FiberVista: An FTTH or FTTC system delivering broadband data and CATV services

FiberVista is a fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) or fiber-to-the-curb (FTTC) system that provides more bandwidth for emerging broadband services, such as Internet data, than existing deployed residential systems, while tapping predictable revenue streams from telephony and analog- and digital-video broadcast television service. At the same time, FiberVista minimizes development costs by reusing existing or emerging technology from other systems, such as cable modems and low-cost residential optical transceivers. It also allows for incremental, “pay-as-you-grow” provisioning of capacity. Like cable-television (CATV) hybrid fiber-coax (HFC) networks, FiberVista uses subcarrier multiplexing to offer a flexible mix of services. The system is superior to HFC in that it offers more total bandwidth, both upstream and downstream, which can be shared among fewer homes. By limiting the coax plant to a small passive run in FTTC, or eliminating it altogether in FTTH, FiberVista minimizes the most unreliable and maintenance-intensive portion of the HFC network. Furthermore, it utilizes new technologies, such as high-power erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs), coarse wavelength division multiplexing (CWDM), and passive optical networks (PONs), to make the extension of optical fiber deep into the network practical. In this paper, we describe the FiberVista network architecture, potential upgrade scenarios, and experimental system demonstrations.

[1]  Johannes Farmer,et al.  Modern Cable Television Technology , 1999 .

[2]  M. Zirngibl,et al.  An evaluation of architectures incorporating wavelength division multiplexing for broad-band fiber access , 1998 .

[3]  D. A. Atlas,et al.  Multiwavelength analog video transport network , 1999, International Topical Meeting on Microwave Photonics. MWP'99. Technical Digest (Cat. No.99EX301).

[4]  M. Andrejco,et al.  Simultaneous distribution of multichannel analog and digital video channels to multiple terminals using high-density WDM and a broad-band in-line erbium-doped fiber amplifier , 1990, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters.

[5]  Robert D. Feldman,et al.  Cost-Effective Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) System Providing Broadband Data over Cable Modems along with Analog and Digital Video , 1998 .

[6]  D. Marcuse,et al.  Nonlinear distortion generated by dispersive transmission of chirped intensity-modulated signals , 1991, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters.

[7]  S. Ovadia,et al.  Performance of hybrid multichannel AM/256-QAM video lightwave transmission systems , 1995, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters.

[8]  Noboru Ishihara,et al.  Full duplex 1300/1550-nm-WDM optical transceiver modules for ATM-PON systems using PLC-hybrid-integration and CMOS IC technologies , 1998, 24th European Conference on Optical Communication. ECOC '98 (IEEE Cat. No.98TH8398).

[9]  Scott O. Bradner,et al.  Benchmarking Methodology for Network Interconnect Devices , 1999, RFC.

[10]  Robert D. Feldman,et al.  Reduction of optical-beat interference (OBI) in cable-modem/FTTH systems using burst-mode lasers , 1998, 24th European Conference on Optical Communication. ECOC '98 (IEEE Cat. No.98TH8398).

[11]  Scott O. Bradner,et al.  Benchmarking Terminology for Network Interconnection Devices , 1991, RFC.

[12]  W. A. Reed,et al.  High-Power 1.48 µm Cascaded Raman Laser in Germanosilicate Fibers , 1995 .

[13]  David Payne,et al.  Optical networks for local loop applications , 1989 .

[14]  N. Frigo.  Chapter 13 – A Survey of Fiber Optics in Local Access Architectures , 1997 .

[15]  Can Desem.  Optical Interference in Subcarrier Multiplexed Systems with Multiple Optical Carriers , 1990, IEEE J. Sel. Areas Commun..