An Efficient Energy-Saving Scheme Based on Grouping of ONU for Optical Access Network Using Electronic Switch

We propose an efficient energy-saving scheme by dividing the optical network units (ONUs) into groups composed of one master-ONU (M-ONU) and several slave-ONUs (S-ONUs). The S-ONUs are primarily selected to communicate with the M-ONU and, second, with the remote node (RN), which can reduce the usage of high-power ports at the RN and subsequently decrease energy consumption. It is demonstrated that obvious energy-saving effects can be achieved, and moreover, the energy-saving efficiency can be further improved by expanding the capacity of the links between RN and M-ONUs and properly selecting the scale of the ONU group.