Development of Smart Drop Restoration Scheme for Customer's Ease in the i-FTTH EPON Network Solution

This paper addresses a new restoration mechanism in drop region of EPON network by using the optical switch device to increase the efficiency, survivability and reliability of fiber to the home (FTTH) customer access network. The developed device will be installed at the drop section to detect the failure line that occurs in the multi-line drop section of FTTH network downwardly from passive optical splitter to the customer premises (ONU). The drop section restoration mechanism called smart drop restoration scheme (SDRS) will contribute for tree based and bus based architecture. Conventionally, the failure line of FTTH network can be measured using Optical Time-Domain Reflectometer (OTDR) upwardly from customer premises to the central office. The optical switches will be controlled by Access Control System (ACS). If the breakdown is the detected in drop section, ACS will recognize the related access line by the 3% tapped signal that is connected to every access line. The activation signal is then sent to activate the dedicated protection scheme. But if fault is still not restored, the shared protection scheme will be activated. Results from Optisystem software simulation will be presented so as to prove the solution feasibility.