EFM PON Tutorial v2

Ethernet Passive Optical Network (EPON)
A Tutorial
Overview
A Passive Optical Network (PON) is a single, shared
optical fiber that uses inexpensive
optical splitters to divide the single fiber into separate
strands feeding individual subscribers. PONS are called
"passive" because, other than at the CO and subscriber
endpoints, there are no active electronics within the
access network.
Using these techniques to create a passive optical

infrastructure, Ethernet in the First Mile PON (EFMP)
builds a point-to-multi-point fiber topology that supports
a speed of 1 Gbps for up to 20 km. While subscribers are
connected via dedicated distribution fibers to the site,
they share the Optical Distribution Network (ODN) trunk
fiber back to the Central Office.
Eliminating the need for electrical equipment in the first

mile network is a key facet of the EFMP topology.
Another advantage is that much less fiber is required
Figure 1: Point to Point Ethernet, Curb-Switched
than in point-to-point topologies.
Ethernet, and EPON
To visualize the lower fiber requirements, it is useful to
look at the topologies of point to point Ethernet and Point-to-point Ethernet might use either N or 2N fibers,
“curb switched” Ethernet along with EPON. Figure 1 and thus has 2N optical transceivers. Curb-switched
illustrates all of these options. Ethernet uses one trunk fiber and thus saves fiber and
space in the Central Office (CO). But it uses 2N+2
EPON is based on the Ethernet standard, unlike other optical transceivers and needs electrical power in the
PON technologies, which are based on the ATM field.
standard. This lets you utilize the economies-of-scale of
Ethernet, and provides simple, easy-to-manage EPON also uses only one trunk fiber and thus minimizes
connectivity to Ethernet-based, IP equipment, both at the fibers and space in the CO, and also only uses N+1
customer premises and at the central office. As with optical transceivers. It requires no electrical power in the
other Gigabit Ethernet media, it is well-suited to carry field. The drop throughput can be up to the line rate on
packetized traffic, which is dominant at the access layer, the trunk link. EPON can support downstream broadcast
as well as time-sensitive voice and video traffic. such as video.
The IEEE 802.3ah EPON specification defines Multi-

Point Control Protocol (MPCP), Point-to-Point
Emulation (P2PE), and two 1490/1310 nm PMDs for 10
and 20 km, required to build an EPON system.
Typical EPON-based systems may include extra features

above the IEEE 802.3ah standard, including security,
authentication and dynamic bandwidth allocation.
© The Metro Ethernet Forum 2005. Any reproduction of this document, or any portion thereof, shall contain the following statement: "Reproduced with
permission of the Metro Ethernet Forum." No user of this document is authorized to modify any of the information contained herein.
V2.0 http://www.metroethernetforum.org Page 1
11/05
A Tutorial
EPON Topologies
As Figure 2 shows, EPON is typically deployed as a tree EPON Network
or tree-and-branch topology, using passive 1:N optical
splitters. An EPON network includes an optical line terminal
(OLT) and an optical network unit (ONU).
The OLT resides in the CO (POP or local exchange).

This would typically be an Ethernet switch or Media
Converter platform.
The ONU resides at or near the customer premise. It can

be located at the subscriber residence, in a building, or
on the curb outside. The ONU typically has an 802.3ah
WAN interface, and an 802.3 subscriber interface.
In Figure 3, the OLT is on the left and several ONUs are

shown on the right
OLT EPON
System
1:N
Photos courtesy
of Alloptic, Inc.
Figure 2: EPON System Architecture Figure 3:ONU and OLT
EPON Systems
EPON is configured in full duplex mode (no CSMA/CD) in a single fiber point-to-multipoint (P2MP) topology.
Subscribers, or ONUs, see traffic only from the headend; each subscriber cannot see traffic transmitted by other
subscribers, and peer-to-peer communication is done through the headend, or OLT.. As Figure 4 shows, the headend allows
only one subscriber at a time to transmit using a Time Division Multiplex Access (TDMA) protocol
1:N optical
splitter
single fiber
optics
Figure 4: EPON Configuration
11/05
A Tutorial
EPON systems use an optical splitter architecture, MPCP provides hooks for network resource
multiplexing signals with different wavelengths for optimization. Ranging is performed to reduce slack, and
downstream and upstream as such: bandwidth reporting satisfies requirements by ONUs for
DBA. Optical parameters are negotiated to optimize
− 1490 nm downstream performance.
− 1310 nm upstream
ONU and OLT Operation
Though configured as point to multipoint, Ethernet PON The ONU performs an auto-discovery process which
can be deployed in an Ethernet access platform, with includes ranging and the assignment of both Logical
both point-to-point and point-to-multipoint access cards, Link IDs and bandwidth. Using timestamps on the
as shown in Figure 5. downstream GATE MAC Control Message, the ONU
synchronizes to the OLT timing. It receives the GATE
Model 1
message and transmits within the permitted time period.
Service
Providers The OLT generates time stamped messages to be used as
IP VoIP Video global time reference. It generates discovery windows
Router GW Server Model 2
for new ONUs, and controls the registration process. The
OLT also assigns bandwidth and performs ranging
L3 IP VoIP Video
operations.
Service Multiplexing Switch Router GW Server
L3 SP1 SP2 SP3 SP4
L2 EPON Downstream
L2 Bandwidth Concentration Switch
Downstream, EPON handles the physical broadcast of
802.3 frames. As Figure 6 shows, broadcast frames are
2 1 P2M P P2MP and P2P P2P P2P P2P extracted by the logical link ID in the preamble. 64-byte
OLT System OLT + OLT OLT OLT
Optical Distribution
GATE messages are sent downstream to assign upstream
Demarcation
Network bandwidth.
Point
Network
Operator 1 1
ONU 1 USER 1
header Payload FCS 2
P2M P P2P P2P
1
ONT ONT ONT 802.3 frame 3
Figure 5: EPON in the Ethernet Access Model 1
1 3 1 2 1 3 1 2 2
EPON Protocol OLT
1
ONU 2 USER 2
To control the P2MP fiber network, EPON uses the 3

1
Multi-Point Control Protocol (MPCP). 2
MPCP performs bandwidth assignment, bandwidth 3

polling, auto-discovery, and ranging. It is implemented ONU 3 USER 3
in the MAC Layer, introducing new 64-byte control
messages: Figure 6: Downstream EPON Operation
− GATE and REPORT are used to assign and More detail on the 64-byte GATE message is shown in
request bandwidth Figure 7.
− REGISTER is used to control the auto-
discovery process
11/05
A Tutorial
OLT ONU OLT ONU

MAC Control Client MAC Control Client MAC Control Client MAC Control Client
Generate GATE Start Q1 Q1 Generate REPORT
message Stop message
Q0 Q0
MA_CONTROL.request(GATE) MA_CONTROL.indication(GATE) MA_DATA.request( …) MA_CONTROL.indication(REPORT) MA_CONTROL.request(REPORT)
MAC Control MAC Control

MAC Control MAC Control
S C O P E
Clock register E
Clock register TS TS
Data Path
-
Upstream
Clock register TS TS Clock register
Timestamp
Start Write registers Start Slot Start register
Q1
P Q1
GATE message Stop Stop
Slot Stop register RTT register Q0
O Q0
Timestamp
REPORT message
C
Laser ON/OFF Measure Round-Trip Time
S
MAC MAC
MAC MAC
I N
PHY PHY N
PHY I PHY
Figure 7: Path of GATE Message from OLT to ONU Figure 9: The REPORT Message
EPON Upstream Round Trip Time Measurement

Figure 8 outlines the upstream control; the MPCP uses The calculation of round trip time is as follows:
time slots containing multiple 802.3 frames, where each
ONU sends a 64-byte REPORT message, with ONU 1. OLT sends GATE at T1
state information to the OLT. There are no collisions and 2. ONU receives GATE at T1
no packet fragmentation in this architecture. 3. ONU sends REPORT at T2
4. OLT receives REPORT at T3
ONU 1 USER 1
1 1
5. OLT calculates RTT = T3 – T2
The following figure illustrates this.

1 T1 T3
1 (T3-T1)
OLT ONU 2 USER 2 GATE
1 1 2 333 2 2
Tx T1 ...
OLT
Rx T2 ...
REPORT
time slot
3 (T2-T1)
802.3 frame 3
3 ONU 3 USER 3
3 3 3 REPORT
Tx T2 ...
header Payload FCS ONU
Rx T1 ...
Figure 8: EPON Upstream Control GATE
T1 T2
Figure 10: Calculation of Round Trip Time
Figure 9 describes the REPORT message. Measurement
The bottom line is that:
RTT = (T3-T1) – (T2-T1) = T3-T2
11/05
A Tutorial
EPON Standards within P802.3ah Objectives

To see where EPON fits among MEF standards, consider the following table, which lists all of the P802.3ah objectives by
technology.
Subscriber Access Physical Layer Specifications

Technology
Point to point on optical fiber 1000BASE-LX extended temperature range optics
(EFMF) 1000BASE-X >= 10km over single SM fiber
100BASE-X >= 10km over SM fiber
Point to multipoint on optical PHY for PON, >= 10km, 1000Mbps, single SM fiber, >=1:16
fiber (EPON) PHY for PON, >= 20km, 1000Mbps, single SM fiber, >=1:16
Point to point on copper PHY for single pair non-loaded voice grade copper, distance >=750m and speed
>=10Mbps full duplex
Table 1: P8023ah Objectives
Summary
EPON is suitable for Fiber-to-the-Home/Building/Business applications, including voice, data and video services.
EPON is one type of fiber-based Ethernet access, using a passive optical 1:N infrastructure. An EPON network is a shared
network, analogous to hybrid-fiber-coax networks, but with much greater bandwidth (1 Gbps).
EPON systems are a highly attractive access solution because of cost and performance advantage, resulting from their
nature as all-passive networks, point-to-multipoint architecture, and native Ethernet protocol.
11/05
Appendix
References and Resources
Terminology Reference Description
Term Definition “CSMA/CD Access Method and Physical
CWDM Coarse Wave Division Multiplexing IEEE 802.3- Layer Specifications”,
Ethernet A packet-based protocol that is used 2002 http://standards.ieee.org/reading/ieee/std/lan
universally in local area networks and strong man/restricted/802.3-2002.pdf
candidate for cost efficient deployment in “Virtual Bridged Local Area Networks”,
IEEE 802.1Q http://standards.ieee.org/reading/ieee/std/lan
access and metropolitan networks.
man/802.1Q-1998.pdf
EFMC Ethernet in First Mile topology for voice- MEF Technical Specification “Ethernet
grade copper. Service Attributes, Phase 1”,
MEF 10
EFMF Ethernet in First Mile using Point-to-Point http://www.metroethernetforum.org/PDFs/S
Fiber topology tandards/MEF10.pdf
EFMP Etehrnet in First Mile using Point-to- “ Metro Ethernet Networks – A Technical
MEN
Multipoint topology, based on Passive Overview”,
Technical
http://www.metroethernetforum.org/PDFs/
Optical Networks (PONs). Overview
WhitePapers/metro-ethernet-networks.pdf
EFMA Ethernet in First Mile Alliance. An alliance
of companies whose goal is to focus the Disclaimer
necessary resources to make IEEE 802.3ah a
This paper reflects ongoing work within the MEF
successful industry standard.
captured in a series of technical specifications which are
In 2004, the EFMA became part of the
a work in progress. The official MEF specifications are
Metro Ethernet Forum
available at www.metroethernetforum.com/techspec.
FTTB Fiber to the building
These represent a 75% member majority consensus as
FTTC Fiber to the curb
voted by members of the MEF Technical Committee at
FTTH Fiber to the home
the time of their adoption.
First Also called the last mile, the subscriber
Mile access network or the local loop, the first This paper will be updated as new work emerges from
mile is the communications infrastructure of the MEF Technical Committee. Updates versions are
the business park or the neighborhood. available at http://www.metroethernetforum.org
IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics .
Engineers. A standards setting body
responsible for many telecom and About the Metro Ethernet Forum
computing standards, including the Ethernet The Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) is a non-profit
in the First Mile standard, IEEE 802.3ah. organization dedicated to accelerating the adoption of
MDU Multi-dwelling unit, such as an apartment optical Ethernet as the technology of choice in metro
house or hotel. networks worldwide.
MTU Multi-tenant units, such as an apartment The Forum is comprised of leading service providers,
house or office building. major incumbent local exchange carriers, top network
OAM The specification for managing EFM. equipment vendors and other prominent networking
Network Also called service providers and local companies that share an interest in metro Ethernet. As of
operator exchange carriers, they provide access December 2005, the MEF had over 70 members
network services to subscribers.
PON Passive Optical Network. A single, shared
optical fiber that has inexpensive optical
splitters located near the subscribers.
PMD Physical Media Dependent sub-layer
PHY Physical Layer
PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network.
11/05

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Ethernet Passive Optical Network (EPON)

Using these techniques to create a passive optical

Eliminating the need for electrical equipment in the first

The IEEE 802.3ah EPON specification defines Multi-

Typical EPON-based systems may include extra features

The OLT resides in the CO (POP or local exchange).

The ONU resides at or near the customer premise. It can

In Figure 3, the OLT is on the left and several ONUs are

Figure 2: EPON System Architecture Figure 3:ONU and OLT

Figure 4: EPON Configuration

To control the P2MP fiber network, EPON uses the 3

MPCP performs bandwidth assignment, bandwidth 3

OLT ONU OLT ONU

MA_CONTROL.request(GATE) MA_CONTROL.indication(GATE) MA_DATA.request( …) MA_CONTROL.indication(REPORT) MA_CONTROL.request(REPORT)

MAC Control MAC Control

EPON Upstream Round Trip Time Measurement

The following figure illustrates this.

RTT = (T3-T1) – (T2-T1) = T3-T2

EPON Standards within P802.3ah Objectives

Subscriber Access Physical Layer Specifications

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