AN OVERVIEW OF PASSIVE OPTICAL NETWORKS

P.Ossieur, X Z Qiu, J. Bauwetinck. D. Verhutst, Y. Martens, J. Vandewege, B. Stubbez

1

Ghent University, INTEC-IMEC, St. Pietersnieuwstraat 4 1, B-9000 Gent, Belgium

2Alcatel Research and Innovation, Francis Wellesplein 1, 201 8 Antwerpen, Belgium

ABSTRACT
This paper gives an overview of past and recent developments
of Passive Optical Networks (PONs). Such networks currently
receive a lot of attention as a means to relieve the so-called lastmile bottleneck in todays broadband networks using optical
fiber technology. Several important multiplexing techniques are
highlighted, with an emphasis on Time Division Multiplexing
(TDM). An overview of current standards is given, together with
emerging standards for advanced broadband PON networks.

I. INTRODUCTION
Since their introduction in the late 1980s [I],PONs are now
being deployed as an economical and future-proof technology to
bring broadband access towards the end-user using optical fiber
technology. Fig. 1 shows the typical point-to-multipoint
structure of a PON. Communication from the Central Office
(CO) towards the subscribers is entitled downstream traffic, the
opposite direction is called upstream traffic. At the Remote Node
(RN, also called the Access Node or AN), the signals are
distributed towards the customer terminals (in the downstreap
direction), and combined towards the CO (in the upstream
direction).

Upstream d i m i o n

: F,& r&
Downrum direclion

L\
*.. ...

...IkdiUfd6b.r wnnrmons

Figure 1. Generic point-to-multipoint architecture of a

passive optical network. The shown connections
represent either a single fiber or two fibers carrying resp.
up- and downstream traffic.
There are several reasons why a PON is an attractive approach
for providing broadband access to a large number of subscribers.
A first reason is cost. Note that the feeder and equipment in the
CO is shared among the customers, providing a significant
reduction in cost, and a concentration of transmission capacity in
compact CO equipment with a minimal amount of optical
interconnects. As professional optical components such as
connectors, lasers and photodiodes, and optical cabling are quite
expensive, it is important to share these among the different
subscribers [2]. In conventional point-to-point systems, each
customer requires two expensive transminedreceiver pairs, one
of which taking up valuable rack space at the CO. The sharing
creates acost asymmetry, so that professional, highly reliable
equipment can be used at the CO without too heavy an impact on
the connection cost for an individualsubscriber, and relaxing the
need for redundancy. Furthermore, the deployment cost of

0-7803-7979-9/03/$17.0002003 IEEE

installing an access plant is usually dominated by labor cost, in

which excavation costs can be substantial. With todays
dropping prices of optical components and network technology,
PON broadband access is becoming more cost-effective in the
long term than the copper-based counterparts [3]. This is
especially true in so-called green fields, where no networks
have been installed previously. A second reason is future-safety.
When the RN is kept passive and does not contain any
(opto)electronics, the whole fiber plant is entirely passive. This
ensures a future-proof network, the functionality or bandwidth of
which can be easily upgraded by replacing the CO equipment,
the subscribers equipment or both. The passive nature of the
fiber implies that servicing and maintenance of the network is
minimal and straightfonvard. A network containing live
electronics between the CO and the subscriber terminals (such as
the cable amplifiers in a CATV network) requires more frequent
servicing, and faults are harder to locate.
A drawback of sharing part of the transmission medium among
several subscribers is that multiplexing is needed to transport
respective subscriber signals from and towards the CO. This
multiplexing can bedone either in the electrical or in the optical
domain. Three important techniques have received wide interest.
The best-known multiplexing technique in the field of optical
communication is TDM. The very first demonstration of a PON
did use this technique [I]. In PONs, the TDM is performed in
the electrical domain, as optical TDM is too expensive. Specific
time slots are allocated for the transmission and reception of data
by a specific subscriber. Today, several TDM-PONs are
commercially available. Standards such as the ITU-T G.983.x
(41-[6] prove that this is a very mature technology. Another
multiplexing technique,
Dense
Wavelength
Division
Multiplexing (DWDM), is widely used in the core networks.
Each customer is assigned a wavelength to transmit and/or
receive data [7]. The main objection against WDM for
multiplexing the (upstream) signals of different PON subscribers
is the lack of a low cost, wavelength tunable subscriber laser.
Finally, a third multiplexing technique in the electrical domain is
Subcarrier Multiplexing (SCM), in which each subscriber is
assigned a unique (electrical) carrier frequency [SI. This requires
the use of lasers with very good modulation linearity, which is
considered too expensive, especially for the upstream link.

In principle, one can choose from the above-mentioned

multiplexing methods for both upstream and downstream
transmission to create a PON. One might even e.g. combine
TDM and WDM in both upstream and downstream direction, by
assigning a single wavelength to a group of subscribeh 191.
Another demonstration showed how WDM can be used in the
downstream direction, combined with SCM in the upstream
direction [IO]. However the multiplexing method in downstream
and upstream direction are not always independent, due to
synchronization issues or channel assignment among
subscribers.

113

2. PON ARCHITECTURES
2.1 Wavelength division multiplexing
Fig. 2 shows a WDM-PON, as it was proposed in [7]. Each
subscriber is assigned two wavelengths in the 1.3pm band, one
for downstream transmission and one for upstream transmission,
providing vimal point-to-point connectivity. The RN consists of
a passive device that routes the appropriate wavelengths to the
subscriber. There are three advantages of this technology. First
of all, the complete bandwidth of each wavelength channel is
available for a single user. Secondly, contrary to a TDM-PON
that requires synchronization, each wavelength channel is
completely independent of each other. Finally, a subscriber, once
its wavelengths have been assigned, cannot access signals
destined for other subscribers, increasing information security.

due to the large temperature dependence of both components.

Usually the RN must operate in outdoor conditions, i.e. a
temperature range of 4O0C to +85"C. Complex solutions were
reported, such as closing a feedback loop around a dedicated
WDM channel to lock the wavelengths of both components (IS].
Nowadays, the allocation of PON wavelength bands has been
standardized 161 (see also subparagraph 2.3). An Enhancement
Band has been defined which can be used for DWDM
applications, with a frequency grid standardized according to
[161[171.

2.2 Subcarrier multiplexing

Figure 3. A PON with 16 connected terminals.

Usually, SCM is combined with either TDM or WDM to form a
PON network. For example, fig. 3 shows a PON using TDM in
the downstream direction and Subcarrier Multiple Access in the
upstream direction [le]. Each subscriber is assigned a unique
subcarrier frequency. The upstream data is impressed upon this
subcqier using Frequency Shift Keying, and the resulting RF
spectrum modulates the light intensity of the subscriber laser. At
the CO side, the subcarrier signals from different subscribers are
selected using an RF-splitter and bandpass filters centered on the
respective channels.

Figure 2. Early demonstration of a WDM-PON.

However, it is clear that all sharing advantages at the CO are
lost. Mainly the high cost of DWDM sources such as DFB-lasers
and wavelength .routers such as Arrayed Waveguide Gratings
(AWG's) make that this kind of PON will not easily compete
with copper-based networks. More sophisticated solutions uy to
increase the number of components that are shared among
several subscribers [I I]. The most difficult technical problems
are wavelength management and wavelength tracking.
From an operator's point-of-view, to keep in stock lasers with
different wavelengths which have to be manually (re) placed at
the customer's premises after a failure poses a serious burden for
deployment of such a network. Some proposed solutions avoid
the need for a subscriber laser [12], and use a reflector at the
terminal side to reflect the light coming from the downstream
direction back in the opposite direction after modulation with the
upstream data. In [II], a tunable laser is used at the CO side and
time division multiplexed among the subscribers. To transmit
data in the upstream direction, part of the downstream light is
split of at the subscriber's terminal and looped-back to the CO
after modulation. The disadvantage of both methods is a reduced
upstream bandwidth due to lack of upstream optical power. [I31
avoids this problem by .injection locking the subscriber laser
using the downstream transmission wavelength. An alternative
solution uses L E D s to keep the cost of the subscriber's terminal
low. All the LED's of the subscribers have -an identical optical
spectrum, which is sliced at the .kN using an AWF [14].
However, due to large 'slicing' and coupling losses, the achieved
bandwidths are limited.
Accurate wavelength tracking is needed between the DWDM:
source and the DWDM routers. Indeed, the pass-band
wavelengths of the router at the RN and the emission
wavelengths of the lasers need to be matched precisely,
otherwise large link losses will result. The problem is aggravated

As this is an analog transmission method, the bandwidth of the

laser source is used much more efficiently when compared to
digital modulation methods. Although SNR requirements can be
tailored by the modulation parameters, linearity requirements are
much higher. And electronics for analog modulation is far more
complex than for digital modulation. Another technical challenge
is'the occurrence of Optical Beat Interference (OBI) at the
receiver side, as many laser.sources transmit on nearly the same
wavelength 1191 on the same fiber. One way to alleviate this
problem is to use multi-mode lasers such as Fabry-Perot (FP)
lasers. Contrary to DFB lasers, the (cheaper) FP lasers emit light
at many different wavelengths (longitudinal modes), hence the
optical power is spread over a larger (optical) bandwidth, what
reduces the coherence length and the interference. Another way
to reduce the effect of OBI is the use of Code Division Multiple
Access (CDMA) with a direct sequence technique, to spread the
OBI spectrum f201.
A last d d more-realistic application of SCM is the broadcasting
of video channels over the PON in the downstream direction.
For example, in [21] the downstream TDM 155.52-Mbitis
electrical data is multiplexed with a QPSK signal in a passband
from 270MHz to 145OMHz. The passband signal contained more
than 100 Digital Satellite Service Direct TV channels at 8Mbit/s. Interestingly, the total power budge! of the realized PON
remained compliant with the ITU-T G.983 standard [SI.

I14

2.3 Time division multiplexing

The most widely used multiplexing technique in PONs is TDM.
The reason for this is that the optical components can be kept
relatively simple and cheap, because the TDM can be performed
by digital electronics. The disadvaniages of this technology when
compared to the above mentioned techniques, is a possible
security risk, as all cells in the d o m e a m direction are received
by all subscribers, and a less efficient use of bandwidth as a
single wavelength channel is shared among all the subscribers.

Figure 4. G.983 BPON (Broadband PON)

The ITU-T G.983 standard [5] has been defined by the FSAN
group (Full Service Access Network) as a means for FTTx
deployment (Fiber To The x, x being Home, Curb, Business
etc.). see fig. 4. In the CO, the optical network starts at the OLT
(Optical Line Termination) and is terminated at the users
premise by ONUs or ONTs (Optical Network Units or Optical
Network Terminations). The maximum range of the network is
20km and a maximum of 32 physical ONUs can be supported.
In the downstream direction, ATM cells are sent over the
network using TDM at a wavelength of 1480-1500 nm In the
upstream direction, using TDMA (Time Division Multiple
Access) the ONUs transmit ATM cells towards the OLT at a
wavelength of 1310 nm. Coarse WDM filters split the
downstream and upstream wavelengths, which are fed to either
the receiver or the transmitter. The advantage of using different
upstream and downstream wavelengths split by WDM filters,
instead of using the Same wavelength split by dirqctional
couplers is an increased power budget and a reduced sensitivity
to reflections. Indeed, any reflections arriving back at a receiver
will he attenuated by the WDM filters. Note that in fig. 4, a
CATV overlay is shown. This is an extra downsheam WDM
channel in the 1550-1560 nm range, which can he used to bring
high capacity video services towards the customers. This overlay
was standardized in the G.983.3 recommendation [6].
As shown in fig. 4, the total fiber length from ONU to OLT can
differ from ONU to ONU. Hence synchronization is needed
between the different ONUs in the upstream direction to avoid
collision of cells at the RN. n i s synchronization is achieved by
measuring the time delay.between each ONU and the OLT
during a process called ranging. Once this delay is known, the
OLT can decide when exactly a specific ONU can send a cell in
the upstream direction. The OLT conveys this information via
so-called PLOAM cells (Physical Layer, Operation and
Maintenance) embedded in the downstream &c to the ONTs.
Note that each ONU needs a unique identifier, so that it can be
addressed individually by the OLT.
The transmined downstream cells constitute a continuous stream
of data and hence both the OLT transmitter and all ONU
receivers are operated in continuous wave (CW) mode. At the
standard bit rates, CW transmission does not pose severe

technical problems. In the upstream direction however, the

ONUs send intermittent data bursts and the OLT has to receive
data from many different ONUs in very short succession. This
burst-mode operation of the ONU transmitters (Txs) and the
OLT receiver (Rxs) present several technical challenges for the
driver and front-end eIectronics [221.
In between two data bursts, the ONU Tx may not launch any
optical power into the fiber, to avoid disturbing cells transmitted
by other ONUs. To keep the upsiream transmission efficiency
high, the ONU Tx must be able to switch on the laser within a
few nanoseconds or bits preceding the upstream data. Another
difficult requirement stems from the fact that the optical power
of the ONU Tx must be monitored, to keep it in the range
specified by ITU-T G.983 [SI. This requires the implementation
of an APC (Automatic Power Control),circuit. A special.design
requirement for this M C circuit is that, when the ONU is started
up for the first time, its optical power has to be stabilized within
a few microseconds. CW transmitters may require several
seconds to stahilize their output power. The reason for this fast
initialization stems from the ranging procedure. Indeed, when the
OLT detects that a new ONU has been attached to the PON, all
upstream traffic has to he halted for at leasl two times the roundirip delay in order to measure the time delay between the OLT
and this new ONU. However, the OLT can only correctly range
this new ONU once its optical power has been brought within
the admissible range. To reduce the time during which the
upstream traffic is halted, a fast initialization is needed. An
appropriate FSAN compliant 0.35pm CMOS chip for
transmission at 155-MbIs that performs these tasks was
successfully designed and tested 1231. The OLT Rx requires a
high dynamic range as, due to the tolerance on the power
transmitted by the ONUs and the different optical path losses,
successive cells from different ONUs can arrive with widely
varying amplitudes. Furthermore, the delay between an ONU and
the OLT is only known with limited resolution, so that the phase
of an incoming burst is not known beforehand and must be
Hence, to keep the transmission
extracted on the fly.
efficiency high, a burst-mode receiver is needed which can
extract both phase and amplitude quickly at the beginning of
each incoming burst [24].
PONs capable of line rates + high as 2.5-Gb/s are now under
study within two standardization bodies. The first body is the
FSANflTU-T group, which is revising (3.983 for line rates up to
2.5-Gbls. The second group is the so-called Ethernet in the First
Mile task force (or EFM), who is proposing Ethernet-like
technology (IEEE 802.3) at a line rate of 1.25-Ghis. The FSAN
group,.is standardizing the GPON (Gigabit PON) concept, while
EFM is standardizing EPON. (EthemetPON) technology. The
main technical challenges are again situated in the upstream part
of the.network. Avalanche photodiodes are now needed to
ensure a similar splitting factor and range when compared to the
ITU-T 6 9 8 3 . The inncase in gain in the receiver implies a
reduciion of dynamic range. Hence, the requirements for the
ONU Tx become even more stringent, as its output power needs,
to he brought within the dynamic range of the OLT Rx. This
requires a complex procedure to be,exccuted when the PON
network starts up or when a new ONU is attached to the network.

[?a.

The rationale behind GPON is in bring broadband services such

as Ethemet access and video distribution together with voice
towards the end-users. The main concern is to keep the
trymission efficiency high and provide high QoS (Quality of
Service) for its different services. n e EFM group bas based its
EPON concept upon Ethernet, retaining its Media Access

Control layer and replacing the physical layer. The reason behind
these choices is an effort to reduce costs by reusing Ethernet
MAC chips; which exist in large volumes. However, now it is
becoming clear that the existing Ethernet MAC layer is not at all
compatible with the requirements for a multipoint-to-point PON
structure. A trade-off was made with regards to transmission
efficiency, as EPON uses 8BilOB encoding prior to sending data
over the fiber, and others with respect to interactivity, which may
affect delay sensitive services such as voice. It is not clear at all
if the cost reduction aimed at by simplifying the design of the
receivers and transmitters, will outweigh the reduced
transmission efficiency and reduced QoS of EPON.

3. CONCLUSION
PON's are a mature technology, as shown by the standardization
work performed and still going on for relieving the 'last-mile
bottleneck'. Especially TDM-PONS are an economical and
future-proof technology for bringing both narrowband and
broadband services to the end-user 131 on a large scale.
'

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