A passive optical network (PON) is a network architecture that brings fiber cabling and signals to the home using a point-to-multipoint scheme that enables a single optical fiber to serve multiple premises. Encryption maintains data security in this shared environment. The architecture uses passive (unpowered) optical splitters, reducing the cost of equipment compared to point-to-point architectures.
The GPON (Gigabit passive optical network) standard differs from other PON standards in that it achieves higher bandwidth and higher efficiency using larger, variable-length packets. GPON offers efficient packaging of user traffic, with frame segmentation allowing higher quality of service (QoS) for delay-sensitive voice and video communications traffic.
Altera and our partners offer a number of devices and intellectual property (IP) cores (see Table 1) that together form the Altera® GPON solution. Altera devices with embedded high-speed serial transceivers include:
- Stratix® IV GX FPGAs
- Stratix II GX FPGAs
- HardCopy® IV GX ASICs
- Arria® II GX FPGAs
- Arria GX FPGAs
| Table 1. Altera and Partner Offerings for GPON Applications | |
| GPON Application | Solution Elements |
|---|---|
| Optical Line Termination (OLT) MAC | Stratix IV GX FPGAs, HardCopy IV ASICs |
| Ethernet MAC | 10/100/1000 MAC and 10-Gbit MAC cores from MoreThanIP |
| Traffic Aggregation and Management | From Altera:
From Sarance Technologies:
|
| 20-Gbps Packet Processing | Packet processing modules and framework from Altera, including:
From Ethernity Networks:
|
