GPON Technologies

Outline

PON benefits PON architecture Fiber optic basics PON physical layer PON user plane PON control plane

PON benefits

Why fiber ?
todays high data rate networks are all based on optical fiber the reason is simple (examples for demonstration sake) twisted copper pair(s)
8 Mbps @ 3 km, 1.5 Mbps @ 5.5 km (ADSL) 1 Gb @ 100 meters (802.3ab)

microwave
70 Mbps @ 30 km (WiMax)

coax
10 Mbps @ 3.6 km (10BROAD36) 30 Mbps @ 30 km (cable modem)

optical fiber
10 Mbps @ 2 km (10BASE-FL) 100 Mbps @ 400m (100BASE-FX) 1 Gbps @ 2km (1000BASE-LX) 10 Gbps @ 40 (80) km (10GBASE-E(Z)R) 40 Gbps @ 700 km [Nortel] or 3000 km [Verizon]

Aside why is fiber better ?

attenuation per unit length reasons for energy loss
copper: resistance, skin effect, radiation, coupling fiber: internal scattering, imperfect total internal reflection

so fiber beats coax by about 2 orders of magnitude noise ingress and cross-talk copper couples to all nearby conductors no similar ingress mechanism for fiber

e.g. 10 dB/km for thin coax at 50MHz, 0.15 dB/km l =1550nm fiber

ground-potential, galvanic isolation, lightning protection copper can be hard to handle and dangerous no concerns for fiber

Why not fiber ?

fiber beats all other technologies for speed and reach but fiber has its own problems
harder to splice, repair, and need to handle carefully regenerators and even amplifiers are problematic
more expensive to deploy than for copper

digital processing requires electronics

so need to convert back to electronics we will call the converter an optical transceiver optical transceivers are expensive
copper fiber

switching easier with electronics (but possible with photonics)

so pure fiber networks are topologically limited:
point-to-point rings

Access network bottleneck

hard for end users to get high datarates because of the access bottleneck local area networks use copper cable get high datarates over short distances core networks use fiber optics get high datarate over long distances small number of active network elements access networks (first/last mile) long distances
so fiber would be the best choice LAN

access

core

many network elements and large number of endpoints

if fiber is used then need multiple optical transceivers so copper is the best choice this severely limits the datarates

Fiber To The Curb

Hybrid Fiber Coax and VDSL switch/transceiver/miniDSLAM located at curb or in basement need only 2 optical transceivers but not pure optical solution lower BW from transceiver to end users need complex converter in constrained environment

core

feeder fiber

N end users

copper access network

Fiber To The Premises

we can implement point-to-multipoint topology purely in optics
but we need a fiber (pair) to each end user requires 2 N optical transceivers complex and costly to maintain

core

N end users

access network

An obvious solution
deploy intermediate switches (active) switch located at curb or in basement saves space at central office need 2 N + 2 optical transceivers

core

feeder fiber

N end users

fiber access network

The PON solution

another alternative - implement 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 (minimum possible) ! access network 1:2 passive splitter

core
feeder fiber

N end users typically N=32 max defined 128

1:4 passive splitter

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

PON architecture

Terminology
like every other field, PON technology has its own 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
core

Optical Distribution Network

splitter

Optical Network Units

UNI Terminal Equipment

Optical Line Terminal

Optical Access Network

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

in this course we will focus on GPON and EPON (including

GEPON)
with a touch of BPON thrown in for the flavor

Bibliography
BPON is explained in ITU-T G.983.x GPON is explained in ITU-T G.984.x EPON is explained in IEEE 802.3-2005 clauses 64 and 65
(but other 802.3 clauses are also needed)

Warning
do not believe white papers from vendors
especially not with respect to GPON/EPON comparisons

GPON

BPON

EPON

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

Why a new protocol ?

PON has a unique architecture (broadcast) point-to-multipoint in DS direction (multiple access) multipoint-to-point in US direction
contrast that with, for example Ethernet - multipoint-to-multipoint ATM - point-to-point This means that existing protocols
do not provide all the needed functionality e.g. receive filtering, ranging, security, BW allocation

downstream upstream

(multi)point - to - (multi)point

Multipoint-to-multipoint Ethernet avoids collisions

by CSMA/CD

This can't work for multipoint-to-point US PON

since ONUs don't see each other And the OLT can't arbitrate without adding a roundtrip time

Point-to-point ATM can send data in the open

although trusted intermediate switches see all data customer switches only receive their own data

This can't work for point-to-multipoint DS PON

since all ONUs see all DS data

PON encapsulation
The majority of PON traffic is Ethernet So EPON enthusiasts say
use EPON - it's just Ethernet

That's true by definition anything in 802.3 is Ethernet and EPON is defined in clauses 64 and 65 of 802.3-2005

But don't be fooled - all PON methods encapsulate MAC frames EPON and GPON differ in the contents of the header
EPON hides the new header inside the GbE preamble GPON can also carry non-Ethernet payloads

PON header

DA

SA

data

FCS

GPON history

2001 : FSAN initiated work on extension of BPON to > 1 Gbps

Although GPON is an extension of BPON technology
and reuses much of G.983 (e.g. linecode, rates, band-plan, OAM) decision was not to be backward compatible with BPON

2001 : GFP developed (approved 2003) 2003 : GPON became G.984

G.984.1 : GPON general characteristics G.984.2 : Physical Media Dependent layer G.984.3 : Transmission Convergence layer G.984.4 : management and control interface

Fiber optics - basics

Total Internal Reflection in Step-Index Multimode Fiber

= sin 1(n2/n1)

t = Propagation Time t Vacuum: n=1,

t=3.336ns/m

V =c/n
t = Ln/c

t Water : n=1.33, t=4.446ns/m

Types of Optical Fiber

Popular Fiber Sizes

Multimode GradedIndex Fiber

Single-mode Fiber

Optical Loss versus Wavelength

Click to edit Master text styles

Second level
Third level
Fourth level

Sources of Dispersion

Total Dispersion
Multimode Dispersion Chromatic Dispersion

Material Dispersion

Multimode Dispersion

1 1

Dispersion limits bandwidth in optical fiber

Graded-index Dispersion

1 1

1 0 1

Single-Mode Dispersion

1 1

In SM the limit bandwidth is caused by chromatic dispersion.

System Design Consideration

How to calculate bandwidth?

For a 1.25 Gb/s we need a BW of 0.7 BitRate = 1.143ns

Tc = Dmat * l * L
For Laser 1550nm Fabry Perot

Tc = (20ps/nm * km) * 5nm * 15km = 1.5ns

For Laser 1550nm DFB

Tc = (20ps/nm * km) * 0.2nm * 60km = 0.24ns

Material Dispersion (Dmat)

Spectral Characteristics

LASER/laser diode: Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. Done of the wide range of devices that generates light by that principle. Laser light is directional, covers a narrow range of wavelengths, and is more coherent than ordinary light. Semiconductor diode lasers are the standard light sources in fiber optic systems. Lasers emit light by stimulated emission.

Laser Optical Power Output vs. Forward Current

Laser

Light Detectors

PIN DIODES (PD) - Operation simular to LEDs, but in reverse, photon are converted to electrons

- Simple, relatively low- cost

- Limited in sensitivity and operating range - Used for lower- speed or short distance applications

AVALANCHE PHOTODIODES (APD) - Use more complex design and higher operating voltage than PIN diodes to produce amplification effect - Significantly more sensitive than PIN diodes - More complex design increases cost - Used for long-haul/higher bit rate systems

Wavelength-Division Multiplexing

WDM Duplexing

Basic Configuration of PON

OLT = Optical Line Termination ONU = Optical Network Unit BMCDR = Burst Mode Clock Data Recovery

Typical PON Configuration and Optical Packets

Eye diagram of ONU transceiver in burst mode operation

Burst-Mode Transmitter in ONU

OLT Burst-Mode Receiver

Burst-Mode CDR

Sampling

Ideal sampling instant

Hysteresis

Superimposed interference Ideal, error-free transmission

Transceiver Block Diagram

Optical Splitters

Optical Protection Switch Optical Splitter

Budget Calculations

LB

= PS - PO

= Link Budget PS = Sensitivity PO = Output Power

LB Example: GPON 1310nm Power: 0dbm Single-mode fiber Sensitivity: -23dbm

Link Budget: 23db

Typical Range Calculation

Assume:

Optical loss = 0.35 db/km

Connector Loss = 2dB Splitter Insertion Loss 1X32 = 17dB Range Budget: ~11Km

Relationship between transmission distance and number of splits

GbE Fiber Optic Characteristics

PON physical layer

l allocations - G.983.1

Upstream and downstream directions need about the same bandwidth US serves N customers, so it needs N times the BW of each customer
but each customer can only transmit 1/N of the time

In APON and early BPON work it was decided that 100 nm was needed Where should these bands be placed for best results? In the second and third windows ! Upstream 1260 - 1360 nm (1310 50) second window

Downstream 1480 - 1580 nm (1530 50) third window

US
1200 nm 1300 nm 1400 nm

DS
1500 nm 1600 nm

l allocations - G.983.3

Afterwards it became clear that there was a need for additional DS bands Pressing needs were broadcast video and data Where could these new DS bands be placed ?

At about the same time G.694.2 defined 20 nm CWDM bands

these were made possible because of new inexpensive hardware (uncooled Distributed Feedback Lasers)

One of the CWDM bands was 1490 10 nm

same bottom l as the G.983.1 DS

1270

1490

1630

So it was decided to use this band as the G.983.3 DS

and leave the US unchanged

US
1200 nm 1300 nm 1400 nm

DS

guard available 1600 nm

1500 nm

l allocations - final
US
1200 nm 1300 nm 1400 nm

DS
1500 nm 1600 nm

The G.983.3 band-plan was incorporated into GPON

and via liaison activity into EPON and is now the universally accepted xPON band-plan

US 1260-1360 nm (1310 50) DS 1480-1500 nm (1490 10) enhancement bands:

video 1550 - 1560 nm (see ITU-T J.185/J.186) digital 1539-1565 nm

Data rates (for now )

PON BPON Amd 1 Amd 2 DS (Mbps) 155.52 622.08 622.08 1244.16 1244.16 1244.16 1244.16 1244.16 2488.32 2488.32 2488.32 2488.32 1250* 10312.5* US (Mbps) 155.52 155.52 622.08 155.52 622.08 155.52 622.08 1244.16 155.52 622.08 1244.16 2488.32 1250* 10312.5*

GPON

EPON 10GEPON

* only 1G/10G usable due to linecode work in progress

Reach and splits

Reach and the number of ONUs supported are contradictory design goals In addition to physical reach derived from optical budget
there is logical reach limited by protocol concerns (e.g. ranging protocol) and differential reach (distance between nearest and farthest ONUs)

The number of ONUs supported depends not only on the number of splits
but also on the addressing scheme

BPON called for 20 km and 32-64 ONUs GPON allows 64-128 splits and the reach is usually 20 km
but there is a low-cost 10 km mode (using Fabry-Perot laser diodes in ONUs) and a long physical reach 60 km mode with 20 km differential reach

EPON allows 16-256 splits (originally designed for link budget of 24 dB, but now 30 dB)
and has 10 km and 20 km Physical Media Dependent sublayers

Line codes

BPON and GPON use a simple NRZ linecode (high is 1 and low is 0) An I.432-style scrambling operation is applied to payload (not to PON overhead) Preferable to conventional scrambler because no error propagation
each standard and each direction use different LFSRs LFSR initialized with all ones LFSR sequence is XOR'ed with data before transmission

EPON uses the 802.3z (1000BASE-X) line code - 8B/10B

Every 8 data bits are converted into 10 bits before transmission DC removal and timing recovery ensured by mapping Special function codes (e.g. idle, start_of_packet, end_of_packet, etc)

However, 1000 Mbps is expanded to 1250 Mbps 10GbE uses a different linecode - 64B/66B

FEC
G984.3 clause 13 and 802.3-2005 subclause 65.2.3
define an optional G.709-style Reed-Solomon code

Use (255,239,8) systematic RS code designed for submarine fiber (G.975) to every 239 data bytes add 16 parity bytes to make 255 byte FEC block Up to 8 byte errors can be corrected Improves power budget by over 3 dB,
allowing increased reach or additional splits

Use of FEC is negotiated between OLT and ONU Since code is systematic
can use in environment where some ONUs do not support FEC

In GPON FEC frames are aligned with PON frames In EPON FEC frames are marked using K-codes
(and need 8B10B decode - FEC - 8B10B encode)

More physical layer problems

Near-far problem OLT needs to know signal strength to set decision threshold If large distance between near/far ONUs, then very different attenuations If radically different received signal strength can't use a single threshold
EPON: measure received power of ONU at beginning of burst GPON: OLT feedback to ONUs to properly set transmit power

Burst laser problem Spontaneous emission noise from nearby ONU lasers causes interference Electrically shut ONU laser off when not transmitting But lasers have long warm-up time
and ONU lasers must stabilize quickly after being turned on

US timing diagram

How does the ONU US transmission appear to the OLT ?

grant
inter-ONU guard

grant
data
laser turn-off laser turn-on lock laser turn-off

data
laser turn-on lock

Notes: GPON - ONU reports turn-on and turn-off times to OLT ONU preamble length set by OLT EPON - long lock time as need to Automatic Gain Control and Clock/Data Recovery long inter-ONU guard due to AGC-reset Ethernet preamble is part of data

PON User plane

How does it work?

ONU stores client data in large buffers (ingress queues) ONU sends a high-speed burst upon receiving a grant/allocation
Ranging must be performed for ONU to transmit at the right time DBA - OLT allocates BW according to ONU queue levels

OLT identifies ONU traffic by label OLT extracts traffic units and passes to network OLT receives traffic from network and encapsulates into PON frames OLT prefixes with ONU label and broadcasts ONU receives all packets and filters according to label ONU extracts traffic units and passes to client

Labels

In an ODN there is 1 OLT, but many ONUs ONUs must somehow be labeled for
OLT to identify the destination ONU ONU to identify itself as the source

GPON has several levels of labels

ONU_ID (1B) (1B) Transmission-CONTainer (AKA Alloc_ID) (12b)
For ATM mode VPI VCI For GEM mode Port_ID (12b) (12b)
(can be >1 T-CONT per ONU)

ONU

VP

T-CONT

VP Port Port

PON
ONU
T-CONT

VC VC VC VC

DS GPON format
GPON Transmission Convergence frames are always 125 msec long
19440 bytes / frame for 1244.16 rate 38880 bytes / frame for 2488.32 rate

Each GTC frame consists of Physical Control Block downstream + payload

PCBd contains sync, OAM, DBA info, etc. payload may have ATM and GEM partitions (either one or both)

GTC frame
PCBd payload PCBd

scrambled

125 msec
PCBd payload

payload

PSync (4B)

Ident (4B)

PLOAMd (13B)

BIP (1B)

ATM partition

GEM partition

PLend (4B) PLend (4B)

US BW map (N*8B)

GPON payloads
GTC payload potentially has 2 sections:
ATM partition (Alen * 53 bytes in length) GEM partition (now preferred method)
PCBd ATM cell ATM cell

ATM cell

GEM frame

GEM frame

GEM frame

ATM partition Alen (12 bits) is specified in the PCBd

Alen specifies the number of 53B cells in the ATM partition if Alen=0 then no ATM partition if Alen=payload length / 53 then no GEM partition

ATM cells are aligned to GTC frame ONUs accept ATM cells based on VPI in ATM header GEM partition Unlike ATM cells, GEM delineated frames may have any length Any number of GEM frames may be contained in the GEM partition ONUs accept GEM frames based on 12b Port-ID in GEM header

GPON Encapsulation Mode

A common complaint against BPON was inefficiency due to ATM cell tax

GEM is similar to ATM

constant-size HEC-protected header but avoids large overhead by allowing variable length frames

GEM is generic any packet type (and even TDM) supported GEM supports fragmentation and reassembly GEM is based on GFP, and the header contains the following fields:
Payload Length Indicator - payload length in Bytes Port ID - identifies the target ONU Payload Type Indicator (GEM OAM, congestion/fragmentation indication) Header Error Correction field (BCH(39,12,2) code+ 1b even parity)

The GEM header is XOR'ed with B6AB31E055 before transmission

PLI (12b) Port ID (12b)
5B

PTI (3b)

HEC (13b)

payload fragment (L Bytes)

Ethernet / TDM over GEM

When transporting Ethernet traffic over GEM:
only MAC frame is encapsulated (no preamble, SFD, EFD) MAC frame may be fragmented (see next slide) Ethernet over GEM PLI ID PTI HEC DA SA T data FCS

When transporting TDM traffic over GEM:

TDM input buffer polled every 125 msec. PLI bytes of TDM are inserted into payload field length of TDM fragment may vary by 1 Byte due to frequency offset round-trip latency bounded by 3 msec.

TDM over GEM PLI ID PTI HEC PLI Bytes of TDM

GEM fragmentation
GEM can fragment its payload For example
unfragmented Ethernet frame PLI PLI PLI ID ID ID PTI=001 HEC DA PTI=000 HEC DA PTI=001 HEC SA SA data2 T T data1 FCS data FCS fragmented Ethernet frame

GEM fragments payloads for either of two reasons:

GEM frame may not straddle GTC frame
PCBd ATM partition GEM frame

GEM frag 1

PCBd

ATM partition

GEM frag 2

GEM frame

GEM frame may be pre-empted for delay-sensitive data

PCBd ATM partition urgent frame

large frag 1

PCBd

ATM partition

urgent frame

large frag 2

PCBd
We saw that the PCBd is
PSync (4B) Ident (4B)
B6AB31E0

PLOAMd
(13B)

BIP
(1B)

PLend
(4B)

PLend
(4B)

US BW map
(N*8B)

PSync - fixed pattern used by ONU to located start of GTC frame Ident - MSB indicates if FEC is used, 30 LSBs are superframe counter PLOAMd - carries OAM, ranging, alerts, activation messages, etc. BIP - SONET/SDH-style Bit Interleaved Parity of all bytes since last BIP PLend (transmitted twice for robustness) Blen - 12 MSB are length of BW map in units of 8 Bytes Alen - Next 12 bits are length of ATM partition in cells CRC - final 8 bits are CRC over Blen and Alen

US BW map - array of Blen 8B structures granting BW to US flow will discuss later (DBA)

GPON US considerations
GTC fames are still 125 msec long, but shared amongst ONUs Each ONU transmits a burst of data
using timing acquired by locking onto OLT signal according to time allocation sent by OLT in BWmap
there may be multiple allocations to single ONU OLT computes DBA by monitoring traffic status (buffers)

of ONUs and knowing priorities at power level requested by OLT (3 levels)

this enables OLT to use avalanche photodiodes which are sensitive to high power bursts

leaving a guard time from previous ONU's transmission prefixing a preamble to enable OLT to acquire power and phase identifying itself (ONU-ID) in addition to traffic IDs (VPI, Port-ID) scrambling data (but not preamble/delimiter)

US GPON format
4 different US overhead types: Physical Layer Overhead upstream
always sent by ONU when taking over from another ONU contains preamble and delimiter (lengths set by OLT in PLOAMd) BIP (1B), ONU-ID (1B), and Indication of real-time status (1B)

PLOAM upstream (13B) - messaging with PLOAMd Power Levelling Sequence upstream (120B)
used during power-set and power-change to help set ONU power so that OLT sees similar power from all ONUs

Dynamic Bandwidth Report upstream

sends traffic status to OLT in order to enable DBA computation

if all OH types are present:

PLOu PLOAMd PLSu DBRu payload

US allocation example
DS frame PCBd payload

BWmap

Alloc-ID SStart SStop Alloc-ID SStart Sstop Alloc-ID SStart SStop

US frame

preamble + delimiter

guard time

scrambled

BWmap sent by OLT to ONUs is a list of ONU allocation IDs flags (not shown above) tell if use FEC, which US OHs to use, etc. start and stop times (16b fields, in Bytes from beginning of US frame)

Security

DS traffic is broadcast to all ONUs, so encryption is essential

easy for a malicious user to reprogram ONU to capture desired frames

US traffic not seen by other ONUs, so encryption is not needed

do not take fiber-tappers into account

EPON does not provide any standard encryption method

can supplement with IPsec or MACsec many vendors have added proprietary AES-based mechanisms
in China special China Telecom encryption algorithm

BPON used a mechanism called churning Churning was a low cost hardware solution (24b key)
with several security flaws engine was linear - simple known-text attack 24b key turned out to be derivable in 512 tries

So G.983.3 added AES support - now used in GPON

GPON encryption

OLT encrypts using AES-128 in counter mode Only payload is encrypted (not ATM or GEM headers) Encryption blocks aligned to GTC frame Counter is shared by OLT and all ONUs
46b = 16b intra-frame + 30 bits inter-frame intra-frame counter increments every 4 data bytes
reset to zero at beginning of DS GTC frame

OLT and each ONU must agree on a unique symmetric key OLT asks ONU for a password (in PLOAMd) ONU sends password US in the clear (in PLOAMu)
key sent 3 times for robustness

OLT informs ONU of precise time to start using new key

QoS

GPON treats QoS explicitly

constant length frames facilitate QoS for time-sensitive applications 5 types of Transmission CONTainers
type 1 - fixed BW type 2 - assured BW type 3 - allocated BW + non-assured BW type 4 - best effort type 5 - superset of all of the above

GEM adds several PON-layer QoS features

fragmentation enables pre-emption of large low-priority frames PLI - explicit packet length can be used by queuing algorithms PTI bits carry congestion indications

PON control plane

Principles

GPON uses PLOAMd and PLOAMu as control channel PLOAM are incorporated in regular (data-carrying) frames Standard ITU control mechanism

Ranging

Upstream traffic is TDMA Were all ONUs equidistant, and were all to have a common clock
then each would simply transmit in its assigned timeslot

But otherwise the signals will overlap To eliminate overlap

guard times left between timeslots each ONU transmits with the proper delay to avoid overlap delay computed during a ranging process

Ranging background
In order for the ONU to transmit at the correct time
the delay between ONU transmission and OLT reception
needs to be known (explicitly or implicitly)

Need to assign an equalization-delay

The more accurately it is known

the smaller the guard time that needs to be left and thus the higher the efficiency

Assumptions behind the ranging methods used: can not assume US delay is equal to DS delay delays are not constant
due to temperature changes and component aging

GPON: ONUs not time synchronized accurately enough EPON: ONUs are accurately time synchronized (std contains jitter masks) with time offset by OLT-ONU propagation time

GPON ranging method

Two types of ranging

initial ranging
only performed at ONU boot-up or upon ONU discovery must be performed before ONU transmits first time

continuous ranging performed continuously to compensate for delay changes

OLT initiates coarse ranging by stopping allocations to all other ONUs

thus when new ONU transmits, it will be in the clear

OLT instructs the new ONU to transmit (via PLOAMd) OLT measures phase of ONU burst in GTC frame OLT sends equalization delay to ONU (in PLOAMd) During normal operation OLT monitors ONU burst phase If drift is detected OLT sends new equalization delay to ONU (in PLOAMd)

Autodiscovery

OLT needs to know with which ONUs it is communicating This can be established via NMS
but even then need to setup physical layer parameters

PONs employ autodiscovery mechanism to automate

discovery of existence of ONU acquisition of identity allocation of identifier acquisition of ONU capabilities measure physical layer parameters agree on parameters (e.g. watchdog timers)

Autodiscovery procedures are complex (and uninteresting)

so we will only mention highlights

GPON autodiscovery

Every ONU has an 8B serial number (4B vendor code + 4B SN)

SN of ONUs in OAN may be configured by NMS, or SN may be learnt from ONU in discovery phase

ONU activation may be triggered by

Operator command Periodic polling by OLT OLT searching for previously operational ONU

G.984.3 differentiates between three cases:

cold PON / cold ONU warm PON / cold ONU warm PON / warm ONU

Main steps in procedure:

ONU sets power based on DS message OLT sends a Serial_Number request to all unregistered ONUs ONU responds OLT assigns 1B ONU-ID and sends to ONU ranging is performed ONU is operational

Failure recovery

PONs must be able to handle various failure states GPON

if ONU detects LOS or LOF it goes into POPUP state
it stops sending traffic US OLT detects LOS for ONU if there is a pre-ranged backup fiber then switch-over

EPON
during normal operation ONU REPORTs reset OLT's watchdog timer similarly, OLT must send GATES periodically (even if empty ones) if OLT's watchdog timer for ONU times out
ONU is deregistered

Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation

MANs and WANs have relatively stationary BW requirements

due to aggregation of large number of sources

But each ONU in a PON may serve only 1 or a small number of users So BW required is highly variable It would be inefficient to statically assign the same BW to each ONU So PONs assign dynamically BW according to need The need can be discovered
by passively observing the traffic from the ONU by ONU sending reports as to state of its ingress queues

The goals of a Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation algorithm are

maximum fiber BW utilization fairness and respect of priority minimum delay introduced

GPON DBA

DBA is at the T-CONT level, not port or VC/VP GPON can use traffic monitoring (passive) or status reporting (active) There are three different status reporting methods status in PLOu - one bit for each T-CONT type piggy-back reports in DBRu - 3 different formats:
quantity of data waiting in buffers, separation of data with peak and sustained rate tokens nonlinear coding of data according to T-CONT type and tokens

ONU report in DBA payload - select T-CONT states OLT may use any DBA algorithm OLT sends allocations in US BW map