200GBASE-SR4 Application Overview
200GBASE‑SR4 supports short wavelength 4‑level pulse amplitude modulated (PAM4) parallel transmission over four lanes (8‑fibers) of multimode optical fiber cabling. The application’s equivalent symbol rate is 53.125 GBd per lane (PAM4 maps pairs of bits into a single symbol) and the supported distance varies according to the type of multimode cable used. Network equipment interface connections include a multi‑fiber push on (MPO) connector and a standard socket into which a physical (PHY) layer transceiver module may be plugged.
- Connector type: MPO/MTP
- Transceiver module: QSFP56
- Defined in clause 138 of the IEEE 802.3 Standard for Ethernet
- Initially published as IEEE Std 802.3cd™: Media Access Control Parameters for 50 Gb/s and Physical Layers and Management Parameters for 50 Gb/s, 100 Gb/s, and 200 Gb/s Operation in 2018
Optical Fiber Cabling (Channel) Characteristics:
200GBASE-SR4 | ||||
Parameter | OM3 | OM4 | OM5 | Unit |
Operating wavelength: | 850 | nm | ||
Modal bandwidth (min): | 2,000 | 4,700 | MHz∙km | |
Operating range: | 0.5 to 70 | 0.5 to 100 | m | |
Insertion loss (max): | 1.8 | 1.9 | dB | |
Cabling skew (max): | 79 | ns | ||
Cabling skew variation: | 2.4 | ns |
Key Application Capabilities:
- Defines a four-lane 200 Gb/s PHY for operation over at least 100 m of MMF
- Supports full-duplex operation only
- Preserves the Ethernet frame format utilizing the Ethernet MAC
- Preserves minimum and maximum FrameSize of current 802.3 Standard for Ethernet
- Provides appropriate support for optical transport networks (OTNs)
- Supports a BER of better than or equal to 10-13 at the MAC/PLS service interface (or the frame loss ratio equivalent)
- Supports optional Energy-Efficient Ethernet operation
Related Applications:
The IEEE P802.3cd Task Force also specified the following PAM4 modulated Ethernet applications:
Application | Operating Wavelength | Media | Operating Range1 |
50GBASE-CR | – | Copper Twinax | up to 3 m |
50GBASE-FR | 1310 nm | Single-mode | up to 2 km |
50GBASE-KR | – | Backplane | – |
50GBASE-LR | 1310 nm | Single-mode | up to 10 km |
50GBASE-SR | 850 nm | Multimode | up to 100 m |
100GBASE-CR2 | – | Copper Twinax | up to 3 m |
100GBASE-DR | 1310 nm | Single-mode | up to 500 m |
100GBASE-KR2 | – | Backplane | – |
100GBASE-SR2 | 850 nm | Multimode | up to 100 m |
200GBASE-CR4 | – | Copper Twinax | up to 3 m |
200GBASE-KR4 | – | Backplane | – |
1 Supported distance varies according to the type of optical fiber cable used. |
Back to TIA FOTC IEEE 802.3 Multimode Optical Fiber Ethernet Standards Explorer