Vodafone completed a trial of a new Passive Optical Network (PON) technology capable of delivering speeds up to 100 Gbs on a single wavelength – the first application of flexible rate transmission in a PON network. The test was conducted in Vodafone’s Eschborn lab in Germany.
The Nokia Bell Labs 100G PON prototype leveraged 25G optics in combination with digital signal processing (DSP) techniques. 25G class optics are based on mature eco-system and available today. Nokia said going beyond 25G requires advanced DSP capabilities demonstrated in this trial. Flexible rate transmission works by grouping fiber modems (ONUs) that exhibit similar physical network characteristics (e.g. loss or dispersion) and makes data transmission more efficient. Using flexible rate transmission results in lower latency on a PON and cuts power consumption in half — two essential characteristics for fiber networks that have a rapidly growing role in the massive delivery of fixed and mobile broadband services.
Gavin Young, Vodafone’s Head of Fixed Access Centre of Excellence, said: “100G PON has 40 times the capacity of today’s GPON networks, and 10 times the capacity of XGS-GPON, so it will help us keep ahead of the demand curve. In addition to ultra-high speeds, the technology supports our vision of highly efficient and adaptable next-generation networks. 100G PON enables flexible rates, and works by grouping modems using a technique similar to the one we already use in our cable networks, so this experience can help us to better evaluate and exploit this new PON technology.”
Stefaan Vanhastel, Chief Technology Officer, Fixed Networks Division, Nokia, said: “We keep pushing the potential of fiber access so that capacity stays ahead of the unrelenting demand of the connected world. In 2020, we launched the first commercial 25G PON solution. Now, we’re delighted to show state-of-the-art 100G technology together with Vodafone. These breakthroughs in speed turn an existing fiber-to-the-home network into a fiber network that can connect homes, businesses, remote cable nodes and 5G small cells.”
Nokia noted that its pioneering work with flexible rate PON follows its previous breakthroughs in 10G PON, TWDM-PON, universal PON and 25G PON.
Nokia intros 25 Gbps symmetrical PON solution
Nokia introduced a 25 Gbps symmetrical PON fiber broadband solution based on its own Quillion chipset and existing next-generation PON access platform and line cards.
Nokia says 25G PON will be a key technology to enable fiber to become the single infrastructure that underpins the entire telecom industry and to deliver any service to any end point. It is also the best next step for PON: it leverages the high volumes and mature eco-system of data center optical technologies to achieve the best cost point, huge capacity, fastest time-to-market, and simplest evolution path compared to 50G PON, which will require a massive technology leap or long time to mature.
All customers with 10 Gbps Quillion boards will also now have 25 Gbps capabilities in their network. Nokia 25G PON can co-exist with GPON and XGS-PON on the same infrastructure, allowing CSPs to add 25 Gbps in overlay without disrupting existing customer services. This will allow them to add 25G PON quickly and efficiently when and where needed to capitalize on new opportunities.
Sandra Motley, President of Fixed Networks at Nokia, said: “Nokia continues to lead the PON evolution. We have a long history of firsts: from the first volume GPON deployments to the first 10G PON and next-generation access platforms. It is vital that we keep pushing and enable our customers to capitalize on new opportunities while fully leveraging their existing investments. By delivering a step-change increase in fiber broadband networks with our 25G PON solution, CSPs will be able to bring better broadband to consumers and businesses, both through fixed fiber and 5G mobile broadband.”
New 25GS-PON multisource agreement gets underway
A new 25G symmetric PON multi-source agreement (25GS-PON MSA) is underway with the goal of promoting and accelerating the development of 25GS-PON.
The MSA Group has defined the 25GS-PON specification needed to address the gap between 10G XGS-PON and 50G PON in the ITU-T. The MSA was created after the ITU-T SG15/Q2 group did not reach consensus to standardize 25GSPON, which is seen as a crucial technology by many of the world’s top operators and vendors.
As a first step, the 25GS-PON MSA Group created a specification for 25GS-PON which includes optical specifications based on the IEEE 802.3ca 25G EPON standard, along with a Transmission Convergence (TC) layer that is an extension of XGS-PON.
The MSA Group will also promote and catalyze the market development for 25GS-PON.
The founding members of the 25GS-PON MSA Group include: AOI, Chorus, Chunghwa Telecom, Ciena, MACOM, MaxLinear, NBN Co., Nokia, Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd, and Tibit Communications.
