PON (Passive Optical Network) is a passive optical network, which means that the ODN (optical distribution network) between the OLT (optical line terminal) and the ONU (optical network unit) does not have any active equipment, and only uses optical fibers and passive components. PON mainly adopts point-to-multipoint network structure, which is the main technology to realize FTTB/FTTH.
PON technology contains a lot of content, and iteratively updated constantly. The development of xPON technology ranges from APON, BPON, and later GPON and EPON. These are technologies of different transmission modes and transmission standards developed in different periods.
What is EPON?
EPON (Ethernet Passive Optical Network) is an Ethernet passive optical network. EPON is based on the PON technology of Ethernet, which combines the advantages of PON technology and Ethernet technology. It adopts point-to-multipoint structure and passive optical fiber transmission to provide multiple services on top of Ethernet. Due to the economical and efficient deployment of EPON, it is the most effective communication method to realize the “three networks in one” and “last mile”.
What is GPON?
GPON (Gigabit-Capable Passive Optical Network) is a Gigabit passive optical network or Gigabit passive optical network. The standards adopted by EPON and GPON are different. It can be said that GPON is more advanced and can transmit more bandwidth, and can bring more users than EPON. Although GPON has advantages over EPON at high rates and multiple services, GPON’s technology is more complex and its cost is higher than EPON. Therefore, at present, EPON and GPON are technologies with more PON broadband access applications. Which technology to choose depends more on the cost of optical fiber access and business requirements. GPON will be more suitable for customers with high bandwidth, multi-service, QoS and security requirements and ATM technology as the backbone. The future development is higher bandwidth. For example, EPON/GPON technology has developed 10 G EPON/10 G GPON, and the bandwidth will be further improved.
As the demand for network providers’ capacity continues to increase, the versatility of access networks must also be expanded to meet this growing demand. Fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) passive optical network (PON) optical network access is currently the most widely used and implemented technology. The advantages of PON technology are that it can reduce the occupation of backbone optical fiber resources and save investment; the network structure is flexible and the expansion ability is strong; the failure rate of passive optical devices is low, and it is not easy to be interfered by the external environment; and the business support ability is strong.