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Passive Optical Network Abstraction

Posted on Monday, March 21st, 2022

Diagram of a passive optical network

Client TELUS
Professor(s) Dr. Wahab Almuhtadi, Dr. Jordan Melzer
Program BIT – Optical Systems & Sensors
Students John Lutz
Patrick Hanna
Connor Vanrumpt

Project Description:

The goal of our capstone project is to work alongside representatives from TELUS to put together a small PON lab using PON devices from two different vendors and standardize their features so that they operate in the same manner, allowing them to operate together in a passive optical network. This would allow for more plug-and-play interoperability in TELUS’ networks across Canada, since currently there are limitations on most device interoperability. Ciena has partnered with us in this project to provide us with equipment to install in the PON lab and provide technical support on their equipment. We’re implementing this solution by using software-defined networking technologies to standardize the differences in device functionalities.

Short Description:

Home and small-business internet is delivered via point to multi-point optical system called Passive Optical Networks (PON). PON is made up of three main 3 components: Optical Line Terminal (OLT) Optical Network Unit (ONU) and an optical splitter.

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Video Presentation

Gallery

We're using a Ciena 5144 router to provide ethernet connectivity to our PON components. The optical line terminals plug directly into the 10G ports of the router. The optical network unit used in our lab is a Ciena 3801. It is used to connect end-users for both upstream and downstream capabilities
The OLT used in our lab is a Tibit 10G OLT, which plugs into the 5144 router. This is the device that sends the data downstream to the ONUs We're using a generic 1x4 optical splitter to route the signal from our OLT to the ONUs
Pictured here is our passive optical network lab, installed in the Algonquin College Telecommunications lab. A laptop can be connected to the router via ethernet to allow us to manage and provision our network.

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