A transparent hybrid fiber/copper approach to enlarge the service area of digital subscriber line

A novel hybrid fiber/copper approach using a transparent optical feeder is proposed and its feasibility is studied in order to enlarge the service area of xDSL (xdigital subscriber line) systems. The proposed optical feeder achieves a virtual "loss-less copper cable" which can transmit access service signals with no changes in their waveform by using a broadband A/D conversion and high-speed optical transmission technique. As a result, the proposed approach enables compact and maintenance-free remote nodes and easy installation of "dry-copper" or unbundling services. The system architecture, features and experimental results of the proposed approach are shown.