Troubleshooting PON networks effectively with Carrier-grade Ethernet and WDM-PON

Jose Alberto Hernandez
David Larrabeiti
IEEE Communications Magazine, 52 (2014), pp. 7-13

Abstract

WDM-PONs have recently emerged to provide dedicated
and separated point-to-point wavelengths to individual
Optical Network Units (ONTs). In addition, the recently standardised
Ethernet OAM capabilities under the IEEE 802.1ag
standard and the ITU-T Y.1731 recommendation, together with
state-of-the-art Optical Time-Domain Reflectometry (OTDR)
provide new link-layer and physical tools for the effective troubleshooting
of WDM-PONs. This article proposes an Integrated
Troubleshooting Box (ITB) for the effectively combination of both
physical and link-layer information into an effective and efficient
set of management procedures for WDM-PONs. We show its
applicability in a number of realistic troubleshooting scenarios,
including failure situations involving either the feeder fibre, one
of its branches and even Ethernet links after the ONT.

Research Areas