The Versatile Link common project: feasibility report

The Versatile Link is a bi-directional digital optical data link operating at rates up to 4.8 Gbit/s and featuring radiation-resistant low-power and low-mass front-end components.The system is being developed in multimode or singlemode versions operating at 850 nm or 1310 nm wavelength respectively.It has serial data interfaces and is protocol-agnostic, but is targeted to operate in tandem with the GigaBit Transceiver (GBT) serializer/deserializer chip being designed at CERN.This paper gives an overview of the project status three and a half years after its launch.It describes the challenges encountered and highlights the solutions proposed at the system as well as the component level.It concludes with a positive feasibility assesment and an outlook for future project development directions.