Application of Fiber Ring for Protection of Passive Optical Infrastructure

Abstract

Today, passive optical networks (PONs) are mostly used as modern high-speed access networks for various applications. However, there are also several specific applications, such as in business, office, army or science sector, which require a complex protection and backup system against failures and malfunctions. Typically, tree or star topologies are used for passive optical networks PONs. These topologies are vulnerable mainly against the failures of central optical line termination (OLT) unit. This paper presents an innovative method for protecting PONs by using ring topologies, especially the OLT unit. The method is described in the article, and an elementary mathematical model for calculations of asymmetric passive optical splitters together with an example is included as well.