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Combo PON Technical White Paper

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 Combo PON Technical White Paper

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 Origin of Combo PON........................................................................................................................3

1.1 Source of the Combo Concept..............................................................................................3

1.2 Combo PON Meets the Requirement for the Evolution From GPON to 10G-GPON.......... 3

2 Technical Values of Combo PON..................................................................................................... 4

2.1 Fiber Broadband Develops Towards Multi-Service Access..................................................4

2.2 Smooth Evolution to 10G-GPON...........................................................................................6

2.3 Low-Cost Speed Acceleration and Construction................................................................. 7

2.4 Comparison of the Combo PON Solution and the External WDM1r Solution....................7

3 Key Combo PON Technology Analysis........................................................................................... 9

3.1 Basic Principles of Combo PON............................................................................................. 9

3.2 3-in-1 Optical Module.......................................................................................................... 10

3.3 2-in-1 MAC Compatibility Design........................................................................................12

3.4 Comparison Between WDM Combo PON and TDM Combo PON.....................................13

4 Global Applications of Combo PON............................................................................................. 14

5 Future Evolution and Prospect of Combo PON.......................................................................... 15

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Combo PON Technical White Paper

FIGURES
Fig. 2-1 GPON and 10G-GPON Upstream and Downstream Wavelengths.................................................6

Fig. 2-2 Comparison of the External WDM1r Solution and the Combo PON Solution...............................8

Fig. 3-1 Combo PON Technical Principle Diagram.......................................................................................9

Fig. 3-2 MPM Architecture Reference Diagram.......................................................................................... 10

Fig. 3-3 Schematic Diagram of Combo PON Optical Module....................................................................12

Fig. 3-4 Technical Principle Diagram of Standard Combo (WDM, Independent Dual Channel)............. 12

Fig. 3-5 Technical Principle Diagram of Standard Combo (TDM, Shared Channel)................................. 13

TABLES
Table 3-1 Types of Optical Modules Defined by MPM............................................................................... 11

Table 3-2 Comparison Between WDM Combo PON and TDM Combo PON............................................ 13

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1 Origin of Combo PON

1.1 Source of the Combo Concept

As the most excellent transmission medium, optical fiber with a P2MP architecture is the
basis for the tremendous success of PON over the past decade. Currently, the EPON and
GPON technologies have been put into large-scale commercial use to provide upstream
and downstream 1G-level access bandwidth. With the rapid development of the
traffic-hungry video services such as 4K/8K and AR/VR, the users’ demand for bandwidth
is increasing rapidly, and the optical access network enters a period of large-scale 10G
PON construction. However, the smooth network evolution needs to address the
requirements of reusing the existing ODN and the forward compatibility of legacy ONUs,
which puts forward higher requirements for the PON technologies.

Therefore, the Combo PON concept is introduced for the coexistence and evolution from
GPON to 10G-GPON. The Combo concept has been well-established, and has been widely
used in the integrated service access network MSAN. It combines POTS services and DSL
services over the same Combo line card to facilitate cabling and engineering applications.
At the same time, the Combo concept has been fully considered during the evolution
from EPON to 10G-EPON. For example, the 10G-EPON standard released by IEEE in 2009
has fully considered the forward compatibility of EPON and the requirements of ODN
reuse. The 10G-EPON port is compatible with the simultaneous access of EPON ONUs and
10G-EPON ONUs, thus achieving smooth upgrade of ONUs as per demand, and
effectively protecting the operators' early investments.

1.2 Combo PON Meets the Requirement for the Evolution From

GPON to 10G-GPON

GPON has attracted wide attention in the industry due to its unique performance
advantages including higher bandwidth utilization, more user access and transmission of
multiple services, as well as carrier-class network monitoring and service management.
Therefore, with the increasing maturity of the industry chain, GPON has gradually
become a mainstream optical access technology and has been deployed on a large scale

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in China. Meanwhile, in order to meet end users’ increasing bandwidth demands, ITU-T
released the 10G-GPON standard.

ITU-T also considers the forward compatibility of GPON in the formulation of the 10G
PON standard. However, due to the insufficient consideration on product application
design in the early stage, the GPON and 10G-GPON industry chains develop
independently. No matter XG-PON line cards or XGS-PON line cards are used, GPON
ONUs and 10G-GPON ONUs cannot coexist in the same ODN. When the line cards are
replaced, the ONUs connected to the line cards must be replaced and upgraded at the
same time, which cannot meet end users’ requirements for on-demand upgrade, and
increases the operators’ initial investment pressure.

In the early stage that GPON coexists with 10G-GPON and starts to migrate to 10G-GPON,
some operators use the external WDM1r multiplexer solution for smooth bandwidth
evolution. However, this solution has the disadvantages of large equipment room
footprint, optical power loss incurred by the multiplexing, and complicated cabling. To
further address the above challenges, ZTE proposed the innovative Combo PON concept
that integrates GPON and 10G-GPON ports into one, and GPON, 10G-GPON and WDM1r
optical modules into one, supports smooth migration from GPON to 10G-GPON, and
accelerates the bandwidth from 100 Mbps to 1000 Mbps. Highly applauded among
operators due to its excellent compatibility and convenience in actual project
deployment, Combo PON technology has become the mainstream solution for
10G-GPON construction, and has been put into large-scale commercial use.

2 Technical Values of Combo PON

2.1 Fiber Broadband Develops Towards Multi-Service Access

 Home Broadband Services Are Diversified

Broadband services have witnessed rapid development in recent years. Home service
applications have gradually changed from voice, Internet, multimedia web pages, and
standard-definition videos to diversified high-definition videos, home entertainment,
online office/education, and living services. Users have higher requirements for service
experience, such as immersive, multi-view video experience as well as efficient and

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smooth online office/education experience, which all contribute to the growing demand
for the access network bandwidth from 100 Mbps to 300 Mbps, 500 Mbps and 1000 Mbps.
Considering the service development, market competition and network evolution, some
operators promote the upgrade from GPON to 10G-GPON and take initiative in the
market.

In the future, with the development of broadband access technologies, people's

demands for family life quality will increase continuously, and home broadband services
and applications will become extensive. With the gradual informatization of family life
and diversified home service requirements, such as smart home, Augmented Reality (AR),
Ultimate High Definition (16K), and even holographic interaction, new services are
emerging, bringing better service experience to people, and raising increasingly higher
requirements for the interconnection between home broadband networks and
equipment in homes.

 Fixed Broadband Services Expand to Enterprises

With the continuous improvement of global information levels, many countries are
undergoing transformation from traditional economy to digital economy, and
technologies such as broadband access, service cloudification, big data, Internet of
Things (IoT), and artificial intelligence (AI) have been developed greatly. With the digital
economy boom, the support capability of broadband networks is increasingly prominent,
and broadband has become an indispensable strategic infrastructure to promote the
national informationalization and people’s living standard, and further promote
sustainable economic development.

The broadband service development is based on home access, and gradually penetrated
into high-value vertical industries to improve broadband network efficiency and to
shorten the investment period. At present, fiber broadband access has been gradually
expanded from home scenarios to safe city, safe village, smart community and
high-speed enterprise Internet access scenarios, followed immediately by the enterprise
cloud desktop, enterprise access to cloud, and the education industry such as Cloud VR
followed immediately, and are being explored and practiced by telemedicine and
intelligent manufacturing due to the involvement of more precise control.

 Fixed Broadband Allows for the Access of 5G Base Stations at a Low Cost

With the issuance of 5G commercial licenses all over the world, 5G applications will boom.
Compared with 4G, the number of 5G base stations in densely populated urban areas will

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be multiplied, and the demand for fiber access resources will also increase dramatically.
The already deployed high-density coverage ODN networks can connect 5G base stations
at a low cost, as per demand, and conveniently. Compared with the solution that fibers
are directly connected to 5G base stations, the P2MP-based ODN connecting 5G base
stations can greatly save feeder fibers and reduce access costs, suitable for rapid 5G
coverage in densely populated urban areas.

2.2 Smooth Evolution to 10G-GPON

10G-GPON and GPON upstream and downstream wavelengths are independent of each
other from the perspective of the standards. 10G-GPON does not have an innate basis for
the coexistence with GPON.

Fig. 2-1 GPON and 10G-GPON Upstream and Downstream Wavelengths

The current GPON network cannot be upgraded to the 10G-GPON network in a very short
period of time. It needs to be upgraded step by step according to various factors such as
service development, different user needs, regional economy and investment value. This
requires that 10G-GPON is deployed at the central office first, and then migrate the CPE
side as per demand, which meets the high-bandwidth access requirements of high-value
users and the requirements of step-by-step upgrade.

At the same time, considering the construction cost and maintenance difficulty, it is
impossible to deploy and maintain 10G-GPON and GPON networks at the same time,
especially reconstructing the ODN is costly, long and complex. When the two types of
optical access systems coexist, user service development and upgrade are not flexible.

In view of it, ODN reuse and compatibility between two generations of ONUs need to be
solved to upgrade the existing GPON network to the 10G-GPON network.

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2.3 Low-Cost Speed Acceleration and Construction

In the areas where the GPON network has been widely deployed, how to upgrade the
GPON network to the 10G-GPON network at a low cost to meet the increasing demands
of value-added broadband services is the biggest pressure facing the operators at
present.

Besides the cost of 10G-GPON system equipment at the office end and ODN construction
and transformation, upgrading the ONUs of the entire network requires huge
investments and a long return period because 10G-GPON ONUs currently cost more than
GPON ONUs, and the number of ONUs is huge. The Combo PON solution allows for the
simultaneous connection of existing GPON ONUs and the on-demand upgraded
10G-GPON ONUs by upgrading the OLTs on the system end of the optical access network
without the need of changing the existing ODN, which meets the requirements of
high-value users, helps operators quickly balance investment and revenue, and builds
10G-GPON networks with a light asset.

In the initial stage, GPON ONUs are deployed at the user side. Later, the ONUs in the
user's home are upgraded to 10G-GPON ONUs according to the bandwidth upgrade
requirements and service development of home users, so as to avoid the high cost of
directly using 10G-GPON ONUs. Model calculation shows that 50% of the initial PON
equipment investment cost can be saved by doing so. ** (The model includes 30% of real
installation rate, 90% of GPON service, and 10% of 10G-GPON gigabit service in a new
scenario).

2.4 Comparison of the Combo PON Solution and the External

WDM1r Solution

At present, there are two solutions for upgrading the existing GPON network to the
10G-GPON network:

External WDM1r solution: Add external WDM1r multiplexers in the ODN to reuse the
existing OLT GPON ports and the newly added 10G-GPON ports, so as to reuse the ODN.
The GPON and 10G-GPON ONUs continue to use their respective network to access the
service.

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Innovative Combo PON solution: Uses Combo PON cards to replace the existing GPON
cards at the OLT side. The Combo PON ports provide the three-in-one functions including
GPON, 10G-GPON, and multiplexer to reuse the ODN and connect the GPON and
10G-GPON ONUs. The existing GPON cards can be allocated to the areas with low
bandwidth requirements.

Fig. 2-2 Comparison of the External WDM1r Solution and the Combo PON Solution

The external WDM1r solution needs to interrupt the existing PON lines and services.
External WDM1r multiplexers are added to the optical power budget to decouple the
WDM1r from the equipment. The WDM1r can be deployed independently and managed
in a centralized manner. However, due to the high requirements for the existing access
network equipment room conditions and construction, high construction difficulty, and
long construction period, the external WDM1r solution has seldom been used in actual
deployment.

­ The external WDM1r multiplexer needs to be installed on the racks of the access
network equipment room with limited space.

­ The increase of additional 1-1.5 db optical power loss may cause insufficient link
optical power budget.

­ ODF optical fiber routes need to be re-planned.

Compared with the external WDM1r solution, using the Combo PON solution can greatly
reduce engineering difficulty, facilitate construction and guarantee rapid deployment. It
is a preferred deployment solution to upgrade GPON to 10G-GPON:

­ “Zero” increase in equipment room space: Centralized installation is implemented

without considering the installation of an external optical multiplexer.

­ "Zero" increase in optical power insertion loss: It is unnecessary to consider the

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insertion loss caused by the external optical multiplexer and adjust the optical
power budget of the line. It has no influence on the optical link of the existing GPON
network.

­ "Zero" change in ODN: At the central office OLT side, the tail fibers of the existing
GPON are connected to the Combo PON ports. After the data cutover, the network
upgrade is completed. The feeder fibers, splitters and branch fibers do not need to
be adjusted.

­ No change in service flow: Except for new data in the resource system, service
provisioning and ONU provisioning remain unchanged.

­ It only needs the 10G-GPON service management data, and has no influence on the
existing GPON services.

3 Key Combo PON Technology Analysis

3.1 Basic Principles of Combo PON

A single Combo PON port is an integrated port of 10G-GPON and GPON that uses one
fiber link. There are two internal physical channels (the external multiplexer is built in the
optical module) inside the Combo PON port. Fig. 3-1 shows the operating principle of
Combo PON.

Fig. 3-1 Combo PON Technical Principle Diagram

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In the downstream direction, the GPON and 10G-GPON channels are processed by
separate MAC addresses respectively, the data is sent to the optical module for WDM1r
multiplexing, and then sent to the optical fiber for transmission. The GPON and
10G-GPON wavelengths are transmitted over the ODN at the same time. When the
optical signals reach the ONUs, 10G-GPON ONUs only receive the 10G-GPON signals, and
GPON ONUs only receive the GPON signals.

In the upstream direction, GPON ONUs and 10G-GPON ONUs use different wavelengths
for signal transmission. After the GPON and 10G-GPON optical signals reach the PON
optical module on the OLT, they are demultiplexed inside the optical module and then
sent to different MAC channels for processing.

The innovation and breakthrough of key Combo PON technology mainly includes two
aspects: SFP+ small form factor 3-in-1 Combo PON optical module and high-density
GPON&10G-GPON PON MAC integrated chip.

3.2 3-in-1 Optical Module

G.984.5 Amendment 2 Appendix IV defines this 3-in-1 Combo PON optical module as the
MPM module. CCSA has also standardized the Combo PON optical module, including
technical requirements, test methods, reliability tests, electromagnetic compatibility tests,
inspection rules, labels, packaging, transportation and storage requirements.

Fig. 3-2 shows the MPM architecture.

Fig. 3-2 MPM Architecture Reference Diagram

The MPM optical module supports both the traditional GPON and 10G-GPON. Because
the two PON systems share the same ODN, to ensure that the GPON system provides
sufficient optical power budget in the traditional ODN network, the 10G-GPON should

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provide sufficient link budget to cover the traditional ODN. The WDM1r will incur
additional optical power loss. For the ODN network with insufficient optical power
budget, the introduction of WDM1r may affect the original GPON services. Therefore
G.984.5 Amendment 2 Appendix IV defines the PMD parameters of the MPM module at
point S/Rm (after WDM1r), so that the optical power budget of the GPON service in the
ODN network is consistent with that in the legacy network. At the same time, Appendix
IV adjusts the PMD parameters of 10G-GPON, so that the optical power budget of the
10G-GPON service in the ODN network is consistent with that of the GPON service. The
types of optical modules defined by MPM include Class B+, Class C+, and Class D.

Table 3-1 Types of Optical Modules Defined by MPM

OPL class B+ C+ D

Minimum loss 13 DB 17dB 20dB

Maximum loss 28 DB 32dB 35dB

NOTE – Optical path loss classes B+, C+ and D are generally applicable for GPON and 10G-GPON MPM
from the S/Rm point.

The Combo PON optical module integrates the GPON optical module, 10G-GPON optical
module and WDM1r. The footprint of the GPON and 10G-GPON optical modules is
compressed, and the built-in WDM1r will also incur additional optical power loss. Thus,
making the optical power index of the Combo PON SFP + small form factor optical
module reach the requirement of MPM Class C+ becomes one of the technical difficulties.
Fig. 3-3 shows the detailed operating principle of the integrated optical module. It is
necessary to increase the transmit power inside the optical module and improve the
receiver sensitivity to compensate for the attenuation caused by WDM1r, so that the
GPON and 10G-GPON channels at the egress of the optical module can still meet the
GPON and 10G-GPON optical module parameter requirements defined in the standards,
and avoid the impact of the Combo PON upgrade on the legacy user services. ZTE has
launched SFP+ high-density 16-line Combo PON line cards, with the same density as the
industry’s highest density 16-line GPON line cards. This allows the operators to replace
the GPON line cards with the same port density to implement smooth upgrade from
GPON to 10G-GPON.

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Fig. 3-3 Schematic Diagram of Combo PON Optical Module

3.3 2-in-1 MAC Compatibility Design

The high density and large capacity of the access products require a single PON card to
provide 16 PON ports, and a single PON MAC chip to simultaneously support 16 GPON
and 10G-GPON channels. The Combo PON card can be used to one-to-one replace the
16-port GPON line cards that account for a considerable proportion of operators’
deployment, making engineering implementation more economical and convenient.
Through integration, the OLT can meet the core competitiveness requirements of low
power consumption and low cost. ZTE has developed the in-house multi-mode PON MAC
chips with industry’s highest port density, and in support of multiple working modes.

When the chip works in the Combo PON mode as shown in Fig. 3-4, GPON and
10G-GPON MAC are two independent channels.

Fig. 3-4 Technical Principle Diagram of Standard Combo (WDM, Independent Dual Channel)

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The implementation of ZTE Combo PON has the following features:

 Independent dual channels of GPON and 10G-GPON.

 The GPON channel and the 10G-GPON channel comply with the GPON standard and

the 10G-GPON standard respectively.

 GPON and 10G-GPON provide independent bandwidth and independent DBA

scheduling in the upstream and downstream.

3.4 Comparison of WDM Combo PON and TDM Combo PON

In addition to the WDM Combo PON mentioned above, another type of Combo PON is
implemented in the upstream through TDM of the GPON channel and the 10G-GPON
channel, as shown in Fig. 3-5. This is also a built-in multiplexing solution, which uses the
same upstream and downstream wavelengths as well as downstream implementation
mode as the WDM solution. The difference lies in the upstream bandwidth capability and
upstream DBA bandwidth allocation mode. 10G-GPON and GPON share the same
receiving channel in the upstream, and the upstream bandwidths of 10 Gbps/2.5 Gbps
and 1.25 Gbps are scheduled in a unified DBA mode.

Fig. 3-5 Technical Principle Diagram of Standard Combo (TDM, Shared Channel)

Table 3-2 Comparison Between WDM Combo PON and TDM Combo PON

Item WDM Combo PON TDM Combo PON

Standards In WDM Combo PON, the GPON channel TDM Combo PON has many
Compliance complies with G.984 series, and the modifications and private

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Item WDM Combo PON TDM Combo PON

10G-GPON channel complies with implementation to the original

G.9807 series standards. The international standard.
technologies, chips and components are
fully standardized.

Uplink Bandwidth Dual channels receive signals The OLT needs unified DBA to
Capability independently. Dual DBA. Services are coordinate the upstream
not affected by concurrency. The bandwidth of GPON ONUs and
upstream bandwidth efficiency is high. 10G-GPON ONUs. In addition,
The upstream bandwidth is the sum of GPON and 10G-GPON use TDM in
the upstream bandwidths of 10G-GPON the upstream, only one type of
and GPON channels. ONUs can transmit data at a
certain time, leading to the
deterioration of upstream
bandwidth capability and
allocation efficiency.

Industry chain The WDM Combo PON solution has The TDM solution uses
support obvious technical and performance non-standard private
advantages and is more in line with the implementation at the cost of
customer interests. It has been widely performance deterioration, and
recognized by the industry and put into has not been put into large-scale
large-scale commercial use. At present, commercial use.
all of the mainstream optical module
manufacturers in the industry have the
capability of large-scale supply of WDM
optical modules.

4 Global Applications of Combo PON

At present, more than 40 operators worldwide have carried out 10G-GPON deployment
and upgrade to meet the requirements of the gigabit user markets.

In the Chinese market, with the implementation of the "Broadband China" strategy and
the deepening of the "Speed-Up and Cost-Reduction" plan, Gigabit network coverage has
become one of development objectives of China's “14th Five-Year Plan”. China Telecom,
China Mobile, and China Unicom have all taken gigabit speed-up as a strategic objective,
and optical broadband access development has entered the Gigabit era.

Combo PON is the mainstream large-scale commercial deployment solution for the

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upgrade of GPON to 10G-GPON. By the end of 2020, more than 3 million Combo PON
ports had deployed in existing networks.

5 Future Evolution and Prospect of Combo PON

It is widely believed in the industry that networks will evolve towards ultra-high
bandwidth, ultra-low latency, and massive connection. How to simply and efficiently
upgrade system capacity and reduce transmission latency has become a hot research
topic in the PON arena. The next-generation Combo PON technologies following 10G
PON will develop in two directions: one is to increase the single-wavelength rate to meet
the deployment requirements of future wired broadband, and the other is to use
multi-wavelength superposition to meet the deployment requirements such as future 5G
fronthaul.

Single-wavelength rate increase: At present, the 10G PON fixed access network has
entered the batch deployment phase. With the increasing popularity of home broadband
access and government & enterprise access requirements, 50G PON will be the next
deployment trend of optical access. To meet the networking requirements of different
services, 10G PON and 50G PON will coexist for a long time. It is a proven effective
solution that the central office equipment adopts the optical transceiver module in
support of the coexistence of multiple modes, therefore the Combo PON of 10G PON and
50G PON will become an important evolution direction in the post 10G PON era. This
solution can effectively save deployment space in equipment rooms and reduce the
power consumption of optical access devices. By using the ODN resources of the existing
network, this solution reduces the operators’ network construction costs and meets the
end users’ requirements for on-demand upgrade.

Multi-wavelength superposition: With the acceleration of 5G deployment process, how to

use the existing FTTx network resources to develop 5G networks at a lower cost and in a
short period of time, and accelerate the distribution of 5G services has become a
noteworthy direction. The independent multi-wavelength superposition technology can
achieve logical point-to-point transmission, ensure network security isolation while
effectively reducing the transmission delay of the legacy PON network, and meet the
technical requirements such as 5G fronthaul. Based on the independent wavelength
superposition mechanism, one optical fiber can support the simultaneous access of FTTx
and 5G fronthaul. This direction can make full use of the existing extensive FTTx network

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infrastructures, such as optical fibers, pipelines, curb cabinets and access equipment
rooms, to rapidly construct 5G networks at a lower cost, improve the FTTH network
resource utilization, and provide stable and reliable dual-gigabit access to users through
the resource sharing of fixed networks and mobile networks,

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