11.2.

1 TDM PON Classification

An extended standardization activity has been carried out on TDM-PON by a
dedicated group of ITU-T, called full service access network (FSAN) Different
standards follow the evolution of both optical technology and switching protocols,
passing from APON and BPON, based on ATM, to GPON, capable of conveying
multigigabit signals using either ATM or Ethernet protocols, thanks to its adaptation
layer called GEM (GPON encapsulation method)

TABLE 11.1 Summary of the Main Parameters of the ATM PONs, Ethernet PON,
and GPON

Several North American carriers are looking to GPON to advance their FTTx rollout
efforts so that GPON access is under deployment besides the older BPON
infrastructure that is present in few local areas.
A different situation exists in Europe, where incumbent carriers generally have not
yet committed to a clear strategy. However, a great number of FTTx field tests based
on GPON are ongoing.
In the field of Ethernet-based PON, IEEE has emitted an important standard (called
GEPON) that has been largely adopted mainly in the Far East. NTT, the major carrier
in Japan, and one of the largest telecommunications carriers in the world, began
deploying GE-PON-based FTTH access network equipment in 2003. In 2004, the
IEEE ratified the IEEE 802.3ah Ethernet in the First Mile specification that fully
defined the GE-PON technology deployed by NTT and later adopted by other
carriers in Japan and Korea. A synthesis of the main TDM-PON standards is reported
in Table 11.1, with some key optical parameters specified for each standard.
In the following discussion, we will mainly focus on GPON, due to its adoption in
North America and probably in Europe also, where it is quite improbable that an
ITU-T standard would be neglected in preference for an Ethernet-based GEPON.
Several considerations on transmission impairments and other elements are,
however, common between GPON and GEPON
11.2.2 GPON architecture and Performances
The GPON standard [5], as all other standards for TDM-PONs, is based on
unidirectional transmission, conveying downstream and upstream signals on
different wavelengths on the same fiber. In this case, the effect of reflection is limited
by the great wavelength separation between the two signals.

FIGURE 11.1 GPON standard wavelength plan including the case in which the
video overlay is used

In addition to the GPON version with two wavelengths, there is a GPON standard
conveying two downstream wavelengths. One of them (1490 nm) is used to convey
the GPON downstream signal, the second wavelength (1550 nm) is conceived for
the distribution of analog CATV. This solution has been adopted in North America
where CATV is practically the TV standard, and this solution allows the customers
to maintain their home TV sets. The frequency plan of the GPON standard is shown
in Figure 11.1.
Under a link budget point of view, GPON standard defines different link budget
classes, whose parameters are reported in Table 11.1.. A new class of performances
will probably be standardized called C+ with a link budget higher than 33 dB.
Splitter loss depends mainly on the number of output ports on the splitter and adds
about the same loss whether traveling in the downstream or upstream direction. Each
splitter configuration is assigned a particular maximum split ratio loss, including
connectors, defined by the ITU G.671 standard and Telcordia GR-1209.
When using the 16 or 32 splitting ratio, the standard completely defines all the
needed splitter characteristics. Since this is not true for 1 × 64 splitters, network
designers must use a single 1 × 2 splitter interfacing two 1 × 32 splitters to make up
the 1 × 64.configuration
11.2.2.1 GPON Transmission Performances
Using Class B optics only leaves 5.35 dB of propagation loss. Therefore, even with
the best fiber access infrastructure, where the spectral attenuation can be assumed to
be 0.31 dB/km, only a 17.25 km PON network is achievable without including any
of the connectors within the local exchange.
A GPON reach of 20 km is specified for class B+ and C GPONs.
It is very interesting to investigate the physical effects thwarting GPON
transmission, since the situation is much more complex than in the WDM-PON case.
In the case of A and B classes, the GPON span is essentially limited by the power
budget. It is to be noted that in optical access networks, reducing the ONU cost is a
key issue. For this reason, in A and B classes, GPON Fabry–Perot laser diodes (FP)
are generally used at the ONU, while a PIN photodiode is present at the OLT.
FP lasers are multimode lasers, so that mode partition noise due to the mode
statistical fluctuation of the optical source arises [6]. This effect, if not, suitably
reduced by a careful design of the lasers, can greatly limit the GPON span. For these
reasons, the key characteristics of FP lasers to be used in GPON are specified in the
standard, so as to be able to match the required performances.
In the case of B+ and C classes, the situation is different. As a matter of fact, modal
dispersion arises in the downstream link [7], constituting a first span limitation. In
order to face this effect, two ways are possible. The most diffused solution is to
substitute FP with distributed feedback lasers (DFBs), accepting a cost increase.
Specific DFB lasers are designed for use in.GPON, whose design requirements are
relaxed with respect to similar devices used in dense wavelength division
multiplexing (DWDM) long haul systems in order to reduce the cost.
As a matter of fact, perfect single mode operation is not strictly needed to eliminate
modal dispersion. As an alternative to DFBs, the adoption of Electrical Dispersion
Compensators (EDC) in the OLT has been also proposed and demonstrated [8].
It is interesting to observe that standard forward error correction is practically
ineffective to correct the effects of modal dispersion. As a matter of fact, when the
fluctuation in the modal structure of the source causes errors, they are concentrated
in long bursts. It is possible to design a code conceived to correct long bursts of
errors [9], but these codes are generally not used in optical communications for the
decreased effectiveness in correcting random errors.
As far as the downstream is concerned, in order to achieve the required power budget
with the standardized classes of emitted power, the ONU detector has to be an
avalanche photodiode (APD) This also impacts on the cost of B+ and C GPON
classes.
Another important phenomenon appears when the analog video overlay is present.
In this case, due to the relevant power of this new channel, the Brillouin effect arises
[10] so that a careful design of the optics is needed to reach the specified
performances.
11.2.2.2 GPON Frame and Adaptation Protocol
As in the case of all implementations of the TDM-PON, also in the GPON, different
users are assigned different time-slots in a TDM frame and bidirectional
transmission on the fiber infrastructure is realized using different wavelength so that
only a single fiber tree is needed, as shown in Figure 11.2.[11].
FIGURE 11.2 Topology of the set of GPON ODNs managed by a single OLT.

In this figure, a realistic OLT is shown where a set of PONs is managed by the same
equipment. Hundreds of PONs can be terminated on the same OLT, optimizing on
one side real estate and power consumption, and on the other, the packet
multiplexing operated by the OLT switch.
Due to the topology of the ODN, a further issue arises: the different end users are at
different distances from the splitter at the tree branching point. In this condition,
each end user device (the ONU), has to transmit with a certain delay with respect to
the reference time-frame in order to allow correct reconstruction of the signal at the
branching splitter. This delay is continuously updated by a particular PON control
procedure that measures the optical distance between the ONU and the branching
point and drives the ONU asynchronous transmission.
This procedure is implemented into the physical layer PON processor that is
generally a part of a single chip running all the physical layer protocols, comprising
maintenance and critical alarms.
Another important element of the logical architecture of the GPON is the GEM: the
GPON enveloping method, allowing almost every packet-oriented format to be
conveyed through the PON, without the inefficiencies that were characteristics of
ATM, that were deputed to do this in APON and BPON [11].
The layering of a PON network transporting Ethernet over ATM, native Ethernet
and Ethernet over GFP (generic framing) is shown in Figure 11.3, where the role of
the GEM is evident.
Another important physical layer procedure implemented on all the GPONs is
dynamic bandwidth allocation (DBA) [12,13].
DBA allows upstream timeslots to grow and shrink based on the distribution of
upstream traffic loads and operates on a timescale of milliseconds. Of course, the
total of all times-lots cannot be greater than the length of a single upstream frame.