A passive optical network (PON) is a network architecture that brings fiber to the home using a point-to-multipoint scheme that enables a single optical fiber to serve multiple premises. Encryption is used to maintain data security in this shared environment. The architecture uses passive (unpowered) optical splitters, reducing the cost of equipment compared to point-to-point architectures.
The GPON (Gigabit passive optical network) standard differs from other PON standards in that it achieves higher bandwidth and higher efficiency using larger, variable-length packets. GPON offers efficient packaging of user traffic, with frame segmentation allowing higher quality of service (QoS) for delay-sensitive voice and video communications traffic.
Altera and our partners offer a number of devices and intellectual property (IP) cores (see Table 1) that together form the Altera® GPON solution. Altera devices with embedded high-speed serial transceivers include Stratix® IV GX FPGAs, HardCopy® IV GX ASICs, Stratix II GX FPGAs, and ArriaTM GX FPGAs.
| Table 1. Altera and Partner Offerings for GPON Applications | |
| GPON Application | Solution Elements |
|---|---|
| Optical Line Termination (OLT) MAC | GPON OLT MAC from Ethernity Networks |
| Optical Network Termination (ONT) MAC | ONT MAC |
| Ethernet MAC | 10/100/1000 MAC and 10-Gbit MAC cores from MoreThanIP |
| Traffic Aggregation and Management | From Altera:
From Sarance Technologies:
|
| 20-Gbps Packet Processing | Packet processing modules and framework from Altera, including:
From Ethernity Networks:
|
