GPON - The Next Generation Access Network

Kumar Shakti Singh

Abstract work suitably addresses both the CAPEX and OPEX.

Passive Optical Network (PON) provides high band-
width, low maintenance optical access technology. A
PON is a point to multipoint network. It uses optical
splitting in the downstream to broadcast traffic to all the
end nodes, termed as Optical Network Terminals or
Optical Network Units from Optical Line Terminal. In
upstream direction the Optical Line Terminal, or the
aggregating node, controls the transmission of the traffic
from the individual ONU/ONT on to the shared fibre.
The earliest version of PON was the BPON (Broadband
PON) mainly used for transfer of ATM and TDM traffic.
The relatively new technologies are EPON, GPON and
WDM-PON.
Why PON?
The demand for higher bandwidth at the customer pre-
mises is fuelling the development of Access Network.
As distance and bandwidth pose a major limitation to
the usefulness of copper as medium, optical technology
is the alternate choice. Since the access networks are
very cost sensitive, a passive and shared out-door net-
Another important development of recent times has
been the growth of data traffic in the network. The large
volume of data traffic in metro network has resulted in
carrying of Ethernet frames right across the network
instead of the IP packets. EPON and GPON address the
above requirements and provide for solutions, though
each has a different protocol and variation in technol-
ogy. Figure 1. show EPON and GPON networks.
GPON Overview
GPON network reference model is shown in Figure 2..
Each component of the network is looked upon in next
few sections. The GPON provides varying rates of trans-
mission in both the upstream and the downstream direc-
tions. In the downstream direction the transmission rate
can be either 2.488Gbps or 1.244Gbps. Whereas in the
upstream direction the rate can be selected from
622Mbps or 1.244Gbps.
GPON provides support to different types of client ser-
vices. The ATM client is mapped transparently into the
GEM frame in both the directions. The TDM client is

ONU OLT, PON

Access Platform
PON CLE/CPE
(Access Node)
Residential
splitter
subscriber

PON CLE/CPE

ONU
Tele-commuter Broadband
Broadband Regional
Network
Aggregation BRAS To
Ethernet/IP Network
DSLAM ISP/
ASP/
(MTU)
Content Provider
VDSL/

SHDSL

ONU

OLT, PON
splitter Access Platform
(Access Node)

ONU
Small business
subscriber

Figure 1. PON Network

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GPON - The Next-Gen Access Network - K.S.Singh
mapped using GPON Encapsulation Method (GEM)
procedure. This is identical to GFP framing is described
later in the article. Fixed number of bytes in each frame
are reserved for the TDM transportation in both the
directions. Data packets including Ethernet frames are
also mapped using GEM procedure. Fragmentation and
Reassembly, i.e dividing the large frames into smaller
fragments and combining them again at receiver, facili-
tates reducing the delay variations of real time traffic
and TDM traffic in case of large data packets. The data
traffic can comprise Ethernet frames, IP packets, IP-TV,
VoIP and any other type, making the GEM frame trans-
port capability attractive, efficient and simple.
GPON Distribution
The medium for transport is fibre. Fibres and splitters
are referred to as Optical Distribution Network (ODN).
On the downstream side (traffic flowing from OLT to
ONU/ONT or away from the network towards the sub-
scribers) a single fibre connects to the first splitter. This
then forms the trunk of a tree. The tree is the ODN, with
splitters being joints where a branch offshoots. The
ONU/ONT form the leaves. Each branch ends up at a
splitter or at an ONU/ONT. In the upstream direction
multiple branches carrying traffic, are combined into a
Access Network System Management
UNI
ONU /
AF ONT
WDM
NE
AF Adaptation Function, would normally be part of
ONU
NE Network Element sharing fibre but not part of PON
UNI User Network Interface
SNI Service Network Interface
Figure 2. GPON Reference Diagram
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single branch using optical couplers, which have direc-
tional properties. Full duplex connection is achieved by
having separate fibre network for downstream and
upstream directions or using a single fibre networks
with WDM access, i.e. using separate wavelength for
downstream and upstream traffic. All the components of
the ODN viz., fibre, splitter & coupler are passive fulfill-
ing the requirements of a PON.
GPON ONU/ONT
ONU/ONT, the nodes at the subscriber end provide for
connectivity between customers (users) and network.
The ONU adapts the incoming traffic into GPON proto-
col before transmitting to OLT during the assigned
period. In downstream direction, the ONUs continu-
ously listen to all the traffic. They extract and forward,
the one destined to one of their ports. Since ONT nor-
mally resides at customer premises, it needs to be cost
sensitive. ONTs and ONUs act as slave nodes in most of
the scenarios in PON. ONU/ONTs are managed by the
network manager via the OLT. Where as an ONT pro-
vides the User Port Functions required by customer in
Fibre To The Home (FTTH) (residential user), ONU
does not provide these and instead provides the interface
to standard transport medium like E1/T1, Ethernet, DSL
SNI
ODN
OLT
WDM
Splitter
NE
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GPON - The Next-Gen Access Network - K.S.Singh

cables etc. The User Port Function is responsible for sage meant and used by all ONUs, and Payload sections.
providing necessary interface processes to individual In the payload section data traffic and TDM traffic are
end-users that connect to the ONU allowing them access encapsulated using a GFP like header, called GEM
to the Network system. An ONT is considered as a part header. Within this header is embedded the information
of the CPE. The ONU can support traffic through more of destination port of ONU. Thus each port as seen by
than one CPEs and is considered a part of operator’s net-
PON Core Shell Service
work. The logical structure of the ONU/ONT is shown Shell
in Figure 3.
Service
GPON OLT Adaptation

CROSSCONNECT Shell
The OLTS is the root of the GPON (PON in general) ODN PON - TC
tree. It provides for the data plane functions shown in Function Function
Figure 4. It also controls and manages the ONU/ONTs
connected to the network. For the downstream direction,
client traffic is encapsulated with the correct identifica-
tion tag and transmitted. In the upstream direction
based, on the Service Level Agreement (SLAs) and
Dynamic Bandwidth Requirement report (DBR) from
ONUs/ONTs, it allocates specific periods within the ODN PON - TC
frame for transmission of traffic. For management of the Function Function
network, the OLT measures the power received from Service
individual ONUs/ONTs, allocates Ids to ONUs/ONTs, Adaptation
discovers new ONUs added to the network, and collects
performance parameters from each Figure 4. GPON OLT Functions
PON has a unique identification and upto 4095 such
PON Core Shell Service identifications can be supported. Therefore, using the
Shell above port identification, only the ONU, for which the
traffic is destined extracts the payload. For ATM cells
Service which are directly mapped into the payload section, VPI
Adaptation / VCI are used for segregating the traffic at the ONUs. In
ODN PON - TC upstream direction based on the bandwidth requirement
Service MUX - DEMUX

Function Function of each port, slots within the upstream frames are allo-
cated to individual ONUs. The upstream traffic is trans-
ferred in transmission containers (T-CONTs). These T-
CONTs can carry identical traffic from one or many
ports of the ONU. There can be up to five different types
of T-ONT.
ODN PON - TC GPON Protocol - DownStream
Function Function
Service The protocol for the transfer of information has been
Adaptation designed to address the requirements of point to multi-
point system and to utilize the available bandwidth in
the network to the maximum. The downstream frame
Figure 3. GPON ONU Functions
formats are shown in and Figure 5.
The downstream frame repeats every 125us, very much
ONU/ONT. Just as the ONT performs the User Port like the other TDM transport technologies. It also car-
Functions for management, OLT performs the Service ries the 8Khz synchronization information to the ONUs
Port Functions for the ports attached to the OLT. for synchronizing upstream clocks and any TDM traffic
payload. The downstream frames comprises of GPON
GPON Transmission Transmission Convergence (GTC) Physical Control
For downstream traffic the network appears as broadcast Block downstream [PCBd] and a Payload area. The first
medium. Thus all ONUs are able to listen to incoming field in PCBd, PSync, refers to the frame pattern used
traffic. The frame comprises of Physical channel mes- for frame synchronization. It is 4 octets long. It carries

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GPON - The Next-Gen Access Network - K.S.Singh
the pattern 0xB6-AB-31-E0 and is not scrambled.
Within the ONUs a state machine, similar to HEC fram-
ing is used for frame synchronization and it looks for the
above pattern. The next field, Ident, provides informa-
tion whether Forward Error Correction (FEC) has been
used in downstream frame or not. It is a static informa-
tion. In PON addition of new ONUs is not ruled out. So
as the new ONUs require this information when admit-
ted into the system, it is conveyed in every frame. The
rest of the Ident field carries a 30 bit super-frame
counter value, which increments every frame and rolls -
over to 0. It is used for ranging process and for
Advanced Encryption System (AES). The third field, 13
bytes long, carries the Physical Layer OAM (PLOAM)
messages required for configuration and management of
the ONUs and PON in general. One byte is used by the
BIP-8 process, which covers all bytes in frame. BIP-8 is
calculated over scrambled bytes and inserted prior to the
scrambling process. The fifth and sixth fields are Pay-
load Length Indicator (PLend), transmitted twice for
robustness. The Upstream Bandwidth field indicates the
length of the upstream bandwidth allocation map and
length of ATM partition with in the payload bytes. The
last field carries the upstream bandwidth allocation map
PCBd
PSync Ident PLOAMd BIP
4 Bytes 4 Bytes 13 Bytes 1 byte
Figure 5. GPON Downstream Frame Format
PLOu PLOAMu PLSu DBRu X Payload X DBRu Y Payload Y
ONU-Id Msg-Id
1 Bytes 1 byte
Preamble Delimiter BIP ONU-Id Ind
a Bytes b Bytes 1 byte 1 Byte 1 Byte
Figure 6. GPON Upstream Frame Format
Transwitch Corporation Sep 26, 2006
indicating the start and stop position of each transmit
container in the upstream direction.
The control bytes within the ATM partition and
upstream bandwidth map are also protected using CRC-
8.
GPON Protocol - UpStream
In the upstream direction the frames from different
ONUs are spaced using the guard time. The different
fields of the upstream are shown in Figure 6. The first
field, Physical Layer Overhead upstream (PLOu) is a
variable length field, its size is governed by upstream
rate. It is used for frame markings. Preamble and Delim-
iter bytes within the PLOu are rate dependent and mark
the start of transmission from the said ONU. The length
of the field increases with higher transmission rate to
facilitate clock recovery and frame synchronization in a
multi-clock environment (each ONU/ONT can have dif-
ferent clock parameters). BIP is the upstream BIP-8
covering all the bytes of the transmitted frame. The
ONU-ID indicates the ONU from which traffic is trans-
mitted. This unique ID is provided by OLT to ONU dur-
ing the ONU registration phase. The indication field
provides information on usage of FEC,
Payload
PLend PLend US BW Map
4 Bytes 4 Bytes N * 8 Bytes
PLOu DBRu X Payload X
120 Bytes DBA CRC
1,2,4 Bytes 1 Byte
Message CRC
10 Bytes 1 Byte
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GPON - The Next-Gen Access Network - K.S.Singh

Remote Defect Indication (RDI) input and status on the
traffic and messages waiting in queues at the ONU. The
second field of the upstream frame is the PLOAMu, car-
rying OAM messages from ONU to OLT. This field is
only sent in response to OLT request, present in
upstream bandwidth map of the downstream frame. The
Power Level Sequence (PLSu) field is used by ONU to
send power measurement information to OLT. The
information is used by OLT to adjust the ONU power
levels to reduce the power level dynamic range visible at
the OLT. It is 120 byte long message and is unstruc-
tured. The 2,3 or 5 byte DBRu field carries the dynamic
bandwidth allocation report of the T-CONT for the pay-
load is being sent in the following payload fields of the
current frame from ONU. The number of bytes in the
report depend on the reporting option negotiated
between ONU and OLT. The default is 2 bytes, where
one byte being CRC-8. The last field is the payload
field. It is important to note that DBRu and Payload for
multiple T-CONTs can be packed in a single frame sent
by the ONU, depending on the bandwidth allocation
provided by the OLT. The payload can carry one of the
three types of information viz. an ATM payload, a GEM
encapsulated traffic or a DBA report. The DBA report is
comprehensive and contains information of all the T-
CONTs supported by the ONU. It is different from the
one carried in DBR where information of the concerned
T-CONT is only forwarded by the ONU. The three dif-
ferent payload options are shown in Figure 7. to Figure
9.
GPON Transmission Convergence (GTC) function
The GTC function adapts user and control information
to GPON protocol for transmission. The user plane and
control plane functional blocks for GTC are shown in
Figure 10. GTC is the Transmission Convergence (TC)
shown for ONU and OLT in Figure 3. and Figure 4.
The PLOAM messages are sent out in defined location
in the GPON frames. They are formatted as octets by the
PLOAM client of the GTC.
ONU Management and Control Information (OMCI)
messages are carried over ONU Management and Con-
trol Channel (OMCC). OMCI messages are adapted
using GEM in case of its association with non-ATM
traffic. In case of ONU transporting ATM cells the
OMCI are mapped into GPON frame using ATM HEC
adaptation mechanism. The OMCI adaptor formats the
messages as per the requirement of the OMCC.
ATM TC adaptor transparently maps the ATM cells into
ATM partition of the downstream frames or into the

PLOu DBRu X Payload X

ATM Cell ATM Cell ATM Cell Pad if required

Figure 7. GPON Upstream Payload -ATM

PLOu DBRu X Payload X

GEM Header Frame Fragment GEM Header Full Frame GEM Header Frame Fragment

Figure 8. GPON Upstream Payload -GEM

PLOu DBRu X Payload X

DBA Report Pad if reqd.

Figure 9. GPON Upstream Payload - Report

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GPON - The Next-Gen Access Network - K.S.Singh

payload area assigned for ATM cells in the upstream
direction. The GEM TC adaptor maps data and TDM
payload, i.e. non-ATM traffic into GPON frames. The
GEM TC uses GEM frames which comprises a header
and payload portion shown in Figure 11. The first
header field is Payload Length Indicator (PLI) indicat-
ing the number of bytes being encapsulated in current
GEM frame. The Port-Id or GEM-Id identifies the user
port for which the traffic is destined or originated at
ONU. It is 12 bit field and is able to support up to 4096
user ports. Payload Type Indicator (PTI), third field,
indicates if the payload has an end of client frame or not,
has any congestion occurred for the said client and
whether the client frame is an OAM frame. The 13 bit
HEC provides error detection and correction capability
over the headers. The generator polynomial used is
12 10 8 4 3 (bytes) and 16 are the parity symbols added by the
x +x +x +x +x +1
The GEM header is then xclusive ored with a fixed pat-
tern of 0xB6AB31E055. An idle GEM frame compris-
ing only header and no payload is inserted when ever the
OLT or the ONU does not have enough client frames to
fill up the slot in GPON frame payload area.
Forward Error Correction
Apart from the BIP-8 which provides limited error
detection capability, forward error correction (FEC) is
defined for use in GPON. The use of FEC results in an
increase in link budget by 3-4dB (coding gain) and
therefore higher bit rates, larger distances between OLT
and ONUs and higher split-ratios support in the net-
work. The use of FEC is optional both in upstream and
downstream direction. The FEC is defined in a way to
facilitate the inter-operability of FEC encoded transmis-
sion and non-FEC encoded reception and vice-versa.
The FEC used is defined in ITU-T G.975. It uses Reed
Solomon code represented as RS(255,239,8). The code
is non-binary, operates on byte symbols and belongs to
family of systematic linear cyclic block codes. The
block length is 255 out which 239 are the data symbols
encoder. The generator polynomial G(x) for the
RS(255,239) satisfies the equation
15
∏ (x – α )
i
G( x) =
i=0

PLOAM ATM Client OMCI GEM Client

OMCI Adaptor

ATM TC Adaptor GEM TC Adaptor DBA Control

GTC Framing Sub-Layer

Figure 10. GTC Functions

PLI (12 bits) Port-Id (12 bits) PTI (3 bits) HEC (13 bits) Payload Fragments

Figure 11. GEM Frame

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GPON - The Next-Gen Access Network - K.S.Singh

where α is root of polynomial

8 4 3 2
x +x +x +x +1

The FEC code group can be represented by polynomial Error Evaluation (Fomey’s Algo)
C ( x) = D( x) + P( x) & Error Correction
where C ( x ) is the encoded word, D ( x ) is the infor-
mation bytes and P ( x ) is the parity code. Error Locator
Chien Search

Equation Solving
Euclid / Mod. Euclid
GEM Framer

FEC Syndrome
Generator
FEC Encoder

GEM Framer

GPON Optics
GPON Optics

Figure 12. GPON FEC Encoder

Figure 13. GPON FEC Decoder
The encoding and decoding is done on the scrambled
data. The data is divided into groups of 239 symbols as Security
demanded by the process. To this a block of 16 parity
In the downstream direction, the GPON (or any other
symbols are added. The groupings and addition of parity
PON) is a point-to-multipoint network. The data then
is sequential. Thus after encoding the next code group
can be listened to by all the ONUs. The one (or the port
starts with the original 240 symbols after the 16th parity
of the ONU) for which it is destined, extracts it and for-
symbol of previous group, which means no synchroni-
wards it on to correct port. A security threat exists if a
zation is needed while decoding. The last code group
malicious ONU extracts information not intended for it.
which may have data symbols less than the required 239
This threat model is at the physical layer and against
information bytes is first padded up with 0x00 to 239.
which defense mechanism needs to exist. Other threat
The parity is calculated over the 239 symbols, the pad-
models also exist both for upstream and downstream
ding is discarded and parity inserted after the informa-
traffic, but are more relevant at higher layers. In the
tion symbols. At receiver the decoder first pads up the
GPON downstream frame, the user traffic is protected
information bits and does the decoding process. The
using AES encryption scheme. Only the payload portion
encoder and decoder are shown in Figure 12. and Figure
of the frame is encrypted.The counter-mode of the AES
13. respectively.
is used. In the upstream direction since the GPON
The Hamming distance of the code is 17, and thus it can
behaves as point-to-point link, no security threat exists.
detect up to 16 errors in the FEC code word and correct
Thus it is used for distribution of keys to be used in the
up to 8 errored symbols.
downstream traffic encryption. The keys are transmitted
multiple times by ONU to OLT. OLT acknowledges the
correct reception of the keys. This is followed by a mes-
sage from OLT to ONU, indicating the frame in which
switch over to new key is planned. The frame is indi-
cated by the SuperFrame count number mentioned ear-

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GPON - The Next-Gen Access Network - K.S.Singh
lier in section “GPON Protocol - Downstream”. Figure
15. shows the encryption and decryption methods. The
AES encryptor logic is shown in Figure 14.
The main functions of AES are Column transformation,
S-Box multiplication, Round key addition and round
key generation. The details of AES can be found in AES
standard [Advanced Encryption Standard - 2001]. The
above processes cause enough diffusion and confusion,
so that recreation of key using plain text and ciphered
text is very unlikely and takes infinite amount of time.
plain text
block = 128
AddRoundKey
key
k = 128
9 ROUNDS
SubBytes
ShiftRows
keyschedule MixColumns
AddRoundKey
SubBytes
ShiftRows
AddRoundKey
block = 128
cipher text
Figure 14. AES Block Diagram
ONU Activation
In GPON and other PONs, in built mechanisms are pro-
vided to activate a newly added ONU to the network.
This process is called Activation method. The full acti-
vation process also controls the power measurement at
ONU and the adjustment of the power level at ONU to
reduce the dynamic bandwidth of the OLT receiver. The
Activation process also measures the phase relationship
for each ONU with respect to the downstream frames.
This information of phase relationship is sent across to
the relevant ONUs by OLT, to avoid collision during
upstream transmission. The activation process starts
with the discovery of new ONUs, by operation system
command, periodic polling for new ONUs or periodic
reactivation of ONU during long alarm intervals. During
Transwitch Corporation
Plain Data / Frame Counter
Encrypted Data
AES Encryptor
“cipher text”
X
Encrypted Data /
Plain Data
Figure 15. Encryption-Decryption Block Diagram
this phase the exchange of client data is temporarily sus-
pended. OLT asks for Serial-Ids of all ONUs by opening
a window for upstream transmission called ranging win-
dow. In this window, new and unregistered ONUs, send
identification and physical information to OLT. Since
there can be more than one ONU which need activation,
collision(s) can occur during this process. To avoid col-
lision, each ONU waits a random period of time before
transmission. On receipt of the Serial-Id, OLT binds it
with ONU-Id and sends the information to correspond-
ing ONU for use in future transactions. The OLT also
measures the power and phase during this operation and
sending the related control information back to the
respective ONUs. This completes the registration pro-
cess of ONU which then can begin receiving and trans-
mitting information.
Dynamic Bandwidth Assignment- Reporting and
Allocation
In the upstream direction, the bandwidth to be used by
individual ONU not only depends on the traffic scenario
at concerned ONU, but also on the traffic pattern at
other ONUs in network. As the medium is shared, any
self-initiated transfer by any ONU in upstream direction
would result in collision and retransmission causing
degraded performance. Therefore, this shared media is
made to behave as multiple point-to-point connections
between ONU and OLT by use of TDMA. The OLT
being the central agency, is told about the bandwidth
demand at each ONU. Based on the traffic pattern at all
the ONUs it grants access to the ONUs at fixed slots
with respect to downstream frame. For the upstream
traffic, the frame can be considered to be divided into
different container types. There are five types defined in
GPON. Type-I T-CONT service is based on unsolicited
periodic permits granting fixed payload allocation or
catering to fixed bandwidth requirements. This is a static
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GPON - The Next-Gen Access Network - K.S.Singh

T-CONT type and is not serviced by DBA. Type-II T- mechanism, the report consists of pattern for each T-
CONT is intended for variable bit rate with bounded CONT types and not for different clients mapped to the
delay and jitter requirements like video and voice over same T-CONT. The client traffic, queues, T-CONT map-
IP. Type-III T-CONT is intended for guaranteed delay. ping and reporting is shown in Figure 16.
Type-IV is for the best effort traffic. Type-V T-CONT is
A Peek At EPON
per T-CONT Most of the recent networks in PON have been E-PONs
Upstream map also known as EPONs. EPON is the extension of the
ONU 1
Ethernet IEEE.802.3 protocol for point-to-multipoint
technology. As a result it has lot in common with the
ONU 2
Ethernet and uses the Ethernet protocol as transmission
medium. Data, control and OAM frames, TDM or ATM
traffic all first need to be adapted to Ethernet protocol
OLT
Table 1: GPON, EPON difference

IEEE 802.3ah ITU-T G.984

ONU N (EPON) (GPON)

per T-CONT DS Rate 1250Mbps 2500 / 1250

congestion Report including 8B/ Mbps
10B coding
Figure 16. Dynamic BW reporting & assignment
US Rate - identical - 1250 / 622 / 155
combined for two or more of the other four types Mbps
defined above, and in this case the individual bandwidth
OAM Optional and Mandatory. Full
supports fail- support for pro-
Logical Ports referred ure indica- visioning and
to with Port Id tions, services.
loopbacks.

Policer Security Not part of AES in down-

standard. stream direction
Policer Defined in
Classification
Scheduler

802.1AE as
part of global
Ethernet secu-
rity provision.
Can be sup-
ported in both
Policer upstream and
downstream
direction
Congestion Report
Protection None 50ms switch
Generation
time.

Upstream Traffic TDM transport Circuit Emula- Native via GEM.

Bandwidth Config. tion
Figure 17. Queues and BW reporting at ONU Laser On/Off < 512ns < 13ns
time
reporting and assignment is done at ONU. As said ear-
lier, three different mechanisms exist for sending the AGC & CDR < 400ns < 44ns
traffic pattern report to OLT by each ONU. Whatever the

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GPON - The Next-Gen Access Network - K.S.Singh

before being transmitted. An additional “sub-layer”

called Multi-Point MAC control is introduced in IEEE
802.3 specification for TDMA access of upstream traffic
and handling of bandwidth assignments. Another modi-
fication to the Ethernet standard is the introduction of
Logical Link Identification to bind the ONU with traffic
transmission and upstream grants. FEC has been intro-
duced for resilience to bit error rate and to increase the
optical distance.
The 8B/10B line coding, larger channel separation
requirements, encoding of the OAM cells as Ethernet
frame reduce the bandwidth capacity of the EPON as
compared to GPON. The difference between EPON and
GPON are in Table 1.One of the advantages of GPON
over EPON, as suggested by the table 1, is the ability to
carry different payload types across the network in same
frame in a standard way. Other advantages are the vary-
ing rates of the upstream and the downstream transmis-
sion supported by GPON standard. Defined fiber,
equipment (ONU and OLT) and network protection by
GPON gives improved reliability as compared to EPON.
Exhaustive OAM provides better management, configu-
ration and fault localization in case of GPON as com-
pared to EPON. The low Laser On/Off time of GPON
increases the utilization of the available upstream band-
width at the cost of expensive laser component.

Summary
GPON provides an option to bring the fiber to the curb,
business or residence. With its in built and versatile
adaptation functions for different type of client traffic it
provides a common transport platform. The fragment
and reassembly and GEM process provides ideal TDM
mapping interface. The well drafted standards increase
the possibility of OLT-ONU interworking from different
vendors. The PLOAM and OMCI provide enhanced and
well defined OAM capabilities within GPON, very
much in demand by public networks.

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