Access Technologies

DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER ACCESS

• Broadly speaking there are four basic

transmission technologies used in providing
local digital access:
– copper wire pairs,
– fiber,
– coaxial cables and
– wireless.
Using copper wire pair (DSL)
 DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER LINE (DSL)

• Digital Subscriber Line, or DSL, refers to a

family of technologies that provide a digital
connection over the copper wires of the local
telephone network.
• Achieved using a pair of Modems.
 DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER LINE (DSL)
DSL Types

• xDSL refers collectively to all types of DSL

– IDSL (Integrated Services DSL)
– HDSL (High bit rate DSL)
– SHDSL (Symmetric High-Bit-rate DSL)
– ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line)
– G.Lite ( Splitterless ADSL )
– VDSL (Very-high-bit-rate Digital Subscriber Line)

• Two categories - Symmetric & Asymmetric

– Some technologies support both with multi-rate capability
– Symmetric generally uses Baseband Modulation while
Asymmetric uses Passband modulation
 DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER LINE (DSL)
Bandwidth on Copper
• DSL exploits the unused analogue bandwidth that is
potentially available in the copper telephone line.
• This line is designed to carry frequency spectrum of
normal speech, however they can carry frequencies
above this rather limited spectrum.
• This is the portion that DSL uses.
 DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER LINE (DSL)

xDSL System Reference Model

Analog CO SWITCH
modem PSTN
POTS-C POTS-R

network/
ISP POTS
UTP POTS
SPLITTER SPLITTER PDN

router DSLAM xTU-R

WAN xTU-C

x = H, A, V, ...

POTS xDSL
frequency
DC 4 kHz
 DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER LINE (DSL)
Splitter

Splitter separates POTS from DSL signals

• Must guarantee lifeline POTS services!
• Hence usually passive filter
• Must block impulse noise (e.g. ring) from
phone into DSL
 IDSL – ISDN DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER LINE

• 1st DSL technology was Basic Rate ISDN ( BRI)

• Bandwidth more than 4 Khz was needed
• Objective of BRI was to provide both speech and
data capabilities with ISDN
• LINE CONDITIONING was required
• In IDSL, ISDN termination at CO is spoofed (
Signalling)
IDSL – ISDN DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER LINE
 HDSL

• It is an alternative to the PCM-TDM system (e.g. T1 or E1).

• The T1 line uses AMI which is affected by high frequency
attenuation. This limits the length of T1 line to 1 km.
• HDSL uses 2B1Q encoding method which is less susceptible
to attenuation.
• A data rate of 2 Mbps can be achieved upto a length of 3.7
kms.
• HDSL is a form of DSL providing T1/E1 connections over two
or three twisted pair copper lines.
• It is mostly used to replace traditional T1/E1 connections
such as connecting PBX to telephone company.
 HDSL

• Uses 2B1Q coding (same as ISDN) to provide 784 kbps on single pair
• HDSL line has 768 kbps of data or 12 nos. of 64kbps channels and 16
kbps for overhead.
• T1 / E1 frame mapped to HDSL. Two pairs used for T1 rate (
1.544Mbps) and Three pairs for E1 rate (2.048Mbps)
• Some implementations support E1 on two pairs by increasing the no.
of chls. to 16 per 6 msec frame.
• Distance supported is about 3.7 Kms (12,000 feet) on 0.5mm wire
• Range can be extended using repeaters
 HDSL

• Most mature of DSL technologies

• Full Duplex on each pair
• Major applications -
– Multiline POTS
– Leased Circuits
– Campus Networks
 HDSL

Carrier Customer
Telephone company
serving area Premises

Upto 12000 feet

2 copper twisted pair

784 kbps on each pair

16 kbps overhead

Network
Network DS-1 HDSL central HDSL Interface
Element office remote
terminal terminal
 HDSL2

• Developed in late 1990’s, uses single pair

• Improvements over HDSL :
• Uses error correcting codes like Trellis Coded Modulation which
provide 5-6 db of coding gain
• Uses 16 PAM modulation with 3 info bits and 1 redundant bit
• Separate spectrum for upstream and downstream

• General performance given in ANSI T1 2000

• Works upto 2.7 kms ( 9000 feet) on 0.4 mm cable or upto 3.7 kms (
12000 feet) on 0.5 mm cable
• For longer distances ITU-T developed two pair version of HDSL
referred as HDSL4
 SDSL

• Symmetric Digital Subscriber Line

• Single pair high bit rate DSL – Carries upto 2.304 Mbps
• Developed by ETSI TM 6
• Similar to HDSL2 and uses TCM
• Also specifies 2 pairs each carrying 1.168 Mbps and 3 pairs
each carrying 784 kbps

• G.shdsl ( G.991.2)
• Defines payload from 192 kbps upto 2.304 Mbps on a single
pair in increments of 8 kbps
• Includes many features of HDSL2 like symmetric bit-rates,
multi-rate operation and 16 level Trellis Coded PAM
ADSL – ASYMMETRIC DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER LINE

• ADSL is a form of DSL, a data communications technology that

enables faster data transmission over copper telephone lines

• ADSL is capable of providing up to 50 Mbps, and supports

voice, video and data.

• ADSL is the #1 Broadband Choice in the World with over 60%

market share

• ADSL is now available in every region of the world

ADSL – ASYMMETRIC DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER LINE

What does ADSL mean

• Asymmetric - The data can flow faster in one direction than the
other. Data transmission has faster downstream to the
subscriber than upstream

• Digital - No type of communication is transferred in an analog

method. All data is purely digital, and only at the end,
modulated to be carried over the line.

• Subscriber Line - The data is carried over a single twisted pair

copper loop to the subscriber premises
ADSL – ASYMMETRIC DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER LINE
ADSL Range
• In general, the maximum range for DSL without a repeater is 5.5
km
• As distance decreases toward the telephone company office,
the data rate increases
Data Rate Wire gauge Wire size Distance
1.5 or 2 Mbps 24 AWG 0.5 mm 5.5 km
1.5 or 2 Mbps 26 AWG 0.4 mm 4.6 km
6.1 Mbps 24 AWG 0.5 mm 3.7 km
1.5 or 2 Mbps 26 AWG 0.4 mm 2.7
• For larger distances, you may be able to have DSL if your phone
company has extended the local loop with optical fiber cable
ADSL – ASYMMETRIC DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER LINE

ADSL Speed Factors

• The distance from the local exchange

• The type and thickness of wires used

• The number and type of joins in the wire

• The proximity of the wire to other wires carrying ADSL, ISDN

and other non-voice signals

• The proximity of the wires to radio transmitters.

ADSL – ASYMMETRIC DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER LINE

ADSL network components

• The ADSL modem at the customer premises(ATU-R)

• The modem of the central office (ATU-C)

• DSL access multiplexer (DSLAM)

• Broadband Access Server (BAS)

• Splitter - an electronic low pass filter that separates the

analogue voice or ISDN signal from ADSL data frequencies.
ADSL – ASYMMETRIC DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER LINE
ADSL – ASYMMETRIC DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER LINE
ADSL Loop Architecture

DSL

Voice Switch

ISP

Central Office Subscriber premises

ADSL – ASYMMETRIC DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER LINE

ADSL Requirements

• Phone-line, activated by your phone company for ADSL

• Filter to separate the phone signal from the Internet signal

• ADSL modem

• Subscription with an ISP supporting ADSL

ADSL – ASYMMETRIC DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER LINE
How does ADSL work
• ADSL exploits the unused analogue bandwidth available in the
wires

• ADSL works by using a frequency splitter device to split a

traditional voice telephone line into two frequencies
ADSL – ASYMMETRIC DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER LINE
ADSL Modulation
• Modulation is the overlaying of information (or the signal)
onto an electronic or optical carrier waveform

• There are two competing and incompatible standards for

modulating the ADSL signal:

– Carrierless Amplitude Phase (CAP)

– Discrete Multi-Tone (DMT)

ADSL – ASYMMETRIC DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER LINE

Discrete Multi-tone (DMT)

• Discrete Multi-Tone (DMT) separates the DSL signal so that the

usable frequency range is separated into 256 channels of
4.3125kHz each.

• DMT has 225 downstream frequency bins (or carriers) and 25

upstream frequency bins.

• DMT constantly shifts signals between different channels to

ensure that the best channels are used for transmission and
reception.
ADSL – ASYMMETRIC DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER LINE
Discrete Multi-tone (DMT)
• The modulation technique that has become standard for ADSL is called the
discrete multitone technique which combines QAM and FDM.
• The DMT divides a 1.104 MHz bandwidth into 256 channels about 4.312 kHz each.
ADSL – ASYMMETRIC DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER LINE
Discrete Multi-tone (DMT)
• Voice. Channel 0 is reserved for voice communication.
• Idle. 1 to 5 are not used and provide a gap between voice and data
communication.

Upstream data and control:

• Channels 6-30 (25 channels) are used for upstream data transfer and
control:
– 1 channel for control.
– 24 channels are for data transfer.
• If there 24 channels, each using 4 kHz with QAM modulation:
– Bandwidth = 24 X 4000 X 15 = 1.44 Mbps.
• However, the data rate is normally below 500 kbps because some of the
carriers (channels) are deleted at frequencies where the noise level is
large (some of channels may be unused).
ADSL – ASYMMETRIC DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER LINE
Discrete Multi-tone (DMT)
Downstream data and control
• Channels 31-255 (225 channels) are used for downstream data and
control:
– 1 channel for control.
– 224 channels for data transfer.
• If there are 224 channels, we can achieve up to 13.4 Mbps:
– Bandwidth = 224 X 4000 X 15 = 13.4 Mbps.
• However, normally the data rate is below 8 Mbps because some of carriers
are deleted at frequency where the noise level is large (some of channels
may be unused).
ADSL – ASYMMETRIC DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER LINE
Discrete Multi-tone (DMT)
• ADSL modem installed at a customer’s site.
• The local loop connects to a splitter which separates voice and data
communications.
• ADSL modem modulates and demodulates the data, using DMT, and creates
downstream and upstream channels.
ADSL – ASYMMETRIC DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER LINE
Discrete Multi-tone (DMT)
Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer (DSLAM)
• At the telephone company site, instead of an ADSL modem,
– A device called a DSLAM is installed that functions similarly.
– It packetizes the data to be sent to the Internet (ISP server)
ADSL – ASYMMETRIC DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER LINE

The DMT frequency bands

• Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM)
 DMT – DISCRETE MULTI TONE
• Measure SNR(f) during initialization
• Bit-load QAM signals according to SNR
• Each individual signal narrowband --- no ISI
• Symbol duration > channel impulse response time ---
no ISI
• No equalizer required
 DMT – DISCRETE MULTI TONE

• Discrete Multitone is a form of FDM (Frequency

Domain Multiplexing)
• Discrete Multitone is a form of MCM (MultiCarrier
Modulation)
• It uses many different carriers, each modulated QAM
• Each tone is narrow
• low baud rate (long frame)
• channel characteristics are constant over tone
• Number of bits per tone chosen according to SNR
• Put more bits where SNR is good
 DMT – DISCRETE MULTI TONE

• DMT is OFDM (Orthogonalized FDM)

• Carrier spacing is precisely baud rate
• Center of tone is precisely the zero of all other sincs
• ICI minimized
• ISI minimized by having a long interframe guard time

• DMT modem can be efficiently implemented using FFT

DFT is mathematically equivalent to a bank of filters
Filtering is equivalent to cyclic convolution So use cyclic
prefix rather than guard time
 DMT – DISCRETE MULTI TONE

• OFDM – Orthogonal frequency Division Multiplexing

• Subsignals are orthogonal if spaced precisely by the baud rate
• Sinc function has zero at center of nearby modem
• This implies that the signals are orthogonal - no ICI

• No guard frequencies are needed

• Don’t need N independent modems
• – efficient digital implementation by FFT algorithm
BASIC DMT-TRANSCEIVER (IMPLEMENTATION
OF DMT)
ADSL DMT Implementation Parameters
ADSL – ASYMMETRIC DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER LINE
Carrierless Amplitude Phase
• Carrierless Amplitude Phase (CAP) is an encoding method
that divides the signals into two distinct bands.
– The upstream data channel (to the service provider), which is carried
in the band between 25 and 160kHz
– The downstream data channel (to the user), which is carried in the
band from 200kHz to 1.1MHz .

• These channels are widely separated in order to minimize

the possibility of interference between the channels.
 CARRIERLESS AMPLITUDE AND PHASE
CARRIERLESS AMPLITUDE MODULATION
MODULATION
 CARRIERLESS AMPLITUDE AND PHASE
MODULATION
• Carrierless amplitude and phase( CAP) modulation is a specialized form
of QAM.
• No explicit modulation of a carrier( or carriers) occurs.
• Instead, two separate modulated signals are directly generated with
DSP filter functions: one for an in-phase channel and one for a
quadrature channel.
• The in-phase filter converts l channel data directly into a filtered DSP
cosine wave while the quadrature filter converts Q channel data into a
filtered DSP sine wave.
• In this manner the symbol rate is locked to an implied carrier
embedded in to the filter algorithm.
• Typically, the embedded carrier frequency is equal to the baud rate so
there is one cycle of a "carrier“ in each symbol interval.
• After the in-phase and quadrature-phase signals are added, the result
is converted into an analog signal and filtered to smooth the DSP
sampling frequency.
SUMMARY OF DSL TECHNOLOGIES
 DSLAM
• A DSLAM (Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer) is a network
device, usually at a telephone company central office, that
receives signals from multiple customer Digital Subscriber Line
(DSL) connections and puts the signals on a high-
speed backbone line using multiplexing techniques.
• The DSLAM acts like a network switch since its functionality is
at Layer 2 of the OSI model.
• Therefore, it cannot re-route traffic between multiple IP networks,
only between ISP devices and end-user connection points.
• The DSLAM traffic is switched to a Broadband Remote Access
Server where the end-user traffic is then routed across the ISP
network to the Internet.
 DSLAM
• Customer-premises equipment that interfaces well with the DSLAM to which it is
connected may take advantage of enhanced telephone voice and data line
signalling features and the bandwidth monitoring and compensation capabilities
it supports.
• Customers connect to the DSLAM through ADSL modems or DSL routers, which
are connected to the PSTN network via typical unshielded twisted
pair telephone lines.
• Each DSLAM has multiple aggregation cards, and each such card can have
multiple ports to which the customers' lines are connected.
• Typically a single DSLAM aggregation card has 24 ports, but this number can
vary with each manufacturer.
• The most common DSLAMs are housed in a Telco-grade chassis, which are
supplied with (nominal) 48 volts DC.
• Hence a typical DSLAM setup may contain power converters, DSLAM chassis,
aggregation cards, cabling, and upstream links.
• On the upstream trunk (ISP) side many early DSLAMs used ATM—and this
approach was standardized by the DSL Forum—with Gigabit Ethernet support
appearing sometime later.
• Today, the most common upstream links in these DSLAMs use Gigabit
Ethernet or multi-gigabit fiber optic links.
DSLAM
DSLAM
DSLAM
DSLAM
LAN SWITCH
DSLAM
BROADBAND SERVICE ROUTER
BROADBAND SERVICE ROUTER
CABLE TV Data NETWORKS
 TRADITIONAL CABLE TV NETWORK

Communication in the
traditional cable TV network
is unidirectional.
 HYBRID FIBER-COAXIAL (HFC) NETWORK

Communication in an HFC cable

TV network can be bidirectional.
 HYBRID FIBER-COAXIAL (HFC) NETWORK
• The network uses a combination of fiber-optic and coaxial cable.
• The transmission medium from the cable TV office to a box, called the
fiber node, is optical fiber; from the fiber node through the neighborhood
and into the house is still coaxial cable.
• The regional cable head (RCH) normally serves up to 400,000 subscribers.
• The RCHs feed the distribution hubs, each of which serves up to 40,000
subscribers.
• The distribution hub plays an important role in the new infrastructure.
• Modulation and distribution of signals are done here; the signals are then
fed to the fiber nodes through fiber-optic cables.
• The fiber node splits the analog signals so that the same signal is sent to
each coaxial cable.
• Each coaxial cable serves up to 1000 subscribers.
• The use of fiber-optic cable reduces the need for amplifiers down to eight
or less.
• One reason for moving from traditional to hybrid infrastructure is to make
the cable network bidirectional (two-way).
 CABLE TV FOR DATA TRANSFER

Cable companies are now competing with telephone

companies for the residential customer who wants high-
speed data transfer.

Bandwidth
Sharing
CM and CMTS
Data Transmission Schemes: DOCSIS
 CABLE TV FOR DATA TRANSFER

DIVISION OF COAXIAL CABLE BAND BY CATV

 CABLE TV FOR DATA TRANSFER
Bandwidth
• Even in an HFC system, the last part of the network, from the fiber node to
the subscriber premises, is still a coaxial cable.
• This coaxial cable has a bandwidth that ranges from 5 to 750 MHz
(approximately).
• To provide Internet access, the cable company has divided this bandwidth
into three bands: video, downstream data, and upstream data.
Downstream Video Band
The downstream video band occupies frequencies from 54 to 550 MHz. Since
each TV channel occupies 6 MHz, this can accommodate more than 80
channels.
Downstream Data Band
The downstream data (from the Internet to the subscriber premises) occupies
the upper band, from 550 to 750 MHz.
This band is also divided into 6-MHz channels.
Modulation Downstream data band uses the 64-QAM (or possibly 256-QAM)
modulation technique.
 CABLE TV FOR DATA TRANSFER

• Downstream data are modulated using the 64-QAM modulation

technique.
• The theoretical downstream data rate
is 30 Mbps.
• Upstream data are modulated using the QPSK modulation
technique.
• The theoretical upstream data rate
is 12 Mbps.
 CABLE TV FOR DATA TRANSFER
Sharing
Both upstream and downstream bands are shared by the subscribers.
Upstream Sharing
The upstream data bandwidth is 37 MHz.
This means that there are only six 6-MHz channels available in the upstream
direction.
A subscriber needs to use one channel to send data in the upstream direction.
The question is, "How can six channels be shared in
an area with 1000,2000, or even 100,000 subscribers?"
The solution is timesharing. The band is divided into channels using FDM;
these channels must be shared between subscribers
in the same neighborhood.
The cable provider allocates one channel, statically or dynamically, for a
group of subscribers.
If one subscriber wants to send data, she or he contends for the channel with
others who want access; the subscriber must wait until
the channel is available.
 CABLE TV FOR DATA TRANSFER
Downstream Sharing
We have a similar situation in the downstream direction. The downstream
band has 33 channels of 6 MHz.
A cable provider probably has more than 33 subscribers; therefore,
each channel must be shared between a group of subscribers.
However, the situation is different for the downstream direction; here we
have a multicasting situation.
If there are data for any of the subscribers in the group, the data are sent to
that channel.
Each subscriber is sent the data. But since each subscriber also has an
address registered with the provider; the cable modem for the group matches
the address carried with the data to the address assigned
by the provider.
If the address matches, the data are kept; otherwise, they are discarded.
 CABLE TV FOR DATA TRANSFER
Cable modem (CM)

The cable modem (CM) is installed on the subscriber premises. It is similar to an ADSL
modem.
 CABLE TV FOR DATA TRANSFER
Cable modem transmission system (CMTS)

• The cable modem transmission system (CMTS) is installed inside

the distribution hub by the cable company.
• It receives data from the Internet and passes them to the
combiner, which sends them to the subscriber.
• The CMTS also receives data from the subscriber and passes
them to the Internet.
 CABLE TV FOR DATA TRANSFER

Data Transmission Schemes: DOCSIS

• Data Over Cable System Interface Specification

(DOCSIS).
• DOCSIS defines all the protocols necessary to
transport data from a CMTS to a CM.
 CABLE TV FOR DATA TRANSFER
Data Transmission Schemes: DOCSIS
Upstream Communication
The following is a very simplified version of the protocol defined by DOCSIS for
upstream communication.
It describes the steps that must be followed by a CM:
1. The CM checks the downstream channels for a specific packet periodically sent by the
CMTS. The packet asks any new CM to announce itself on a specific upstream channel.
2. The CMTS sends a packet to the CM, defining its allocated downstream and upstream
channels.
3. The CM then starts a process, called ranging, which determines the distance between
the CM and CMTS. This process is required for synchronization between all CMs and
CMTSs for the minislots used for timesharing of the upstream channels.
4. The CM sends a packet to the ISP, asking for the Internet address.
5. The CM and CMTS then exchange some packets to establish security parameters,
which are needed for a public network such as cable TV.
6. The CM sends its unique identifier to the CMTS.
7. Upstream communication can start in the allocated upstream channel; the CM can
contend for the minislots to send data.
 CABLE TV FOR DATA TRANSFER

Downstream Communication
In the downstream direction, the
communication is much simpler. There is no
contention because there is only one sender.
The CMTS sends the packet with the address of
the receiving CM, using the allocated
downstream channel.
Fiber in the loop
 FIBER IN THE LOOP

• Fiber in the loop (FITL) is a generic term that

refers to one of three more specific
descriptions of the use of fiber for local
distribution.
 FIBER IN THE LOOP

• The first category is fiber to the cabinet or fiber to the

neighborhood.
• These systems are often installed by local telephone
companies as part of the feeder portion of their local
distribution facilities.
• Traditional copper pairs for voice service extend from the
cabinet to subscriber residence.
• Because relatively long copper pair is used for the last mile,
they do not provide much opportunity for enhanced
service offerings. T heir use and justification are strictly
based on reducing the cost of POTS distribution.
 FIBER IN THE LOOP

• The second category of FITL is a fiber-to-the-curb (F TTC)

system.
• As the name implies, these systems are designed to
reach within 1000 feet of a subscriber residence.
• An FTTC system is generally intended to provide enhanced
services such as v ideo or high-speed data using ADSL or
VDSL.
• Distribution of the enhanced services from the "curb"
location is carried over wire pairs or coaxial c able.
• These systems are essentially identical t o advanced DLC
systems with optical transport.
 FIBER IN THE LOOP
• The third category of FITL is fiber to the home( FTTH).
• These systems obviously offer opportunities for
extremely large bandwidths to the home but have
significant deployment obstacles.
• First, installation in established neighborhood is
expensive because underground installations (under
streets and driveways) are normally required.
• Second providing network power to subscriber
equipment is a major problem.
• The lack of power for enhanced service applications is
not much of a consideration but power to telephones is .
• Local exchange carriers go to great efforts to ensure
independence from commercial power systems for both
their office switching systems and the connected
subscriber.
Passive Optical Networks
 PASSIVE OPTICAL NETWORKS

• Passive Optical Network (PON) is a high bandwidth

Point-to-Multipoint (P2MP) optical fiber network based
on the Asynchronous Transfer Mode protocol (ATM),
Ethernet or TDM.
• PONs rely on light waves for data transfer.
• Only passive optical components are used such as
optical fiber, splices and splitters.
• PONs minimizes the fiber deployment in both the local
exchange office and the local loop.
• PONs provides higher bandwidth due to deeper fiber
penetration, offering gigabit per second solutions.
 PASSIVE OPTICAL NETWORKS
The PON
Point-to-multipoint topology purely in optics
• avoid costly optic-electronic conversions
• use passive splitters – no power needed, unlimited MTBF
• only N+1 optical transceivers

access network

1:2 passive splitter

N end users
core
typically N=32
max defined 128
feeder fiber

1:4 passive splitter

 PASSIVE OPTICAL NETWORKS
PON advantages
shared infrastructure translates to lower cost per customer
• minimal number of optical transceivers
• feeder fiber and transceiver costs divided by N customers
• greenfield per-customer cost similar to UTP
passive splitters translate to lower cost
• can be installed anywhere
• no power needed
• essentially unlimited MTBF
fiber data-rates can be upgraded as technology improves
• initially 155 Mbps
• then 622 Mbps
• now 1.25 Gbps
• soon 2.5 Gbps and higher
 PASSIVE OPTICAL NETWORKS

Types of PON technologies

PON

Asynchronous transfer mode Ethernet PONs (EPONs)

PONs (APONs)
 PASSIVE OPTICAL NETWORKS

APONs EPONs
• Data is transmitted in fixed • Data is transmitted in variable-length
length 53-byte cells as specified packets of up to 1,518 bytes according
by ATM protocol. to IEEE 802.3 protocol for Ethernet.
• APONs don’t deliver data, video • EPONs deliver data, video and voice
and voice over a single over a single platform
platform. • EPONs offer higher bandwidth
• APONs offer insufficient • EPONS are less expensive than APONs
bandwidth • EPONs provide broader service
• APONs are expensive capabilities
• APONs do not provide broader
service capabilities
 PASSIVE OPTICAL NETWORKS
Components used in PON topologies
All transmission in a PON are performed between an optical line
terminal (OLT) and optical network units (ONUs).
Optical Line Terminal (OLT)
An OLT resides in the local exchange (central office), connecting the
optical access network to the metro back-bone.
Optical Network Units (ONUs)
The ONU provides the interface between the customer’s data, video,
and telephony networks and the PON.
Its function is to receive traffic in a optical format and convert it into
customer’s desired format (Ethernet, IP multicast, T1, etc.)
 PASSIVE OPTICAL NETWORKS
PON architecture
PON terminology:
• the CO head-end is called an OLT
• ONUs are the CPE devices (sometimes called ONTs in ITU)
• the entire fiber tree (incl. feeder, splitters, distribution fibers) is an ODN
• all trees emanating from the same OLT form an OAN
• downstream is from OLT to ONU (upstream is the opposite direction)

downstream
upstream
NNI
Optical Distribution Network Optical Network Units
core
splitter
Optical Line Terminal UNI

Optical Access Network Terminal Equipment

 PASSIVE OPTICAL NETWORKS
PON principles
(almost) all PON types obey the same basic principles
OLT and ONU consist of
• Layer 2 (Ethernet MAC, ATM adapter, etc.)
• optical transceiver using different ls for transmit and receive
• optionally: Wavelength Division Multiplexer
downstream transmission
• OLT broadcasts data downstream to all ONUs in ODN
• ONU captures data destined for its address, discards all other data
• encryption needed to ensure privacy
upstream transmission
• ONUs share bandwidth using Time Division Multiple Access
• OLT manages the ONU timeslots
• ranging is performed to determine ONU-OLT propagation time
additional functionality
• Physical Layer OAM
• Autodiscovery
• Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation
 PASSIVE OPTICAL NETWORKS
Different types of PON topologies

• Tree
topology
• Bus
topology
• Ring
topology
• Tree with
redundant
trunk
 PASSIVE OPTICAL NETWORKS

PON types
many types of PONs have been defined
APON ATM PON
BPON Broadband PON
GPON Gigabit PON
EPON Ethernet PON
GEPON Gigabit Ethernet PON
CPON CDMA PON
WPON WDM PON