Passive optical telephony networks and broadband evolution

A passive optical local access network for telephony applications is proposed which can evolve a future broadband ISDN (integrated services digital network). A laboratory demonstrator has been constructed which can deliver a 144-kb/s ISDN channel, or the equivalent to 128 customers from a single fiber exchange. Options for evolution to broadband ISDN are discussed with emphasis on choice of multiplexing technique. A novel TDM (time-division multiplexing) sampling technique for demultiplexing and selecting digital video channels at the customer end is described. A 323-channel capability has been demonstrated at 2.2 Gb/s over an experimental optical network.<<ETX>>