How Does Optical Splitter Work In GEPON Network

With the growing demand of broadband, Passive Optical Network (PON) is the most promising NGN (Next Generation Networking) technology to meet the demand currently. GEPON(Gigabit Ethernet Passive Optical Network) use WDM technology and it is with 1Gbps bandwidth and up to 20km working distance, which is a perfect combination of Ethernet technology and passive optical network technology. Due to its economical and efficient network structure, EPON is an effective and popular communication approach for the access network.

EPON product family includes Optical Line Termination (OLT) system deployed at the central office as well as several models of Optical Network Terminal (ONT) deployed at the customer’s premises. And passive optical splitters connects OLT/ONU, whose function is to split downstream signal from one fiber into several fibers and combine optical upstream signals from multiple fibers into one. EPON eliminates the usage of active fiber optic components between OLT and ONT, this will greatly cut the cost and make the network easier to maintain.

EPON OLT is located in the central switching office, it serves as the point of origination for FTTP (Fiber-to-the-Premises) transmissions coming into and out of the national Verizon network. An OLT, in a nutshell, is where the PON cards reside. The OLT's also contain the CPU and the GWR and VGW uplink cards. Each OLT can have a few or many dozens of PON cards. Each PON card transmits 1490nm laser data signal to the ONT, and receives the ONT transmission of the 1310nm laser data signal. The one-way 1550nm laser video signal to the ONT is injected into the fiber.

The ONT converts fiber-optic light signals to copper/electric signals. The ONT has a power cord that goes into your location through the ONT Power Supply Unit where it plugs into an existing standard electrical outlet.

Three wavelengths of light are used between the ONT and the Optical Line Terminal:

• 1310 nm voice/data transmit

• 1490 nm voice/data receive

• 1550 nm video receive

Each ONT is capable of delivering:

• Multiple POTS (plain old telephone service) lines

• Internet data

• Video

Splitters are installed in each optical network between the PON Optical Line Termination (OLT) and the Optical Network Unit(ONU) that the OLT serves. These optical splitters are very compact, efficient, and reliable. Networks implementing BPON, GPON, EPON, 10G EPON, and 10G GPON technologies all use these simple optical splitters. The splitter can be deployed in the Central Office (CO) alongside the OLT, or it may be deployed in an OutSide Plant (OSP) cabinet closer to the subscribers. A splitter can also be deployed in the basement of a building for a Multiple Dwelling Unit (MDU) installation.

Passive optical splitter plays an important role in Fiber to the Home (FTTH) networks by allowing a single PON network interface to be shared among many subscribers. A PON network may be designed with a single optical splitter, or two or more splitters cascaded together. Since each optical connection adds attenuation, a single splitter is superior to multiple cascaded splitters. Splitters are available in a variety of split ratios, including 1:8, 1:16, and 1:32.