TERM PROJECT REPORT SUBMISSION

Anwaar Ali
Muhammad Anjum Malik
MSEE-6 T&CN EE-884 Photonics Network

Contents
1.

Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 2

2.

Motivation............................................................................................................................................. 2

3.

General Architecture............................................................................................................................. 3

4.

Existing Standards of PON network ...................................................................................................... 4

4.1

BPON (Broadband PON) ................................................................................................................ 4

4.2

GPON (Gigabit PON) & EPON (Ethernet PON) .............................................................................. 5

5.

NG-EPON (Next Generation EPON) ....................................................................................................... 5

6.

Potential Problem (The Backward Compatibility and Co-Existence) .................................................... 6

References .................................................................................................................................................... 7

1. Introduction
Passive Optical Network (PON) is communication and telecom technology which is used
for point to multipoint communication using passive fiber. By passive fiber, it means that there
is not active equipment, which would consume power, in outside plant. Multiple endpoints can
share same fiber, aided by modulation schemes, such as TDM, FDM etc for efficient
communication.
The history of PON itself dates back to 1995. FSAN (Full Service Access Network) working
group first formulated PON standard. This working group was joint venture of the Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Telecommunication Standardization Sector of
the International Telecommunication Union (ITU-T). The first standard was named as BPON,
acronym for Broadband PON.
PONs also are called fiber to the home (FTTH) networks. The term FTTx is used to state
how far a fiber run is. In FTTH, x is for home. You may also see it called FTTP or fiber to the
premises. Another variation is FTTB for fiber to the building. These three versions define
systems where the fiber runs all the way from the service provider to the customer. In other
forms, the fiber is not run all the way to the customer. Instead, it is run to an interim node in
the neighborhood. This is called FTTN for fiber to the node. Another variation is FTTC, or fiber to
the curb. Here too the fiber does not run all the way to the home. FTTC and FTTN networks may
use a customers unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) copper telephone line to extend the services at
lower cost. For example, a fast ADSL line carries the fiber data to the customers devices.

2. Motivation
The reduction of power consumption has been recently a major area of research and
focus for past decade. We know that users and broadband demands are increasing day by day.
An estimate, based on research studies, shows that 10% of worlds total power is consumed by
Information and Communication Technology devices (ICT).
Passive optical network provides the best possibility to reduce this power consumption.
With OSP, completely deprived of power, we can save major portion of power as far as access
network is concerned.
Another motivation to use PON in access metropolitan networks is easy operation and
maintenance. Internet service providers (ISP) are adopting this technology due to easy O&M.
The large motivation to adopt PON networks is to cope with ever increasing bandwidth.
At the end of the first half of 2014 the median Internet data usage (per subscriber) in the North
American fixed access network was on the order of 17.4 GB downstream and 1.4 GB upstream
per month, while the mean reaches almost 43.8 GB downstream and around 7.6 GB upstream.
Top users consistently exceeded 5 TB of monthly data usage, typically shared among multiple
devices at home. Most service providers observe a steady data consumption growth of more
than 30% per year irrespective of the access technology they use in their first mile networks

(see section 4.3 for an example of operator data). The large growth in the mean and median
data consumption in fixed access networks (when compared with 2011 numbers as published
by the same source) is mainly attributed to the growing use of Real-Time Entertainment (RTE)
services. RTE services are responsible for about 63% of peak data consumption during busy
hours

Figure : Average Percent Utilization for Year 2015

3. General Architecture
A passive optical network consists of Optical Line Terminals (OLTs), Wavelength Division
Multiplexing (WDM), and Optical Network Terminals (ONTs). OLTs and WDMs are installed in
Co-location (ISP exchange), while ONTs are installed in end consumer premises. The
communication is established between ONT and OLT, typically, over single mode fiber and
WDM is used to differentiate between upload and download wavelength.
A typical PON network diagram is shown below

Figure Credits : http://fiberopticshare.com

WDM may additionally be used to provide wavelength for any additional service (Point
to Point private VPNs or video).
Commercial solutions, typically use, 1310nm for upload, 1490nm for download stream
and 1550nm. Upload sequence is determined using TDM. OLTs define time slot for each ONT to
upload data to OLT. Downstream is typically broadcast and ONT is only able to read the data
destined for itself. OLT tags the traffic in broadcast stream for ONTs. A single PON port, present
on line card of OLT, is split among multiple ONTs. In latest PON standards, one PON port can be
accessed by 128 customers.

4. Existing Standards of PON network

Currently following standards of PON network are being used in commercial ISP setups

BPON
GPON
EPON

Let us briefly discuss these standards one by one

4.1 BPON (Broadband PON)

Broadband Passive Optical network, BPON is considered as first commercial PON
network. The range for BPON network was within 20KM for exchange and end consumer. The
maximum supported bandwidth for overall network is 622Mbps (both for upload and
download). The BPON implementation by most of ISPs has rendered obsolete.

BPON network was used to provide Internet, telephony (VoIP) and cable (RF) tv services.
From technological limitation, one PON port in BPON was used to run 32 customers (ONTs).
BPON network used ATM technology on link layer for customers to access internet.

4.2 GPON (Gigabit PON) & EPON (Ethernet PON)

As name indicates, GPON is upgraded version of BPON network. GPON typically uses
split of 64 customers i.e single PON port can handle 64 customers. In some systems, this
number can go up to 128.
GPON has overall capacity of 2.488 Gbits/s. With advancement of technology and
network elements, GPON network was rolled out. Another differentiating factor, which GPON,
used was link layer technology.
Unlike BPON, GPON used GEM protocol instead of ATM protocol. This protocol was
specifically designed for PON networks, which aided in TDMA modulation, thus achieving better
data rate.
EPON has same technological specs as that of GPON, with only difference that EPON is
completely based on Ethernet standard of IEEE. EPON uses fiber media to implement the
Ethernet network (which is typically deployed using UTP Cable).

5. NG-EPON (Next Generation EPON)

Also known as 10G-EPON, NG-EPON is currently under research and development. The
demand for high-speed data services has driven the market for residential service offerings
reaching 1 Gb/s and business service offerings towards multi-Gb/s speeds. In response to this
market demand, service providers are moving 10G-EPON quickly towards commercial
deployment. 1G-EPON will soon become a de-facto legacy technology, providing lowerbandwidth services. At the same time, anticipating the demand for high-speed data services to
continue growing in the foreseeable future, service providers are exploring the market
potential and technology options for a next generation of EPON. NG-EPON would operate at
aggregate data rates above 10 Gb/s to provide higher per-subscriber data rates and at the same
time minimize the physical footprint and power consumption of the access network
With the first trials of first generation of EPON (1G-EPON) taking place in December
2004, EPON quickly emerged as the market-leading optical access technology in multiple
application areas in different countries around the world.
NG-EPON aggregate system capacity requirements are driven by a number of factors,
including the mix of services offered by the given service provider, subscriber population and
demographics, etc. The evolution of existing services, as well as anticipated future service
types, drive the need for different sustained and peak data rates, as well as different symmetry
ratios between upstream and downstream data rates.

To address a cost-effective delivery of differentiated services over optical access

networks, service providers expect to deliver services to both residential and business
subscribers on the same access platform. In this case, requirements for the aggregate
bandwidth supported by NG-EPON are primarily driven by business subscribers and their
growing demand for higher bandwidth. Business subscribers are typically provided with
symmetric service rates, while residential subscribers are typically provided with asymmetric
service rates, thus NG-EPON is expected to support both symmetric and asymmetric data rates.
Projecting based on premium-tier offerings and market drivers in the business services market,
NG-EPON is expected to support the aggregate capacity of at least 40 Gb/s in the downstream
and upstream directions.

6. Potential Problem (The Backward Compatibility and Co-Existence)

GPON/EPON networks are largely deployed by different ISPs in the world. Clean slate
design to implement NG-EPON is not a feasible solution from commercial point of view. This
leaves with potential research area for the co-existence of EPON/GPON deployed architectures
with NG-EPON.
It is suggested that OLTs of NG-EPON be made backward compatible with existing EPON
and GPON architectures. However, this is research field has future potential

References

Sandvine, 2H 2013 Global Internet Phenomena Report,

https://www.sandvine.com/downloads/general/global-internet-phenomena/2013/2h-2013global-internet-phenomena-report.pdf , Fall 2013.
ITU-T G.652, Characteristics of a single-mode optical fibre and cable, 2011 with errata and
amendments.
"Full Service Access Network". FSAN Group official web site. 2009. Archived from the original on
October 12, 2009
Rec. G.984, Gigabit-capable Passive Optical Networks (GPON), ITU-T, 2003.