| Summary: | Nowadays, service reliability, operation cost, transmission latency of optical access networks are the major challenging issues that need to be addressed while planning and developing the next-generation passive optical networks (NG-PONs). This paper proposes a flexible, energy-efficient, time and wavelength division multiplexed (TWDM) PON architecture that has the capability of centralized optical line terminal (OLT) resource sharing with multiple optical networks. The architecture has the point-to-point direct inter-optical networking unit (dedicated inter-ONU) transmission capability among the various ONUs located within the same optical distribution network (ODN). Such transmission may also be referred to as direct intra-ODN communication. The architecture also has the potential of transmitting an inter-ONU signal to the ONUs residing in the different ODNs (inter-ODN) belonging to the same optical network (OPN). Such transmission may be referred as the direct inter-ODN or intra-OPN transmission. The architecture reduces the normalized energy consumption of approximately 2.21875 Wh per hour, normalized transmission latency of approximately 148 µs for the direct inter-ONU transmission. This is achieved by diverting the inter-ONU signal from the remote nodes (RNs) itself towards the intended ONUs. The percentage energy saving of the proposed architecture is approximately 74 % as compared to the conventional architecture. The proposed architecture is suitable for strengthening the existing information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructures and can be implemented in next-generation flexible, energy-efficient, latency-aware, and reliable optical networks for developing smart rural and urban communities.
|
|---|