EPON | A Brief Primer

2012-12-03T09:00:25-05:00December 3rd, 2012|

EPON Ethernet Passive Optical Network (EPON) is an actual Ethernet network over optical cable following the IEEE 802.3av standard for 1 Gbps (supporting up to 10 Gbps).  There are two (2) functional components of an EPON network, an Optical Line Terminator (OLT) and an Optical Network Unit (ONU).  The OLT is analogous to a CMTS in a DOCSIS network while the ONU is similar to the cable modem.  Data is transmitted to by the OLT to ONUs in the downstream by a broadcast method.  Encryption is used, so