10G GPON Tutorial

10G GPON (Gigabit Passive Optical Network) is an important 10 Gbps Passive Optical Network (PON) technology that is being standardized by the ITU-T and FSAN for use on Fiber To The Premises (FTTP) shared access fiber optics. 10G Ethernet PON (10G EPON) is another contender for the next gen of PON networks, and this FTTxtra tutorial provides background on 10G EPON for the comparisons in this article.

The diagram below shows a typical 10G GPON Fiber to the Home (FTTH) network. In 10G GPON, the downstream rate on the fiber is 10 Gbps. Upstream could be 1.25 (current GPON upstream rate, not shown), 2.5, or 10 Gbps, and the higher the upstream rate, the higher the cost of the optics in the Optical Network Terminals. Current GPON networks use ONT optics transmitting at 1.25 Gbps upstream, and this will be by far the cheapest alternative for a 10G GPON ONT transceiver, which is usually the most expensive component in the ONT. Dynamic Bandwidth Assignment (DBA), as specified in G.984.3, allows over subscription in the upstream direction, and this eliminates much of the requirement for higher upstream rates.

The number one electronics cost in a PON network is the unshared ONTs, though the cost of installing the fiber optics generally drives the complete cost equation. There could easily be thousands of ONTs per single moderate-sized OLT. A critical element to keeping the cost of the ONT down is an inexpensive optical transceiver, and 10G GPON transceivers capable of transmitting 10G upstream are considerably more expensive than 2.5G and 1.25G upstream capable transceivers. Although upstream has been getting a lot of attention lately, the cost of the ONT gets a lot of attention by the carriers, so expect 10G GPON upstream rates on the lower end initially and for quite a while in FTTH networks.

According to Fierce Telecom, Alcatel-Lucent is an advocate of 10G GPON versus WDM PON. Their argument is that 10G GPON is a natural progression from the current GPON as specified in ITU G.984. 10G GPON will bring virtually all the factors that have made GPON successful so far in FTTH deployments (cost is the big question at this point), and it adds greater rates in both downstream and upstream directions.

10G EPON and 10G GPON are compared in this article from OSP Magazine.

10G GPON standardization is about a year behind the 10G EPON standardization effort. However, given its close relationship to GPON, expect 10G GPON to succeed as a higher speed FTTP alternative. It will likely be popular in the same places GPON has succeeded even though its standardization is lagging that of 10G EPON.

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