    Trilogy PAM-4 Transmitter – Part 3:
    Simulation domains, multiple runs and visualization
     


    In the third episode, we finalize our design of the PAM-4 transmitter, using VPIcomponentMaker™ Photonic Circuits as part of VPIphotonics Design Suite™. We discuss time domain and hybrid time-and-frequency domain simulations, resolve deadlock issues, carry out simulations with multiple runs, and visualize an eye diagram of our transmitter.

  • Wavelength Allocation Made Easy

    How to Optimize Add/Drop Equipment Configuration
     
     


    Need to configure your add/drop equipment and allocate wavelengths for a new network or a network upgrade? Dmitry Khomchenko, the product manager of VPIlinkDesigner™ and VPIlinkConfigurator™ at VPIphotonics™, shares tips on how to delegate all the time-consuming tasks (like reusing previous equipment and minimizing link loading) to the design automation tool available in VPIlinkConfigurator.

  • EOE System Simulation with ADS

    Electrical-Optical-Electrical (EOE) System
    Simulation with PathWave ADS
     
     


    Keysight Technologies and VPIphotonics have partnered to create the industry first electrical-optical-electronic (EOE) solution to test an end-to-end link. This video will cover what the solution is and how it works through a quick demo.

  • Design CV-QKD systems using a classical simulation framework

    Highlights of talk given at the EPIC World
    Industrial Quantum Photonic Technology
    Summit in Barcelona in June 2019
     


    Dr. Igor Koltchanov, Director Technology, is presenting the highlights of his talk given at the EPIC World Industrial Quantum Photonics Technology Summit 2019. The video explains how a classical simulation framework can be applied for modeling quantum communications with focus on weak-coherent CV QKD protocols.

  • Nonlinearity Mitigation - Twin Waves

    Nonlinear Noise Cancellation Using Phase-Conjugated Twin Waves:
    How to combat Kerr induced distortions
     


    Ksenia Goroshko, an optical engineer at VPIphotonics, explains how to mitigate fiber nonlinearities using the twin waves technique. She demonstrates the power of this method by running an exemplary schematic in the simulation software VPIphotonics Design Suite™ for different parameter settings.

  • DMT Transmission using LabExpert and Tektronix AWG & Scope

    Laboratory experiments made easy:
    How to validate simulation results in your lab and to make the best of automated simulation


    In this video, we show how to use VPIlabExpert™ as part of our VPIphotonics Design Suite™ to transmit a discrete multitone (DMT, real-valued OFDM) signal through a real link accessing lab equipment like a Tektronix 70000 series AWG and a Tektronix DPO70000SX oscilloscope here. We further demonstrate how you can perform bit-and-power loading by controlling schematic runs with a Python script to increase the system capacity while ensuring a minimum performance metric for all the subcarriers.

  • 400G Transceiver Design

    Next-generation high-speed transceivers:
    Solving the dilemma of more capacity and less cost
     


    VPItransmissionMaker™ Optical Systems accelerates the design of new photonic systems and subsystems for short-range, access, metro and long-haul optical transmission systems and allows technology upgrade and component substitution strategies to be developed for existing fiber plants.

  • Design of Complex Photonic Integrated Circuits

    Versatility in modeling and optimization of PICs
     
     


    VPIcomponentMaker™Photonic Circuits is a simulation and design environment for modeling photonic integrated circuits (PICs). It provides advanced device libraries integrated with a scalable time-and-frequency-domain simulation framework enabling fast and accurate modeling of large-scale PICs with a mix of photonic, electrical and optoelectronic devices.

  • PIC design with VPItoolkit PDK and PhoeniX Software

    Connectivity for design flow and manufacturing automation
     
     


    See the video below for more details about how to export a circuit designed with VPItoolkit™ PDK HHI into PhoeniX OptoDesigner.

How-To's

  • Parameter Watch

    Make parameter expression creation a breeze
     
     


    Denis Kruchkov, the development leader at VPIphotonics, explains how to use the Parameter Watch functionality of VPIphotonics Design Suite™to simplify the task of validating parameter values of complex expressions. The feature is useful for debugging and optimizing designs.

  •  

Interviews, Conference and Seminar Recordings

  • EPIC New Product Release

    Machine Learning Framework for Designing and Implementing
    Deep Neural Networks
     


    VPItoolkit™ ML Framework is a versatile add-on to any of the simulation tools of VPIphotonics Design Suite™, enabling the implementation and design of deep neural networks (DNN) for various applications, such as equalization and nonlinearity mitigation for optical systems, device characterization, evaluation and inverse design of photonic devices.

  • OPTICA Industry Tutorial

    Simulation of Classical & Quantum Communications over FSO Satellite Links
     
     


    Free space optical (FSO) communication technology based on the optical signal transmission through a free-space channel has gained significant interest in recent years. FSO satellite links have the potential to establish a global all-optical communication network that could cope with the increasing demands for high data rates and communication capacity. Moreover, satellite-based quantum key distribution (QKD) could provide secure and private communication between distant users. VPIphotonics Design Suite offers advanced means for simulation of both classical and quantum optical communication systems for terrestrial and satellite FSO links. In this webinar, we focus on modeling aspects of FSO signal transmission in ground-to-satellite, satellite-to-ground, and intersatellite links. We will also work through a few live demos of application examples and investigate the FSO system performance in presence of such adverse effects as atmospheric scintillation, attenuation, beam diffraction, and pointing errors. In addition, we discuss the satellite-based quantum key distribution and demonstrate how the performance of the QKD link depends on a satellite's position and other link parameters.

  • OIDA Sponsored Webinar

    Optical Link Design Automation from Access to Core Networks
     
     


    Recent growth in the deployment of xHaul networks including metro and core networks triggers the application of very different technologies to support the increase in link distances and traffic. Critical network design constraints include dense wavelength division multiplexing (D)WDM of channels operating at different data rates, and the deployment of optical amplifiers and dispersion compensation modules (DCMs) to meet power and dispersion budget requirements. Cost-optimized planning of such networks is a challenging task considering the diverse equipment constraints. In this webinar we demonstrate an automated network design that efficiently addresses the challenges and requirements for various types of networks.

  • CLEO Technology Showcase

    New Interoperable Software Platform for the Design of Photonic Devices
     
     


    As a leader in photonic design automation for components, systems and networks, we will introduce a new interoperable software platform for the design of photonic devices, empowering researchers to explore new designs for photonic integrated circuit (PIC) passive components and optical fibers. This new platform streamlines the migration of device-level simulation data into a circuit-level simulator for the design and optimization of PICs. We will give an overview of the new platform and describe how it fits into our current ecosystem of photonic design and simulation tools.

  • OIDA Sponsored Webinar

    Automated PIC Modelling:
    A Photonic Neural Network Use Case
     
     


    As the complexity of Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) continues to grow, testing environments become more complicated. In this webinar, we will present several simulation testbenches prepared for visualizing typical measurement characteristics. The examples we will discuss include methods for group index verification, simulation of passive circuit transfer functions, characterization of SOAs, and evaluating the transfer characteristic of an Activation Unit for a Photonic Neural Network. These examples will all be demonstrated live using the photonic design automation (PDA) software VPIcomponentMaker Photonic Circuits.

  • PIC Magazine Interview

    PIC Magazine talks with Chris Maloney, Director of Business Development at VPIphotonics
     


     

  • OIDA Sponsored Webinar

    Paving the Way for InP Photonic Integrated Circuits from Concept to Tape-out
     


    Streamlining the design process, shortening the development cycle, and reducing the transition to manufacturing remain some of the most demanding requirements for photonic integrated circuit (PIC) designers. During this webinar, Infinera and VPIphotonics will present a design and fabrication workflow for InP PICs developed to address these needs. The workflow is based on the Infinera Process Design Kit (PDK), which includes devices optimized to ensure the best performance and yield within Infinera's InP foundry. VPIphotonics and Infinera collaborated to develop compact models for these PDK building blocks to allow for rapid prototyping of application-specific PICs. Join our webinar to learn how to start your PIC design with a graphical circuit representation and system simulation in VPIphotonics' software environment and smoothly proceed with physical layout implementation, verification, and fabrication by Infinera's InP foundry.

  • OIDA Sponsored Webinar

    Migrating a PIC Simulation to a System Design: Silicon-Photonic Modulator in a PAM-4 Link
     


    Dr. Jim Farina, Chris Maloney and Eugene Sokolov show how to migrate a PIC simulation to a system design.
    Modeling and simulation at both the circuit- and system-levels are critical in the design process for optical communication, quantum key distribution, and sensing applications. Seamless migration between these two levels of abstraction will be demonstrated in VPIphotonics Design Suite. This webinar focuses on an optical communication application example by modeling a silicon-photonic modulator at the circuit-level and implementing it for simulation at the system-level in a PAM-4 link.

  • eSeminar with CST and VPIphotonics

    Design Optimization and Sensitivity Analysis of Photonic Integrated Circuits using Physical and Circuit-Level Simulations


    The use of highly-integrated photonic circuits (PICs) is on the rise, and this trend is expected to accelerate in the future.
     
    The design of these complex circuits involves multiple steps, starting at the component level and continuing up to the circuit level. Due to this hierarchical structure, small variations at the component level resulting from fabrication tolerances can have a significant influence on the overall circuit performance.
     
    This eSeminar focuses on two software packages, which combine advanced simulation of passive photonic, active optoelectronic and hybrid photonic integrated circuits and systems with highly accurate full-wave 3D photonic and multiphysics simulation.
     
    We will demonstrate how using VPIphotonics Design Suite and CST Studio Suite together enables engineers designing PICs to automate combined circuit level and full wave simulation. This allows the study of the effect of small variations in the components on the overall circuit, meaning that the engineer can increase yield and reliability by making the circuit resilient to such effects.

  • Application-Specific Design and Validation of PICs

    Talk at PIC International Online Summit, 19th May 2020
     
     


    Versatile design tools for integrated photonics and optoelectronics need to support a diversity of technologies addressing very different types of applications. We discuss stringent requirements imposed on them: PICs of increasing size and complexity require circuit-level simulators supporting hierarchical topologies and automation of circuit design. PIC performance testing in target application scenarios requires the seamless integration of circuit- and system-level design tools. An automated design of EO/OE interconnect solutions, especially of importance for telecom and datacom, requires dynamic communication and seamless data transfer between electronic and photonic design tools.

  • Automated Link Loss Compensation and Cost Effective Amplifier Placement in XHaul Optical Network

    Talk at ONDM 2020 - 24th International conference on Optical Network Design and Modelling
     


    D.Khomchenko, A. Richter, and J. Farina (@VPIphotonics) demonstrate an algorithmic approach that efficiently addresses the link loss and dispersion compensation and equipment allocation problem for xhaul networks. It accounts for future channel loading, optical channel path parameters, signal rate, equipment parameters, and constraints arising from the insertion points of amplifiers and DCMs. The authors demonstrate the convenient operation of their method by designing an exemplary fronthaul network system.

  • OPTICA Industry Tutorial

    Automating the Design of PIC-Based LiDAR Systems
     
     


    Originally developed for military use in the 1960's, Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technologies are now being used for medical, agricultural, environmental, civil engineering, space exploration and automotive applications. The adoption of LiDAR for autonomous driving is likely to be the first widespread commercial use for LiDAR. Coherent LiDAR systems measure both the phase and amplitude of the return signal, allowing for the measurement of both the distance and velocity of an object simultaneously, making it an ideal candidate for autonomous driving applications. In gaining such widespread adoption, size, weight and cost of such systems must be significantly decreased. One way to achieve such benefits is to leverage the advantages of integrated photonics.

    Provided the great variety of the LiDAR design approaches and technologies, the software tools need to be flexible in simulating them, supporting multiple existing solutions, and interfacing between different third-party tools. At the same time, the need for high volume manufacturing and growing complexity of photonics integrated circuits (PIC) both require specific design and simulation solutions for PIC-based devices.

    In this industry tutorial, you will learn how to streamline the design process using VPIphotonics Design Suite™ considering a Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) LiDAR system. We will discuss how to predict and simulate the design constraints of such systems. Particularly, we will discuss the impact of the residual nonlinearity of the integrated tunable laser and how digital predistortion could help to mitigate this effect.

  • Conference Talk at SPIE Photonics West, presented on 26 Jan 2022

    Transmission aware Multiple Lightpath Reconfiguration in Flexgrid Optical Networks
     


    We present an algorithmic approach that offers an efficient way of multiple lightpaths reconfiguration, either for increased traffic requests, or lightpath restoration. It permits the building of a feasible optical network design considering the available spectrum, traffic demand characteristics, network topology, equipment configurations, and engineering constraints. We show the employment of methods for calculating and provisioning multiple lightpaths. Our approach is flexible enough to accommodate optical network topologies of different types and sizes. The result is a lightpath configuration that is optimized for spectrum utilization and GSNR degradation.

  • OIDA Sponsored Webinar

    A simulation environment for
    QKD systems and co-existing classical channels
     


    Recently VPIphotonics developed a new simulation tool, VPItoolkit QKD. When used together with VPItransmissionMaker Optical Systems, a simulation environment for classical transmission systems, they represent a powerful R&D environment for the development of QKD systems based on weak-coherent prepare-and-measure protocols, including co-existence scenarios with classical channels. The design environment can serve as a test bed for the development and evaluation of various implementation options of QKD systems and sub-systems, such as pulse shaping, signal recovery and filtering, and others.

  • Conference Talk at 25th ONDM, presented on 1 July 2021

    Transmission-Aware Bandwidth Variable Transceiver Allocation in DWDM Optical Networks
     


    Talk presented by Dmitry Khomchenko on 1 July 2021 at ONDM 2021.


    This presentation addresses the transmission-aware transceiver allocation problem of flexible optical networks for a multi-period planning. The proposed approach aims at assigning the best configuration of bandwidth variable transceivers (BV-TRX) considering the amplifier noise and nonlinear channel interferences using the incoherent Extended Gaussian Noise (EGN) model. The proposed solution improves the network throughput and spectrum utilization in the early planning periods and allocates lower number of BV-TRXs in later periods in comparison to algorithms presented recently. A heuristic approach to regenerator placement has also been applied achieving up to 25% transceiver and 50% spectrum utilization savings in comparison to configurations without regenerators.

  • Fabrication tolerance-aware schematic-driven PIC design

    Talk at AngelTech Virtual Live III, 12th April 2021
     
     


    PIC fabrication tolerances are inevitable and strongly degrade device yield, unless their impact on overall performance characteristics is considered during the design process. We present a general-purpose schematic-driven design framework that provides easy access to statistical performance techniques. By introducing a novel method that allows for the identification of critical light paths and applying automated phase compensation inside the models, the analysis of fabrication tolerances on-wafer and between wafers is significantly simplified. We demonstrate its application in several PIC designs including complex photonics-based neural networks.

  • The future is bright

    A glimpse into the crystal ball of photonic design automation
    Talk at PHOTONICS+, 18 February 2021
     


    In this forward looking talk given during the Photonics+ Virtual Conference and Exhibition, we discuss the future of photonic design automation and applications being enabled by design software. VPIphotonics Design Suite is an ever-evolving suite of software that is leading the industry as a result of collaborative industry and research partnerships as discussed in this presentation. In particular we discuss advancements in electrical/optical co-design for intra-datacenter links, quantum key-distribution, PIC foundry PDKs, and application specific PICs such as: optical coherence tomography, 2D beam steering for LIDAR, and plasmonic neural networks.

  • Bridging the Gap between Electronic and Photonic Design

    Talk at AngelTech Virtual Live II, 2nd November 2020
     
     


    We present an environment supporting top-level co-design of complete Electrical-Optical-Electrical (E-O-E) interconnect solutions and co-simulation of integrated electrical and optical components and sub-circuits. This is enabled by dynamic communication and seamless data transfer between electronic and photonic design tools. Quick behavioral models (based on IBIS-AMI) of complex electrical circuits are combined with detailed optical and electro-optical models for lasers, optical modulators, fibers, etc. that operate at different abstraction levels. The detailed modeling of purely electrical components (e.g. drivers, TIAs, equivalent circuits of EO / OE components) into this hierarchical design flow is enabled by integrating a SPICE simulation engine.

  • OIDA Sponsored Webinar

    Advanced DSP and Coding for Next Generation Coherent Optical Systems
     
     


    Next generation coherent optical systems are expected to deliver high data rates to meet the increase of traffic demands driven by the emergence of high-bandwidth applications, such as Internet of Things, 4K video streaming, and online gaming. Different technologies have been proposed and investigated for next generation 400G, 800G, and 1.6T systems. In this webinar, we review the most promising techniques including, advanced modulation formats and coding, fiber nonlinearity mitigation, and space division multiplexing. All demonstrations will be performed in VPIphotonics Design Suite.

  • Scalable design of integrated photonic and optoelectronic circuits

    Talk from Dr. Andre Richter at PIC International Conference on 10th April 2018 in Brussels
     


    Efficient and convenient solutions for electronic photonic design automation (EPDA) present fundamental prerequisites for the fast and innovative development of next-generation integrated photonic and optoelectronic circuits. In the talk held at PIC International 2018 in Brussels (Belgium) we demonstrated how a layout-aware schematic-driven methodology enables the rapid prototyping of new design concepts, including parameter optimization of photonic and electronic parts, analysis of manufacturing tolerances, and comparison of technology and integration alternatives to highlight progress in this area.

  • Mastering challenges

    Interview with Jim Farina at NGON US 2016
     
     


    The NGON US team interviewed Jim Farina, director of technical services at VPIphotonics™ – he spoke about VPIphotonics, the key challenges the company is currently facing, his opinion on the state of the North American market, and also the importance of events like Next Generation Optical Networking for the industry as a whole.

  • Layout Aware Schematic Driven Design Methodology for PICs
     

    Talk from Dr. Andre Richter at ECIO in May 2016 in Warsaw
     
     


    Fast and accurate circuit-level modeling:
    A new scalable simulation approach

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