BitFlow Helps CoaXPress Users Navigate Transition from Coaxial Cable to Fiber Optics

BitFlow is helping engineers navigate the transition from coaxial to fiber CXP with intelligent, flexible products that build on the company's innovative frame grabber portfolio.

March 4, 2025 - Since its introduction in 2011, the CoaXPress (CXP) interface has relied on coaxial cables for connectivity. As the machine vision industry's premier standard for high-speed serial data transfer, CXP over coaxial cable supports speeds up to 12.5 Gb/s per link. While unmatched by other interfaces today, such as GigE Vision or CameraLink, CXP over coaxial has run into a bandwidth ceiling that is preventing it from achieving even higher speeds. Enter CoaXPress-over-Fiber (CoF), an extension of the CoaXPress 2.0 specification. CoF provides a means to run the unmodified CXP-12 protocol over standard Ethernet connections, including fiber optics, instead of coaxial cable. Besides offering a path to speeds of 100 or even 200 Gb/s, fiber optic cables are immune to EMI, which can cause data interference.

BitFlow, a brand of Advantech, is helping engineers navigate the transition from coaxial to fiber CXP with intelligent, flexible products that build on the company's innovative frame grabber portfolio. BitFlow CoF products emphasize the importance of future-proofing machine vision architectures to address the escalating demand for higher camera resolutions, greater throughput, and the adoption of Artificial Intelligence. BitFlow sees the immense opportunities CoF will bring to existing and new use cases, ranging from traditional machine vision inspection to the emerging Industrial IoT. "I’m thrilled to announce the game changing CoF innovations BitFlow is bringing to market. BitFlow is making it possible to deploy CoaXPress over Fiber leveraging the Ethernet platform and using the low cost Ethernet cables, connectors and electronics that engineers are already familiar with," said Donal Waide, director of Business Development for Advantech's Industrial Cloud & Video Group. "In addition to unprecedented speeds, CoF allows very long distances to be bridged with fiber optic cables for latency-free video transmission."

The original CoaXPress standard combines excellent stability, low latency, and high bandwidth. These benefits are extended by CoaXPress-over-Fiber, which eliminates worries about EMI and cable length, plus opens a pathway to far higher speeds.

Check out our free e-newsletters to read more great articles..