With the explosive growth of internet traffic and the increasing demand for high-speed broadband services, 50G PON (Passive Optical Network) technology is gradually becoming the focus of the communications industry as the next generation of fibre access solutions.
As the next-generation PON technology defined by ITU-T, 50G PON has the capability to provide a deterministic service experience, supports smooth upgrades of PON networks, and is more environmentally friendly and energy-efficient, making it an ideal choice for next-generation high-speed PON technology. Currently, the main work on the formulation of the 50G-PON standard has been basically completed, and the products are maturing. The industry also needs to continuously improve relevant technical indicators at the level of key chips and optoelectronic devices, including uplink bandwidth, system delay, coexistence of three generations, network slicing, and other technologies, to achieve healthy development of the industrial chain and meet the demands for large-scale deployment, empowering industries such as smart homes, enterprise office, healthcare, and financial services, and leading our country into the era of ten-gigabit intelligence.
Development of PON Technology
APON/BPON: The earliest PON systems were narrowband PON, primarily used to solve the interconnection issues of multiple narrowband access network devices. Subsequently, in 2001, ITU-T comprehensively upgraded APON (ATM Passive Optical Network) and launched BPON (Broadband Passive Optical Network), laying the foundation for the development of PON technology.
EPON/GPON: After entering the 21st century, PON technology further developed, leading to the emergence of EPON (Ethernet Passive Optical Network) and GPON (Gigabit Passive Optical Network). EPON was introduced by IEEE, while GPON was primarily led by ITU-T. Both technologies adopted the PON scheme at the physical layer, with the data link layer based on Ethernet and ATM technologies respectively, providing higher bandwidth and richer service capabilities.
10G PON: With the growing demand for high-bandwidth services, 10G PON technologies such as 10G GPON and 10G-EPON have emerged, capable of providing bandwidths of up to 1Gbps to meet the needs of high-bandwidth applications like 4K/8K video and VR/AR.
Next-generation PON technology: In 2018, ITU/FSAN launched the work of developing the single-wavelength 50G PON standard, named G.HSP (G.Higher Speed PON). In 2019, the overall demand for 50G PON G.9804.1 was released, clarifying the single-wavelength TDM PON architecture, as well as the upstream and downstream rate combinations. In addition, 50G PON needs to smoothly evolve to coexist with 10G PON and existing ODN. In 2021, the ITU-T 50G PON series of standards was officially released, which includes the overall demand standard revision G.9804.1 Amd1, the generic protocol layer standard G.9804.2, and the physical layer standard G.9804.3. This marks that the basic functions of 50G PON have been standardized, laying the foundation for the next steps in product development and solution verification. The Chinese telecommunications industry is piloting research by 2025 to explore the integration of 10G optical networks and artificial intelligence technology, aiming to create various intelligent deployment applications based on 50G-PON and FTTH/FTTR-B (enterprise FTTR).
| Project | Wavelength range | Center wavelength | Maximum line rate | Frame structure |
|
GPON |
Downstream：1480nm-1500nm Upstream：1290nm-1330nm |
Downstream：1490nm Upstream：1310nm |
Downstream：2.488Gbit/s Upstream：1.244Gbit/s |
GEM |
|
XG-PON |
Downstream：1575nm-1580nm Upstream：1260nm-1280nm |
Downstream：1577nm Upstream：1270nm |
Downstream：9.953Gbit/s Upstream：2.488Gbit/s |
XGEM |
|
XGS-PON |
Downstream：1575nm-1580nm Upstream：1260nm-1280nm |
Downstream：1577nm Upstream：1270nm |
Downstream：9.953Gbit/s Upstream：9.953Gbit/s |
XGEM |
|
EPON |
Downstream：1480nm-1500nm Upstream： 1260nm-1360nm(Not narrowed) 1290nm-1330nm(narrowed) |
Downstream：1490nm Upstream：1310nm |
Downstream：1.25Gbit/s Upstream：1.25Gbit/s |
ETH(802.3) |
|
Asymmetric 10G-EPON |
Downstream：1575nm-1580nm Upstream： 1260nm-1360nm(Not narrowed) 1260nm-1280nm(narrowed) |
Downstream：1577nm Upstream： 1310nm(Not narrowed) 1270nm(narrowed) |
Downstream：10.3125Gbit/s Upstream：1.25Gbit/s |
ETH(802.3) |
|
Symmetry 10G-EPON |
Downstream：1575nm-1580nm Upstream：1260nm-1280nm |
Downstream：1577nm Upstream：1270nm |
Downstream：10.3125Gbit/s Upstream：10.3125Gbit/s |
ETH(802.3) |
|
Asymmetric 50G-PON |
Downstream：1340nm-1344nm Upstream：1284nm-1288nm |
Downstream：1342nm Upstream：1286nm |
Downstream：49.7664Gbit/s Upstream：24.8832Gbit/s |
XGEM |
|
Symmetry 50G-PON |
Downstream：1340nm-1344nm Upstream：1284nm-1288nm |
Downstream：1342nm Upstream：1286nm |
Downstream：49.7664Gbit/s Upstream：49.7664Gbit/s |
XGEM |
Core Advantages of 50G-PON technology
50G PON uses single-fiber bidirectional transmission, with downstream TDM (Time Division Multiplexing) and upstream TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) to achieve point-to-multipoint communication between OLT and ONU. Its key technologies include wavelength selection, line coding, line rate, FEC (Forward Error Correction) technology, Common TC (Transmission Convergence) technology, PHY layer devices, and more. The 50G PON standard provides more than four times the access bandwidth compared to 10G PON, better service support capabilities (large bandwidth, low latency, low jitter), network protection/security, as well as support for coexistence and smooth evolution with 10G PON, while being as compatible as possible with existing ODN networks.
- Ultra-high speed: The theoretical peak rate for a single user can reach 10Gbps, supporting 20 simultaneous 8K video streams and concurrent VR gaming for 50 devices
- Ultra-low latency: One-way latency as low as 100 microseconds, meeting the real-time interaction needs of industrial automation, remote healthcare, and more
- Smooth network upgrades: Compatible with existing GPON/XG-PON networks, supporting 'zero-change' ODN network upgrades.
The upstream of 50G-PON uses the US3 wavelength option (1284nm-1288nm) which does not overlap with the wavelength planning of GPON and XG(S)-PON, thus GPON, XG(S)-PON, and 50G-PON can share the ODN network through wavelength division multiplexing.
The upstream of 50G-PON adopts the US3 wavelength option (1284nm-1288nm), which does not overlap with the wavelength planning of 10G-EPON (asymmetric US narrowed to 1260nm-1280nm) and EPON (US narrowed to 1290nm-1330nm), therefore EPON and 10G-EPON can share the ODN network with 50G-PON through wavelength division multiplexing.
The operation of service activation and deployment for 50G-PON is basically the same as that for the deployed PON networks, allowing for the sharing of the network management system and the service activation system.
At the beginning of the large-scale application of 10G-EPON, operators had already narrowed the wavelength of the asymmetric 10G EPON upstream 1G rate channel from 1260nm-1360nm to 1260nm-1280nm through PON enterprise standards, keeping it consistent with the wavelength for symmetric upstream 10G rates. Additionally, the upstream wavelength of EPON was reduced from 1260nm-1360nm to 1290nm-1330nm. Therefore, 50G-PON can utilize the US3 (1284nm-1288nm) wavelength option to achieve co-existence with the existing EPON and 10G-EPON through wavelength division methods.
Application of 50G PON
- Home ultra-broadband access meets the high bandwidth and low latency needs of residential users, supporting applications such as 8K video, augmented reality (AR), and cloud virtual reality (Cloud VR).
- In campuses, enterprises, and industrial parks, 50G PON provides high-speed, high-capacity network connections, supporting HD video conferencing, virtual offices, artificial intelligence applications, etc., enhancing overall network performance and user experience.
- 50G PON mobile backhaul (for base station return and transmission) has advantages in power consumption, size, and cost, achieving a latency of 100μs, meeting the technical requirements for mobile backhaul networks. As Wi-Fi 6 becomes more popular, Wi-Fi networks are rapidly evolving from hundreds of megabits to gigabit coverage, and the new generation Wi-Fi 7 will soon be commercially available, further enhancing bandwidth and performance. The rapid development of Wi-Fi networks also sets higher demands for Wi-Fi network backhaul access, and 50G PON's large bandwidth can provide nearly 50Gbps symmetrical bandwidth, catering to the demand for high-speed backhaul in Wi-Fi networks.
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