Trio tackles CPO testing bottleneck
SENKO, Advantest and VIAVI Solutions have collaborated on an automated test platform designed to support high-volume manufacturing of co-packaged optics (CPO) modules.
SENKO Advanced Components, Advantest and VIAVI Solutions have announced a collaboration focused on addressing testing and optical connectivity challenges as CPO moves towards high-volume manufacturing.
The companies are demonstrating an automated test environment at ECOC 2026 in Málaga, Spain, integrating Advantest's automated test capabilities with SENKO's detachable optical connectivity and VIAVI's high-speed photonic test technology.
The platform is designed to simulate production conditions for CPO modules and evaluate the repeatability, durability and throughput of automated photonic testing.
A key challenge is testing optical engines at data rates of 200 Gbps per lane through a detachable optical connector. Traditionally, high-speed optical engines have relied on permanently attached fibre pigtails, making repeated connection and disconnection at these data rates difficult.
The demonstration uses VIAVI's 1.6 Tbps transceiver test platform as a representative optical engine and performs bit-error-rate testing through SENKO's detachable connector interface.
For high-volume manufacturing, the connector must also withstand repeated mating cycles. Production environments could require tens of thousands of devices to be tested each month, increasing demands on optical alignment, connector durability and measurement repeatability.
SENKO's SAM-T (SENKO Alignment Master-Testing) test connector is designed for this environment. Manufactured using tungsten carbide, the connector is intended to maintain optical performance over thousands of mating cycles.
The SAM-T also incorporates SENKO's Elastic Averaging alignment technology, which the company said will be used in future fibre array units for CPO switch integration.
The test connector can also be ganged to enable multiple optical engines to be tested simultaneously, potentially increasing throughput and reducing equipment downtime.
Advantest has developed the simulated CPO production environment to evaluate automated photonic test workflows at manufacturing scale, while VIAVI contributes high-speed photonic measurement capabilities.
The collaboration highlights the growing importance of automated testing as CPO moves from laboratory demonstrations towards commercial deployment. Alongside optical performance, manufacturers will need repeatable alignment, reliable connectivity and sufficient test throughput to support large-scale production of photonic modules.
