Performance of an integrated services ATM protocol over a broadband passive optical network

The BPON (Broadband over a Passive Optical Network) concept aims to provide an economic implementation of local fibre networks which is capable to carrying broadband services as well as telephony. One possible use of such a network could be the provision of broadband services such as broadcast TV. A transmission protocol has been developed at BTRL which may prove to be suitable for providing an ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) communication service over BPON. The introduction of such a service is likely to follow on from the introduction of TPON (Telephony over a Passive Optical Network) and of broadcast television. Computer simulation methods have been used to model the BPON network and the ATM protocol. The paper outlines the structure of the network and protocol and details the modelling process used to obtain the simulation model. Performance aspects of the system are considered and details of selected simulation runs of the program are listed