Cost-Effective Upstream Scheme for the Next-Generation PON Based on Interleaved Frequency-Division Multiple Access

Recently orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) has been proposed in the passive optical network (PON) for downstream and upstream transmissions. Due to its powerful digital signal processing and high flexibility, OFDMA-PON has emerged as a promising candidate for the next-generation optical access networks. In this letter, we propose a cost-effective upstream scheme based on the interleaved frequency-division multiple access (IFDMA), which is a modified form of OFDMA. The IFDMA has lower peak-to-average power ratio and lower computation complexity at the transmitter, which is cost-effective for the optical network unit. Upstream IFDMA transmission is experimentally demonstrated.