Evaluation of Two Prevalent EPON Networks Using Simulation Methods

Passive optical networks (PON) promise to open the last mile bottleneck in next generation access networks, permitting the transport of higher data rates than conventional copper and copper-fiber hybrid technologies. As a result, several PONs architectures have been proposed and among those, the two prevalent architectures are: one based on time division multiplexing with a single wavelength optical channel on each direction, and the other based on multiple optical channels using wavelength division multiplexing technology. This paper provides a critical and comprehensive comparison between the two. Through the use of simulation we will highlight their differences in terms of scalability, performance and access distance.