Keeping the lights on

Cable operators worldwide are deploying passive optical networks (PON), realizing high-capacity, low latency performance with low maintenance costs. Although PONs are essentially passive, current architectures make use of outside plant (OSP) active optical components. Strand or pedestal mounted Remote Optical Line Terminals (R-OLT) can replace rack mounted OLTs of a few years ago. When fiber runs extend beyond optical transceivers effective range, midspan Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifiers (EDFA) boost optical levels and extend fiber reach. Evolving PON architectures are designed to support higher speeds and extended service areas. Next-generation PON implementations will likely include high speed coherent optic links from headends to new OSP aggregation nodes, enabling even faster services to extend deeper into the network. Each active optical component in our PON architecture requires reliable, uninterrupted power to keep the network running.