Electro-Optical-Electrical Simulation for Data Centers and High-Speed Ethernet Designs

Keysight Technologies has introduced a new Electrical-Optical-Electrical (EOE) simulation solution within the ADS 2026 software platform. The system enables end-to-end simulation of signal paths—from electrical to optical and back to electrical signals—within a single development environment. This functionality addresses the growing demand for high-speed optical interconnects required for AI infrastructures and high-performance computing systems. Analyzing these signal paths is critical for architectural definition and performance evaluation in modern data centers.

Relevance of Cross-Domain Modeling
Forecasts indicate that by 2029, approximately 87 percent of hyperscale optical transceivers will operate at data rates of 800 Gbit/s or higher, with developments progressing toward 1.6 Tbit/s and 3.2 Tbit/s. Since optical interconnects link processors (CPUs, GPUs) and high-speed Serializer/Deserializer (SerDes) interfaces, development requires accurate modeling of interactions between electrical and optical domains. Previous simulation workflows treated these domains separately, requiring manual consolidation of results from multiple tools. This fragmented process increases the risk of overlooking cross-domain effects that may degrade system performance.

Technical Implementation in the Workflow
The EOE functionality in ADS 2026 allows developers to simulate the complete signal path—including transmitters, optical and photonic circuits, and electrical receivers—within a unified workflow. The software combines Keysight’s high-speed digital workflow with the Keysight Photonic Designer. By simulating the mixed-domain signal chain before physical hardware implementation, engineers can align the physical parameters of electrical and optical designs early in the development cycle. Additionally, signal integrity is evaluated against common high-speed communication standards.

Signal Quality Evaluation and Nonlinear Effects
A technical focus of the software lies in identifying signal integrity issues through simultaneous simulation of high-speed digital SerDes channels and the behavior of photonic integrated circuits (PICs). The software supports full-duplex simulations for bidirectional optical links, enabling signal propagation analysis in both forward and reverse directions within an EOE channel. Furthermore, the integration of wavelength-division multiplexing parameters enables the analysis of nonlinear effects across multiple wavelengths in multi-lane interconnects. This capability is technically significant because 800G and 1.6T links increasingly modulate multiple wavelengths simultaneously on the same waveguide. Noise modeling, along with large-signal-dependent and modulator-bias-dependent nonlinear effects, are captured as part of the end-to-end simulation across both domains as a unified system.

Optimization from System Level to Component Level
The multi-domain co-simulation framework links the electrical channel simulator with the optical envelope simulator, eliminating the need to switch between separate software tools when evaluating design trade-offs. Beyond system-level analysis, ADS 2026 also supports component-level optimization. Through support for Process Design Kits (PDKs) at the circuit level and integration with Keysight RSoft software for component-level modeling, the behavior of photonic integrated circuits is physically modeled. This minimizes discrepancies between system-level simulations and actual semiconductor behavior. Niels Fache, Senior Vice President at Keysight, contextualized the development technically: “AI infrastructure depends on 800 Gbit/s and 1.6 Tbit/s optical interconnects to transfer data at scale. At these speeds, electrical and optical performance can no longer be modeled independently.”

Additional Context: Technical Specifications and Market Positioning
This section details technical specifications and competitive positioning not included in the original product announcement. In the field of Electronic-Photonic Design Automation (EPDA), Keysight competes with established simulation environments such as Synopsys OptSim and Ansys photonic design tools (Lumerical). A critical benchmark for modern EPDA platforms is the seamless co-simulation of electrical ICs—typically based on CMOS or BiCMOS processes—and silicon photonics ICs within a single testbench. The industry transition toward 1.6-Tbit/s Ethernet, according to specifications such as IEEE 802.3dj, requires highly complex PAM4 or coherent modulation techniques. These impose extremely demanding requirements on noise and distortion management, making integrated electro-optical simulators increasingly essential for validating signal integrity before semiconductor tape-out.

Edited by industrial technology journalist Lekshman Ramdas, with AI assistance.

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