Effective ONU Accommodation through PON Systems with Multi-Stage Splitter Configuration Using ALC Burst-Mode SOAs

Abstract

Multi-stage splitter configurations are often utilized in passive optical network (PON) systems to effectively accommodate widely-dispersed users. This paper introduces two types of more effective user accommodation approaches that place bidirectional optical amplifiers in several branches of the splitter inside the central office (CO); it allows a single optical line terminal (OLT) to support the coexistence of normal- and extended-distance areas and also the sharing by large numbers of optical network units (ONUs). To ease the issue of amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) noise, which is inherent in these system configurations, we propose to use a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA)-based burst-mode optical amplifier with a fast automatic level control (ALC) circuit for upstream amplification.