Dynamically reconfigurable long-reach PONs for high capacity access

Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) is currently seen as the ultimate in high-speed transmission technologies for delivering ubiquitous bandwidth to customers. However, as the deployment of network infrastructure requires a substantial investment, the main obstacle to fibre deployment is that of financial viability. With this in mind, a logical strategy to offset network costs is to optimise the infrastructure in order to capture a greater amount of customers over larger areas with increased sharing of network resources. This approach prompted the design of a long-reach passive optical network (LR-PON) in which the physical reach and split of a conventional PON is significantly increased through the use of intermediate optical amplification. In particular, the LR-PON architecture effectively integrates the metro and access networks enabling the majority of local exchange sites to be bypassed resulting in a substantial reduction in field equipment requirements and power consumption. Furthermore, the extension in physical reach and split can be coupled with an increased information capacity through the use of time- and wavelength division multiplexing (TWDM) which serve to exploit the large bandwidth capabilities offered by single-mode fibre. In this project, reconfigurable TWDM LR-PON architectures which dynamically exploit the wavelength domain are proposed, assembled and characterised in order to establish an economically viable ‘open access’ environment that is capable of concurrently supporting multiple operators offering converged services (residential, business and mobile) to support diverse customer requirements and locations. The main investigations in this work address the key physical layer challenges within such wavelength-agile networks. In particular, a range of experimental analysis has been carried out in order to realise the critical component technologies which include low-cost, 10G-capable, wavelength-tuneable transmitters for mass-market residential deployment and the development of gain-stabilised optical amplifier nodes to support the targeted physical reach (≥ 100km) and split (≥ 512). Finally, the feasibility of the proposed dynamically reconfigurable LR-PON configurations as a flexible and cost-effective solution for future access networks is verified through full-scale network demonstrations using an experimental laboratory test-bed

Novel optical transmitters for high speed optical networks

The objective of this thesis is to investigate the performance of novel optical transmitter lasers for use in high speed optical networks. The laser technology considered is the discrete mode laser diode (DMLD) which is designed to achieve single wavelength operation by etching features on the surface of the ridge waveguide. This leads to a simplified manufacturing process by eliminating the regrowth step used in conventional approaches, presenting an economic approach to high volume manufacture of semiconductor lasers. Two application areas are investigated in this work. The bit rate in next generation access networks is moving to 10 Gbit/s. This work characterises the performance of DMLDs designed for high speed operation with the objective of identifying the limitations and improving performance to meet the specifications for uncooled operation at 10 Gbit/s. With the deployment of advanced modulation formats the phase noise of the laser source has become an important parameter, particularly for higher order formats. DMLDs were developed for narrow linewidth operation. The linewidth of these devices was characterised and a value as low as 70 kHz was demonstrated. Transmission experiments were also carried out using a coherent transmission test bed and the performance achieve is compared with that of an external cavity laser

Mecanismos de tuning em redes de acesso óticas

Mestrado em Engenharia Electrónica e TelecomunicaçõesO principal tema abordado neste trabalho e a tecnologia a ser utilizada em redes passivas oticas de nova gera c~ao, nomeadamente o TWDM e o PtP WDM, com um foco em especial nos mecanismos de tunabilidade a ser usados nas arquiteturas de rede mencionadas. Come cou por ser feita uma abordagem geral ao tema, um "overview" a recomenda c~ao para o NG-PON2 e apresentada, assim como uma revis~ao a transceivers incolores, componentes essenciais nas arquitecturas do NG-PON2. Tendo em conta o n vel de precis~ao apresentada, tr^es tipos de ONUs s~ao de nidas nos standards do NG-PON2, e os mecanismos de tuning necess arios para lidar com os diferentes tipos de ONU s~ao tamb em apresentados. Foi caracterizado um laser sintoniz avel (DFB) tendo em vista a sua utiliza c~ao numa ONU do NG-PON2, os parametros avaliados foram: tempo de sintoniza c~ao, excurs~ao espectral e precis~ao de tuning. As t ecnicas de medi c~ao s~ao apresentadas bem como os resultados obtidos.The main issue addressed in this work are the technologies to be employed in the next-generation passive optical networks, including TWDM-PON and PtP WDM, with a particularly focus on the tuning mechanisms featuring the aforementioned network architectures. A general approach to the topics was carried out, by making an overview the NG-PON2 recommendation, a review to colorless transceivers is presented as well, essential components on the NG-PON2 architectures. Three types of ONUs are de ned in NGPON2 standards, by taking into account the accuracy level of the ONU Tx, tuning mechanisms necessary to to deal with the di erent kind of ONUs are presented as well A tunable DFB laser was characterized, considering its utilization on a NGPON2 ONU. The evaluated parameters are: tuning time, spectral excursion and tuning accuracy. The setups utilized for the measurements are presented as well as the results