Contention - Based Operation in TDM-Type Passive Optical Networks

The fundamental operational principle of a Passive Optical Network (PON), which is based on a point-to-multipoint fiber infrastructure, is the unicast non-overlapping bandwidth allocations to the ranged Optical Network Units (ONUs). This paper details the modification to this principle, which has been proposed and advocated by Verizon, that introduces a broadcast bandwidth allocation to which eligible ranged ONUs respond only if necessary. While broadcast allocations in PON open door for the detectable collisions, they lead to notable bandwidth efficiency gains without requiring a nominal line rate increase.