Laboratory-Based Investigation of the Performance Efficiencies of a TDM-PON and a WDM-PON

In this paper we present a comprehensive, comparative analysis of passive optical networks (PONs) for time-division-multiplexing-and wavelength-division-multiplexing-based passive optical networks (TDM-PONs and WDM-PONs) in terms of their performance efficiency. The PON architecture is now a very effective way to provide high-bandwidth services to end-users. However, the passive optical splitter (POS) leads to a power loss of the optical signal, which limits the overall efficiency of the network. To overcome this limitation, an arrayed waveguide grating (AWG)-based network structure is proposed as an alter-native that enables more efficient optical signal distribution. In the study presented here, experiments were conducted to compare both network architectures. Factors such as the output signal power at the end-user and the quality of the signal reception through the openness of the eye diagram and the bit error rate (BER) were evaluated. The results show that the AWG-based system improves the efficiency of the network through a higher output-signal power, which translates into a better BER.