GPON TECHNOLOGY

FIBRE OPTIC COMMUNICATION

• Fibre-optic communication is a method of transmitting information

from one place to another by sending pulses of light through
an optical fibre.
• Fibre is preferred over electrical cabling when we require
 high bandwidth,
 long distance,
 immunity to electromagnetic interference.
FIBER OPTIC TRANSMISSION SYSTEM
WHAT IS GPON?
GPON is Gigabit Passive Optical Network, it is a point-to-multi point access
mechanism.
Its main characteristic is the use of passive splitters in the fibre distribution network,
enabling one single feeding fibre from the provider’s central office to serve multiple
homes and small businesses.
A GPON network consists of an OLT, ONUs, and optical splitters.
HOW GPON WORKS?

Optical line terminals (OLT) convert signals into light.

Single-mode fiber carries the light signal incredibly quickly over long distances
if necessary. A splitter divides a single optical fiber into separate strands when
needed.
An optical network terminal (ONT) converts the light back to a standard
Ethernet connection to deliver data to end users.
Functioning of a GPON network

• The route from OLT to ONU or ONT will be considered downstream, and the data
moving from users’ ends to OLT is designated as upstream.
• In the downstream direction, the traffic multiplexing functionality is centralized.
• The OLT multiplexes the GEM frames onto the transmission medium using GEM
Port-ID as a key to identify the GEM frames that belong to different downstream
logical connections.
• Each ONU filters the downstream GEM frames based on their GEM Port-Ids and
processes only the GEM frames that belong to that ONU.

Downstream multiplexing
The upstream movement of data requires a technique. This technique is called a time division multiplexing (TDM) where a unique
timeslot is assigned to the user corresponding to the wavelength if light reaching it. This technique converts the splitters into
combiners.

Transmissions occurring upstream are called burst-mode operations and these happen randomly corresponding to the users’
requirement to send data back to OLT. Thus, TDM allows multiple signals travelling in single transmission each of which is free from
any kind of superposition or interference from the other.

Upstream
multiplexing
GPON Components
•Optical line terminal (OLT),
• Transmitting media (cabling and components),
•Fiber optical splitter, and the
•Optical network terminal (ONT).
•
•OLT (Optical Line Terminal)
•
•It acts as an endpoint in Passive Optical Network.
•
•It is a hardware device comprising of CPU, PON cords, router uplink cards meant for voice services and other general
services.
•
•The OLT transmit data signals towards the user end using an optical input of 1490 nm.
•
•One OLT can be connected upto 128 ONTs.
•
•OLT can offer data connectivity extending upto a distance of 20 kms with the help of optical splitters.
•
•OLT in a GPON is designed to send the Ethernet signals or data to Optical Network Units (ONUs). It is the starting point of
the signal. Its main function is to control as well as record the data exchanged between the two end points of a GPON.
 Important features of an OLT

•A downstream part: This frame of OLT receives and stimulates ATM cell to create a downstream frame. The parallel form
of this downstream frame is converted into serial data form at OLT.
•
•This devices works on WDM technology to convert serial data of the downstream frame electrically or optically. The
downstream band is processed with WDM thereafter.
•
•The upstream frame processing also takes place at OLT. This processing involves data extraction off the WDM
technology, delineation of the slot limits, carrying out processing of a PLOAM cell and a division slot individually.
•
•Control signal generation feature for supporting MAC protocol. There are provisions made available for generating
timed variable signals across both downstream and upstream frames.
•
Optical network unit (ONU)
Key Technologies of GPON: GEM

GEM Encapsulation
GPON Encapsulation Method (GEM): A data frame transport scheme used in GPON systems that is connection-oriented and
that supports fragmentation of the network administrator data frames into variable sized transmission fragments.
GPON Encapsulation Application

T-CONT:
A traffic bearing object within an ONT that represents a group of logical connections, and is treated as a single entity for the
purpose of upstream bandwidth assignment on the PON. In the upstream direction, it is used to bear the service traffic. Each T-
CONT corresponds to service traffic of one bandwidth type. Each bandwidth type has its own QoS feature.

ALLOC_ID:
Each T-CONT is identified by the ALLOC_ID uniquely. The ALLOC_ID ranges from 0 to 4095. It is allocated by OLT i.e. a T-
CONT, and can only be used by one ONT per PON interface on the OLT.
GEM Port:

A GPON Encapsulation Method (GEM) port is a virtual port for performing GEM encapsulation for transmitting frames between
the OLT and the ONT. Each different traffic-class (TC) per UNI is assigned a different GEM Port. Each T-CONT consists of one or
more GEM Ports. Each GEM port bears one kind of service traffic i.e. a T-CONT type.

GEM Port ID:

Each GEM Port is identified by a port ID uniquely. The Port ID ranges from 0 to 4095. It is allocated by the OLT, i.e. a GEM port,
and can only be used by a single ONT per PON interface on the OLT.

Dynamic bandwidth assignment

The process by which the optical line terminal (OLT) reallocates the upstream transmission opportunities to the traffic-bearing
entities within optical network units (ONUs) based on the
dynamic indication of their activity status and their configured traffic contracts. The activity status
indication can be either explicit through buffer status reporting, or implicit through transmission of
idle GEM frames in place of granted upstream transmission opportunities.
DBA methods

Depending on the ONU buffer occupancy inference mechanism, two DBA methods can be
distinguished:

Status reporting (SR) DBA is based on the explicit buffer occupancy reports that are
solicited by the OLT and submitted by the ONUs in response;

Traffic monitoring (TM) DBA is based on the OLT's observation of the idle GEM frame
pattern and its comparison with the corresponding bandwidth maps.



GPON system protocol stack

The protocol stack of GTC layer is comprised of
two sublayers,

 GTC framing sublayer and

 GTC adaptation sublayer
Physical layer OAM (PLOAM): A message-based operation and management channel
between the OLT and the ONUs that supports the PON TC-layer management functions,
including
ONU activation, OMCC establishment, encryption configuration, key management and alarm
Signalling.

The OMCI channel is used to manage the service definition of the upper layer of the GTC. The
GTC must provide a transport interface for the OMCI stream. The GTC function provides a way to
configure optional channels based on device capabilities, including defining a transport protocol
flow identifier (Port-ID).
Networking Applications

The GPON technology applies on FTTB, FTTC, FTTD, and FTTH networks based on access nodes.

The data, voice, and video signals of terminal users are sent to ONUs, where the signals are
converted into Ethernet packets and then transmitted over optical fibers to the OLT using the GPON
uplink ports on the ONUs.

Then, the Ethernet packets are forwarded to the upper-layer IP network using the uplink port on the
OLT.

FTTH: The OLT connects to ONTs at user homes using an ODN network. FTTH is applicable to new
apartments or villas in loose distribution. In this scenario, FTTH provides services of higher
bandwidth for high-end users.

FTTB/FTTC: The OLT is connected to ONUs in corridors (FTTB) or by the curb (FTTC) using an
optical distribution network (ODN). The ONUs are then connected to user terminals.

FTTD: uses existing access media at user homes to resolve drop fiber issues in FTTH scenarios.