Long-Reach and High-Splitting-Ratio 10G-EPON System With Semiconductor Optical Amplifier and N:1 OSU Protection

We successfully demonstrate a 41.3-km-reach and 128-split 10G-EPON system with dual-rate semiconductor optical amplifier on a commercial access network infrastructure. It uses N:1 optical subscriber unit (OSU) protection in order to improve system reliability cost-effectively. N:1 OSU protection also can switch from active system to redundant system without any frame loss. Moreover, the quality of bidirectional frame transmission is not degraded after switching, even with four-class priority control. Error free transmission over 130 hours is also confirmed. These results indicate that N:1 OSU protection with automatic level control semiconductor optical amplifiers is a promising approach to practical 10G-EPON systems that are cost-effective and reliable.