Effectiveness of Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Technology Towards Broadband Enhancement in Homes

Customarily, the longest transmission length of a PON system is 60km or less and its maximum splitting ratio is 1:64 as characterized in ITU-T and IEEE standards. Recently, network providers have shown a lot of interest in PONs with transmission lengths greater than 60km and splitting ratios larger than the earlier stated value. The aim is to substantially reduce the number of central locations, simplify the overall network structure, decrease capital and operating expenses and increase the quality of service (QoS) for real-time traffic. There are no Q-factor and BER analysis beyond the characteristic 60km length for erbium doped fiber amplifier assisted GPON in the existing literature. In this study, an erbium doped fiber amplifier assisted Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) for Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) with a splitting ratio of 1:4 was simulated using OptiSystem and its performance over long distances in 20km intervals compared to its counterpart without the aid of optical amplifiers. A Q-factor of 6.1308 and a minimum BER rate of 4.17981 × 10-10 were achieved at a distance of 200km with the aid of the erbium doped fiber amplifier