FTTH
More commonly known as Future Proof, Fiber to the home (FTTH) is a new
technology to deliver a communication signal over optical fiber. It is an efficient
and economic substitute of existing copper infrastructure including telephone and
coaxial cable. This technology is effectual enough to provide much higher
bandwidth to consumers and businesses.
FTTH - Introduction
For the access of network technologies, there are normally two ways
i.e. Fixed and the second is the Wireless way. In this tutorial, we will discuss the
Fixed method, technically called as the FTTH Technology.
What is FTTH?
Fiber to the Home or simply FTTH is a technology that uses optical fiber directly
from the central point to the residential premises (as shown in the following
image). It provides uninterrupted high-speed internet service. Here, H includes
both home and small business.
FTTH is the ultimate fiber access solution where each subscriber is connected to
an optical fiber. The deployment options discussed in this tutorial are based on a
complete optical fiber path from the Optical Line Termination (OLT) right to the
subscriber premises.
This choice facilitates high bandwidth services and content to each customer and
ensures maximum bandwidth for future demands of new services. Therefore,
Hybrid options involving part fiber and part copper infrastructure networks are
not included.
As an access to the home over fiber, Fiber to The Home (FTTH) scenario is mainly
for the single family unit (SFU), providing a comparatively small number of ports,
including the following types POTS, 10/100/1000 BASE-T, and RF (18dBmV).
Optical Fiber Method can be deployed in two ways: Active Method and Passive
Method. The current mass FTTH deployment is based on the passive method.
Hence, lets discuss the Passive Method in detail.
Passive Method − The two typical technologies used in this method are Ethernet
Passive Optical Network (EPON) & Gigabit-capable Passive Optical
Networks (GPON). Refer the following image.
Why FTTH?
Fiber offers a number of advantages over the previous technologies (Copper). The
most important ones are as follows −
The following table lists the advanced services that can be provided through FTTH
along with their bandwidth.
FTTH vs xDSL
The following table shows a typical comparison between FTTH and xDSL devices in
terms of bandwidth and distance (maximum reach) −
Distance and Bandwidth
The following points explain the distance and bandwidth parameters −
FTTH Terminologies
Let us now discuss in brief about the terminologies normally associated with
FTTH.
Differential Fiber Distance:
An OLT is connected to several ONU/ONTs (Optical Network Unit/ Optical
Network Terminal). The differential fiber distance is the difference in the distance
between the nearest and the farthest ONU/ONT from the OLT. In GPON,
the maximum differential fiber distance is 20 kms. This affects the size of the
ranging window and it is in accordance with ITU-T G.983.1.
Logical Reach:
Logical reach is defined as the maximum distance that can be covered for a
particular transmission system, regardless of the optical budget. Since, Logical
reach is the maximum distance between ONU/ONT and OLT except for the
limitation of the physical layer - In GPON, the maximum logical reach is defined as
60 kms.
Mean Signal Transfer Delay:
The mean signal transfer delay is the average of the upstream and downstream
delay values between reference points. This value is determined by measuring
round-trip delay and then dividing by 2. GPON must accommodate services that
require a maximum mean signal transfer delay of 1.5 Ms. Specifically, GPON
system must have a maximum mean signal transfer delay time of less than1.5 Ms
between T-V reference points.
Optical Access Network (OAN):
The Optical Access Network is an access network towards the network side; it is
also known as SNI (Service Network Interface). Up-link ports of OLT connects with
L2 Switch Ring of access network. All other in-between components such as
ODF/FDMS (Optical Distribution Frame/ Fibre Distribution Management System)
connected towards SNI comes under the Optical Access Network.
Optical Distribution Network (ODN):
In a PON Technology towards downstream side, all passive components from the
PON Port of OLT to the PON Port of ONT come under Optical Distribution
Network. Normally, Splitter and ODF/FDMS come under this category.
Optical Line Termination (OLT):
A Central Office (CO) equipment provides PON with the various network
interfaces. One OLT serves multiple ONTs through PON Downstream transmission,
i.e., from OLT to ONT is usually TDM (Time Division Multiplexing). Upstream
traffic, i.e., from ONT to OLT is usually TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access).
PON system may be either symmetrical or asymmetrical.
Optical Network Termination (ONT)/ Optical Network Unit (ONU):
An Optical Network Termination is a Customer Premises Equipment that provides
user interfaces to the customer.
Physical Reach:
Physical reach is defined as the maximum physical distance that can be achieved
for a particular transmission system. Physical reach is the maximum physical
distance between the ONU/ONT and the OLT. In GPON, two options are defined
for the physical reach: 10 km and 20 km.
Service:
Service is defined as a network service required by the operators. Service is
described by a name that is clearly recognized by everyone, regardless of whether
it is a frame structure name or a general name.
Bit Rate:
GPON aims at transmission speeds greater than or equal to 1.2 Gbps. Accordingly,
GPON identifies two transmission speed combinations as follows −
The most important bit rate is 1.2 Gbps upstream and 2.4 Gbps downstream,
constituting nearly all of the deployed and planned deployment of the GPON
systems.
Split Ratio:
Larger the split ratio is for GPON, the more economical it is from cost perspective.
However, a larger split ratio implies greater optical power and bandwidth splitting,
which creates the need for an increased power budget to support the physical
reach.
Split ratios of up to 1:64 are realistic for the physical layer, given current
technology. However, anticipating the continued evolution of optical modules, the
TC layer must consider split ratios up to 1:128.
Data Rates: