Keysight Technologies (NYSE: KEYS) introduced an Electrical-Optical-Electrical simulation solution in ADS 2026 that allows engineers to simulate complete signal paths from electrical transmitters through optical circuits to electrical receivers within a single design environment.

The solution addresses growing demand for faster optical links driven by AI infrastructure and high-performance computing. According to McKinsey data cited in the announcement, 87% of hyperscale optical transceivers will operate at 800Gbps or higher by 2029, with 1.6Tbps and 3.2Tbps speeds on the horizon.

The new capability combines Keysight's High Speed Digital workflow with Keysight Photonic Designer, enabling simulation of mixed electrical and optical signal chains before hardware implementation. Previously, engineers had to use separate tools for electrical and optical domains, manually combining results and potentially missing cross-domain effects.

Key features include simulation of bidirectional optical links with full-duplex capability, assessment of nonlinear effects across multiple wavelengths for multi-lane interconnects, and noise modeling across both electrical and optical domains simultaneously.

The solution supports wavelength division multiplexing simulation, allowing engineers to evaluate how optical nonlinearities affect performance across wavelengths as 800G and 1.6T optical links use multiple wavelengths on the same waveguide.

"AI infrastructure depends on 800 Gbps and 1.6 Tbps optical links to move data at scale. At these speeds, electrical and optical performance can no longer be modeled separately," said Niels Fache, Senior Vice President at Keysight.

The solution includes PDK support at the circuit level and Keysight RSoft integration at the component level, providing simulation capabilities from system-level down to component optimization. Information is based on a company press release.