Simulated ONUs for battery characterization in the local loop: a status report

In fiber-in-the-loop systems power to the optical network units (ONUs) that are located at the far end of the fiber can be provided by local powering, in which power is supplied by a commercial power source located near the ONU; when this source fails, power is supplied by batteries co-located with the ONU. To determine if small battery systems can be made to exhibit 7 to 10 year lives in a New York/New Jersey climate, a field demonstration was conducted. The batteries used were longer-lived and more reliable than typical consumer batteries and redundancy was used in the battery system. Eleven ONUs, with simulated power loads and simulated power outages, have been operating with representative battery systems for the 30 months. The basic battery system design is described, and a status report on the field demonstration is given