GPON consists of three main elements
OLT (Optical Line Terminal), ONU (Optical Network Unit) devices, and passive splitters. Passive optical splitters typically split the signal up to 64, allowing the use of only one fiber optic cable connecting the Internet service provider with multiple end users. So how does the whole process work? In simple terms, it goes like this: • First, the optical line terminal transmits data in the form of optical signals through a process called optical wavelength division multiplexing (WDM). The OLT is usually an ISP and can be thought of as the starting point of GPON. • The signal propagates on a single optical fiber through the Optical Distribution Network (ODN) and finally reaches a passive splitter. GPON fiber optic networks can reach distances of up to 20 km. • The passive GPON splitter receives the optical signal and splits it into up to 64 multiple signals. This allows point-to-multipoint access and up to 64 fiber optic connections. • Finally, the last mile split optica...